La Salette Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: La Salette Catholic Primary School Dunedin Road, Rainham, Essex RM13 8SP

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Inspection dates: 12 and 13 January 2022

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Outcome

La Salette Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders and staff encourage all pupils to be ambitious in their learning. Pupils respond well to these high expectations and work hard in lessons. They are keen to talk about their work, as well as the books and authors that they are reading. Pupils develop and build up their knowledge well in most of the subjects that they study.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, including children in Reception, are encouraged to manage their own behaviour and feelings. They behave well in lessons and support each other if they need help with their learning. Pupils try hard to be friendly to one another and show respect towards both their peers and staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that bullying is unkind. They said that it rarely happens and that there is an adult in the school they would talk to if they were concerned about bullying. Leaders deal with any bullying quickly. Leaders and staff help pupils to enjoy school, and make sure that they are kept safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils like taking part in the wide range of sports activities and trips available. For example, staff organise visits to art galleries, museums and nature reserves. Through these visits, they aim to broaden pupils’ perspectives. Pupils also enjoy playing different sports, particularly football.

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better?

The curriculum is broad and ambitious. Leaders have planned the curriculum so that pupils build their knowledge of subjects, such as mathematics and music, and make links between them. The curriculum in Reception prepares children well for what they will learn in Year 1. Leaders carefully adjust and refine the curriculum so that it continually improves. 12 and 13 January 2022

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Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders judged that a few pupils were not learning as well as they could in some subjects. In response, leaders updated and strengthened their curriculum. They made sure that staff were clear about what pupils needed to know and be able to do. In a few subjects, however, the curriculum does not fully support pupils to readily recall knowledge that they have previously learned and to connect this with new subject content. In history, for example, some pupils find it hard to use what they know about different periods of time to build up their chronological awareness.

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Pupils behave well in lessons. This means that their learning is rarely disrupted. Teachers explain things well and break down new learning into small, bite-sized chunks. They check that pupils understand important knowledge before moving on to more complex ideas. In most subjects, pupils remember what they have previously learned. This means that they are well prepared to learn new knowledge later.

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Children at the early stage of reading quickly gain the knowledge and skills they need. Reading is typically taught well, and staff understand pupils’ needs. They make sure that pupils have many opportunities to read regularly and put their phonics knowledge into practice. Leaders have recently adopted a new approach to the teaching of early reading. Staff have benefited from training on how to deliver this approach consistently. Nevertheless, in a small number of cases, inconsistencies remain in how confident some staff are in helping pupils to master specific sounds.

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Stories are an important part of each school day. Adults make storytelling memorable. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 enjoy their end-of-day story, complete with lots of joining in. Teachers sustain pupils’ enthusiasm for reading. They choose interesting books that introduce pupils to a wide-ranging vocabulary. For example, pupils in Year 5 spoke knowledgeably about the wartime experience of people in eastern Europe during the Second World War. This is because they have been reading historical fiction books.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly by leaders. Leaders and staff ensure that these pupils get the right support to access the full curriculum. For example, staff adapt tasks so that pupils with SEND revisit key knowledge first before moving on to new learning.

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Leaders promote pupils’ wider development through a well-planned personal, social, health and economic education curriculum and through a wide range of activities. For example, pupils learn how to manage money in Years 1 and 2. Pupils are encouraged to take on school-wide responsibilities. For example, pupils can join the school council or become members of a project to promote sustainability within the school.

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The governing body supports and challenges school leaders effectively. Governors and leaders share a common vision and have high expectations. Leaders also draw on support and challenge from the local authority to help them secure improvements in pupils’ learning.

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Parents and carers value the work that leaders do. They feel supported and said 12 and 13 January 2022

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that leaders and staff communicate with them well. Staff were also full of praise for leaders’ work and are proud to work in the school. Leaders make sure that staff workload is manageable.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is a strong safeguarding culture in the school. This underpins leaders’ and governors’ intentions that pupils should be safe and happy.

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Safeguarding

Pupils are aware of risks and know how to keep themselves safe. Staff know the potential risks that pupils may face and report any concerns quickly. These concerns are followed up immediately by leaders.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work closely with parents and external agencies to protect pupils at risk of harm. Pupils of all ages learn how to recognise potentially unsafe situations. They are taught how to use the internet safely and to speak up if they see something that worries them.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have ensured that staff receive the training they need to teach reading well. However, in a few instances, the confidence of staff in delivering the recently introduced early reading programme varies. Leaders should provide ongoing and specific support to ensure that all staff feel fully confident in how to teach all aspects of the school’s early reading approach.  In a few subjects, for instance history and geography, the curriculum does not enable pupils to fluently recall some of the important knowledge that they have been taught. This decreases pupils’ ability to link prior learning with new ideas and concepts. In these subjects, leaders should make sure that the curriculum focuses on helping pupils to secure and apply prior learning. This will help pupils to build up their understanding in a logical sequence.

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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 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 a section 5 inspection immediately. 12 and 13 January 2022

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This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

to 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 .

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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 and 13 January 2022

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

8 November 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school has a Roman Catholic religious character. The school’s most recent section 48 inspection took place in May 2017.

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Information about this inspection

This was the first routine inspection the school had received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders, and has taken that into account in his evaluation.

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Information about this inspection

 As part of this inspection, the inspector met with the headteacher, who is also the designated safeguarding lead and the special educational needs coordinator. The inspector also held meetings with teachers and support staff.  The inspector held an online conversation with members of the governing body, including the chair.  The inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority. 12 and 13 January 2022

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 The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, geography and history. For each deep dive, the inspector met with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with teachers, spoke with some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspector listened to pupils read and spoke with pupils at break- and lunchtimes.  The inspector considered information relating to safeguarding, including the school’s single central record of vetting checks on adults working at the school.  The inspector took account of responses to Ofsted’s Parent View survey, the views of parents spoken with at the start of the school day and responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Tim McLoughlin, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 January 2022

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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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