Holy Name Catholic Primary School

Holy Name Catholic Primary School Cross Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham, B43 6LN

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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 good because

 Pupils do not make consistently good progress in every year group. Progress is better in Years 5 and 6 and in the Reception class compared with the rest of the school.  Teachers do not all ensure that pupils respond to marking and feedback. As a result, pupils’ work does not improve as quickly as it should.  Teachers do not always give pupils hard enough work in lessons. As a result all pupils do not reach the standards they should.  Leaders do not check the accuracy of teachers’ assessments robustly enough. Leaders’ and teachers’ evaluations of pupils’ progress are not rigorous enough.  Pupils have positive attitudes to learning in classrooms, but their behaviour on the playground is not always acceptable. This means that pupils do not always feel safe at lunchtimes.  Lunchtime staff do not always take action to deal with bad behaviour when it occurs.  Provision in the early years is not good because

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

staff in the Nursery do not consistently deepen or extend children’s understanding.  Staff changes and long absences in recent years have disrupted the quality of teaching and learning, which has had an adverse effect on pupils’ achievement.

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The school has the following strengths

 The headteacher is resilient and has led the school with great determination through its recent staffing difficulties.  Decisive action has been taken to eradicate weak teaching in the last year.  Governors now have clearly identified roles and responsibilities. They have a better understanding of what the school needs to do to achieve better outcomes for its pupils.  Pupils’ spiritual and cultural development is good. They benefit from a broad range of opportunities to learn about other cultures and religions.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited 13 lessons covering all year groups. Six of these were observed with either the headteacher or the deputy headteacher.  Inspectors talked to pupils about their reading and listened to them read, both within lessons and separately.  Meetings were held with pupils, the Chair of the Governing Body and other governors, staff and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors took account of the 62 responses to the online Parent View questionnaire and referred to information from the school about its own survey of parents. They also spoke with some parents and carers.  Inspectors observed the work of the school, looking at a range of documentation. This included an examination of work in pupils’ books.  The school’s child protection and safeguarding procedures were scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Jeremy Bird, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Holy Name is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The early years is made up of two part-time Nursery classes and one full-time Reception class.  The majority of pupils come from White British backgrounds. Other pupils are mostly of Indian, Irish or Caribbean heritage.  Around 5% of pupils are eligible for the pupil premium. This is well below the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and those looked after by the local authority.  At 10%, the proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below the national average.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils’ attainment and progress.  There has been a significant number of staffing changes over the past 18 months. The headteacher joined the school in September 2013.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching and accelerate pupils’ progress in every year group by ensuring that:  teachers use accurate assessments to move pupils in all ability groups quickly on to harder work in lessons  all pupils follow the advice they are given from marking and feedback.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the effectiveness of leadership and management by ensuring that:  pupils’ performance is assessed and recorded accurately  staff use assessment information to accelerate pupils’ progress.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve pupils’ behaviour by making sure all procedures designed to improve behaviour and safety are strictly adhered to by all staff.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Until very recently, school leaders have not had an accurate picture of pupils’ attainment. This led to uncertainty among leaders and staff about the progress pupils have made. For example, teachers’ assessments appeared to show many pupils in Key Stage 1 achieving higher levels than they actually did at the end of the school year in 2013. School leaders did not closely check the accuracy of these assessments.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The way the school checks how quickly pupils were making progress has not always been accurate. This is improving, although accurate assessments are not yet consistent in every year group. School leaders are increasingly more accurate in their analysis of pupil performance data. It is only recently that leaders have started to provide more challenging targets for each pupil to aim for based on accurate knowledge about their current attainment.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has focused on improving the quality of teaching in the school. As a result, inadequate teaching has been eradicated. Weaker teaching is now being tackled but sometimes action is not taken quickly enough. The headteacher is now working with staff and governors to set out a clear strategy for improvement in other areas of the school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The management of teachers’ performance has improved over the past year, and teachers say they value the support and challenge this provides. More accurate information about pupils’ attainment and progress is now available and the headteacher is using this to set more challenging targets for teachers and pupils. The lack of challenging targets previously meant that most pupils did not achieve all that they were capable of.