Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School

Corpus Christi Catholic Primary School Halton Moor Avenue, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS9 0HA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Although pupils reach average standards in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave school, pupils in Key Stage 1 and those of higher ability could be doing better.  In some classes, pupils learn well and in others, they do not have enough opportunities to work things out for themselves.  Not all teachers use information about how well pupils are doing to plan work that is demanding enough.  Although the senior leadership team has improved aspects of the school, not all middle leaders’ work has had the same positive impact.  Not all learning support assistants have clear targets to enable them to help pupils to make better progress in lessons.  Leaders and managers do not always make it clear to parents how they can be more actively involved in improving their children’s learning and behaviour.

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The school has the following strengths

 Good provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage ensures that the youngest children make good progress.  The school takes great care of its pupils, especially those whose circumstances might put them at risk.  Pupils are happy and say they feel extremely safe in the calm atmosphere of the school. They are very respectful to adults.  Senior leaders, supported by the governing body have done much to raise the achievement of Year 6 pupils in 2012.  The headteacher knows how to make the school better and together with senior leaders provides strong leadership.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspectors observed 22 lessons, three of which were joint observations with the headteacher and an assistant headteacher. In addition, the inspectors made a number of other short visits to lessons and learning areas.  Discussions were held with two groups of pupils, the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body, the three phase managers, the coordinator of support for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and a professional adviser for Leeds local authority.  The inspectors took account of the 19 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View), the responses to parental questionnaires provided by the school, and spoke individually with several parents during the course of the inspection.  The information from 49 staff questionnaires was taken into consideration.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ books and at a number of documents, including the school’s own data and monitoring of how well pupils progress, planning documentation and records of

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Information about this inspection

behaviour, attendance, punctuality, as well as documents relating to safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Cathy Morgan, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Doreen Davenport Additional Inspector Jennifer Firth Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is larger than the average sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic heritages and those who speak English as an additional language is around that seen nationally.  The proportion of pupils supported through school action is higher than average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also higher than average.  A higher than average proportion of pupils are known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for pupils in local authority care, those known to be eligible for free school meals and those with a parent in the armed services.  Two pupils currently attend Oakwood Pupil Support Centre in Leeds and one pupil attends the Inner East Nurture Group at Ebor Gardens Primary School, Leeds.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations

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Information about this school

for pupils’ attainment and progress.  Since the last inspection, changes in staffing have been significant.  The school operates its own breakfast club.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching to consistently good or better by:  ensuring that lessons allow pupils to add their ideas and to plan some of their own learning to reach the highest standards  making sure that pupils take notice of the teachers’ marking, make corrections and use this information in their future work.  Raise the attainment of pupils in Key Stage 1 and those of high ability by:  ensuring that pupils in Year 1 and 2 receive the same high quality of support from senior teachers as older pupils, particularly in writing  ensuring that teachers use the information they have to plan work which is at the right level, particularly for the more able, in each lesson.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Make sure every teacher plays a part in raising pupils’ achievement by knowing how well pupils are doing in all subjects and monitoring much more carefully the progress of different groups, particularly those who are of high ability.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by:  strengthening the robustness of the performance management of learning support assistants to identify specific targets to secure their positive impact on pupils’ learning  finding ways to seek parents’ views so that they are able to play a more active part in helping to improve their children’s learning and behaviour.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children start school with skills and experience that are below the levels typical for their age. Accurate and regular assessment ensures that they receive careful nurturing and effective teaching to enable them to quickly increase in confidence and make good progress, particularly in their personal, social and emotional development.  Attainment at the end of Year 2 is low and many pupils made slower than expected progress in 2012, especially in writing. This was in stark contrast to the rapid improvement made by the majority of Year 6 pupils who reached nationally expected standards, particularly in mathematics. Work in pupil’ books, in the current Year 6, indicate a similar level of attainment.  Pupils known to be eligible for pupil premium funding, disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs typically make good progress in English and mathematics. This is because they receive regular and specialist support from senior teachers and effective learning

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

support assistants. Those pupils attending alternative schooling are making positive progress.  Pupils who speak English as an additional language achieve higher standards than that seen nationally by the end of Year 6. However, not enough of the higher ability pupils achieve the standards they are capable of and too few reach the higher Level 5 at the end of Key Stage 2.  Reading has recently been given a high priority across the school. The teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) is particularly effective in enabling pupils to extend their knowledge of letters and sounds to improve their skills. By the end of Key Stage 1, many pupils are becoming confident when reading and they talk with enthusiasm about the books they have read.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Although much of the teaching seen in the lessons observed by the inspectors was good, overtime teaching has not been good enough to ensure that all pupils make good progress. Pupils’ books show that they do not always complete their work and they do not always correct their mistakes using the written comments from their teachers.  In the best lessons, teachers make lessons interesting and pupils enjoy the challenge of work which makes them think, but this quality of teaching is not evident in all classes.  In the Early Years Foundation Stage, children are given an appropriate balance between work led by teachers and times when they learn through play. In one lesson, imaginative role play enabled enthusiastic children to dress and act as The Three Bears, to accurately and confidently describe how to prepare breakfast for Goldilocks.  Individual and small groups of pupils in Key Stage 2 receive highly effective support from

