St. Mary's & St. Peter's Catholic Primary School

St Mary’s and St Peter’s Catholic Primary School Upper Nidd Street, Leeds Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD3 9ND

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Overall effectiveness Good

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

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Overall effectiveness Good

Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Requires improvement

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This is a good school

 Since her appointment last September, the strong leadership of the headteacher has brought about a marked improvement in teaching and outcomes.  Middle leaders have made a substantial contribution to improvements in the teaching of writing and mathematics.  Teaching is consistently good across the school. Teachers have high expectations. They give pupils work that is well matched to their needs.  This year, pupils in all year groups and key stages, including the disadvantaged, have made securely good progress. Many pupils are beginning to catch up, having previously fallen behind.  Leaders have established a cohesive community in which pupils flourish. Pupils behave exceptionally well.  Leaders and teachers actively promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. The school is preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain.  The broad, balanced, interesting curriculum makes a strong contribution to pupils’ progress and

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This is a good school

enjoyment.  Governance has improved. Governors ask challenging questions and hold leaders to account for how well the school is doing.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Attainment remains below average, due to the legacy of previously weaker teaching. Too few pupils reach above expected standards.  A minority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities have made less progress than other pupils.  There is scope for greater involvement of parents in children’s learning in the early years.  The Reception class outdoor provision requires improvement.  Leaders and teachers know precisely where individual pupils are up to in their learning, but leaders do not have a clear enough picture of the performance of different groups of pupils throughout the school.  Attendance remains a little below average.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership by: Developing and implementing systems for keeping a sharper eye on the performance of all groups of pupils throughout the age range, especially those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities distributing leadership responsibility more widely.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise attainment in reading, writing and mathematics, by: ensuring that most pupils reach the expected standards by the time they leave the school and more of them exceed expected standards ensuring that all pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make at least expected progress providing more opportunities for pupils to practise and apply their mathematical knowledge, understanding and skills in subjects other than mathematics.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve early years provision by: engaging parents more fully in their children’s learning ensuring that children’s independent activities are more challenging, especially in the Reception class outdoor area.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

 The appointment of the current headteacher has given the school a new lease of life. The impact of her relentless work on teaching, learning and assessment is clear. It is this improvement in teaching that has helped pupils to make good progress this academic year, and to be quickly catching up to where they should be.  Senior and middle leaders have ably assisted the headteacher in bringing about improvements in the teaching of writing and mathematics in particular. Leaders check on the quality of teaching by frequently looking in pupils’ workbooks and teachers’ plans and by observing lessons. As a result, leaders have a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses in each teacher’s practice. Leaders have high expectations of teachers, including those who are newly or recently qualified, who are open to suggestions and feel well supported through effective training and coaching.  Senior and middle leaders have developed an assessment system that enables everyone to identify what

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

pupils can and cannot do and to see if any individual pupils are making enough progress. However, leaders do not have a clear enough picture of the relative performance of different groups of pupils throughout the school, such as those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  There is scope for allowing middle leaders to act more independently in their responsibilities, and to pass more responsibility on to others, to give the headteacher more time to concentrate on the bigger picture and to have more room to think ahead to the next steps.  The spending of additional government funds for supporting disadvantaged pupils (the pupil premium) has enabled most disadvantaged pupils to make expected and more than expected progress.  Leaders have used additional government funding for sports and PE towards the employment of a full time sports coach. This means that pupils enjoy quality instruction. Pupils also get to attend after-school

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

clubs run by the coach, such as multi-skills and volleyball, as well as attending inter-school competitions.  Pupils complete good-quality work in all subjects, including science, art and religious education for example. The broad, balanced and often exciting range of work is presented in high-quality displays across the school. Pupils do good-quality writing in a range of subjects and this contributes to the improvements seen in pupils’ writing skills. However, they do not get enough opportunities to practise mathematics in a range of appropriate subjects. Visits to places of interest broaden pupils’ horizons beyond their local community, for example visits to the seaside, a wildlife park, a farm, and to Skipton Castle.  Leaders actively promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. This Catholic school places emphasis on what pupils have in common with their friends of other faiths, rather than difference.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

Consequently, pupils have a good understanding of different faiths and cultures and demonstrate respect for others. During a prayer in a key stage 2 class, one inspector observed the teacher encouraging pupils to reflect and pray in a manner that they may be used to as they attend their places of worship, or to simply sit and reflect if they wished. The school is preparing pupils well for life in modern Britain.  The governance of the school Governance has improved since the last inspection. Governors have a broad range of skills and experience appropriate to the role. They have undertaken an external review of governance and have acted on the recommendations. Consequently, they are clear about their roles and have the ability to carry them out. Governors have organised themselves into committees that enable them to focus on the most important priorities contained in the school improvement plan, while delivering their basic statutory

