St Monica's RC Primary School

School report St Monica's RC Primary School

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 School leaders, including governors, communicate high expectations and ambition for the school. The headteacher, ably supported by other senior staff, provides strong and effective leadership.  The quality of teaching is typically good and sometimes outstanding. Lessons are often exciting and pupils enjoy learning.  Achievement is outstanding. Pupils make rapid progress across the school and, by the end of Key Stage 2, reach standards that are significantly above national averages in reading, writing and mathematics.  The wide range of subjects that are taught at the school encourages a love of learning. As a result, pupils excel not only in academic subjects but also in sport, music and the arts.  The school both values and promotes cultural and religious diversity. Regular cultural, sporting and musical events are held in school and these contribute to the outstanding provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Behaviour and safety are outstanding. Pupils and parents and carers are rightly proud of their school and everybody gets on extremely well with each other. Pupils feel safe when in school and are cared for extremely well.  The Early Years Foundation Stage is led and managed well. Children make good progress.  Parents value the school’s work. A very large majority of parents believe that the school is well led and managed and that pupils are taught well and make good progress.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because:

 Teaching is not outstanding in all year groups. In some lessons pupils, particularly those of lower ability, do not make as rapid progress as their peers.  Middle leaders are not yet actively involved in checking and managing the improvement of teaching.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed teaching in 17 lessons.  Inspectors looked at pupils’ work, listened to pupils read and talked with them about their progress in reading. They also observed an assembly, and pupils practising for a musical production.  Inspectors held meetings with members of the governing body, staff and pupils. They also met with a representative of the local authority.  School assessment data, self-evaluation information, procedures for teachers’ performance management and the school’s improvement plan were scrutinised.  Inspectors took account of the 126 responses to Parent View, the online parent questionnaire. They also considered the 31 responses made to a staff questionnaire.  Inspectors scrutinised policies and procedures for the safeguarding of pupils.

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Inspection team

Paul Tomkow, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Christine Alexander Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 St Monica’s is larger than the average sized primary school. There are two classes in each year group.  Children in the Reception class attend full time.  The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average.  Around two fifths of the school’s population are from minority ethnic groups.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is average.  The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium is well below the national average. This is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible to receive free school meals and those in local authority care.  The school meets the government’s current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 6.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that more is outstanding by ensuring that:  all teachers regularly provide a good level of challenge for all pupils, particularly those of lower ability  all teachers provide effective feedback for pupils on how to improve their work.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership by developing the role of middle leaders in checking and improving the quality of teaching.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher provides highly effective leadership. Along with other school leaders she has created a culture in which good and outstanding teaching can flourish and pupils can achieve the highest levels. A very large majority of parents rightly believe that the school is well led and managed.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school does not achieve its success by focusing solely on English and mathematics. The school provides an exciting curriculum for pupils to study. A wide range of subjects is taught and inspectors saw high-quality work in areas such as science, history and geography. Computing is also taught effectively. Pupils were seen using software to design and create a range of programs.

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The leadership and management are good

 Music and performing arts are also strengths of the school, and regularly used to support and enhance learning. During this inspection, pupils in Year 3 were seen performing a play relating to their history topic on the Romans. Older pupils were also seen practising for their end of year production. The quality of singing was excellent and pupils spoke with clarity and confidence.

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The leadership and management are good

 Provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. The school systematically celebrates the many cultures represented by the pupils and parents of the school and teaches pupils well about major world faiths. The school’s excellent curriculum promotes respect and tolerance and helps pupils to understand the principles of democracy. As a result, pupils develop into responsible, self-confident, young adults who are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are good

 Good systems are in place to monitor and appraise teachers’ performance. Systems are thorough and there is a clear link between performance and pay.

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The leadership and management are good

 Middle leaders are new to their role. They have received good training and support and are keen to make a bigger contribution to the school’s improvement. However, they are not yet playing an active role in checking on the progress that pupils are making or helping other teachers to improve.

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders have ensured that the school’s early years provision is effective. However, they recognise that further improvements are required in order for this area of the school to be outstanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. The vast majority of those who responded to Parent View, the online parent questionnaire, believe that the school is well led and managed. Staff who responded to the Ofsted questionnaire were also fully supportive of the school’s leadership team.