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

specialist senior teachers. In one literacy session, the teachers’ enthusiasm and high expectations enabled a small group of pupils, who find reading difficult, to quickly develop their self-confidence and enjoy using amusing methods and actions to help them to accurately sound out text.  Despite the senior leadership team requiring teachers to use the school’s extensive pupils’ progress data to plan opportunities for pupils to tackle thoughtful tasks on their own, this does not always happen. In particular, pupils of high ability are too often expected to do work that is very similar to that of other pupils before getting onto the ‘extension’ tasks. At times, they are also expected to sit through explanations they do not need, when they already know what they need to do.  The pupil premium funding is used well to enable learning support assistants to provide helpful specialist support to identified pupils. These pupils and those who are disabled or who have

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

special educational needs, make good progress in lessons. This reflects the school’s good promotion of equality of opportunity.  Learning support assistants are not always given specific instructions by teachers to ensure that help for those pupils not in need of this level of intensive support, is purposeful in lessons.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The mutual respect between pupils and adults contributes well to the school’s calm atmosphere. Pupils are happy and have good opportunities to participate in thoughtful collective worship when they pray together. This effectively promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The majority of pupils have positive attitudes to learning and take pride in their work. On occasion, when teaching is not of the highest quality, pupils do not always show mature attitudes to their work and their books contain work which is not presented to a high standard.  Pupils said that they feel very safe at school and know what they can do to help keep themselves safe. Most pupils have a good understanding of the nature of different types of bullying, and are confident that incidents will be dealt with swiftly and effectively. A few parents do not believe that the school manages behaviour effectively and express some concerns about

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

bullying. Inspectors found that these concerns related to a small number of specific incidents which overall the school has dealt with effectively.  There have been some serious incidents recorded during the past few years, which the school has worked effectively to prevent from happening again. The recently revised systems for recording poor behaviour are robust and demonstrate a reduction in the number and seriousness of incidents.  The senior leadership team works very effectively with specialist agencies to provide high quality support for pupils who have behavioural or emotional difficulties. As a result, there have been no fixed-term exclusions. Arrangements have recently been made for three pupils to access alternative provision.  The school has worked effectively to improve pupils’ attendance, which is now around that seen nationally. The breakfast club provides a safe, nourishing start to the day and has effectively

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The energetic management of the headteacher and senior leaders is demonstrated by their uncompromising drive to succeed with every pupil. Leadership is strengthened further by the effective support provided by the governing body that shares the headteacher’s pride and steadfast focus on improvement.  Since her appointment, the headteacher has resolved some significant issues regarding the quality of teaching in order to address areas for improvement identified during the school’s last inspection. The senior leadership team has a clear vision for raising achievement. Other staff, however, are not playing a strong enough part in improving the quality of teaching and in speeding up pupils’ progress. This is one of the reasons why the overall quality of leadership and management requires improvement rather than being judged good.  The enthusiastic new teachers are receiving excellent support from members of the senior

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The leadership and management requires improvement

leadership team. Inspection evidence shows that as new teachers, they are quickly developing their self-confidence and subject expertise, which have a positive impact on the increasingly good quality of their teaching.  The curriculum provides appropriate topics for pupils to learn new skills and knowledge and they generally enjoy what they study. The headteacher has successfully introduced a range of visits, visitors and clubs to enhance the experiences for pupils and she uses additional funding to make it possible for all to attend. The school is currently reviewing how teachers approach the different subjects, to give pupils more say in what they learn and to put learning into more interesting contexts. Reading is well used in other subjects, and opportunities for writing in lots of different contexts are increasing.  Together with the governors, senior leaders have ensured that all appropriate policies,

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The leadership and management requires improvement

procedures and training are in place and kept up to date to keep pupils safe. For example, the school’s revised policy for managing pupils' behaviour is now consistently implemented and is better understood by teachers and pupils than previous versions.  Staff enjoy good relationships with parents. However, the school does not always provide parents with clear information about the life of the school or how they might help with their children’s learning and behaviour.  The latest performance management system is being used well to affect further improvement. Recent checks made on the quality of teaching promote improvement and accurately identifies the professional development needs of teachers. Systems to monitor the performance of learning support assistants are not robust enough to secure their positive impact on pupils’ learning in all lessons, another reason why leadership and management require improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The local authority is now providing effective support for the school and has assisted the senior leadership team in accurately identifying their current priorities for improvement.  The combined expertise and experience of the headteacher, her assistant headteachers and governors in raising the attainment of pupils by the end of Year 6 demonstrate the school’s capacity to continue to improve outcomes for pupils.  The governance of the school:  governors know the strengths and areas of the school’s performance that require improvement and have supported the headteacher very well in eradicating inadequate teaching  since the last inspection, governors have become more aware of what the data shows about the performance of pupils across the school and are working to improve performance by taking action when these are not making enough difference.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school is

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Grade Judgement Description

failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 108024 Local authority Leeds Inspection number 405147

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 360 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr Gary Kerrigan Headteacher Mrs Wendy Walsh Date of previous school inspection 20 April 2011 Telephone number 0113 248 3095 Fax number 0113 240 3035 Email address walshw01@leedslearning.net guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

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. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please

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School details

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School details

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

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