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school is not yet rigorous enough in tackling any form of discrimination or unacceptable behaviour. The school keeps up to date records of all such incidents, but does not ensure that appropriate actions are then taken. In addition, there is insufficient attention given to ensuring that these incidents are not repeated. For example, staff record incidents of name calling but do not always follow these through to reach an effective resolution. This means pupils and staff are not always clear about what sanction will be used if such behaviour is repeated.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has used the pupil premium funding to appoint a child and family support worker, to provide more hours for teaching assistants to work with pupils and to pay for training for staff. Such appointments have helped disadvantaged pupils to make similar progress to other pupils in the school.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has begun to share responsibilities with the other members of the leadership team and leaders are now more effective. For example, inaccurate identification of pupils with special educational needs has now been remedied. The school’s special educational needs coordinator is now very specific in stating why pupils have been identified with special educational needs. Staff working directly with these pupils are skilled and ensure pupils now make typically good progress, particularly in reading and mathematics.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the heart of the school’s work. Their spiritual and cultural development is secure and, in every year group, pupils show how they value differences. In the Reception class children share ideas freely with one another and deepen their understanding of topics as a result.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The school has made very effective use of primary school physical education and sport premium funding to provide a wider range of activities. Specialist coaches have been employed to work with teachers who have improved their teaching of physical education as a result. Additional lunchtime and after-school clubs have been introduced with a significant increase in pupils attending. More pupils now represent the school at competitive events, for example, athletics.  The school works appropriately with the local authority and regular visits from the school adviser are timetabled. During these visits, pupils’ work is scrutinised and lessons are observed. Where weak teaching has been identified, effective action has been taken, resulting in improved performance. The headteacher and local authority representative agree that, while pupils now make better progress, this remains too inconsistent.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The deputy headteacher has led the development of a new curriculum for the school. With the support of senior leaders, she has also listened to the views of pupils and governors and implemented the curriculum in each year group. The school is working appropriately towards full implementation of its preferred approach to assessment following the removal of National Curriculum levels. This is planned to be in place for the start of the new academic year.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher, supported by the governing body, has been determined to improve the quality of teaching and the rates of pupils’ progress. This has led to some staff leaving the school and new staff being appointed. Some long staff absences have disrupted teaching and learning. A more stable staffing structure has been created and leaders are now beginning to see improvement.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The governance of the school:  The governing body is now effective in both challenging and supporting school leaders. Until the start of this year governors have not been rigorous enough in questioning staff about pupils’ performance. The governing body did not previously have sufficiently detailed information about pupils’ progress to effectively challenge leaders and other staff.  The governing body has been restructured, with clear roles distributed amongst its members (for example, to evaluate and report on the impact of pupil premium funding). Specific training for such roles has led to improved leadership. Governors now better understand their roles and have begun to challenge more robustly the information presented to them.  Governors now receive regular, detailed information on the school’s performance and know how well teachers are performing. Governors are beginning to use this knowledge to make decisions about

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The leadership and management requires improvement

teachers’ pay increases, although the previously inaccurate information about pupils’ attainment meant that pay rises were not directly linked to pupils’ progress.  Governors work with school leaders and staff to ensure that tolerance of, and respect for, people of all faiths or none is promoted. School projects allow pupils to learn about world faiths, which helps prepare them for life in modern Britain. Governors realise that lunchtimes are not yet free from discriminatory behaviour, for example, the use of language which some pupils find offensive.  Some parents feel that it is difficult to communicate with school leaders and staff. Governors are aware of this and have worked hard to reassure all parents that they can come and discuss any issues of concern with staff or governors.  The governing body ensures that statutory duties are met, including those relating to pupils’ safeguarding. It ensures it uses the school’s funding, including the pupil premium, effectively.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils requires improvement. Pupils have a good sense of right and wrong but do not always make the right decisions during the lunchtime play period. They do not always show care for each other or for the equipment they use, and this is particularly the case for older boys. For example, while most pupils line up appropriately some boys choose to push in in order to be first in the queue for equipment.