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders recognise that in some year groups, rates of progress are sometimes slower than others and this prevents some pupils, particularly those of lower ability, from making as rapid progress as their peers. As a result, the school itself judges teaching and leadership to be good rather than outstanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 School leaders have ensured that there are good systems in place to keep pupils safe and secure. All members of staff are trained in identifying pupils who are at risk of harm.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has made highly effective use of the additional funding it receives to support the teaching of physical education. Additional resources have been purchased for use during lessons, and training and support have been provided for teachers. This has led to a big increase in pupils’ participation in a wider range of sports and competitions and all pupils now have the opportunity to attend an after-school club at some point during each week.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority provides light-touch support to this effective school. Nevertheless, the school values the training that the local authority provides and the support networks that are in place for subject leaders. The local authority recently arranged for early years staff to visit a local school to observe outstanding practice and staff from St Monica’s are also supporting the teaching of science in local schools.  The governance of the school:  Governance of the school is highly effective. Governors bring a wide range of expertise and experience to their roles. They have a comprehensive understanding of how the school operates and contribute to its improvement planning and self-evaluation. They ensure that they are well informed about developments that affect the school; for example a number of governors recently attended training on changes to the end of key stage assessment arrangements. Governors manage and challenge the

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The leadership and management are good

performance of the headteacher effectively. They understand the link between pay, responsibility and performance. They regularly receive information about the performance of pupils across the school. They also know about the relative strengths in teaching and learning and the management of performance. Governors ensure that all statutory duties are carried out in full, including those relating to finance and safeguarding.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is outstanding. Pupils are very proud of their school and attendance is high.

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Behaviour

 Pupils' conduct, in and around the school, is exemplary. Pupils treat adults with respect and cooperate very well with each other in lessons. This results in a calm and purposeful working atmosphere in the school which enhances learning.

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Behaviour

 Pupils respond enthusiastically to teachers’ high expectations. Their behaviour and attitudes to learning are excellent. In lessons they readily contribute their ideas and most pupils take very good care with the presentation of their work. Pupils respond well to the comments that teachers make when marking their work.

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Behaviour

 Pupils love attending St Monica’s. They are sociable and respectful towards each other and the adults who teach them.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.

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Safety

 In discussions with pupils about behaviour, they showed an excellent understanding of what constitutes bullying and how it can take different forms, such as physical, verbal and text based. Pupils said that bullying is extremely rare at the school and is dealt with quickly and effectively if it happens. Pupils say that they get on extremely well with each other but also have trust in adults to sort any issues quickly should they occur. Pupils say that they feel extremely safe and secure when in school.

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Safety

 Staff training on safeguarding is up to date and staff are fully aware of their responsibilities in this matter.

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Safety

 Almost all parents who responded to Parent View said that their children are happy at school and feel safe when they are there.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is typically good and, in some year groups, often outstanding. This is demonstrated in the quality of work that pupils produce in a wide range of subjects, which shows that many make outstanding progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Most teachers use excellent subject knowledge to plan learning that sustains pupils’ interests and challenges their thinking. They use questioning extremely well to probe pupils’ understanding and they often reshape tasks, in light of pupils’ responses, to tackle misconceptions.

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The quality of teaching is good

 In classes where teaching is less effective, teachers do not assess pupils’ learning well enough to ensure that they are constantly provided with enough challenge. As a result, the progress that these pupils make in not as rapid as that seen in other classes.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of mathematics is a strength of the school. Teachers regularly provide tasks which require pupils to use and apply mathematics in order to investigate or solve problems. They give time for pupils to review what they are learning and ensure that concepts are fully understood before moving on to new topics. This helps to ensure that pupils’ mathematical knowledge and understanding are secure.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Speaking and listening skills are developed exceptionally well. Teachers provide regular opportunities for pupils to discuss their work and collaborate with their peers. They also use questioning well to check pupils’ understanding and challenge them to think harder about their learning. They encourage pupils to provide detailed responses to the questions that they pose in lessons.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers develop pupils’ reading, writing and communication well across the curriculum. For example, pupils involved in the end of year play compared different scripts relating to the same production and considered, in discussion and through their written work, how the texts might impact in different ways on the audience.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers generally provide good feedback to pupils, both within lessons and when marking their work. They ensure that errors are corrected in a timely manner, so that pupils do not carry on making the same mistakes. However, in some classes marking does not always help pupils to understand how they can improve their work. This prevents pupils, in these classes, from progressing as quickly as others.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school provides good support for pupils in danger of falling behind. For example, extra support is provided for some pupils in Year 1 who attend 'Sparkle Group' each morning in order to develop more effective speaking and listening skills.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils make outstanding progress across Key Stage 1. The vast majority reach or exceed national averages in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Year 2.

