St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School

St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School Tewkesbury Close, Burleigh Road, Nottingham, NG2 5NH

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected - This inspection: Inadequate 4 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Inadequate 4

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This is a school that has serious weaknesses

 Leadership at all levels is inadequate because evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses lacks rigour and is inaccurate. This is having a direct impact on the quality of teaching.  The targets set for teachers to improve their work are inadequate; teachers are not held to account rigorously for the progress of all their pupils.  Systems to analyse pupils’ progress are not well developed. Data on pupils' progress are not consistently reliable; consequently, work is not planned at the right level for all pupils.  The most-able pupils do not make rapid and sustained progress, particularly in writing, and they do not reach the highest levels in English by the end of Key Stage 2.  The progress pupils make in writing in Key 2 is too slow.  Teachers’ marking is inconsistent and does not give pupils sufficient guidance to improve their work.  Governance is inadequate because governors are not fully aware of the school’s weaknesses.

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This is a school that has serious weaknesses

Governors do not have a systematic approach to finding out for themselves about the quality of education in the school. Consequently, they are unable to offer a robust challenge to school leaders about the quality of their work.  Governors do not have a sufficiently strong and transparent system for linking the pay progression of teachers to their performance management.

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The school has the following strengths

 Pupils are respectful and courteous. They reflect the caring values and beliefs of the school.  The spiritual, moral, social and cultural provision is strong.  Pupils attain the expected standards in English and mathematics by the time they leave Year 6.  Pupils have many opportunities to develop their knowledge of the world around them.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 21 lessons or parts of lessons. Five lessons were observed jointly with the acting headteacher and the deputy headteacher. In addition, an inspector heard a group of Year 1 pupils reading. A brief visit was made to a dance lesson being taught by a visiting dance company.  Separate meetings were conducted with governors, senior and middle leaders and two groups of pupils. Further meetings were held with the Chair of South Nottingham Catholic Academy Trust and the Director and Deputy Director of Education for Nottingham Roman Catholic Diocesan Education Service. An inspector also interviewed a group of parents; a number of parents were asked their views of the school in the playground.  The 149 responses to the online questionnaire Parent View were taken into account. Inspectors also took into account 15 staff questionnaires, four emails from parents sent directly to the inspection provider and 16 letters handed to inspectors during the inspection.

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Information about this inspection

 The school’s documentation was reviewed. These included the school’s improvement plan, a self-evaluation report, information about current pupils’ progress, arrangements for safeguarding and records of attendance. Performance management documents and governing body minutes were reviewed.

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Inspection team

Jan Connor, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Julia Wright Her Majesty’s Inspector John Taylor Additional Inspector

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005 (as amended), Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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Information about this school

 This school is a larger than average primary school.  There are two classes in each year group from Reception to Year 6.  The proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil premium is well below the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children who are looked after by the local authority and other groups.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is well below average.  The largest group of pupils is from White British families. The proportion of pupils speaking English as an additional language or coming from minority ethnic groups is below average.  The school meets the government’s floor standards, which sets the minimum expectations for

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Information about this school

pupils’ attainment and progress.  The substantive headteacher is absent from school and was absent during the inspection.  The Chair of the Governing Body is absent. An acting Chair has been in post since 20 January 2014.  The school has been supported by a headteacher from a local school in the role of acting headteacher since 8 January 2014.  St Edmund Campion Catholic Primary School converted to become an academy school on 1 September 2011. When its predecessor school, of the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be outstanding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better by ensuring that:  teachers use accurate information about pupils’ attainment and progress to plan lessons that meet the needs of the most-able pupils, particularly in writing  teachers’ marking provides all pupils with high quality feedback, so that pupils know exactly what they need to do improve their work and they respond to marking by making corrections or extending their work, in order to increase the progress they make  pupils have increased opportunities to use their writing targets across all subjects in order to improve their ability to apply their developing skills more accurately  teachers have training and development focused on meeting the needs of the most-able pupils.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Provide for the most-able pupils so that they make rapid progress and reach the higher levels in English by:  ensuring work is challenging enough to raise achievement further in reading and writing so that more pupils reach level 6  tracking this group of pupils more closely and acting quickly to address any underachievement across Key Stage 2.  Improve the quality of leadership and management at all levels by:  developing a strong culture of checking the quality of teaching and learning rigorously so that leaders have a more accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses  ensuring performance management targets for all leaders and teachers are robust and that targets are focused on improving the quality of teaching and the progress of all pupils  ensuring senior and middle leaders’ plans for improvement are linked carefully to ambitious and measureable outcomes  ensuring processes for tracking pupils’ progress are used more systematically to hold teachers

