St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School Baugh Road, Footscray, Sidcup, Kent DA14 5ED

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Outcome

St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school. However, inspectors have some concerns that standards may be declining, as set out below.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils welcome you with a smile at St Peter Chanel Catholic Primary School. They are happy, safe and well cared for. They enjoy talking about their successes at the school and about their learning in the subjects they enjoy. Many parents and carers told me that their children love coming to the school and enjoy being there.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have a strong sense of right and wrong. They behave well but understand the implications if they are ‘silly’ during lessons. They enjoy the rewards they receive for good behaviour or learning, and accept any sanctions they receive maturely.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils play well together, and bullying incidents are rare. Most pupils know that they have trusted adults in the school who they can go to if they have any worries or concerns. They know how to keep themselves safe in the school and are aware of possible risks to their safety outside the school. Pupils value the warm relationships they have with teaching assistants.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders, staff and governors share a strong desire to make sure that pupils achieve the best they can. Teachers have benefited from training to help them plan and teach a wide range of subjects. However, this guidance has not yet helped teachers to support the needs of all pupils to achieve as well as they should.

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

Leaders and governors have high expectations of themselves, staff and pupils. Leaders have created plans to show teachers what they are expected to teach in each year group in a wide range of subjects. However, planning for some subjects, such as mathematics and science, is still in the early stages of development. 12–13 February 2020

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Teachers work exceptionally hard and do their best to plan interesting lessons and to improve their teaching skills. They have made changes to the way they teach reading, writing and mathematics since the time of the previous inspection. Some pupils are achieving well because of this. However, teachers have not been supported well enough to help them plan for the needs of the lower-ability pupils or the most able pupils. For example, pupils who are struggling with learning to read are not given books which help them to use their phonics skills. They are sometimes left struggling with books which are too difficult for weeks on end, never experiencing success as a reader. The most able pupils often sit through phonics lessons which are pitched well below what they already know. For example, fluent, confident writers are sometimes taught sounds and letters which they are already using confidently in their reading and writing.

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Pupils’ mathematics books showed that there are gaps in the lower-attaining pupils’ knowledge and understanding in this subject. However, there is little evidence that the pupils are given the opportunity to improve their knowledge and address their misunderstandings. Many pupils show little pride in presenting their mathematics work. There was little evidence in some classes that pupils had used mathematics to solve problems. This is an important part of the national curriculum for mathematics. There is no planning in place to help pupils apply mathematics in other subjects. Pupils have made poor progress in mathematics for the past two years.

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The oldest pupils in the school enjoy science and can explain how their scientific knowledge has been built upon during their time at the school. In other year groups, although pupils can remember activities they have done in science, they do not consistently remember the knowledge they have been taught.

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There is some low-level disruption, or ‘silliness’ as pupils call it, in some classes across the school. Pupils lose focus when teaching does not meet their individual needs. Provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) does not fully meet their needs or help them to achieve what they are capable of academically and socially. This is because senior leaders have not thought carefully enough about how these pupils are taught. Some pupils with SEND are often withdrawn from their classes for long periods of time. As a result, they miss the teaching from their class teacher. It is not clear how the pupils’ withdrawal from lessons taught by their class teacher is helping these pupils improve their knowledge and understanding across the curriculum.

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Sports teaching is a great strength. Specialist teachers provide a wide range of exciting activities. They think and plan carefully for pupils’ individual needs. During the inspection, pupils enjoyed karate lessons and a range of team games. Pupils enjoy a range of visits to local places of interest and workshops relating to the topics they are being taught.

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Children in the Reception class play and learn happily together. Lack of stability in staffing this year has had a negative impact on their development across all the areas of learning. Leaders are supporting staff in the Reception class to help children make up for lost learning time. 12–13 February 2020

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff and governors are well trained in all aspects of safeguarding. They care about protecting children and keeping them safe at the school.

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Safeguarding

Leaders know their most vulnerable pupils well. They challenge external services to make sure that pupils and families get the help and protection they need. Record-keeping in relation to safeguarding is thorough and detailed.

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Safeguarding

Teachers make sure that pupils are aware of potential dangers outside of the school community.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The quality of education for pupils with lower prior attainment and the most able pupils is not consistently effective. Training provided to help teachers teach reading and mathematics has not been wholly successful. Leaders need to support teachers in further reviewing their approach to teaching reading and mathematics, so that pupils of all abilities can build successfully on what they know and can do.  Pastoral support for pupils with SEND is effective. They are well cared for. However, the provision has not been thought through carefully enough and currently does not support some of these pupils’ academic or social development. Some pupils are withdrawn every morning from their classrooms to work with teaching assistants in the ‘SEND’ room. This means that they are not taught by teachers for half their time at the school. Leaders have not taken appropriate action to inform parents that their children are out of their

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

classrooms for this amount of time. It is not clear how this provision is supporting pupils to know more and remember more. Leaders need to make sure that, if pupils are withdrawn from lessons taught by their teachers, this is always used solely to benefit pupils, and not for organisational reasons.  The planning of science is in an early stage of development. Not all pupils are remembering the knowledge that they have been taught. Leaders need to ensure that the science curriculum is well planned and has opportunities for pupils to revisit concepts to help them remember what they have been taught. 12–13 February 2020

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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.

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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 .

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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 10121616 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.st-peterchanel.bexley.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 6–7 July 2016

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Information about this school

 The school is a two-form-entry Catholic primary school. It has one Reception class.

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Information about this inspection

 I met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher and other leaders. I met with six governors, including the chair of governors. I spoke with a local authority representative.  I did deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics and science. To do this, I met with subject leaders and visited lessons with them. I looked at pupils’ work and spoke with pupils about their learning. I met with the teachers I had observed, and reviewed planning in these subjects.  I undertook a SEND ‘learning walk’ with the special educational needs coordinator.  I reviewed records and educational, health and care plans for pupils with SEND.  I spoke with parents, staff and pupils throughout the inspection. I reviewed the 61 responses to Ofsted’s Parent View, 21 responses to the staff survey and 97 responses to the pupil survey. 12–13 February 2020

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 In order to inspect safeguarding, I reviewed the school’s single central record of staff suitability. I met with the designated safeguarding lead and reviewed documentation related to child protection.

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Inspection team

Ruth Dollner, lead inspector Her Majesty’s 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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