St Martin of Porres Catholic Primary School

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

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Mrs Louise Fleming Headteacher St Martin of Porres RC Primary School Blake Road, New Southgate London N11 2AF

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 10 October 2017, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in September 2012.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. The school has had significant leadership changes since the previous inspection, including your own appointment as headteacher. You have created a new leadership team to assist you in your drive to secure good provision across the school. You have brought a calm, composed and highly strategic approach to school leadership.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

You and your team have focused on raising pupils’ achievement. Together, you have prioritised the actions needed to bring about the most important changes at the school to maintain good teaching and learning. You recognise that there is more work to do to ensure that teachers provide the most able pupils with sufficient challenge.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

You have the full confidence of the governors, the diocese and the local authority, in part because your monitoring of progress and intervention is securing improvements at a more rapid pace than has previously been the case. Parents, carers and staff are delighted with the thoughtful, nurturing care which you provide for pupils and their families. Comments such as, ‘This school is fantastic’, ‘The headteacher and staff are so approachable’ and ‘Choosing this school was the best thing we ever did’ are typical of parents’ views.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

Governors know the school well and are proud of what the school has achieved for the pupils. They are focused on continuing the improvements of recent years. They have supported you by investing in additional teachers in specific year groups to continue your drive to diminish the gaps in learning outcomes.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

The school’s safeguarding procedures are effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed and of high quality. The school has a culture of care, as seen in the way adults work with and interact with pupils. Staff have benefited from appropriate training and understand what to do if a safeguarding concern arises. The single central record of pre-employment checks is up to date and meets requirements. It demonstrates the school’s systematic approach to keeping records.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

Leaders and governors routinely check that procedures and practices are effective in securing pupils’ safety, and assemblies are used to reinforce messages. Governors are fully involved in the oversight of safeguarding across the school. They regularly support and challenge leaders about whether procedures are fit for purpose. Pupils speak about how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

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Short inspection of St Martin of Porres RC Primary School

Parents say their children are safe and mostly free from bullying. You have effective systems in place to improve pupils’ attendance and reduce persistent absence. As a result, no groups of pupils are disadvantaged by poor attendance.

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Inspection findings

 My first key line of enquiry focused on how leaders’ actions are improving the quality of teaching in the early years to ensure that a greater proportion of children develop age-related skills and knowledge.  I found that leaders and governors are taking effective action to improve children’s outcomes. They have invested high-quality resources in the Nursery and Reception classes, and they have added to capacity and appointed a new early years leader in order to secure necessary improvements.  In addition, leaders have developed the curriculum to ensure that it is well matched to children’s needs and interests. A greater proportion of children join the early years at the early stages of speaking English than has previously been the case. You and your staff are rightly ensuring that recent changes help these children get off to a strong start at school and develop their English language skills quickly.

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Inspection findings

 As part of your efforts to improve children’s outcomes, you have increased the emphasis leaders and teachers place on developing early reading skills. Well- chosen books and carefully planned activities motivate children to practise and apply their reading skills regularly. This is helping children to make good gains in their reading and prepares them well for their learning in Year 1.  Leaders have improved the outdoor area to ensure that the quality of children’s learning is equally strong in all areas of the curriculum. However, teaching gives insufficient evidence to supporting children to develop their early writing skills, particularly for those children at the early stages of speaking English. On occasions, teachers are not making effective use of assessment information to plan activities which challenge children or help them build on what they already know.  My second key line of enquiry focused on the impact of leaders’ work to improve

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Inspection findings

outcomes in key stage 1, in particular for those pupils at the early stages of speaking English.  Leaders have a clear plan of action to secure improvements in key stage 1, informed by their careful checks on the quality of pupils’ learning in different subjects. To drive improvement at a rapid pace, leaders focus their efforts where they are most needed. For example, they are aware that in Year 1 some disadvantaged pupils and pupils at the early stages of speaking English are not achieving as well as their peers. As a result, they are providing well-targeted extra help to ensure that these pupils do not fall behind in their learning.  In Year 2, pupils’ progress is typically strong in all areas of the curriculum. Pupils articulate confidently what they are learning and how to improve their work further. However, during our visit to lessons in key stage 1, I found that teaching is not routinely deepening pupils’ knowledge and skills. This prevents a greater

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Inspection findings

proportion of pupils from working at the highest standards.  My final line of enquiry focused on the impact of leaders’ work to improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils in key stage 2. I found that leaders set aspirational targets for individual pupils. Staff work closely with pupils to help them achieve these goals. Leaders monitor the impact of additional support frequently to ensure that it is effective in meeting pupils’ needs.  Work in pupils’ books and visits to classes show that teachers typically plan activities to help pupils build progressively on their prior knowledge and skills. Where questioning does not probe understanding effectively or challenge thinking, pupils make slower progress from their starting points and greater effort is exerted to manage behaviour. Pupils’ attitudes to learning are typically strong and they are eager to do their best.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and governors should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 teachers routinely challenge most-able pupils in their learning, particularly disadvantaged pupils so that they consistently achieve in line with other pupils nationally  pupils at the early stages of speaking English make progress in line with other pupils nationally.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Archdiocese of Westminster, the regional schools commissioner and the

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Next steps for the school

director of children’s services for Haringey. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I held meetings with you, the deputy headteacher and other school leaders to evaluate the impact of the school’s work on pupils’ outcomes. We visited all classes together. I met with a group of governors, including the chair and vice-chair of the governing body. I listened to a group of pupils read. I also met representatives from the local authority and spoke with the diocesan representative on the phone. I reviewed a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance and improvement plans, and information about pupils’ progress and attendance. The school’s single central record of employment checks and a range of safeguarding documentation were also reviewed. I considered 70 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View. There were no staff or pupil responses to Ofsted’s questionnaires.

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