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

to account  improving the effectiveness of the governing body by ensuring governors check the quality of leaders’ work more rigorously so that they are able to challenge underperformance quickly  ensuring that governors develop a more robust system for linking pay progression to the performance management of teachers and school leaders so that they are able to assess the quality of teaching and leadership more accurately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

Ofsted has made recommendations for action on governance to the authority responsible for the school.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 While the proportions of pupils making or exceeding expected progress is in line with national averages in mathematics and English, not enough of the most-able pupils reach the higher levels they are capable of by the end of Key Stage 2. All pupils attained levels, at the end of Key Stage 2 in 2013, which were at least in line with national expectations.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children join the school with levels of skills, knowledge and experience above those typical for their age. They make good progress in the Reception classes and, in 2013, the proportions of children achieving and exceeding the expected early learning goals were well above those seen nationally. Children in Reception achieve particularly well in developing their phonic skills and this supports the good progress they make in reading and writing. Children also develop sound mathematical skills. They are well prepared for the next stage in their learning.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils’ attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 is significantly above the national average in English and mathematics. Many pupils achieve the higher levels, particularly in reading. However, this high attainment is not converted to the highest levels at the end of Key Stage 2; no pupil achieved a level 6 in reading and only one pupil in writing in 2013. Too few of these most able pupils are making good or better progress across Key Stage 2.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In the phonics check carried out at the end of Year 1, a high proportion of pupils achieved the national expectation for six-year olds. This reflects the good progress they make in Reception and Year 1. Pupils develop good independent reading skills and, across the school, they enjoy reading a wide range of books.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils make inconsistent progress in English and mathematics across the school. In reading, pupils’ progress is consistently good in most classes. However, in mathematics, the picture varies between classes and year groups, with pupils making good progress in some classes but not in others. In writing, progress for most pupils is weaker; in a few classes in Key Stage 2 it is inadequate. There are no consistent differences between boys’ and girls’ progress in mathematics and English.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The most-able pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school does not track their progress closely enough and, in Key Stage 2, teachers do not plan work that is sufficiently challenging. Progress in writing is inconsistent and slows considerably by the time these pupils reach upper Key Stage 2.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 There is a small group of pupils supported by the pupil premium; they generally make progress that is similar to their peers and where there are gaps they are narrowing.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make similar progress to their peers. Sometimes they make even better progress. Provision for pupils with physical disabilities is good. However, procedures for identifying and raising concerns about pupils with other special needs are weaker; provision for these pupils is not as strong.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because not enough of it is good and it does not secure consistently good progress for all pupils. No outstanding teaching was seen during the inspection.  Teachers do not plan well for the most-able pupils. They are not sufficiently aware of the level of challenge needed to ensure that these pupils make rapid and sustained progress. Systems for alerting teachers to pupils who are falling behind their targets are under-developed and teachers do not have enough information to ensure they plan successfully for this group.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In the more effective lessons, teachers set work which is not too hard or too easy. Teachers regularly check pupils’ understanding and alter their approach to ensure the pace of learning continues briskly. In a Year 5 lesson, the teacher used a film to stimulate pupils to use their senses, supporting them to develop their writing skills effectively.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 In less successful lessons, activities are not pitched correctly for all groups. In these lessons, the pace of learning slows and learning time is not used well. Pupils are not clear about what they are learning. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to develop their literacy and numeracy skills at the appropriate levels in all subjects.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of writing requires improvement because pupils, particularly the most able, who are insufficiently challenged, particularly in Key Stage 2. Pupils do not use their targets for improvement every time they write in other subjects and this is hindering their progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 There is too much variability in the standard of marking. While teachers regularly mark pupils’ work to tell them if it is ‘good’, marking does not routinely provide areas for improvement that pupils can address to enable them to make faster progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers encourage pupils to read widely and often. Pupils enjoy reading and they read for different purposes across the curriculum. In one class, pupils were able to talk about their favourite authors in detail and could explain why they enjoyed reading their books. Other pupils were using their reading skills to gain knowledge about different foods whilst learning about India.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage is good. Teachers quickly assess children’s skills, understanding and interests so that they can be purposefully engaged in a range of teacher-led and independently chosen activities, helping them to make good progress.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They have excellent attitudes to learning. Despite the fact that teaching is not always as engaging as it should be, pupils continue to demonstrate a willingness to cooperate and engage in the tasks set for them in lessons. Pupils want to work together and support their teachers.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils are courteous, polite and well mannered. They are respectful to strangers and proud of their school. The values and beliefs of the school are seen in the care with which pupils and adults treat each other. Pupils play safely together and have a clear understanding of how the school rewards good behaviour. Older pupils take care of younger pupils responsibly. Pupils’ behaviour around school is calm and orderly.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to Parent View, or who spoke with inspectors, were positive about the care their children receive so that they are happy and safe in school.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Pupils say bullying incidents do occur sometimes, but they are confident that adults will resolve these quickly. Pupils know about the different types of bullying including cyber bullying and racist name-calling. Pupils have received training to manage different types of bullying. However, leaders could not demonstrate how incidents of bullying are recorded or whether parents are informed of what happens to resolve incidents between pupils. Only half the parents who responded to Parent View agree that the school deals with bullying well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Attendance at the school is above average.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Leadership and management are inadequate because the leaders of the school do not have an accurate and secure picture of the school’s strengths and weaknesses. Systems for checking the quality of teaching are poor. Senior leaders do not check work going on in classrooms frequently enough to identify areas for improvement. During the autumn term 2013, no lessons were observed at all. This has resulted in weaknesses in teaching and slower progress for pupils.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Systems for managing teachers’ performance are inadequate. They do not place enough emphasis on improving the quality of teaching in accordance with the National Teachers’ Standards. Many performance management targets focus on what teachers and leaders will do, and not how they will deliver better outcomes for all pupils.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Leaders’ self-evaluation lacks rigour. They hold an over-generous view of the quality of their work to improve outcomes for pupils. Systems for checking the quality of the school’s work are weak.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The system for tracking pupils’ progress is relatively new but leaders are developing a better understanding of the progress pupils make. Areas for improvement are identified; for example, the slower progress in writing. However, leaders do not act quickly enough to address these weaknesses. This is particularly true for the most-able pupils who are not tracked as a group at all. Consequently, they are not challenged appropriately to increase their progress.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Although leaders have an improvement plan, which correctly identifies some areas for development, it is weak. Opportunities for governors to check the quality of leaders’ work are not identified and the plan is not effectively costed, making it difficult for governors to track how money is spent. The plan does not have enough quantifiable and measureable targets for governors to hold senior leaders successfully to account for their work.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Middle leaders and subject leaders do not have a secure understanding of the progress pupils make. This is because they have too few opportunities to check the quality of teaching in their subjects. Although they use the new tracking system for measuring pupils' progress, and have an overview of areas for development, they do not act quickly enough to check the impact of their work on improving the outcomes for pupils.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Sports funding is used well to bring in professional coaches to work with every class in the school. The programme includes many different sports disciplines and ensures all pupils do something they enjoy. Teachers observe the high-quality physical education with their classes. They receive professional development at the same time so that they are better able to deliver effective coaching in the future. This funding has also been used to buy equipment to improve pupils’ fitness.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The curriculum has strengths in the range of activities and topics for study provided to engage and enhance pupils’ learning. Sporting, cultural and musical opportunities, such as taking part in inter-school sports competitions and learning about the story of Rama and Sita through dance, are strong. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, cultural, and social development is well promoted.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 Not all parents are confident that the school is well led and managed. Parents, who expressed less positive views, spoke of a lack of confidence that the school would respond positively to their comments.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The acting headteacher has begun to address some of the weaknesses in the systems for checking the quality of the school’s work. Although she is acting quickly the endemic weaknesses remain; the variations in teaching mean that not all pupils have an equal opportunity to succeed.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The South Nottingham Catholic Academy Trust provides the school with support through shared resources such as educational welfare support. A member of the Trust sits on the school’s governing body to support governors in challenging school leaders to demonstrate the quality of their work. The Chair of the Trust recommended a review of the governing body’s work to improve its effectiveness.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The school may not appoint newly qualified teachers.