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Behaviour

 Lunchtime supervision is not as effective as it could be, with pupils sometimes allowed to continue behaving badly after being asked to stop. The school’s behaviour policy is not consistently applied. School leaders, including governors, are not rigorous in acting on recorded incidents of poor behaviour. Parents express mixed views about the effectiveness of the school’s approach to ensure pupils behave well.

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Behaviour

 Better behaviour in classrooms contributes well to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils’ behaviour during lunchtime inhibits this development.  Attendance has been above average over the past year. All staff expect and reward good attendance. Parents and pupils understand the importance of this.

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Behaviour

 In each year group everyone’s opinions are given equal consideration. Mutual trust between pupils and staff is evident in every classroom. For example, in the Early Years Foundation Stage children are happy to offer their own ideas knowing that staff will challenge them to think harder by asking probing questions.

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Behaviour

 Pupils usually conduct themselves well in lessons, for example, by supporting classmates when they find the learning difficult. The most-able pupils relish challenging work. They display better attitudes to learning where this challenge takes place.

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Behaviour

 Pupils are keen to contribute to school life. School Council members are elected and meet regularly with the deputy headteacher. They are keen to take on responsible roles, such as monitoring doors at break times.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure requires improvement. Pupils are safe at all times of the school day but some told inspectors that they did not like the behaviour of some pupils at lunchtimes, as it made them feel insecure.

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Safety

 All staff have completed relevant safeguarding training. While the headteacher and governors review school policies and keep them up to date, they do not check that they are implemented consistently or effectively. They are not yet sufficiently aware of pupils’ and parents’ views about safety.

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Safety

 Pupils have a clear understanding of bullying and the different forms it can take, including cyber-bullying. They say that bullying sometimes occurs in their school. Pupils often do not talk to staff about specific incidents, preferring to talk first with their parents. The school has worked hard to encourage pupils to talk with staff immediately in order to resolve issues as soon as they occur.

