Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy

Inspection of Saint Augustine Webster Catholic Voluntary Academy Baildon Road, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire DN15 8BU

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Overall effectiveness Inadequate

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Inadequate Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Good 10–13 March 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a welcoming school. Staff care about pupils. Pupils behave well in lessons and enjoy learning. Pupils’ behaviour on the playground can be boisterous which makes some pupils feel unsafe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Vulnerable pupils are at risk of slipping through the net because the school’s systems for keeping pupils safe are not robust. Leaders at all levels have been aware of concerns about the school’s safeguarding systems. They have not acted quickly enough to ensure the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils achieve well by the end of key stage 2 in reading, writing and mathematics. However, the teaching of early reading does not help all pupils to be fluent and confident readers. The curriculum in some subjects is not well planned. Some pupils do not remember what they have been taught.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school encourages pupils to take responsibility for each other. Older pupils lead mass and some are trained to lead games on the playground. Pupils raise money for charities, such as Macmillan Cancer Support and Show Racism the Red Card.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Some pupils and their parents are worried about how the school deals with bullying. Leaders have recognised this and made some changes to how they manage incidents of bullying.

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better?

Leaders’ evaluation of the school’s strengths and weaknesses has not been accurate. As a result, leaders have not been clear about the priorities facing the school. The school has found it difficult to recruit governors to the local governing body. Governors have not held leaders to account. They have not ensured legal requirements for safeguarding are in place.

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better?

Leaders from the multi-academy trust have acted to improve the school’s leadership. An interim executive headteacher has recently been appointed. She is supporting school leaders to improve safeguarding and the quality of education. The trust has recently established an interim executive committee (IEC) to strengthen governance. It is too early to see the impact of changes to leadership.

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better?

Some pupils do not read with fluency. Children start learning phonics straight away in Reception. However, teachers do not give children enough time to practise new sounds. The books children read do not match the sounds they are learning well enough. Some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), do not receive the support they need to catch-up quickly. Leaders do not make sure that phonics catch-up sessions build pupils’ confidence and fluency in reading. Staff have had training to teach the school’s phonics 10–13 March 2020

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programme. Some staff need further training to strengthen the effectiveness of the teaching of early reading for all pupils.

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Leaders have recently implemented an ambitious curriculum for mathematics. Teachers use pictures and objects to help pupils understand mathematical concepts. Teachers check pupils’ understanding in lessons and are quick to address any misconceptions. Some less able pupils, including those with SEND, do not receive the support they need. This means that these pupils do not remember what they have been taught. Some older pupils have gaps in their mathematical knowledge. This stops them from completing complex calculations.

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Pupils enjoy taking part in physical education (PE). The curriculum is well planned. Pupils build skills overtime in PE and remember what they have been taught.

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Some curriculum leaders are new to their roles. They are beginning to develop a curriculum for subjects other than English, mathematics and PE, such as science, geography and computing. Curriculum leaders are not clear about what pupils should learn in these subjects. Teachers do not consistently ensure that pupils revisit learning so that they remember more over time. However, in some year groups, staff provide opportunities for pupils to talk about and revisit what they have previously learned. For example, some Year 5 pupils could remember lots of information about how plants and animals reproduce.

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Leaders do not check to make sure pupils are attending school well. Rates of absence are rising and the number of pupils who regularly miss school is increasing. This is particularly the case for disadvantaged pupils. Leaders have very recently identified this and have written an action plan to secure improvements in attendance. It is too soon to see the impact of this work.

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Although pupils behave well in class, their behaviour on the playground can be boisterous. Some pupils do not play safely. This makes pupils feel unsafe at times. Leaders have recently introduced a new behaviour policy to tackle these issues.

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Pupils talk with enthusiasm about their learning from ‘Black History Month’. Yet, there are few opportunities for pupils to learn about people of different faiths or backgrounds. Due to this, pupils do not know much about people with different cultures and lives.

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Leaders are considerate of staff workload and well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.

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Safeguarding

Governors, the local authority and trust leaders have had concerns about the school’s safeguarding procedures. Leaders at all levels have been slow to act on their concerns. They recognised the need to carry out a full audit of safeguarding procedures, but this is still to happen. 10–13 March 2020

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There is a lack of clarity about who is responsible for safeguarding. Leaders sought to address this during the inspection. Those responsible for leading safeguarding do not have the training they should have. Systems for record-keeping are not robust. Leaders are unclear about what should be recorded and who important information should be shared with. There is not enough oversight of vulnerable pupils. Pupils could be at risk of harm.

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Leaders have not checked the safety of pupils who attend alternative education provision. Leaders were not aware whether checks had been made to ensure these placements are safe. Leaders did not understand that this is something they need to do. Checks were completed during the inspection.