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The leadership and management are inadequate

 The governance of the school:  The governing body received regular reports from the headteacher about the work of the school. Governors do offer some challenge about the information they receive. However, they were too reliant on advisers’ records and the headteacher’s reports and have accepted her view on the quality of education at the school without checking for themselves that this view was accurate. Governors do not fully understand the school’s strengths and weaknesses.  The governors’ function within the school improvement plan is unclear; therefore they are unable to fulfil their role in setting the strategic direction for the school. Although governors come into school for visits, these are not planned strategically or linked with school improvement actions. This makes governors ineffective in holding senior leaders to account for the work they do.  Governors do not use performance management systems well to improve the quality of

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The leadership and management are inadequate

teaching, leadership and management. Consequently, they are ineffective in assessing the quality of teaching accurately and holding teachers to account for their work.  A review of governance took place in July 2013. Governors have completed a skills audit, and are awaiting the analysis of this audit. However, not all the recommendations from the review have been fully implemented yet.

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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 137428 Local authority N/A Inspection number 442928

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School details

This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Academy converter Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 414 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Nick Longhurst (Acting Chair) Chris Hoban (Chair) Headteacher Moira Dales (Acting Headteacher) Dorothy Longley (Headteacher) Date of previous school inspection N/A Telephone number 0115 9147889 Fax number 0115 9147899 Email address office@st-edmundcampion.notts.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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