Saint Martin's Catholic Voluntary Academy

Age group 11–14 Inspection date(s) 4–5 July 2012 Inspection number 395309 Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire Inspection report

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Unique reference number 138290 Local authority Leicestershire Inspection number 395309 Inspection dates 4–5 July 2012 Lead inspector Gwendoline Coates HMI

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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 Academy converter School category Non-maintained Age range of pupils 11–14 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 306 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Steve Smith Headteacher Brenda Carson Date of previous school inspection Not previously inspected School address Stoke Golding Nuneaton CV13 6HT Telephone number 01455 212386 Fax number 01455 212046 Email address admin@st-martins.leics.sch.uk Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, 4–5 July 2012 2 of 12

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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. 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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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.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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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 Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire4–5 July 2012 3 of 12

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Introduction

Gwendoline Coates Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. Inspectors spent approximately 10 hours observing parts of 24 lessons. In addition, one whole-school event was observed and an assembly. 19 teachers were seen in lessons and assemblies and meetings were held with a parent, groups of students, the Chair of the Governing Body and with staff. Inspectors took account of the small number of responses to the on-line Parent View survey in planning the inspection, observed the school’s work, and looked at a range of documentation including the school’s development plan, subject evaluations and the headteacher’s report to governors. Account was also taken of the 144 questionnaire responses received from parents and carers, the 107 received from students and the 23 received from staff.

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Information about the school

Saint Martin’s Catholic School is a middle, deemed secondary, school, known as a high school, in rural Leicestershire. It provides education for students in Key Stage 3 only, meaning students join the school in Year 7 and progress to one of the local upper schools at the end of Year 9. Saint Martin’s is a stable school community drawing students from a wide area of Leicestershire. The majority of students come from White British backgrounds with few students from minority ethnic groups and few students who are at an early stage in learning English. The proportion of students who are known to be eligible for free school meals is well below the national average. The proportion of students who are disabled and those who have special educational needs is well below the national average.

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Information about the school

The school became an academy on 1 July 2012 and is seeking approval to extend the education available on site to students beyond the age of 14 years by opening a 14-18 free school. Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire; 4–5 July 2012 4 of 12

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Information about the school

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 an outstanding school because leadership and management ensure that the provision of education and the support for students is excellent, which leads to outstanding outcomes for students. Despite this, there are areas that can be improved, including aspects of written feedback on students’ work and the analysis and evaluation of data to inform strategic decision-making.  Achievement is outstanding. Students’ attainment is above average and the progress they make from their starting points is at least good and often outstanding.  Teaching is outstanding. Across all subjects, teaching is at least consistently good and often outstanding and enables students to make at least good progress in their learning. While oral feedback on students’ work is excellent, the quality of written feedback, although excellent in some subjects, such as English, is not of a consistently high quality to enable students to know,

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Key findings

confidently, how to improve their work in all subjects.  Behaviour and safety are outstanding. Students feel safe in school and are confident that they are exceptionally well cared for. Students’ behaviour is outstanding. Their self-management and their attitudes to learning are exceptional and contribute significantly to the quality of their learning.  Leadership and management are outstanding. The quality of middle leadership of subjects and of pastoral provision is exceptional and results in excellent teaching and care, guidance and support for students. The leadership of teaching and the management of performance are excellent. The curriculum meets the needs of students exceptionally well and the promotion of students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. However, the rigour with which data for all areas of the school’s provision is analysed and evaluated is not as sharp as it could be to better inform and direct strategic

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Key findings

decision-making. Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire; 4–5 July 2012 5 of 12

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Key findings

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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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate even further the rate at which students make progress by ensuring greater consistency in the quality of written feedback on their work in all subjects, so that they are informed clearly about how to improve and reach their targets.  Sustain and improve further the school’s performance by developing a more rigorous approach to the analysis and evaluation of all types of data at whole- school and at subject level, so that this contributes more effectively to informing and directing strategic decision making.

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Achievement of pupils

Achievement is outstanding. Students enter the school with above average attainment and go on to attain well above average by the end of Key Stage 3 when they leave the school. Almost all parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire judged that their children are making good progress. Inspectors agree that students make at least good progress from their starting points and many make outstanding progress. Progress in English is outstanding for all different groups of students. Student who are disabled and those who have special educational needs attain standards above that of similar students nationally and make at least good progress from their starting points. There are no significant gaps between the attainments of different groups of students. This is a result of the school’s approach to treating each student as an individual and ensuring that they have every opportunity to achieve their potential.

