St Margaret's Catholic Primary

St Margaret's Catholic Primary Glossop Road, Glossop, SK13 6JH

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Overall effectiveness

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

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

 Pupils do not make consistently good progress as they move through the school.  Some pupils lack confidence in speaking and describing things in detail.  Younger pupils do not make enough progress in recognising letters and the sounds they make (phonics) to work out new words or understand what they mean. This hinders the progress they make in developing good reading skills.  Older pupils do not solve mathematical problems quickly or with confidence.  The attendance of pupils is below national averages.  Teaching is sometimes not sufficiently strong to bridge the gaps in pupils’ previous learning.  Staff do not always ensure that work is challenging for those of different ages and abilities within the class.  Time is sometimes not used well in activities for the younger pupils, including those in the Early Years Foundation Stage, to ensure that the curriculum is exciting and challenging.  Pupils’ attitudes to learning are not always positive.

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

Some do not push themselves to answer questions and work their hardest.  Staff with specific responsibilities do not carry out sufficient checks in key areas. Whole-school assessment procedures are being developed but information about pupils’ progress is not shared well enough to inform the planning of learning.  Although governance has strengths, governors do not always check areas for which they hold responsibility in a sufficiently rigorous manner to identify what action needs to be taken to ensure improvement.  Leaders, managers and governors have made some impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement, but improvement has not been consistently good.

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The school has the following strengths

 The process of improvement has already started in the school. The newly appointed executive headteacher, with governors’ support, has a clear grasp of what works well and where improvement is needed.  Recent monitoring of teaching is accurate and rightly identifies strengths and weaknesses.  Teaching in Key Stage 2 is usually effective and enables pupils to achieve standards that overall are close to national averages.  Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage settle happily to school routines; pupils across the school say they like being there.  Pupils’ understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe is good. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well supported through the school’s caring ethos.  Parents are pleased with the quality of care provided for their children and the ‘family atmosphere’ in the school.

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Information about this inspection

 The lead inspector observed parts of seven lessons. Several of these were carried out jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with pupils, the executive headteacher, the Early Years Foundation Stage leader, staff with responsibility for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs, and the literacy leader.  The lead inspector spoke to members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority jointly with the lead inspector of the partner school.  There were not enough responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) to be reported. The inspector spoke to several parents at the start of the inspection. The inspector also took account of 11 responses to the staff questionnaire.  The inspector looked at the work in pupils’ books and heard several pupils read. She scrutinised a number of documents, including the school’s own information about pupils’ learning and progress. She also took

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Information about this inspection

account of documents and records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Sue Hall, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 St Margaret’s Catholic is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of pupils who are eligible for the pupil premium, which in this school provides additional funding for those known to be eligible for free school meals, is well above the national average.  The large majority of pupils are of White British heritage.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The school’s attainment of the government’s current floor standards cannot be reported because there were too few pupils involved and, therefore, evaluation would be statistically unreliable. (Floor standards are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress in English and mathematics in Key Stage 2.)

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Information about this school

 The school formally entered a hard federation with All Saints Catholic Primary in April 2014, having worked with that school for some time and with a shared executive headteacher for the last two years. Both schools share the same governing body.  A new executive headteacher was recently appointed and took up the position in September 2014. The Early Years Foundation Stage leader, who is also assistant headteacher, is now based in the partner school. The new headteacher currently shares the role of special educational needs coordinator with another member of staff.  Children join the early years provision shortly after their third birthday and attend for morning sessions only where they work alongside Reception-age children. These older children then work with Key Stage 1 pupils in the afternoons. Both classes are currently taught by temporary staff. The leader is now based in the partner school but also works as mentor, and provides support, for newly qualified staff in this school.

