St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School Rowden Hill, Chippenham, Wiltshire SN15 2AH

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Inadequate 11–12 May 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are confident and happy. They are polite and considerate to one another. Pupils treat their friends and adults with respect. They listen carefully to each other when working and playing together. Pupils know the difference between bullying and falling out. They say that bullying does not happen. Pupils are well behaved.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders plan opportunities for pupils’ personal development carefully. This is rooted in the vision, values and Catholic faith of the school. Pupils appreciate the supportive and caring school community. They know and value diversity and difference. This prepares the pupils well for life in modern Britain. One parent, typical of many, said that staff ‘foster kindness and thoughtfulness to others’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of their roles of responsibility, such as being school council members or part of the chaplaincy group. Enrichment activities, including outdoor learning sessions and residential visits, help pupils develop skills for life. These purposeful activities improve pupils’ understanding of fair play and teamwork.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Nonetheless, pupils have significant gaps in their wider subject knowledge. In mathematics, they do not have regular opportunities to apply their knowledge to solving problems and reasoning questions. This limits the development of their mathematical skills, vocabulary and knowledge.

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better?

Leaders have rightly made learning to read a priority. Teachers’ and teaching assistants’ phonics knowledge is secure. They check that pupils say the letters and sounds correctly. They quickly spot pupils who need extra help. Useful catch-up sessions are provided for these pupils. Reading books match pupils’ phonic knowledge appropriately. Pupils build their phonics knowledge, reading speed and accuracy well.

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better?

The ‘Wiltshire Year of Reading’ award recognises the staff’s commitment to nurturing pupils’ love of reading. Pupils are keen to talk about the books they read. They enjoy sharing books as reading buddies. Staff promote reading successfully across the school.

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better?

Leaders have crafted clearly sequenced English, mathematics and science curriculums. Nevertheless, teachers do not use the mathematics curriculum to develop pupils’ mathematical knowledge sufficiently well. Pupils gain a strong foundation in their number knowledge. Teachers check that pupils understand this important fundamental knowledge accurately. However, pupils do not apply this knowledge across a range of written problems and reasoning questions regularly. This also limits the development of their mathematical vocabulary. 11–12 May 2022

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The art and history curriculums set out the essential knowledge, skills and vocabulary leaders want pupils to learn and remember. This is a new development. Staff absence due to COVID-19 during the autumn and spring terms, however, slowed the progress of curriculum development in other subjects. In these, the essential knowledge pupils must know and remember is not clearly identified. Likewise, in the early years, the curriculum does not set out the intended learning clearly.

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Where curriculums are not complete, teachers cannot check if there are gaps in pupils’ knowledge. They cannot plan to fill these gaps quickly. Pupils are not able to make connections or secure new knowledge. They can often recall the lesson activity, but not the purpose of the enquiry. For example, Year 6 pupils can recall using Newton meters in design and technology (DT), but not why.

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Following the identification of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), staff work with external agencies to support these pupils well. Leaders have plans in place to help strengthen the individual target-setting process with greater input from parents and carers.

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Staff care for pupils’ well-being. They teach pupils how to be physically and mentally healthy. Whole-school worship and discussions in lessons help pupils to understand and appreciate different cultures, faiths and societies successfully. Pupils know the school values. They recognise how these values help them learn right and wrong. This starts in the early years where children are encouraged to make the right choices. This helps ensure that the school has a calm and orderly environment. There are clear routines and expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Pupils respond appropriately.

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Leaders help families to overcome any barriers preventing their children from attending school regularly. This work is effective. Pupils attend school regularly.

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Governors understand how to carry out their roles and responsibilities effectively. They increasingly ask questions to challenge and hold school leaders to account. Their knowledge of the wider subject curriculum is growing.

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Staff appreciate the support of school leaders and governors to manage their workload. They know leaders care for their well-being.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders complete appropriate checks before staff and volunteers begin working at the school. Staff and governors attend regular safeguarding training. They know and understand their roles and responsibilities. For example, governors regularly check that recruitment and training records are up to date. 11–12 May 2022

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Staff know how to record and report concerns for pupils’ welfare. Leaders respond with appropriate actions in a timely manner, including engaging with external agencies.

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Pupils know how to keep themselves safe. This includes when they are online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some parts of the curriculum, including the early years, the key concepts leaders want pupils to know and remember are not identified. Consequently, pupils cannot make connections between important concepts and build their knowledge over time. Leaders must identify the key concepts pupils must know and remember across the curriculum.  Pupils have gaps in their knowledge across some foundation subjects. This makes it difficult to secure their knowledge further. Leaders need to support teachers to use assessment information to identify gaps in pupils’ essential knowledge and rectify these gaps swiftly.  Pupils do not apply their mathematical knowledge to problem-solving and reasoning questions regularly. This means they cannot extend their mathematical knowledge and vocabulary appropriately. Teachers need to ensure that all pupils apply their mathematical knowledge, skills and vocabulary across all areas of the

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How can I feed back my views?

or 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. 11–12 May 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10211749 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10–11 July 2018, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was appointed in September 2019. The deputy headteacher was appointed in September 2018.

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Information about this school

 An interim executive board was responsible for school governance between November 2018 and November 2020, when the newly formed governing body was appointed.

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Information about this school

 The school does not use alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 13(4) of the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 11–12 May 2022

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 The inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, staff, pupils, governors, including the chair of governors, and representatives from Wiltshire local authority and the Diocese of Clifton.  The lead inspector listened to pupils from Years 1, 2 and 3 read to a known adult.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: reading, mathematics, history and DT. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, looked at curriculum plans, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  The inspectors reviewed the school’s safeguarding documentation, including records of safeguarding checks carried out on staff working at the school. They considered how well the designated safeguarding lead acts on concerns about pupils’ safety and welfare. The inspectors spoke to pupils, staff and governors

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about safeguarding practices.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the responses to the surveys for staff and pupils.

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Inspection team

Marie Thomas, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Sean Millar Ofsted Inspector 11–12 May 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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