St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School Quantock Drive, Ashford, Kent TN24 8QN

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Outcome

St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are enthusiastic about their school. They are happy and feel safe. They are well supported by staff. If they feel upset, there is always someone they can talk to. Pupils feel that staff support them well. For example, at the start of each day pupils give a score to show how they are feeling. Staff use this ‘daily check in’ to gauge pupils’ well-being and readiness to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are keen to learn. They work hard in lessons and behave very well. They respond positively to teachers’ high expectations. They enjoy succeeding and achieving. Pupils show respect for staff and for each other. They react well to encouragement and challenge. Pupils adopt the school’s Christian values. As a result, they learn to be responsible and make good relationships. As one pupil said, ‘If you join the school you get a friend really quickly.’ Bullying rarely happens. If it does, staff deal with it well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils take part in the many clubs the school offers. All are involved in sports. They also enjoy visits that support learning. For example, they enthusiastically recall a visit to Canterbury Cathedral during which they acted out scenes from the life of Thomas Becket.

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

Leaders have a clear aim to provide the grounding pupils need to succeed in life. The curriculum is broad and based on the school’s Catholic values. In subjects such as English, mathematics and science, leaders have mapped out the sequence of learning in detail. This enables pupils to build knowledge and skills in a logical way. For example, pupils develop a secure knowledge of multiplication in Year 2. They use this to support their learning of division in Year 3. Consequently, most pupils achieve well in English, mathematics and science. Leaders have yet to map out a detailed sequence of learning in some subjects. As a result, pupils do not build their knowledge and skills enough in subjects like geography. 15–16 January 2020

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Leaders ensure that teachers have deep subject knowledge. They provide ongoing training for teachers and ensure that new staff are fully equipped to develop pupils’ learning in the curriculum. Teachers value this and feel well supported in managing their workloads.

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Teachers check pupils’ recall and understanding. This enables pupils to remember more and build on what they know. Staff are skilled in adapting tasks and providing resources so that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have access to the curriculum. They make good use of questioning to ensure that all pupils understand. They challenge pupils’ thinking and have high expectations, so all pupils learn well, including disadvantaged pupils.

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The school gives priority to reading. The teaching of phonics is effective. Staff are trained well to teach pupils to read. They provide extra support for pupils who speak English as an additional language and those who fall behind. Staff help them to catch up and keep up. The school ensures a good match of books to pupils’ phonic skills, so they can learn to read with confidence. Older pupils develop a love of reading. They have experience of a wide range of books and read with understanding.

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Staff have built very positive and respectful relationships throughout the school. Pupils behave very well in lessons and throughout the school day. Bullying rarely occurs and does not prevent pupils from learning. Staff provide high levels of care and support.

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Pupils’ personal development is at the heart of school life. The school provides many opportunities to enrich pupils’ experiences. Many of these take place in the local community. For example, pupils have taken part in projects with local artists. Year 5 and 6 are taking part in a series of Shakespeare workshops. Pupils have many sporting opportunities. The school encourages disadvantaged pupils, in particular, to take part in its many clubs. Pupils are enthusiastic and do well in sports.

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The early years leader takes careful account of the needs of each child. For example, several children need extra support to develop communication skills. Staff provide activities that support speech and communication skills for these children. At the same time, they challenge most-able children. Staff develop children’s social skills well. They skilfully teach early reading, writing and mathematics. For example, children learn to count and compare human and giant footsteps along a beanstalk. Children develop enthusiasm for reading using the sounds they learn. They settle well and enjoy their activities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

All staff take the well-being and safety of every pupil very seriously. The ‘daily check in’ is an important tool to ensure that pupils are happy and safe. Staff are skilled in noticing any change in a pupils’ mood or attitudes which might indicate a risk of harm. 15–16 January 2020

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The designated safeguarding leads ensure that staff training is kept up to date. They respond promptly to concerns which staff raise. They work well with external agencies to support vulnerable families. They make very good use of their records to ensure that referrals they make are followed up promptly.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The progression of skills and knowledge is well planned in English, mathematics and science. In subjects such as geography and history this progression has not yet been as well developed. Whilst pupils study a range of topics in these subjects and acquire important knowledge, their skills are not as well developed. This is because the development of knowledge and skills is not yet coherently planned and sequenced in some subjects. Although this is the case, it is clear that leaders are taking action to bring this about. Leaders should ensure that the whole curriculum is fully planned and sequenced in all subjects so that pupils gain the skills and knowledge they need to be well prepared for secondary school.

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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 predecessor school, St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School, to be good on 15–16 October 2013.

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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.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 15–16 January 2020

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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. 15–16 January 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122309 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection 15–16 October 2013

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Information about this school

 St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School is part of the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership, which it joined in 2017. The predecessor school, St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School, was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005, in February 2014.  Staff from the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership regularly visit St Teresa’s, providing support and challenge for leaders and staff.  St Teresa’s also works together with other local schools to train staff and moderate standards achieved by pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 I held meetings with the headteacher, senior and middle leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator, the chair of governors and one other member of the governing body.  I held a discussion with representatives from of the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership, including the senior primary school improvement adviser and two directors.  I conducted deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, and science. When focusing on these subjects, I held discussions with the subject leaders responsible for the subjects, visited lessons in several year groups, including the support sessions 15–16 January 2020

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provided to pupils with SEND, looked at pupils’ work, and held discussions with pupils and teachers.  I inspected safeguarding by reviewing the arrangements for pre-appointment checks carried out by the school, including the school’s single central record of these checks. I spoke to staff about their training and understanding of the school’s safeguarding procedures. I held discussions with the designated safeguarding leader and her deputy, and reviewed case files and records held by the school, including records of staff training.  I held discussions with parents at the start of the school day. I considered 36 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, and 36 free-text comments. I considered 43 responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey. I held discussions with pupils from several year groups. I considered 18 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and I held discussions with staff about their work.

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Inspection team

Peter Wibroe, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 15–16 January 2020

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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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