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Information about this school

 Pupils in Year 6 are currently taught in this school together with the Year 6 pupils from the partner school. The Year 6 pupils were out of school on the first day of the inspection on a pre-arranged visit.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensure that teaching is consistently effective by:  checking that all activities contain a good level of challenge for those of different ages and abilities so that all groups of pupils make more rapid progress  making sure that activities for younger pupils are securely based on the development of key skills and that time is used well to support learning through imaginative and challenging activities.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Accelerate the rate of progress made and raise achievement further by:  providing more planned and informal opportunities for pupils to discuss their ideas with others in order to widen their vocabulary and develop their confidence in speaking to others  checking that pupils improve their knowledge of letters and sounds and have regular opportunities to practise and develop their reading skills to a higher level  ensuring that pupils develop the ability to use the information they have to solve mathematical problems speedily and accurately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership of the school by: – extending the role of senior staff and subject leaders in regularly checking the progress all groups of pupils make and using such information to provide challenging learning activities – making sure that the checks made by governors in the areas for which they hold responsibility are regular, rigorous and evaluative – working more closely with parents to improve the attendance of pupils.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Leadership and management require improvement because, currently, the school does not provide consistently effective teaching. Consequently, the progress made by pupils over time is too variable.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 School self-evaluation, which is based on dated information, requires improvement because evaluation of performance is too generous and not focused sufficiently on what data indicates about progress. Senior leaders recognise that checks on the work of the school and assessments of attainment and progress have not always led to marked improvement. The school is still developing its preferred approach to assessment and is maintaining judging levels of pupils’ work for the time being. There are already plans for a rigorous review of assessments of attainment on entry to the school, checks of phonic skills in Year 1 and all key areas in Year 2.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 There have been very recent changes in roles and responsibilities with the Early Years Foundation Stage leader now based in the partner school. Leaders are now considering how best to support temporary staff at this school, including by review of the planning of learning so as to ensure a better balance of child- chosen and teacher-led activities.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The role of special educational needs coordinator is currently being shared with the aim of building on the experiences of a former post holder. Subject leaders work with colleagues in a supportive role, including planning for the new curriculum. However, they do not have a strong grasp of what the data tells them about progress and have had limited opportunities to work alongside colleagues to improve teaching.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The management of teachers’ performance requires improvement. Targets are linked to school priorities and based on the standards achieved. However, targets have not always been challenging enough to ensure better progress and this has not enabled pupils, including the more able or, potentially, the most able to achieve all they can.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 There are some developing strengths in school leadership building on the start made in the last two years. School leaders and governors have a clear vision for the school and are determined to take steps towards securing this vision of better teaching and achievement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 School leaders are well supported by the local authority, which rightly recognises this as a priority school which is causing concern. A good level of support has been provided to senior staff and governors to enable them to identify what must be improved. This support has made an impact in some areas with a rise in the standards achieved in Key Stage 2. Other adjustments have been hampered by staff changes and absence.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The newly appointed executive headteacher has made an effective start by correctly identifying features of the work of the school that are successful and others that require improvement. Plans have quickly been applied to review key areas but changes are at a very early stage and not yet impacting sufficiently on progress.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The executive headteacher has a strong grasp of what makes teaching good. In joint lesson observations with the inspector, his evaluations of the effectiveness of what was observed were entirely accurate, thoughtful and well considered. This understanding provides a firm foundation for future monitoring work and improved teaching and learning.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Additional funding, such as the pupil premium, is used to ensure that pupils have equal access to activities, including school visits. Recent information, as yet not validated nationally, indicates the gaps between the attainment of different groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, have narrowed. The primary school physical education and sports funding is used to employ sports coaches. Consequently, the range of out-of-school activities has increased, with the aim of developing competitive sports with other schools and improving pupils’ health and well-being.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The curriculum is broad and balanced and helps to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain. Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted through revised curriculum opportunities, including finding out more about other religions. Pupils’ spiritual development is successfully fostered, including through family assemblies with parents attending to see their children praised for their efforts.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Parents are pleased with the care provided by the school for their children. They have noted that the new headteacher is more accessible to them. They believe this will help develop communications further. With the many recent changes, the school is now in a stronger position to move forwards.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school: - The governing body has undertaken a lot of work in the last two years to develop links with the partner school leading to successful formal federation and the amalgamation of the two separate governing bodies earlier this year. A new Chair and Vice-Chair of the Governing Body were appointed and a new committee structure put in place. There is now a minimum number of full meetings but a good number of governors visit to observe the work of the school. - Committee meetings are held to discuss aspects of the school’s work and governors have an understanding of what the data tells them about pupils’ attainment and progress. Governors are now in a stronger position to challenge leaders about the school’s performance. - Governors are informed about the performance management of staff. No additional payments to staff have been made recently because pupils’ progress has been patchy. School finances are monitored and

