St Anne's RC Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Anne’s RC Primary School Carruthers Street, Ancoats, Manchester M4 7EQ

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Outcome

St Anne’s RC Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

St Anne’s is a popular and caring school at the heart of its community. The school’s motto, ‘Every child, every chance’, threads through all aspects of school life. Leaders have high expectations for their pupils, and pupils do their best to reach these.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have created a safe haven for pupils. Families and pupils are well supported by the school. Pupils feel safe because of the actions that staff take. Pupils are happy and they have many friends. They enjoy learning and playing together. Pupils told me that they are ‘a family who know each other well’. Pupils told me that bullying does not happen. If bullying ever happens, leaders deal with it well. Parents and carers agree that their children are safe and happy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They open doors for visitors and are respectful. They enjoy learning because teachers provide activities which are interesting and fun. Pupils value their education and are keen to achieve. They understand how a good education will help them to achieve their goals in life. Pupils have high aspirations for the future.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have clear direction for the school. They are always looking for ways to improve the school and to raise pupils’ achievement further. They tackle any weaknesses well and make sure that these improve quickly. Governors know their community and pupils well. They have worked with leaders in the development of the school’s curriculum. All staff are ambitious to improve the school. They appreciate the way that leaders support them and have taken steps to reduce their workload.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders and teachers have worked hard to improve the curriculum. They have identified what they want pupils to know at certain points in their education. The curriculum helps pupils to learn things in a logical way. This helps them to remember key facts. Pupils enjoy learning a wide range of subjects. They also have many opportunities to learn important life skills. For example, pupils take part in debates and enjoy leading mass at 26–27 November 2019

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the local church. Pupils have a deep understanding of how they can be good citizens in the future and make the world a better place. They also appreciate the wide range of clubs that they can join. These include robotics, choir and many different sports.

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Leaders have placed a high priority on the teaching of reading. Most pupils achieve at the expected standard in reading by the end of Year 6. Leaders have made sure that there is a wide selection of books for pupils to read and enjoy. Pupils read often in school and at home. They talk with enthusiasm about the books they have read and who their favourite authors are. They have developed a love of reading.

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Children get off to a strong start in the early years. Staff have all received appropriate training to support children’s learning. At the start of Nursery, children begin to learn phonics. Teachers are well trained in teaching phonics and they do this well. Extra help is given to pupils who need to catch up. The proportion of pupils who meet the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check has been above the national average for the last two years. However, sometimes pupils’ reading books are not matched to the phonics that they have been learning. This slows down the progress that a minority of younger pupils make in learning to read.

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The teaching of mathematics is a strength, and pupils achieve well. Teachers have strong subject knowledge. They plan lessons well to build on pupils’ prior learning. This helps pupils to develop their knowledge and skills. Teachers are quick to identify any pupils who need more support to catch up. Pupils enjoy mathematics. They see the importance of learning from their mistakes.

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Leaders have made sure that the school’s curriculum is interesting and challenging. However, there is some variation in how pupils’ learning is planned across different subjects. English, mathematics and computing are planned well. Pupils make strong progress in these subjects. This is because teachers regularly check what pupils can do and use this information to plan future learning. However, in other subjects, planning does not always build on what pupils already know and can do in the same logical way. Discussions with pupils in these subjects showed that they struggled to remember some of their previous learning. Leaders are taking the necessary actions to improve assessment in all subjects, but this is at an early stage of development.

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Across the school, pupils support and respect each other. Their behaviour is good, and disruption to learning is rare. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have their needs met well. Teachers set the same high expectations as they do for all pupils. The curriculum has also been designed well for disadvantaged pupils. They achieve well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong culture around keeping children safe throughout the school and in the wider community. Leaders know their families well. They have established strong relationships with them and the local community. Leaders provide regular training for staff 26–27 November 2019

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and pupils. Staff know what to do if they have concerns about pupils’ safety. Systems within the school are effective.

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Leaders work well with other agencies to ensure that children and families get the support that they need. Pupils could explain how to keep themselves safe when they are in the community or when they are online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, teachers do not use assessment information well to inform pupils’ future learning. As a result, pupils have gaps in their learning. Leaders need to ensure that the new assessment procedures become embedded, so that teachers use assessment well to improve the curriculum. This will ensure that pupils know and remember more in all subjects.  Teachers give pupils reading books which are not always matched to their phonic knowledge. This means that pupils then find these books difficult to read. Teachers need to make sure that the books children read in school and take home are well matched to the phonics that pupils are learning in class. This will help to further develop pupils’ early reading skills and their fluency.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 18–19 June 2015.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school. 26–27 November 2019

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 26–27 November 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10087758 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.st-annes-pri.manchester.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection 18–19 June 2015

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Information about this school

 This is a Roman Catholic primary school.  The school has a before- and after-school club.  The school had its most recent section 48 inspection, undertaken by the Diocese of Salford in February 2018.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, I spoke with pupils, both formally and informally, about their work and school life. I spoke with members of the local governing body, a representative from the local authority, the headteacher, senior leaders and members of staff.  I reviewed a range of documentation, including documentation about attendance, safeguarding and checks undertaken on newly appointed staff.  I considered the 20 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. I also considered the nine responses to the online staff survey and 12 responses to the pupil survey.  I looked in depth at reading, mathematics and computing. This entailed discussions with subject leaders, visits to lessons, looking at examples of pupils’ work, discussions 26–27 November 2019

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with teachers, discussions with pupils and listening to pupils read .

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Inspection team

Julie Barlow, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 26–27 November 2019

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regulates and inspects to 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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