The Marist Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: The Marist Catholic Primary School Old Woking Road, West Byfleet, Surrey KT14 6HS

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Outcome

The Marist Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The Marist is a happy school. Pupils are kind and respectful to each other and to adults. As one pupil said, ‘Making friends is easy in this school.’ They enjoy coming to school and feel safe. Pupils know that adults will always listen to any worries they may have. This includes any incidents of bullying, which pupils say are rare.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils flourish in their learning. They know that teachers have high expectations of them and they rise to the challenge. Pupils behave well in lessons. They listen, are attentive to their teachers and ready to answer questions and work hard.

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What is it like to attend this school?

There are many opportunities for pupils to take on roles of responsibility, which they relish. Members of the pupil voice team talk of their pride in being the ‘voice for their class’. Year 2 pupils love having the opportunity of reading to their Year 6 buddies.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many parents and carers are very appreciative of how the school works hard, not just for their children to succeed academically, but also for their well-being. As one parent commented: ‘The school and staff have exceeded all our expectations. They go above and beyond. The level of teaching and care is second to none.’

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

Leaders, staff and the Xavier Trust are ambitious for the school. They have high aspirations for pupils to do well.

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

Reading is a high priority and is at the heart of the curriculum. Leaders have ensured that all staff are well trained to expertly teach early reading. Teachers follow the phonics programme closely. Children learn phonics from the start of Reception. They read books that match the sounds they know. This helps to build their confidence and accuracy. Struggling readers, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are given the support they need. This includes routinely reading aloud to adults in school. Staff also read books to pupils to extend their vocabulary. All in all, pupils get off 8 and 9 February 2022

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to a good start so that they become confident, fluent and enthusiastic readers, with the reading skills they need to learn in other subjects.

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Mathematics is a strength of the school. Pupils learn well because teachers plan a series of lessons that build on what pupils know and understand. All pupils, including the youngest children, revisit and practise previous learning by completing ‘flash back 4’ tasks. Staff help pupils to improve their accuracy in recalling number facts. They also encourage pupils to use the correct vocabulary to explain their thinking. This helps pupils to confidently solve reasoning problems.

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Leaders have designed a curriculum which is broad and covers the full range of subjects in the national curriculum. Subject leaders have developed the sequence of knowledge in each subject. This enables teachers to check and build precisely on what pupils have learned before and prepare them for what comes next. In turn, this helps pupils to revisit and refresh their knowledge and then move forward, building on what they already know. Some Year 4 pupils, for example, spoke enthusiastically to the inspector about their recent ‘Roman’ day and linked it back to learning about the Egyptians, when in Year 3. Teachers use the same approach of building on and linking learning in all subjects. The curriculum for the youngest children in Reception is similarly well sequenced.

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In reading and mathematics, pupils with SEND have their needs met well. However, in other subjects, the tasks are not adapted well enough to support them to develop their knowledge and to learn alongside their classmates. As a result, pupils with SEND are not always able to learn as well as they could.

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Leaders place a strong emphasis on building pupils’ ambition for the future. They invite a variety of professions to broaden pupils’ horizons. Pupils have enjoyed working with artists, historians, scientists, mathematicians and employers. Leaders are also determined that pupils will become respectful citizens. Pupils develop their understanding of different cultures during the international week.

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Pupils are enthusiastic about the opportunities they have to choose from the wide variety of clubs available to them. One of the pupil voice team said: ‘There is something for everyone to go to.’

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Staff are appreciative of the support leaders give them, especially for their well-being. Leaders make deliberate decisions to ensure that any changes to workload make a difference for pupils.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding is a priority within the school. All members of staff and governors are fully trained so that they understand their responsibilities. The safeguarding team meets weekly to review all pupils who are a cause for concern. Their support for pupils is immediate and record-keeping is thorough and comprehensive. Leaders work closely with other agencies and they are tenacious in ensuring that pupils get the support they need. 8 and 9 February 2022

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Pupils are taught how to stay safe. For example, they understand not to share passwords or give out personal information online. They know how to safely cross roads and ride their bikes safely.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, pupils with SEND are not always well supported. This means that they do not learn as well as they might. Leaders need to ensure that in all subjects teachers know how to adapt teaching to ensure that pupils with SEND can learn the curriculum alongside their peers.

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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 as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Marist Catholic Primary School, to be good in January 2015.

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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 .

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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. 8 and 9 February 2022

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The Marist Catholic Primary School converted to become an academy school in November 2017. When its predecessor school, also known as The Marist Catholic Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The school is part of the Xavier Catholic Education Trust.  This school’s Roman Catholic character was last inspected in October 2018.

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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 leaders and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with senior leaders, subject leaders, staff and pupils.  The inspector spoke remotely with the trust’s chief executive officer, and met with the deputy chief executive and members of the trust’s teaching and learning team.  The inspector met with the special educational needs coordinator, the trust’s special educational needs coordinator and other leaders to discuss the provision for pupils with SEND. 8 and 9 February 2022

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 The inspector also spoke with the three members of the governing board.  Deep dives were carried out in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. Deep dives included visiting lessons with leaders, and talking to teachers and pupils about their learning. The inspector also looked at a range of pupils’ work and listened to pupils read.  The inspector also reviewed geography curriculum plans and a selection of pupils’ books.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector spoke to the safeguarding team, reviewing policies and scrutinising records and staff training. The inspector spoke with staff and pupils.  The inspector considered responses made by parents to Ofsted Parent View, including free-text comments, and reviewed the survey completed by staff.

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Inspection team

Becky Greenhalgh, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 February 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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