St Mary's Church of England Primary School

Overview

This ungraded inspection confirms that St Mary’s Church of England Primary School has “taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.” The school is described as a “caring and nurturing” environment where staff genuinely care for pupils’ well-being and ensure they feel safe and secure. Leaders have maintained high ambitions for academic achievement, with most pupils meeting these expectations through a well-structured curriculum.

Strengths

• Pupils benefit from “wide-ranging emotional and mental health support” and a culture where they “care about each other,” with bullying dealt with “swiftly and effectively.”
• The curriculum is “ambitious” and organised so that knowledge “builds cumulatively,” enabling pupils to “connect ideas together easily.”
• Staff provide effective support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), ensuring they “learn successfully alongside their peers.”
• The school places high importance on developing pupils into “articulate speakers” and provides “daily phonics teaching” to help early readers become “confident, fluent readers.”
• Personal development is “well organised,” with pupils taught about healthy relationships, online safety, and encouraged to “value diversity.”

Areas to improve

• Occasionally, learning activities used to address gaps in pupils’ knowledge are “not precisely focused,” meaning misconceptions are not corrected as quickly as they could be. The school should ensure these activities are “targeted and precise.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”