St Vincent's Roman Catholic Primary School, Rochdale

School report St Vincent's Roman Catholic Primary School, Rochdale Edenfield Road, Norden, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL12 7QL

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  Pupils in all year groups, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, make good progress and achieve well by the end of Year 6.  Most teaching is good and some is outstanding. In the best lessons, teachers and other adults capture the imagination of pupils, inspire them to think hard and express themselves clearly.  Staff know pupils very well and interventions and support are planned around the needs of the pupils. The pupils enjoy working with a range of different adults and make good progress in both their learning and social skills.  Pupils’ conduct, manners and ability to work together and take responsibility are outstanding. Pupils listen attentively and respond exceptionally well. They feel safe and valued.  School leaders and governors have an accurate understanding of what they need to do to make the school even more successful. A focus on writing in the last year has led to pupils’

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

better achievement in this subject. The leadership of teaching is effective overall.  The school makes an outstanding contribution to pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Parents are very supportive of the school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 There is not enough outstanding teaching. Teachers do not always ensure that all pupils, particularly the more-able pupils, are challenged enough to make more than expected progress.  Pupils’ achievement in mathematics is less strong than in reading and writing. This is because there are too few opportunities for pupils to work together to apply and use their mathematical skills in practical situations and teachers do not always give clear enough guidance to pupils about how to improve their work in mathematics.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 23 lessons, three of which were joint observations with the deputy headteacher or the headteacher. Inspectors also observed break times, made short visits to small group teaching sessions and listened to pupils reading.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, school staff, groups of pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and two governors, a local authority school improvement adviser and a representative from the Diocese.  To ascertain parents’ opinions inspectors took account of 88 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and one email.  A number of school documents were examined. These included information about pupils’ progress, school improvement plans, and records of reports to the governing body. The work in pupils’ books and records relating to the quality of teaching, behaviour, attendance and safeguarding were also scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Karen Foster, Lead inspector Additional Inspector Lynne Read Additional Inspector Pamela Davenport Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 St Vincent’s Roman Catholic Primary School is a larger than the average-sized primary school.  Most pupils are White British.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported at school action, school action plus, or with a statement of special educational needs, is lower than that found in most schools.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium funding is below average. The pupil premium is additional funding to provide extra support for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, in the care of the local authority, and pupils who have parents serving in the armed forces.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve teaching so that the overall quality is outstanding by:  providing more opportunities for pupils to explore and investigate  creating more time in lessons for independent learning and for pupils to work together  extending the good practice in marking and feedback in English to other subjects  making sure that regular lesson observations focus clearly on how teaching is helping pupils to deepen their understanding and learn new skills.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the progress of the more-able pupils, especially in mathematics, by more effectively using the accurate information about what these pupils already know and can do, to set consistently challenging targets and tasks that will enable them to make the best possible progress.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Pupils make good progress overall and by the end of Key Stage 2 are well prepared for the next stage of their education.  Almost all children start the school in the Early Years Foundation Stage with knowledge and understanding that is broadly in line with those expected for their age. Good communication between home and school and keen attention to children’s well-being mean that they settle in quickly and make good progress.  Across the school, pupils of all abilities make at least good and often outstanding progress in reading. Adults ensure that pupils have regular opportunities to read. In 2012, the proportion of pupils who reached the expected standard in the Year 1 national phonics check was well above average.  Attainment in reading and mathematics at the end of Year 6 has been stronger than writing but recent improvements have shown that this gap is narrowing. There has been a whole-school

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The achievement of pupils is good

focus on writing, which has led to improvements in the teaching of the subject and pupils’ writing skills. Pupils enjoy opportunities to write in a range of styles in different subjects.  Although pupils’ progress in mathematics is good overall, it is not as fast as in reading and writing because the more-able pupils do not always make the progress of which they are capable.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs make good progress. Their needs are accurately identified and they receive effective support in a range of varied activities, lessons or small group sessions. As a result they achieve as well as other pupils.  The few pupils eligible for pupil premium funding make good progress and their attainment, including that of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, is similar to other pupils in the school.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Most teaching is good and some is outstanding. Those parents who expressed an opinion agree that their child is well taught, makes good progress and has appropriate homework.  The best teaching inspires pupils to apply their skills and learn very well. In Key Stage 2 and in the Early Years Foundation Stage, pupils and children were actively involved in role play to help them learn the chronology of events. This supported the development of language skills to an exceptionally high standard. In Key Stage 1, pupils were captivated by a birthday present arriving for the class alien and could not wait to find out what the present was. There was some outstanding discussion from this.  In the very best lessons, teachers have high expectations and pupils are actively encouraged to make good or outstanding contributions to lessons. In an outstanding Key Stage 1 lesson, a teacher encouraged pupils with comments such as, ‘That’s an amazing idea.’

