St Anne's RC Primary School

St Anne's RC Primary School Inspection report

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Age group 3–11 Inspection date(s) 2–3 July 2012 Inspection number 381418 Unique Reference Number 131884 Local authority Manchester Inspection number 381418 Inspection dates 2–3 July 2012 Lead inspector Clarice Nelson-Rowe

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 198 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Tracy Weedon Headteacher Angela Shore Date of previous school inspection 13 September 2006 School address Carruthers Street Ancoats Manchester M4 7EQ Telephone number 0161 2732417 Fax number 0161 2735359 Email address admin@st-annes-pri.manchester.sch.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child's school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

Clarice Nelson-Rowe Eithne Proffitt Additional inspector Additional inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors observed 13 lessons led by eight teachers. They held discussions with staff, groups of pupils, representatives of the governing body and parents and carers. They also observed assembly and listened to pupils read. Inspectors spoke to many pupils and looked at a wide range of documentation, including assessment data, behaviour and attendance records, the minutes of governing body meetings, the school development plan, the school self-evaluation summary and pupils’ work. They investigated safeguarding procedures and analysed 37 questionnaires from parents and carers, as well as questionnaires completed by pupils and staff. Inspectors took account of the responses to the on-line Parent View survey in planning the inspection.

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Information about the school

This is a smaller than average primary school. The proportion of pupils of minority ethnic backgrounds is well above the national average, as is the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for a free school meal is above average. The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average. The school meets the current floor standards which are the government’s minimum expectations for attainment and progress. The school has achieved Healthy School status. There is a breakfast club on the site which is managed by the governing body. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

  This is a good school. It is not yet outstanding because teaching is not of a consistently high enough quality to ensure pupils’ achievement is outstanding. Leaders, the governing body and staff have shown great determination to successfully tackle weaknesses.

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Key Findings

 Achievement is good. Pupils’ attainment on leaving the school in Year 6 is broadly average. They make overall good progress from their starting points. The school provides well for all groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language.

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Key Findings

 Teaching is good overall and there is some outstanding practice. Teachers use questioning well and plan a wide range of interesting tasks and resources. However, pupils’ targets are not always consistently monitored in marking and not all lessons consistently promote higher rates of progress.

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Key Findings

 Pupils like coming to school because they feel safe and enjoy learning. This is reflected in their positive attitudes to learning, their above average attendance and good behaviour around the school and in lessons. Pupils’ high regard for the school was typically summarised when a group of pupils commented, ‘We love school so much that we don’t want to leave’.

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Key Findings

 The headteacher is ambitious for the school and promotes the confidence of parents, carers, governors, pupils and staff alike. She drives improvement forward with determination and skill, well supported by all the staff. The curriculum is good, and a good range of enrichment opportunities make a significant contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Systems to monitor pupils’ progress and teaching are well planned and are effective in informing leaders as to where to focus further improvements. However, the monitoring of teaching does not always pay enough attention to the quality and rate of learning in lessons.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ achievement even further and increase the proportion of outstanding teaching by:  rigorously monitoring the impact of teaching on promoting faster rates of progress  ensuring marking helps to inform pupils when their targets have been met so that they can assess their own progress precisely  using pupils’ targets to plan lessons that will enable them to achieve their best.

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Achievement of pupils

In the majority of lessons pupils are enthusiastic learners and work purposefully and collaboratively. In the best lessons, pupils are excited by their learning and often become engrossed in the tasks set. For example, in a Year 1 mathematics lesson, pupils were fully absorbed when they used shapes to make pattern sequences and then worked well in pairs to continue each other’s patterns. Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are well included and provided for in lessons, particularly through the good support provided by teaching assistants. As a result, these pupils make progress that is equally as good as their peers.

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Achievement of pupils

Attainment on leaving the school is average. Achievement is good. Parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire overwhelmingly agree that their children make good progress and inspectors endorse this view. Children enter the school with knowledge and skills that are well below those typical for their age in a range of areas. Progress through the Early Years Foundation Stage is good overall, due to well planned activities, good resources and skilful nursery and reception staff. The school’s current information on pupils’ levels of attainment shows that progress for all groups of pupils, including those with special educational needs and those learning English as an additional language, is good throughout school. Through effective self-evaluation, leaders identified that performance in English, particularly amongst boys, appeared to be weaker than in other subjects. Successful action taken, including an investment in a wide range of story books and additional training

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Achievement of pupils

to improve the teaching of reading, has meant that many pupils, including boys, are now more interested in reading and more pupils are attaining higher levels. Attainment in reading has previously been below average at the end of Year 2. However, current school tracking data shows that it is now average. At the end of Year 6 pupils’ attainment in reading continues to be above average.

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Quality of teaching

Teaching is good overall. Tasks are well planned and appropriately adapted to meet pupils’ individual needs. Teaching assistants make a significant contribution to the achievement of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs, in particular, through effective questioning and encouragement. The vast majority of parents and carers are rightly confident that the school teaches their children well. A proportion of teaching is outstanding. In such lessons, pupils make faster progress because they are provided with stimulating problems to solve and this approach really fires up pupils’ imagination. For example, in a Year 5 mathematics lesson, pupils were totally absorbed in using mathematical approaches to work out the size of an imaginary giant in proportion to the size of a foot print left in the classroom. In a Year 6 English lesson, pupils worked in a variety of groups to share and discuss

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Quality of teaching

their own imaginary characters to place within the story of ‘Alice in Wonderland’. The teacher’s very well planned questioning helped pupils to use a wide range of adjectives to bring their characters to life.