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The leadership and management requires improvement

governors identify the impact of additional funding, including for the pupil premium. - Governors have not yet set up a regular and rigorous series of checks of all areas for which they hold responsibility. This has meant that some policies have not been reviewed recently and, for example, the checks on adults’ suitability to work with children, while completed, have not been collated or checked. The school’s website requires further development. - Health and safety checks have been low-key. However, when such issues are identified, governors take rapid action and the school now meets the current requirements to provide a safe environment for all.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Too many of them do not join in to improve their skills. This means that they do not develop the confidence to explain their ideas or speak to others in a range of situations. The work in pupils’ books shows that, sometimes, they do not push themselves and produce much work, although the standard of their presentation in their books improved over the last year.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 In lessons, most pupils behave correctly and several have positive attitudes to learning. However, some pupils throughout the school do not try hard. In many discussions and as shown in a whole-school assembly, while a few pupils of all abilities readily volunteer their ideas, most simply wait for others to do this and make limited efforts to join in.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Attendance is below national averages and has been so for several years. This is in part because of the taking of holidays in term time. The new leadership team have clear plans to monitor this for specific groups to identify the impact on pupils’ attitudes to school and their learning. The intention is to remind pupils and parents of the importance of regular attendance.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement. Procedures to check the suitability of adults to work with the children are fully completed but information has not been organised well. School premises are secure. Similarly, the school has not always recorded any follow-up work done to improve attendance.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils have a reasonable understanding of how to keep themselves safe. They know that bullying is a repeated and deliberate action and recognise different types of bullying that could occur, including cyber- bullying. They readily recognise the dangers of social media. They know that they should not call other people names and recognise the use of words such as ‘gay’ are often not appropriate. Pupils are confident that little bullying occurs in school and that there are people to talk to should they have any worries. There have been no recent exclusions.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils recognise that the school helps them to learn how to keep safe, including through holding an anti- bullying week. They also accept their responsibilities to help keep others safe, including younger pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because there is too much variability in quality over time with some aspects that are weak, leading to very mixed progress. Currently, this is particularly the case for the children in the early years provision and Key Stage 1.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Where teaching is ineffective, the planning of activities is not strong enough to ensure that pupils are challenged and engaged in what they are doing. For example, where staff focus on one small group, the other pupils have too much ‘choosing time’ where there are few apparent links to the development of key speaking, reading, writing or counting skills. This lack of challenge and inadequate use of time serve to allow some pupils to avoid participation in the learning and simply wait for others to do something.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Another key reason why teaching is sometimes ineffective is that systems to assess pupils’ attainment and progress and the use of information gathered are not used well enough to set really challenging work for different groups. The sample of work seen during the inspection shows that where work is challenging, the pupils make better progress. On too many occasions the tasks set are the same or very similar for all pupils in mixed aged and ability classes. This approach does not promote best progress – including for the more-able pupils.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Staff have varied skills in explaining or demonstrating to pupils how to improve their work. This was seen when, in a painting activity, staff did not show pupils how to apply paint and then use rollers to create a seascape effect. Similarly, the skills of the youngest children were not moved forwards when teaching assistants focused more on tidying resources rather than on using questions to prompt imagination.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of pupils in Key Stage 2 is generally better, and good in Year 6. Here staff have higher expectations of what the pupils can achieve and activities are well planned. Teaching and support staff use questions well here to prompt pupils to provide more detail in their answers. For example, when Year 6 were planning their reports of the previous day’s visit to an environment centre, the regular use of simple prompts, such as, ‘And what else?’ encouraged them to add more detail and gain confidence in speaking.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 A key improvement in the last year has been in the marking of pupils’ work. This is done regularly and carefully, and identifies areas for pupils to improve. The sample of work seen shows that these points are then referred to again in subsequent marking and so make an impact on improving pupils’ skills. This practice has had a beneficial impact on the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills and on raising standards.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The very small numbers of pupils in some year groups make year-on-year comparisons of different groups very difficult to ensure accurate evaluation. In order not to identify individuals, some comparisons are not reported.