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The quality of teaching is good

 Although overall achievement in mathematics is good by the end of Key Stage 2, the more-able pupils sometimes spend too long listening to explanations about things they already know and can do rather than with getting on with their individual tasks. In addition, the tasks they are set do not always challenge them to make the best possible progress.  The quality of some of the writing in pupils’ books is very good and the marking in English is detailed, with helpful comments showing how pupils could further improve their work. In some classes, pupils had the opportunity to respond to marking. However, this good practice is not as evident in other subjects.  Work in books and on display around the school shows that pupils have many opportunities to read and write for a specific purpose. There was some high quality work about world religions around the school.  While teaching is usually good and sometimes outstanding, more could be done to raise the

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The quality of teaching is good

quality even higher. For example, in some lessons, pupils spend too long listening to the teacher and this limits the time pupils have to make decisions and to discover for themselves.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Pupils’ behaviour and attitudes in lessons, around school and at playtimes are excellent. They are polite and well-mannered and show interest and empathy with others. Pupils say they enjoy school.  Pupils say that they enjoy lessons; they have very positive attitudes to learning and are keen to do well.  The online Parent View survey shows that all those who responded said that their child felt safe in school, was happy and pupils were well behaved. Almost all said that they were well looked after and the school dealt well with bullying.  The school has robust systems and routines in place to keep pupils safe and help them feel secure but not fearful. The Rainbows group, where pupils can attend each week if they have any concerns, gives pupils the opportunity to share, with adults, any worries they have. Safeguarding training has been adapted to be very specific to the needs of the school.  Pupils are aware of different types of bullying but say incidents are rare. They say that any

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

concerns, such as name-calling, are sorted out straight away by adults.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are at least good and usually outstanding. They want to do well and listen carefully to adults. Positive relationships are a strength of the school. Adults and pupils treat one another with great respect.  Spirituality is an outstanding feature of the school. One Reception child said that ’the red light in the church showed that God was always there’.  The school council meets regularly and has been officially recognised for its effective work.  Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs are supported very well in small groups. One group made biscuits together to support their social skills and to promote team work.  Pupils arrive on time. Attendance is above average and the school has robust systems in place to support the few pupils who do not always attend well.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher work successfully as a team to improve the school. They have correctly identified the areas to improve and are aware that pupils’ behaviour and safety is a strong feature of the school.  The headteacher knows all the pupils in the school and ensures that they are all cared for well. Staff, senior leaders and governors are united in their determination to constantly improve the school’s performance and provision.  Staff meet regularly to check how well all pupils are doing and to plan support for those pupils needing additional help to reach their targets.  Leaders plan the curriculum carefully, giving pupils the opportunity to enjoy and extend their learning. During the inspection, pupils were enjoying a ‘Forensics Day’, which provided the pupils with exciting opportunities to work together out of the classroom. Residential visits, cooking, cross-stitch and a range of other activities and clubs enhance pupils’ learning even further.

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The leadership and management are good

 All staff know that they are accountable for pupils’ progress and that the effectiveness of their teaching will influence their future pay and career progression. The headteacher and deputy headteacher have systems in place for regular observations of teaching across the school. Lesson observations are helpful but sometimes focus on what the teacher and pupils are doing rather than on the quality of learning and how much progress pupils make. Overall though, the leadership of teaching ensures that its quality continues to improve.  The deputy headteacher has worked alongside staff to support their development and has provided training for teachers to help them continue to develop their skills. She has a planned programme of peer observation across the school to share outstanding practice. One result of this is that children work less formally in the Early Years Foundation Stage. This gives more

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The leadership and management are good

opportunities for them to develop speaking and listening skills.  The school works well in partnership with other schools, the local authority and the Diocese to improve teaching and learning. All leaders use the accurate evaluation of the school’s performance to plan appropriately for improvement. On occasion, the checks on the impact of actions taken to improve pupils’ achievement and the quality of provision lack a degree of rigour.  The school effectively meets statutory requirements relating to safeguarding and equality of opportunity.  The governance of the school:  The governing body ensures that all safeguarding requirements are met. They take an active part in the life of the school. They know the strengths and areas of development for the school. Governors ensure that pupil premium funding is used appropriately to pay for staff, activities and resources to support the learning and progress of eligible pupils.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governing body knows how well pupils are doing through the analysis of national comparative data, and it receives regular updates about the quality of teaching. Governors are fully aware of the effectiveness of performance management and its impact on teaching and learning.

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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 105831 Local authority Rochdale Inspection number 413219

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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 417 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Joanne Harding Headteacher Stephen Callaghan Date of previous school inspection 11 December 2007 Telephone number 01706 642469 Fax number 01706 710404 Email address office@st-vincents.rochdale.sch.uk 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

telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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