Setting

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Tina Barry St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School Kennedy Drive Goole DN14 6HQ

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Primary School

Following my visit to your school on 13 September 2016, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. Thank you for the help you gave me and for the time you made available to discuss the actions you are taking to improve the school since the most recent section 5 inspection.

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Primary School

The visit was the first monitoring inspection since the school was judged to require improvement following the section 5 inspection in October 2015. It was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

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Primary School

Senior leaders and governors are taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order to become a good school.

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Primary School

The school should take further action to:

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Primary School

 make sure that all pupils, including the most able and those who are disadvantaged, are challenged through the highest expectations  devise a clear, jointly agreed, set of teaching expectations that encourage a culture of learning and enthusiasm for learning for all  make sure the whole-school approach to reading continues to develop a love of and interest in reading across the school and into the wider community.

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Evidence

During the inspection, I met with you and other senior leaders, a representative of the local authority and with the principal officer for education for the Catholic Diocese of Leeds to discuss the actions taken since the previous inspection. I also met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body to discuss the school’s progress and the actions the governing body has taken. I met with leaders from St Anthony’s teaching school alliance to discuss the support that it is providing for the school. I visited all classrooms and spoke with children and pupils about their work, behaviour and attitudes to school. I scrutinised a range of work books and folders and attended a meditation session with early years children. I spoke with parents and carers at the start of the day and watched the behaviour of pupils at break, lunchtime and as they moved around the school. The school improvement plans were evaluated. I heard groups of pupils read and discussed their reading and their

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Context

Since the previous inspection, a new member of staff has been appointed and a change has been made to the staffing of one of the year groups. There are currently three vacancies on the governing body.

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Main findings

You and your governors are clear about what needs to be done to improve the school. Your ‘getting to good school action plan’ sets out clearly the actions that you need to take to ensure that the school improves. Your plans cover all of the areas for improvement identified in the previous inspection report. Working with the governing body, you monitor the impact of these actions carefully. You are effectively supported in this by the St Anthony’s teaching school alliance.

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Main findings

Supported by the St Anthony’s teaching school alliance, you have developed rigorous systems for monitoring the quality of teaching and analysing its impact on pupils’ learning and well-being. There are regular visits to classrooms by senior and other staff to check on the quality and impact of teaching. These visits are followed up by challenging conversations where you set targets to ensure further improvement. Governors monitor this carefully. There are also regular ‘pupil progress’ meetings where staff are asked by you to describe the ways they have challenged and extended the learning of the pupils in their care. In addition, each teacher has a mentor from the teaching school alliance who works closely with them to develop their teaching skills. As a result of this more methodical approach, the quality of teaching is improving in most areas of the school. However, there is still room for improvement. Expectations, particularly of the most able pupils, are

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Main findings

not as high as they should be. You have clearly identified where more needs to be done to tackle these weaknesses and, working with the teaching school alliance, have clear and firm plans to address them.

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Main findings

There is still more work to be done if the agreed whole-school approach to marking is to have a sustained, positive impact. There are clear signs of improvement. For example, pupils now have regular time set aside to respond to their teachers’ comments in their books. They report that they welcome this because it helps them know more precisely what they need to do next to improve. In most classes, this is having a positive impact on pupils’ confidence in writing. However, in too many books seen during the inspection there were examples of unfinished and untidy work. These omissions were not followed up sufficiently rigorously by some staff. As a result, a significant minority of pupils’ books were not of the high standard set out in the school’s own policy on marking. In addition, there were not sufficient opportunities for pupils to write at length in their books and thus develop their ideas and stamina in writing. This was particularly so for the most able.

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Main findings

There have been very significant improvements in the outcomes for children in early years. This is because the teaching in this area is very effective and it is led well. Working with the St Anthony’s teaching school alliance, staff in early years have improved the children’s learning environment, both inside and, particularly, outside. This has been successfully coupled with more careful monitoring of each child’s progress so that learning is well focused and expectations of what children can do are high. Teaching staff communicate carefully and regularly how each child is doing to their parents using a range of methods, including interactive, online technology. Parents report that they are very satisfied with their children’s progress, safety and happiness in early years. Parents particularly welcomed the opportunities they have to work with their children at the start of each day.

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Main findings

Parents spoken with during the inspection and those who have responded to the school’s own questionnaire said that they were happy with the service the school offers. They welcome your visibility as headteacher at the start and end of the day. One parent said she was ‘thrilled’ with the school. Another described there being a ‘vast improvement’ at the school over the last 12 months.

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Main findings

Where staff expectations are high, pupils behave very well and are developing a real enjoyment in learning. They take real pleasure in finding out and solving knotty problems in mathematics, for example. Pupils welcome the recently introduced whole-school approach to reading. However, it was noted that the books pupils were reading, especially the most able, were not as challenging as they could be. Pupils behave with real care and a mature understanding of the needs of others as they move around the school and at breaks and lunchtime. They feel safe and are clear what they should do if they have any concerns. They are secure in the knowledge that staff at the school care for them, know them and want them to be happy and safe.

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External support

The school is receiving very effective and detailed support from the St Anthony’s teaching school alliance. This support was put in place by the Catholic Diocese of Leeds and then by the local authority. These partners continue to work closely and effectively together to support your school. The support is carefully focused on improving the quality of teaching and ensuring that teachers’ assessments are accurate through external moderation. This detailed support is due to come to an end in spring 2017. You are already working with the teaching school alliance, the diocese and the local authority to ensure that the school continues to improve when this focused external support reduces.

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External support

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Catholic Diocese of Leeds, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for the East Riding of Yorkshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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