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The progress pupils make as they move through the school requires improvement because in some classes progress is not consistently good, even though in other classes it is better. The standards reached by pupils in Year 6 in the most recent national tests were above the national average in reading and writing but lower in mathematics.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children enter the Nursery with a range of experiences and with skills that are generally below what is expected for their age. This is particularly evident in speaking and listening, with several children having limited communication skills. They currently make progress that requires improvement overall, but records indicate it has previously been better. Some children reach the early learning goals expected when they leave the early years provision, while others do not.  In Year 1 national checks, pupil’s knowledge of letters and sounds they make (phonics) is well-below average. The school recognises this has not improved recently and leaders are actively reviewing how to raise expectations and increase the pace of progress made from Nursery onwards.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In Key Stage 1, pupils do not make consistently good progress. In recent years, standards at the end of Year 2 have been significantly below what is typical for their age and, although improved slightly in 2014, standards were still below the latest national averages in all main areas.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 No pupils in Year 2 have been identified as achieving better than the national average in reading for some years and in 2013 none achieved above the average in any area. The sample of these pupils’ work shows a range of abilities and some now working at the higher levels. The school has already begun to rigorously review its assessment procedures.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Standards in Key Stage 2 are close to the national average overall. They rose in 2014 in reading and writing to be above the latest national averages in reading and writing, although in mathematics standards were lower. While most pupils have a secure understanding of numbers and shapes they lack the confidence to discuss their ideas or solve mathematical problems speedily.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Overall, progress in Key Stage 2 is still not yet consistently good and some pupils are catching up on previous years. Therefore, achievement still requires improvement. Good progress was, however, seen in Year 6 pupils’ books from last year and when current pupils planned an account of the visit they had made the previous day. Through well-structured questions, they worked together to produce a checklist of the features of their accounts and then used these to produce their reports.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Most groups of pupils make similar progress to their classmates and boys and girls achieve equally. Pupils entitled to support from pupil premium funding have previously been around a year behind their classmates in reading, writing and mathematics. In 2014, the gap narrowed and was close to that of other pupils in the school and to the latest comparative data on the performance of all pupils nationally.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs make similar progress to that of other groups.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 No pupils are identifiable as ‘most able’. None reach the highest levels in their work at least in part because teaching does not consistently challenge them to produce their best work. Those identified as more able achieve in line with other groups.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 It is not possible to fully evaluate the impact of the primary school physical education and sports funding on developing healthy lifestyles as activities could not be observed during the inspection. However, staff and governors indicate benefits from a greater uptake of after-school activities following the employment of sports coaches.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Leadership, management and teaching require improvement. The checks on provision have not identified current weaknesses in planning of learning and teaching for the children. The balance of activities between adult-led and child-chosen activities is currently not effective, with too much ‘choosing time’ and too little development of key literacy and numeracy skills. For example, while some older children work with the staff, the younger ones choose anything they would like to play with and with no apparent link to a theme or the development of early reading, writing or counting skills.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 On entry, children’s skills are often below the expectation for their ages in key areas, including their speaking and listening. Data on progress indicate that in the last year children, including disabled children and those with special educational needs and the more able, achieved well and were prepared for the next stage of education. Currently, the progress they make is less secure and requires improvement.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children settle happily to school routines. The provision contributes adequately to their physical development with many opportunities to ride tricycles and play vehicles. Children manoeuvre these well around the marked area outdoors, although this is not always well supervised. Their emotional development and spiritual, moral, social and cultural developmental needs are met well through lots of opportunities to work with other children and to join in whole-school activities, including family assemblies.

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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 failing

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Grade Judgement Description

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 112911 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 448992

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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 3–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 47 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Martin O'Connell Headteacher David Hickey (Executive Headteacher) Date of previous school inspection 6 November 2012 Telephone number 01457 855818 Fax number N/A Email address info@allsaintsrc.derbyshire.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 and 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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