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Achievement of pupils

Students learn exceptionally well in most subjects and make rapid progress in lessons. In most lessons, teachers focus very well on developing students’ literacy and numeracy skills. For example, highly effective application of numeracy skills was seen in a design and technology lesson and the promotion of literacy was observed as a conscious aspect of planning and preparation in a history lesson.

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Achievement of pupils

Students’ behaviour contributes significantly to their very good learning. They have exceptionally well developed self-management and independent learning skills and particularly strong social and personal communicational skills. Their outstanding achievement and excellent attitudes to learning ensure that they are very well prepared when they move on to Key Stage 4 in the upper schools.

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Quality of teaching

The quality of teaching is outstanding. Pace in lessons is very good and activities change regularly to ensure continual student engagement and motivation, with good use being made of information and communication technology (ICT) and high quality Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire; 4–5 July 2012 6 of 12

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Quality of teaching

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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Quality of teaching

resources. Almost all parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire judged that their children are taught well.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers have excellent subject knowledge and many have a passion for their subjects, which they transmit to students. Teachers’ good planning ensures that lessons provide excellent opportunities for collaborative learning and the development of independent learning skills. Learning support assistants provide excellent support for students who are disabled and those who have special educational needs and contribute very positively and proactively to the good and sometimes outstanding progress they make in lessons. There are excellent relationships between teachers and students, so that students feel confident to ask for help and to contribute to discussions. Where this is strongest, teachers empower students so that they actually lead the learning.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers have high expectations of students’ behaviour and of what they might achieve. While teaching is consistently good and much is outstanding, in a few lessons, pace, timing and learning activities are not always sufficiently well matched to enable students of all abilities to be fully challenged. Formative written feedback in students’ books is particularly good in English where clear marking strategies include structured feedback linked to success criteria and there is evidence that students respond to written comments and improve their work. However, the quality of written feedback across subjects is inconsistent and sometimes does not provide students with sufficient guidance about how to improve. In contrast, oral feedback, observed in lessons, was outstanding. For example, in a Year 7 mathematics lesson, the teacher gave regular oral feedback on what students were doing well and what they could do to make their work even better.

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Quality of teaching

Teachers, in subjects across the curriculum, ensure a good focus on developing literacy and numeracy skills and provide very good opportunities to promote students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Students are given many opportunities to think hard about important moral issues. In a Year 7 English lesson on ‘The Merchant of Venice’, students considered the treatment of Shylock and whether Shakespeare might have been a racist. Their responses were thoughtful and well-argued, indicating an impressive depth of understanding about the play and the moral issues involved. In Year 8 history lessons, students were provided with excellent pictorial resources that they used to consider the American civil rights movement. Teachers’ questioning challenged students to think hard about the validity of historical source material while also considering the moral issues raised by racial segregation.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

The behaviour and safety of students is outstanding because students behave exceptionally well in lessons and around the school and leaders ensure that the school is a safe place to be.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

In lessons, students exhibit excellent self-management and often act to influence Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire; 4–5 July 2012 7 of 12

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

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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Behaviour and safety of pupils

positively the behaviour of their peers. Most parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire judged that there is a good standard of behaviour in the school and that lessons are not disrupted by bad behaviour.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Bullying is minimal, and when it does occur is addressed firmly by the school. The school’s ‘M20’ mediation programme ensures that all students know what to do if bullied and provides a student-led mentoring approach that students value. Overall attendance is above average and students who are disabled and those who have special educational needs have better attendance than that for all students.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

All staff in the school are proactive in maintaining a safe and secure learning environment. In the safety-conscious learning environment of a Year 7 design and technology lesson, students were encouraged to take risks while remaining safe. Similarly in a Year 7 science lesson, students stayed safe because of well-rehearsed procedures and processes. Almost all parents and carers who responded to the questionnaire judged that their children feel safe at school and most students who answered the questionnaire and all those who were involved in discussions with inspectors said they feel safe at school. There were many examples of students who faced challenging circumstances being exceptionally well supported by the school and one student exemplified this by commenting that ‘the school is always here for me.