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At times, some staff have not been open to support from external agencies. This has led to some pupils not receiving support as quickly as they should.

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Staff receive regular safeguarding training. They understand the signs to look out for which may suggest a pupil is at risk of harm. However, some staff do not know what to do if they have a concern about adults at the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not made sure that statutory requirements relating to safeguarding are met. Leaders responsible for safeguarding do not have the training they need. Staff do not keep thorough records. Leaders do not identify potential trends and patterns in safeguarding concerns. This puts vulnerable pupils at risk. Leaders must take urgent action to address weaknesses in safeguarding and ensure arrangements for keeping pupils safe are effective.  Until very recently, leaders have not been clear about the school’s main priorities for improvement. This has led to ineffective arrangements for safeguarding and a decline in the quality of education and pupils’ behaviour at social times, since the previous inspection. Leaders should ensure that plans are put in place and actioned swiftly to address the school’s main priorities for improvement. Governors should hold leaders to account for the implementation of these plans.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not ensured that children get off to a strong start in reading. Sessions to help pupils catch up are too focused on comprehension before children have mastered how to decode words. As a result, some pupils do not become fluent, independent readers. Leaders should provide training for all staff to help them become effective teachers of reading. Teachers should ensure that there is enough time for pupils to rehearse and practise the sounds they are learning. Teachers should provide pupils with books that match the sounds they know. Leaders should check that catch-up sessions successfully build pupils’ fluency and confidence in reading.  Leaders have not thought about the crucial knowledge and skills pupils will learn in some foundation subjects such as science, geography and computing. This 10–13 March 2020

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means pupils do not build knowledge over time. There are gaps in pupils’ learning. Senior leaders should support curriculum leaders to develop the skills they need to establish a progressive and well-sequenced curriculum in the foundation subjects. Curriculum leaders should check the effectiveness of the implementation and impact of the curriculum in their subject.  Some pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they should. Plans to support them are not clear and are not reviewed often enough. Leaders should ensure support plans make it clear how staff can help pupils with SEND, particularly with basic skills in reading and mathematics. Leaders should check the quality and impact of support plans so that these pupils are supported appropriately to achieve well.  Leaders have not monitored attendance effectively and therefore have not addressed rising rates of pupils’ absence and increasing rates of persistent

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absence. Too many pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are missing out on their learning. Leaders must take swift action to ensure more pupils attend school regularly.  The curriculum for pupils’ personal development does not help pupils learn enough about people of different faiths and cultures. Some pupils do not have a respectful understanding of different groups of people. Leaders should implement a curriculum for personal development that prepares pupils more fully for life in modern Britain.

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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. 10–13 March 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10121869 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority Interim executive board

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committee

Date of previous inspection 12 July 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school became a member of the St Thérèse of Lisieux Catholic Multi-Academy Trust in September 2018.  At the time of the inspection, the headteacher was absent. An assistant headteacher had responsibility for the day-to-day leadership of the school. She is supported by the interim executive headteacher.  Trust leaders, including the chief executive officer (CEO) and primary director for performance and standards, have been providing support to the school.  The school makes use of ‘Flourish With Us’ alternative education provision to provide education for a small number of its pupils.  The proportion of pupils who speak English is an additional language is well above the national average.  The proportion of pupils who are disadvantaged is below national average.  The school is part of a teacher research group to support improvement in the teaching of mathematics. 10–13 March 2020

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 44(2) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a section 5 inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

 During the inspection, we met with the assistant headteacher currently responsible for leading the school, the interim executive headteacher and the trust CEO.  The lead inspector met with five members of the IEC, including the chair.  The lead inspector held a discussion on the telephone with a representative from the local authority, the leader of the local authority behaviour service and the local authority designated officer for child protection.  We checked the school’s culture of safeguarding by undertaking a wide range of activities. This included reviewing documents, speaking to pupils, parents, members of the IEC, trust leaders and school staff. We looked closely at safeguarding records and discussed the involvement of other agencies.  We spoke to parents on the playground to ask for their views about the school. We also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View.

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Information about this inspection

 Ofsted is aware of the challenges that COVID-19 (coronavirus) is currently posing to those we inspect. During this visit, we took into consideration the impact of any measures being taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 by the school. This has included the effect these measures have had on the current attendance of the pupils and staffing arrangements  We carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, science and PE. This involved discussions with pupils, curriculum leaders and teachers. We looked at pupils’ work and visited lessons. We also listened to pupils read.

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Inspection team

Tim Scargill-Knight, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Kirsty Godfrey Her Majesty’s Inspector 10–13 March 2020

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