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Quality of teaching

Such activities also helped to develop pupils’ spiritual and social development. However, most teaching is not quite as effective, meaning that rates of progress are not as rapid. This is because learning activities are less clear and less challenging and pupils spend too much time listening to the teacher. The quality of marking is good overall as teachers provide clear steps for improvement and give pupils good opportunities to respond to comments made on work in lessons. Appropriate targets are set each term to help accelerate pupils’ progress, however, pupils are not always clear about whether they have met their target because teachers do not monitor targets closely enough in marking. As a result, pupils’ rate of progress on occasions slows because they cannot assess their own progress well enough over time.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils behave well. Older pupils, in particular, demonstrate high levels of independence and maturity in lessons. Staff care for pupils exceedingly well and pupils have a clear understanding of rewards and sanctions. There are very few incidents of negative behaviour, because teachers manage behaviour well. For example, a ‘traffic light’ system is used to show pupils how well they are behaving in lessons in order to give rewards. Most pupils respond well to this and are keen to keep their names on the green circle that represents good behaviour. Pupils say that rewards and sanctions are appropriately used and consistently carried through. This helps to establish positive relationships between adults and pupils. Although most parents and carers agree that behaviour is typically good, some pupils expressed concern about the behaviour of a small minority of pupils. However, staff deploy very effective strategies to support the few pupils who can encounter difficulties

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

managing their own behaviour. Additional adult support in lessons, as well as one-to- one support for emotional and social development, helps ensure any potential disruption to the flow of learning in the classroom is kept to a minimum. Behaviour within the playground is good because the school invests in equipment and specialised staff, such as sports coaches, to support children with structured play. Pupils also benefit from the well planned activities in the breakfast club, which promote learning and emotional well being at the start of the day.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Pupils have a clear understanding of what may constitute bullying and how to stay safe. Bullying of all types, including racial discrimination, is rare as pupils are taught to respect others, including those of other cultural backgrounds. Pupils say incidents of conflict are uncommon, but that if they do occur they are dealt with swiftly and effectively by staff. An overwhelming majority of parents and carers and staff agree with the inspection findings that the school cares well for pupils and keeps them safe.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher, supported well by the staff and the governing body, has a clear vision for the school. Improvements have been made in several key areas since the previous inspection. Teaching has improved and levels of attainment have risen in Key Stages 1 and 2. Attendance has risen and resources in information and communication technology (ICT) have been enhanced. The governing body makes a significant contribution to school improvement and ensures that safeguarding arrangements meet current statutory requirements. The leadership and management of teaching are effective, and the school has successfully and swiftly addressed weaker aspects of teaching. As a result, all teaching is now of good or better quality. The school uses a good range of monitoring activities, including lesson observations by senior and middle managers, work scrutiny and data tracking, to evaluate the impact of teaching. However, lesson observations do not always identify how well

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Leadership and management

teaching enables all groups of pupils to make faster progress. Consequently, not all teaching matches the quality of the very best in school.

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Leadership and management

Opportunities to share and develop best practice in teaching are evident, including training in the use of data and the teaching of reading. Partnerships with other schools enable staff to benefit from shared ideas and check and compare standards of pupils’ work together. Effective partnerships enhance the curriculum, particularly in the area of ICT. For example, the school uses a specialist company to teach animation skills and pupils have the opportunity to use scientific equipment in a science laboratory at a local high school. Parents and carers value the regular events that are provided, which promote positive relationships between pupils and parents and carers of different cultural backgrounds, such as the multicultural weeks and days. Parents and carers express confidence that the school works well with them to support their children, and to secure additional support from a number of services

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Leadership and management

from outside the school where necessary. This reflects the school’s promotion of equality of opportunity for all pupils and the commitment to fostering pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school has a strong capacity to sustain improvement.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils' needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September to 31 December 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance: the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school's efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour: how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils' punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Floor standards: the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school's overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils' attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety: how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils' freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of St Anne's RC Primary School, Manchester, M4 7EQ

Thank you for the lovely welcome you gave the inspection team when we visited your school. I am happy to tell you that you go to a good school. The headteacher, governors and staff ensure that the school helps you to learn and cares very well for you. Teaching is good and teachers work hard to make your lessons interesting. This means that by Year 6, your learning is similar to that expected for your age and you make good progress. It is, therefore, of no surprise that you enjoy coming to school, feel safe and behave well.

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Inspection of St Anne's RC Primary School, Manchester, M4 7EQ

You were all very honest and polite when answering our questions and kindly opened doors for us. I enjoyed watching how well you answered questions in assembly on the stories of Jesus, made and played with puppets at the breakfast club and played well with each other at lunch time and break times. I also enjoyed watching your lessons, particularly when the pupils in Year 5 tried to work out the measurements of a giant seen in Ancoats! We have asked the headteacher, staff and governors to make some improvements to help you make even faster progress. We have asked them to plan lessons to help you to reach the highest levels in your learning and to tell you in their marking when you have achieved your targets.

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Inspection of St Anne's RC Primary School, Manchester, M4 7EQ

I wish you all the best for a very bright and successful future. Keep working hard and behaving well.

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Inspection of St Anne's RC Primary School, Manchester, M4 7EQ

Clarice Nelson-Rowe Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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