Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School The Limes Avenue, London, N11 1RD

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Inspection dates: 19 and 20 October 2021

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Outcome

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils said that their school is welcoming and friendly. They make friends quickly and always help each other. Leaders put pupils’ well-being at the heart of the school. They make sure that pupils do well in their subjects as well as caring for their personal and emotional welfare. This balance between pupils’ welfare and their academic achievements is what helps to make the school successful.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This balance is illustrated by the steady way in which the planned curriculum is put into practice in classrooms. Teachers expect the most of pupils. However, they also take great care to look after pupils’ individual needs. For example, pupils get extra help if they are stuck. As a result, pupils value learning, respect their teachers and enjoy school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils said they feel safe in school because teachers and adults are always looking out for them. This is true in the playground as well as classrooms. Leaders ensure that pupils learn how to keep themselves safe, for example through workshop sessions about online safety and anti-bullying. Cases of bullying are few and far between. However, when it does happen, it is dealt with effectively. Pupils said they were confident that telling a teacher would get things sorted out.

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

Leaders are tackling the school’s priorities effectively. Together with governors, leaders know what needs to be done to improve pupils’ education. Before the pandemic, leaders and staff began working together to review and revise the curriculum. They looked at what they wanted pupils to achieve by the time they left the school, from an academic and personal point of view. For example, they identified that they wanted pupils to be good citizens, to read widely and to achieve well. However, in this small school, the pandemic has delayed a few of the developments.

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

Nevertheless, despite the delays, clear progress has been made in many areas. Checks on pupils’ learning are now streamlined so that teachers’ workload is manageable. In 19 and 20 October 2021

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mathematics, leaders and staff have worked together to adopt a commercial scheme, which they adapt appropriately to meet the needs of their pupils. For example, pupils who struggle with certain mathematical ideas receive additional support. Pupils’ attitudes and behaviour remain strong, including in the early years. As a result, lessons are rarely, if ever, disrupted.

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Teachers are quick to identify pupils’ misconceptions and will go back over the work to help everyone understand. Learning is enhanced by the way teachers make sure that pupils remember important facts and figures. This emphasis on developing pupils’ memory means that they are able to make connections between one fact and another. In geography, for example, pupils in Year 6 were able to link the structure of the Earth to the formation of volcanos.

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Reading is a priority. In Reception, children start to develop their knowledge of the sounds letters make and how to write them. Once they get to Year 1, phonics teaching continues to be structured carefully. The books pupils read match the sounds they learn in phonics. By the end of the year, nearly all pupils are confident readers. However, leaders are not complacent and additional work is done in Year 2 with those who still struggle a little. As a result, pupils read accurately by the time they move into Year 3. Reading continues to be an important priority as pupils move up the school. Older pupils take home at least three books each week. To encourage reading at home, pupils are given incentives and rewards. Pupils enjoy reading and talk excitedly about their books.

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The science curriculum is less well developed because revisions were delayed by the recent partial school closures. Current plans show what pupils will do but are not as specific about what they will learn. Sometimes, this results in pupils not learning enough about the science. For example, pupils learn how to carry out an investigation but not always enough about the important knowledge that underpins the work.

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Leaders keep a sharp focus on ensuring that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Pupils’ learning is carefully checked by teachers and teaching assistants. This ensures that pupils who may be falling behind get specific help. As a result, pupils with SEND develop their knowledge and learning well.

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Pupils’ learning and wider development are extended well by the range of after-school clubs, activities and trips. Clubs include sports, such as netball and football, as well as philosophy and gardening. Pupils visit theatres and museums, and take part in a variety of local community activities such as music, dance and debating.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The procedures and systems for ensuring pupils’ well-being, health and safety are robust. Leaders take a great deal of care to make sure that they identify concerns and provide help quickly. Positive relationships with external agencies, such as social services, mean that pupils and their families get the right help in a timely manner. 19 and 20 October 2021

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Staff are well trained to deal with safeguarding issues. They know about the most recent guidance and can recognise the signs of possible abuse or neglect. Experienced leaders make sensible decisions about how to support pupils. As a result, pupils are cared for most effectively.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have done much to review and revise the school’s curriculum to enable pupils to make strong progress with their learning. For example, in mathematics and geography, plans have been upgraded to better identify the order in which the essential knowledge is to be taught. In many other subjects, such as English, history and art, the content is carefully sequenced. In science, this work has been delayed because of the pandemic and staff changes. Although teachers’ secure subject knowledge helps to limit the adverse impact of this delay, some pupils do not make as much progress through the curriculum. Leaders need to ensure that the work to improve the science curriculum continues and identifies the fundamental scientific knowledge and the order in which it is to be taught.

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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 or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, 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 deem the section 8 inspection as 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 September 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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 . 19 and 20 October 2021

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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. 19 and 20 October 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10199988 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of the governing body Nicola Madigan and Emma Harvey (Co- chairs) Headteacher Gillian Hood

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School details

Date of previous inspection 13 – 14 September 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher has been in post since September 2019.  At the time of the inspection, the deputy headteacher was on maternity leave.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with school leaders and has taken that into account in his evaluation.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, senior leaders, staff, pupils and governors. This included the safeguarding lead.  The inspector scrutinised school records of the safeguarding checks on adults working in the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and geography. In each of these subjects, the inspector met with subject leaders, visited lessons, talked to pupils about their work and where possible met with teaching staff to 19 and 20 October 2021

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talk about their approach to the curriculum. The inspector also looked at other subjects in less depth, including science and English.  The inspector considered responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey and to the staff survey.  Meetings were held with groups of pupils to discuss their views about different aspects of their school, including safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Brian Oppenheim, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector 19 and 20 October 2021

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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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