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The achievement of pupils

 In Key Stage 2, pupils continue to benefit from mainly good, and sometimes outstanding, teaching. They also have the opportunity to study a wide range of subjects. By the end of Year 6, pupils achieve standards in reading, writing and mathematics which are significantly above the national average. This means that pupils are extremely well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils from minority ethnic groups, and those who speak English as an additional language, make outstanding progress and achieve well. The school engages successfully with the parents of these pupils and provides highly effective support to ensure that pupils quickly develop the language that they need to succeed. This demonstrates the school’s commitment to equality of opportunity.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils make excellent progress in mathematics. They quickly develop secure basic numeracy skills and, in lessons, they are provided with many opportunities to use and apply these skills to investigate and solve mathematical problems.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils of all ages develop a love of reading. The younger children who read to the inspectors were able to link different sounds and letters to work out unfamiliar words. They were also able to demonstrate a good understanding of what they had read. Older pupils in the school read widely and often. The older pupils who read to the inspectors were exceptionally good readers. They read widely and often. This is reflected in the extremely high standards that pupils achieve in reading at the end of Year 6.

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The achievement of pupils

 Most pupils make rapid progress in writing and achieve well. They quickly develop an excellent knowledge of spelling, punctuation and grammar and are given many opportunities to write, both in English lessons and across a wide range of subjects.

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The achievement of pupils

 The most able pupils make outstanding progress at St Monica’s and attain high standards. At the end of Key Stage 2 in 2014, these pupils were around two terms ahead of similar pupils nationally.

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The achievement of pupils

 There are too few disadvantaged pupils in each year group to compare their attainment and progress with other pupils. However, they receive effective support if they need it, and their progress is checked carefully. As a result, they make progress at a similar rate to their peers.

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The achievement of pupils

 Pupils who are disabled or who have special educational needs make good progress from their various starting points.

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The early years provision

 Children join the Reception class with skills and knowledge that vary from year to year but are generally above the levels typical for their age. In 2014, the percentage of children that achieved a good level of development was below the national average. However, improvements have been made to the quality of teaching and children have made good progress this year. As a result, most children have achieved a good level of development and are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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The early years provision

 The early years provision makes a strong contribution to children’s physical and emotional health, safety and well-being, as well as to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. As a result, children are happy in school and develop confidence, good social skills and a love of learning.

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The early years provision

 Children behave very well and show good attitudes to learning. They enjoy each other's company and work and play happily together, participating fully in all activities. They develop good levels of independence in their selection of activities and resources, and in their willingness to see tasks through to completion.

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The early years provision

 Teaching is typically good. Staff work closely together to make sure that children have opportunities to explore, investigate and enjoy their learning. Both the indoor and outdoor learning areas are attractive and well resourced. However, occasionally the activities which are planned for the children lack challenge and learning is not as rapid as it could be.

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The early years provision

 The leadership and management of the early years are good. Leaders have an accurate view of how well children are doing and what could be improved further.

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The early years provision

 Staff assess children's progress regularly and intervene early if children are in danger of falling behind. The needs of individual children are well met, including those who have special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language.

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The early years provision

 Staff in the early years have good links with parents, and keep them informed about the progress that their children are making. As a result, parents are very happy that their children are achieving well in a very safe and caring environment.

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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 102039 Local authority Enfield Inspection number 449718

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Primary School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 4–11 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 420 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mary Joseet Headteacher Kate Baptiste Date of previous school inspection 1 February 2010 Telephone number 020 8886 4647 Fax number 020 8882 8424 Email address office@st-monicas.enfield.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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