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Leadership and management

The quality of leadership and management is outstanding. Leaders at all levels have very high expectations about teachers’ performance and students’ behaviour, attitudes and achievement. Middle leadership of subjects and of pastoral provision is very strong and contributes significantly to the outstanding achievement of students. There is a strong sense of community, underpinned by the Catholic ethos of the school and its Christian beliefs.

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Leadership and management

Comprehensive and supportive systems are in place to monitor the quality of teaching and learning, including paired observations and learning walks. Very good professional development opportunities exist for all staff, including individual coaching, whole-school training on key issues and extensive opportunities to share good practice with colleagues in other schools. Although detailed tracking and monitoring of individual students’ performance takes place, the school recognises it needs to introduce more efficient whole-school assessment and tracking systems so that progress can be monitored more effectively against measurable outcomes.

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Leadership and management

The school promotes equality and tackles any evidence of discrimination, so that every student has the opportunity to reach their potential in all aspects of their education – whether academic or in the development of their wider social skills.

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Leadership and management

Strong partnership working was evident in the transition arrangements organised for pupils from primary feeder schools and those in place for students in Year 9 to ease their move to upper schools. Extensive liaison occurs with other high schools and Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire; 4–5 July 2012 8 of 12

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Leadership and management

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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Leadership and management

upper schools in relation to curriculum networking groups for teachers and liaison groups for support staff and for senior leader groups. International partnerships, for example with schools in India, Tanzania and Malaysia, help to broaden students’ horizons.

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Leadership and management

The curriculum matches very well the needs of students and students’ views inform the curriculum review process. The school’s citizenship and personal, social and health education programme provides students with valuable additional learning opportunities about a range of important issues, which one student described as ‘really useful stuff’. The curriculum includes very strong provision to promote students’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Assemblies provide many special moments for students. At an assembly that took place during the inspection, a former student, who is a wheel-chair user, was applauded and celebrated as an Olympic torch bearer. This event provided a powerful moment for all students to develop their spirituality, an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the human condition and the positive reinforcement of a person with a disability as a strong role model.

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Leadership and management

School leaders at all levels, including members of the governing body, know the strengths and weakness of the school well. Recent appointments to the leadership team indicate highly effective succession planning that ensures good capacity to sustain its outstanding performance and continue to improve. However, school systems, in terms of the rigorous analyses and evaluation of data of all types, whether linked to achievement, teaching or behaviour, over time and at group level, at whole-school and at subject level, are not as sharp as they could be, particularly in their ability to inform and direct strategic decision-making effectively.

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Leadership and management

Members of the governing body are fully committed to the school, actively involved in its activities and ensure the school meets all statutory requirements in relation to safeguarding. Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, 4–5 July 2012 9 of 12

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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. 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 ). 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. 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. Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, 4–5 July 2012 10 of 12

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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. Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, 4–5 July 2012 11 of 12

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding CV13 6HT

Inspectors really enjoyed visiting your school and would like to thank all of you for being so courteous and polite.

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Inspection of Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding CV13 6HT

Saint Martin’s is an outstanding school. You receive an excellent education because staff at the school work hard to ensure that every one of you has the opportunity to reach your potential. School leaders provide you with a curriculum that is very well matched to your needs and teachers ensure that lessons are interesting and that you make rapid progress in your learning. As a result, your achievement is outstanding and you are very well prepared for the next stage of your education at upper school. It is also important to say that your own behaviour contributes significantly to your very good learning. Inspectors were impressed with your very well developed self- management and independent learning skills and your very strong social and personal communicational skills.

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Inspection of Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding CV13 6HT

To ensure your school remains outstanding and continues to improve, we have asked the headteacher and members of the governing body to address the following issues:  improve the quality of marking and written feedback you receive on your work in all subjects so that it is as good as in English  develop more rigorous systems for analysing and evaluating data, for example about the progress you make, so that this contributes more effectively to informing decisions about how good the school is and what it should do to improve even further.

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Inspection of Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding CV13 6HT

You can help your school by continuing to attend regularly and continuing to behave in the exemplary manner you exhibited during the inspection.

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Inspection of Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding CV13 6HT

Gwen Coates Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report: Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding, Leicestershire, 4–5 July 2012 12 of 12

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Inspection of Saint Martin's Catholic School, Stoke Golding CV13 6HT

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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