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

duties, such as ensuring that finances are managed well. The governing body makes sure that the headteacher and other teachers have appropriate targets to meet and that pay awards are properly related to performance. They ask challenging questions and are increasingly requesting information from leaders in a format that helps them to sharpen their understanding of pupils’ progress. For example, governors have requested a better way of identifying the relative performance of groups, including the achievement of the disadvantaged compared with other pupils. Governors fulfil their safeguarding duties, but there is room for more rigorous checking to make sure all systems and practices are as tight as they can be.  The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Leaders make sure that checks are carried out on potential employees to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. Staff and governors have had

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is good

appropriate training, so they know what signs to look for that pupils may be at risk, for example from radicalisation, female genital mutilation or other forms of abuse and neglect. Adults report concerns to the right people and keep proper records of these concerns. A few areas of safeguarding could be even more thorough, for example making sure some records are kept in a way that enables them to be more easily checked by governors and leaders, such as the way staff record the administration of medicines, for example.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

 Teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils. Because teachers accurately assess what pupils know and can do, they carefully plan the next steps, ensuring that they challenge pupils of all abilities. Pupils rise to this challenge and most work consistently hard.  The way that teachers question pupils is a real strength throughout the school. They ask questions that probe to check pupils’ understanding and to give pupils opportunities to share their ideas and to explain their thinking. Consequently pupils, most of whom speak English as an additional language, learn to speak confidently at length and develop their English speaking skills.  Because teachers make clear to pupils specifically what they need to accomplish in lessons, and show them precisely how to do it, pupils are clear about what they need to do to achieve success. Teachers carefully check pupils’ understanding throughout lessons. They show pupils how they can check their own

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

learning, so pupils know what they have done well and what they still need to improve. Oral and written feedback is consistently effective, so moves pupils on in their learning.  The work of most teaching assistants is effective, because teachers give them precise guidance on what they need to check for in lessons. This helps teaching assistants to ask appropriate questions, giving pupils just the right amount of support. Occasionally, guidance for teaching assistants is not as clear, so they are less sure how to support the pupils.  The teaching of early reading is effective, so that most pupils meet the required standard by the end of Year 1. Those few pupils who do not, receive extra support to enable them to catch up.  Because of clear guidance from leaders, and effective training, the teaching of writing has improved substantially since the last inspection. Pupils throughout the school produce neat handwriting and

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

generally learn to spell and use punctuation accurately. Pupils are increasingly developing their English vocabulary.  Mathematics is improving under the guidance of the mathematics project leader. The introduction of a new scheme at the beginning of the school year is ensuring that pupils of all abilities are learning to solve increasingly tricky mathematical problems.  Leaders and teachers have not set precise enough targets for some pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, so a minority are not given the targeted support that enables them to make the progress they need to catch up.

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Personal development and welfare

 The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.  Adults demonstrate the behaviours they want to see in pupils. Because of this, pupils are polite and well mannered. They smile, hold doors open for each other and say ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and ‘you’re welcome’.  Because teachers challenge pupils and provide them with interesting activities, pupils work hard. Pupils show staying power, demonstrated when grappling with difficult mathematics problems for example.  The high expectations of teachers help pupils to take great pride in their work. This is evident in the good-quality handwriting across all subjects, which, at its best, is immaculate. High-quality displays throughout the building showcase pupils’ efforts in all subjects.  Pupils show a good understanding of how to stay healthy and safe. For example, they demonstrate understanding of what a healthy diet may look like, and in the dinner hall, all plates include salad or

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Personal development and welfare

vegetables. Pupils understand the potential dangers of the internet, social networking and online bullying.  Pupils of different religions and cultures get on well together. They report that bullying is rare and that adults deal with any instances of bullying well, as well as helping to sort out occasional fall-outs.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They behave exceptionally well in lessons. Teachers barely have to manage behaviour because the good-quality teaching and interesting activities engage pupils well. Clear systems are in place to encourage pupils on those rare occasions where the behaviour of an individual pupil may slip. Pupils value the reward systems that adults operate consistently.  Pupils follow routines and rules at playtimes and lunchtimes, playing safely in the school grounds. Older pupils apply to be official buddies in the playground and can be seen involving younger pupils in games.  Attendance has improved from its previous low level to nearer the national average, as leaders take action to tackle absence, including extended holidays abroad. Persistent absence has diminished considerably.

