Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Eden Way, Argie Avenue, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS4 2TF

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Outcome

Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. Some parents and carers told me that they wish their children could come at the weekend! Parents praise the warm culture of the school and know their children are happy. Pupils are polite and courteous to each other. They feel well cared for by staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders, including governors, want to make pupils feel at home in the school. Leaders have high expectations of what pupils can achieve. They want them to be ready for secondary school by teaching them important knowledge and improving their vocabulary. Many lessons have practical experiences in them, such as playing musical instruments or carrying out science experiments. Pupils are excited to talk about the learning they experience. Pupils enjoy lessons because what they do is interesting. One pupil said, ‘School is a great place because we get to do fun things that help us know more and have a good time.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know whom they can talk to if they are worried about something. This helps them feel safe in the school. Pupils like all the physical exercise they do. Regular sessions in yoga help them to relax and stay calm. Pupils know that staff deal with problems such as silly behaviour quickly. As a result, pupils have a lot of trust in each other and staff. Pupils report that bullying is rare and if it does happen, staff deal with it swiftly.

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better?

The curriculum is ambitious for all pupils. Pupils learn the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in a wide range of subjects. Most pupils remember subject content from previous years. This helps them to take on new learning with confidence. In science, pupils remember important knowledge and discuss experiments they carried out in the past. For example, pupils could recount how they used torches to explain how to form shadows. In history, pupils can remember 12–13 February 2020

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less about their previous learning. This is because the curriculum is not planned in order. This is also the case in other subjects.

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Nevertheless, the curriculum is particularly well designed for children who may need extra support. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) enjoy their learning and feel successful. These pupils are included in all learning. Although this group of pupils succeed, some are too reliant on teaching assistants for help. Leaders have not made sure that the written plans for some pupils with SEND detail their precise needs. As a result, teachers do not sufficiently develop pupils’ basic skills as well as they could.

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Pupils of all ages enjoy reading. Children learn phonics from the start of Reception. All staff have had the training they need to teach phonics well. This means more pupils know the sounds they need by the time they reach Year 2 than in the past. Most pupils are keeping up with where they need to be, and teachers help them if they are not. Teachers give books to pupils that match their phonic ability. This helps pupils gain a love of reading. Pupils particularly enjoy the library books that they can borrow. They talk about these with passion and enthusiasm.

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Children in Reception are enthusiastic about their learning. They behave well. Their classroom environment is interesting. It encourages them to talk and question each other. For example, during the inspection, children outside were busy digging in the sand and making castles. They were excitedly telling each other about the strongest castle to keep out the ‘big, bad wolf’. Relationships between staff and children are caring and supportive. Staff question children well and this helps the children think about their learning. Children get off to the best start in their personal development. However, some children are not keeping up with where leaders want them to be in English and mathematics.

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Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour in classrooms well. Pupils listen to what they are being asked to do and carry out activities with enthusiasm. Classrooms buzz with activity and pupils discuss the learning they are doing. In busy and active lessons such as science, pupils are sensible and do not disrupt others. Teachers get pupils back on track quickly if they lose focus. After breaktimes, pupils come back to their learning promptly and without any fuss.

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Pupils enjoy debating subjects that are important to them. They like their trips to the local area and the theatre. Leaders emphasise the importance of the Catholic faith of the school. Daily collective worship helps everyone to feel part of the Sacred Heart family.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders make sure that all staff in the school know what to do to keep children safe. Staff then act quickly if they have concerns. For example, if a child does not come to school, staff will phone or visit the home to check that nothing is wrong. If 12–13 February 2020

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there are concerns, then staff will contact the right people at the local authority quickly.

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Pupils say that they feel safe in the school. They have a range of people they can talk to if they have any concerns. Pupils learn important lessons in school about being safe, including how to be safe online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have worked hard to establish effective curriculum plans over the long term. However, in some subjects, pupils do not remember important subject content over time because leaders have not thought carefully enough about how it is sequenced. Consequently, when pupils attempt something new or try to apply prior learning to a new concept, they sometimes falter. Leaders should ensure that the taught curriculum offers pupils the opportunity to recap and use prior learning regularly, including in science and mathematics.  Individual support plans for some pupils with SEND lack detail to support teachers with their planning. This means that teachers are not well informed about their needs or about strategies that will help these pupils be successful. As a result, too many pupils are over-reliant on support from teaching assistants. Leaders should ensure the written plans for pupils with SEND are precise and

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

outline clearly for teachers the strategies they can use to support pupils with SEND more effectively.  Some children in early years and pupils in key stage 1 do not achieve as well as they could. This is because, in part, expectations across the school of where pupils should be up to in their learning lack clarity. Leaders should ensure that all staff are aware of the specific learning milestones as stipulated in the school’s own information and within the national curriculum.

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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 in July 2016. 12–13 February 2020

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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 .

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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. 12–13 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10133153 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12–13 July 2016

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the school has closed its nursery.  The current headteacher took up post as acting headteacher in October 2018. He became the permanent headteacher in May 2019.  The school provides a Catholic education.  The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives pupil premium funding is above the national average.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is high.  More than half the pupils in the school speak English as an additional language.

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Information about this inspection

 I spoke with the headteacher, deputy headteacher and three members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. 12–13 February 2020

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 I looked at reading, mathematics and science in detail. I talked to leaders and teachers about their curriculum plans. I also talked to pupils about what they knew and remembered in these subjects. I looked at pupils’ work and discussed this with them.  I discussed curriculum plans for history, music and French with the leaders of those subjects.  I checked the record the school keeps of all staff and the records they keep on any safeguarding concerns. I spoke with leaders about how they keep children safe.  I observed behaviour at breaktimes and lunchtimes and spoke with children outside and in the dining room.  I talked with staff about how well leaders ensure that they are able to do their jobs and the training they receive for this.  I spoke with some parents of pupils with SEND and checked the 72 responses to the online survey, Parent View.  I checked the support plans for children with SEND and looked at how these were

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Inspection team

Matthew Knox, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 12–13 February 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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