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Safety

 Pupils are aware of how to keep themselves safe both in and outside school. When using the internet, for example, pupils know what to do if they become concerned. They know the school site is secure and that any visitors are appropriately checked before entering the building.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Until very recently, teachers were not accurate in their assessments of how well pupils were performing or should perform. This lack of clarity around specific expectations resulted in pupils making insufficient progress. Pupils are now making at least the progress they should, with some examples of pupils making better progress than this, for example, in the Reception class and in Year 6.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teachers do not always make sure that pupils move on to harder work quickly enough in lessons. This means they have less time to work on, and learn from, more challenging activities. In mathematics books, for example, pupils in Year 3 repeated work they had already learned and experienced previously when carrying out calculations that had been successfully answered earlier in the term.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The quality of marking and feedback to pupils has improved. Pupils now have clear advice for improvement, both in lessons and through the marking of their work. However they do not always respond to the advice given. This is particularly the case for pupils’ writing. For example, a teacher’s comment clearly stated how the pupil could improve their writing by using specific connectives, but the pupil did not use them in subsequent pieces of work.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of phonics (letters and the sounds they make) is effective, particularly in the Reception class. Pupils apply their phonic skills in their reading through all year groups. Teachers are now making more accurate assessments of pupils’ progress in reading and are using these to ensure they quickly move on to more challenging texts.  Teachers do not always take sufficient account of pupils’ writing skills and often set them work that is too easy. This slows their progress. Where clear improvement points are identified and followed up by the pupils, they make better progress.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 The teaching of mathematics remains too varied. Too much time is spent in many lessons on tasks which are too easy for the pupils. The most effective teaching takes place when teachers and teaching assistants ask probing questions. This makes pupils think harder so they can understanding and gain a deeper understanding of the work. For example, in Year 5, the teacher ensured pupils had a thorough understanding of equivalent fractions before presenting a difficult problem.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 More stable staffing has improved the quality of teaching over the past year. There is no inadequate teaching and weaker teaching is being tackled by the school’s leaders. Pupils enjoy regular homework tasks and a more effective partnership is developing between parents and the school, for example, through the use of reading records.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Adults who support disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs are skilled in both the selection and use of learning activities. These activities are well targeted to support the specific learning needs of this group of pupils, for example in mathematics. Progress is rigorously checked and, as a result, these pupils now make good progress.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Most children join the school in Nursery with skills that are typical for their age. They make expected progress through the early years, with more rapid progress seen in the Reception class. Children leave the Reception year with skills broadly in line with those found nationally. Pupils continue to make the expected progress through Key Stage 1. In Key Stage 2, rates of progress increase in Years 5 and 6, so that pupils leave Year 6 with attainment in English and mathematics that is above the national average.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils are beginning to make up time lost from weaker progress in previous years. They still have some way to go before they will have made good progress from their starting points on entry to the school.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Progress in writing is inconsistent between year groups. Pupils make better progress when they incorporate their new skills when writing independently. Work in pupils’ books shows that this is not always the case.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 From the start of this year in Key Stage 2, pupils’ work shows more examples of good progress. However, their progress is not consistent in every year group and in every subject. Pupils in Year 3 are currently making slower progress in mathematics than in reading or writing, but writing is the stronger subject in Year 6. Pupils from different cultural backgrounds make similar rates of progress to their peers.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The 2014 national test results indicate that pupils attained lower standards at the end of Year 2 than in previous years. This was due to leaders ensuring accurate assessments were reported at the end of Key Stage 1.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Disadvantaged pupils make similar rates of progress to their peers. In 2014, there were too few such pupils in Year 6 to comment on their attainment without risk of identifying individual pupils.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 In 2014, boys made better progress in mathematics than girls. Current rates of progress are similar for both groups. In Key Stage 1 better progress is seen in mathematics than in other subjects.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 The most-able pupils in each year group are not set challenging enough work and so they do not make the progress of which they are capable. However, this group typically make better progress than their classmates. In Year 6, for example, during a mathematics lesson the most-able pupils were presented with challenging work which led them to explore algebraic expressions. They were keen to explore possible solutions to problems setting out different number patterns.  The current progress of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is good. The specific learning needs of individual pupils are now better identified and staff then draw up clear action plans. These are monitored by the school’s leader and the evaluations are used to plan subsequent work.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Pupils enjoy reading and are now making at least expected progress through Key Stage 2. In the early years children make good progress in their understanding of phonics.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Nursery staff are not rigorous in ensuring they gather sufficient evidence of children’s skills in the early weeks when starting school. As a result, staff do not teach specific skills quickly enough to the children so that they can make the good and better progress of which they are capable.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 In the Nursery class, assessments of children’s learning take place regularly, but the information produced is not analysed sufficiently by leaders and staff to improve individual children’s progress. Staff quickly and accurately assess children when they arrive in the Reception class. The progress of each child is closely monitored, with plans and targets adapted to reflect each child’s learning. As a result, children of all abilities make better progress through the Reception year.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children in the Nursery and Reception classes are very well cared for and kept safe at all times. They are curious and keen to learn. Their behaviour is consistently good. They learn their daily routines well and listen carefully to guidance about their learning.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Parents contribute by providing staff with information about their child’s interests and progress outside of school. Parents talk about how this communication helps their children’s learning.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is supported very well in the early years. Children express opinions and choices freely, and are encouraged to do so. Staff are skilled in developing the children’s interests.

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The early years provision requires improvement

 Children are well prepared for the Year 1 curriculum. A good example can be seen in their secure knowledge of phonics, with pupils using this knowledge to achieve well in the Year 1 phonic screening check.

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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 103996 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 448267

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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 216 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Ralph Lloyd Headteacher Andrew Neenan Date of previous school inspection 24 September 2009 Telephone number 0121 357 3216 Fax number 0121 358 5523 Email address headteacher@holyname.sandwell.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

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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