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Outcomes for pupils are good

 Since leaders made changes in approaches to teaching, progress has accelerated, so the progress of almost all pupils currently in the school, throughout the age range, is solidly good. Prior to September 2015, due to the legacy of previously weaker teaching, progress was not good enough, resulting in low attainment. Too few pupils left school with the skills, knowledge and understanding needed to have every chance of success at secondary school.  The substantial progress made by pupils this year is raising attainment. For example, there has been an improvement in the proportion of pupils reaching expected standards by the end of key stage 1, though attainment is still below average. Similarly, in almost all other year groups and subjects, attainment is rising.  Good teaching and assessment is challenging the most able pupils so they make good progress. There is scope for identifying more of those pupils with average prior attainment, who could go on to reach above

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Outcomes for pupils are good

expected standards.  Disadvantaged pupils, in nearly all year groups and subjects, are currently making the good progress other pupils make. However, though attainment gaps between the disadvantaged and others have closed, or nearly closed, in some year groups and subjects gaps remain, because some pupils have not made the more than expected progress needed to catch up.  The large majority of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities made expected progress this last year, and more than half made greater than expected progress in reading and writing, narrowing the gap with other pupils. A minority did not make expected progress because leaders have not kept a close enough eye on the progress of this group.

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Early years provision is good

 Most children enter the school with skills, knowledge and understanding below that which is typical for their age, particularly in communication and language, and in reading and writing. The large majority of children make more than typical progress by the time they leave the Reception class, preparing them well for learning in Year 1.  Children make especially strong progress in speaking, listening and reading. Teachers have prioritised children’s writing this year and effective teaching of writing has resulted in more pupils reaching the early learning goal in writing in 2016.  Exceptional progress is made in children’s personal and social development. Children form close relationships and enjoy learning together independently. For example, inspectors observed a small group of children sharing a lift-the-flap book. The children took turns sounding out the words and enjoyed sharing their opinions about what was revealed.

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Early years provision is good

 Children behave very well. They move around calmly, listen to adults and follow instructions. Adults actively teach children about how they can show respect for each other.  As well as effective teaching in planned activities, adults interact with children as they play and explore. They enhance children’s learning by asking questions and encouraging children to speak at length.  All adults contribute to the daily assessment of the children’s learning. These assessments mean that adults have a clear picture of each child’s development in each aspect of learning and can therefore plan the next steps in learning.  The learning environment is inviting and stimulating, especially in the Nursery. Resources and activities draw children in. Children concentrate and sustain interest in their play and exploration. Some areas of learning do not provide enough challenge for children when they are working without an adult, especially

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Early years provision is good

in the Reception outdoor area.  Leaders have made successful attempts to get parents into school to find out about aspects of children’s learning, for example through early reading and numeracy workshops. Adults visit the homes of all children prior to them joining Nursery, to find out about what they can already do, and to agree intimate care plans where needed. However, there is scope for involving parents more closely in their children’s education, including making ongoing assessments readily available for parents to view.  Safeguarding is effective. The early years leader ensures that potential risks are identified and minimised. All adults show great care for the children.  Although the early years leader has identified some aspects that need improvement, the analysis of assessment information is not systematic enough to pinpoint all the potential areas for improvement that would make early years provision even better.

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School details

Unique reference number 107329 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 10012033 This inspection 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 244 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Anthony Carroll Headteacher Julie Holland Telephone number 01274 773977 Website www.stmarys-stpeters.co.uk Email address office@stpeters.bradford.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 29–30 April 2014

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Information about this school

 The school is a smaller than average-sized primary school.  The vast majority of pupils on roll are from minority ethnic groups. Around half of the pupils are of Pakistani heritage. About one in 10 pupils is from Eastern Europe.  Most pupils speak English as an additional language.  The number of pupils who leave or join the school mid-year or mid-key-stage is higher than normal.  The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is higher than that found nationally. The pupil premium is additional government funding for disadvantaged pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, and for children who are looked after by the local authority.  The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is just above the national average.  The school meets the current floor standards. These are the minimum expectations of pupils’ achievement set by the government.

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Information about this school

 The school does not meet requirements on the publication of specified information about curriculum, governance, and the impact of the pupil premium and sports premiums on its website. The school has not published its accessibility plan.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors visited all classrooms at least once to observe pupils’ learning. They questioned pupils about their learning and listened to a number of pupils read. With leaders, inspectors scrutinised pupils’ workbooks.  Inspectors held informal discussions with pupils to find out what it is like to be a pupil at the school. Pupils’ behaviour was observed around the school, including at breaktimes and at lunchtime.  Discussions took place with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, a few governors and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors questioned parents at the start of the school day and considered a few written comments from parents. There were too few responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire (Parent View) to analyse. The inspectors analysed responses to the staff and pupils’ questionnaires.  Documents were analysed, including school development plans, governing body minutes and information

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Information about this inspection

about pupils’ achievement. Records relating to behaviour, attendance and safeguarding were scrutinised.

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Inspection team

Philip Riozzi, Lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector Suzette Garland-Grimes Ofsted Inspector guidance 'Raising concerns and making a complaint about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/publications/complaints-about-ofsted . 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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Inspection team

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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Inspection team

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.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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Inspection team

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, further education and skills, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

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Inspection team

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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