St Mary's Catholic Primary School (Maltby)

Inspection of St Mary’s Catholic Primary School (Maltby) Muglet Lane, Maltby, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S66 7JU

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Inadequate 12 to 14 July 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School benefit from a much-improved educational offer. The curriculum in place is ambitious. It meets the learning needs of pupils and helps pupils to develop into considerate young people. This ambition shines through in the lessons pupils receive. It is evident in the extremely positive attitudes that pupils show to their learning. They work collaboratively, listening to each other’s mature points of view and adding valuable contributions to lessons.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to attend St Mary’s Catholic Primary School. During the inspection, they said that they enjoy spending time with their friends. Pupils said that they feel safe in school. Relationships between adults and pupils are positive. Pupils explained that leaders deal effectively with poor behaviour and any bullying so that incidents are managed promptly. Inspectors agree and confirm that this is the case.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of what pupils can and should achieve. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well. Most pupils leave St Mary’s Primary School well prepared for the challenges of secondary school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have thought carefully about how to build a strong staff team at St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School. They have considered the organisation of staff so that the school can continue to develop at pace. Pupil absence is declining. This is because leaders have worked closely with parents to ensure pupils are on time and at school every day.

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better?

Leaders have worked to build a stable workforce. This is now a strength of the school. Leaders have carefully considered their staff structure. They have been single-minded in their recruitment drives to identify and secure who they believe are the right members of staff for the pupils at St. Mary’s. These leaders and teachers demonstrate a tangible enthusiasm for providing an ambitious curriculum for all pupils.

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better?

Provision for children in the early years, including for children with SEND, is well developed. Staff develop children’s social skills and knowledge of the world with care and rigour. Adults help the youngest children to settle into routines well. Children enjoy a vibrant and welcoming classroom. They learn to be kind, to share and to take turns. As children get older and move through school, the well-established foundations for children’s pencil grip and early handwriting, which are set in Reception, continue to flourish. The knowledge that children acquire in the early years prepares them well for Year 1.

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better?

Leaders are committed to ensuring that provision for pupils with SEND continues to improve. It is clear, through lesson visits and looking at pupils’ work, that the 12 to 14 July 2022

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schools’ curriculum is meeting the needs of pupils with SEND well. Leaders have established strategies for comprehensively identifying the needs of pupils. Leaders and class teachers are increasingly proficient at developing appropriate plans to support individual pupils. These plans are instrumental in the day-to-day work of class-based staff. Teachers work proactively to implement high-quality support with carefully adapted resources. Additional adults deliver well-considered intervention programmes.

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In all subjects, leaders have worked with great insight to plan an engaging and thought-provoking curriculum. This is well mapped from the early years through to Year 6. Teachers have been supported by leaders to plan carefully considered curriculums for pupils. These are highly effective. Through carefully sequenced plans, teachers ensure that lessons efficiently build on pupils’ prior knowledge. Strategies to check that pupils are knowing and remembering more are less developed. Leaders’ actions in checking the quality of the curriculum is underdeveloped. There is not yet a whole-school approach or opportunity for all subject leaders to monitor how well their subjects are being delivered.

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Leaders continue to deliver a strong personal development curriculum to all pupils. This work is primarily delivered through the school’s personal, social, health and economic education and relationships and sexual education programmes. Aspects of these subjects were seen to be seamlessly delivered in both history and geography. For instance, pupils in Year 6 were thoroughly engaged in a discussion about diversity in 1960s Britain when studying the impact of the Bristol Bus Boycott. Teachers continue to deliver this content with expertise and confidence, Pupils are able to discuss topics with sensitivity and show a great maturity.

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Behaviour is highly positive. It is very clear that pupils have huge respect for adults and their peers. Pupils are highly engaged at this school. Leaders have made sure that children in early years have established routines. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 sit patiently listening to the teacher, putting their hands up to speak. This is in line with the school’s policy. Older pupils interact well and engage with great maturity and insight in lessons.

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Attendance has been a key focus for leaders in recent months and their work is having a positive impact. Leaders’ revision of processes and procedures in relation to attendance are comprehensive and well thought out. Leaders are unbending in their newly established guidance, knowing that it will benefit the school community in both the short and long term.

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Members of the governing body understand the priorities of the school. They seek external validation from the local authority and diocese to support the information they receive from leaders. Governors hold leaders to account effectively. They are passionate about their role in ensuring that pupils are receiving a good quality of education. Staff delight in being members of this happy school community. They feel well supported by leaders and governors. 12 to 14 July 2022

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The school maintains robust systems for recruiting staff and governors. All staff are well trained to identify and report any safeguarding concerns. Teachers keep a careful eye on things to spot signs of concern. They know to report these swiftly to the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) or the deputy DSLs. Pupils say that they feel safe in school and their parents share this view.

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Safeguarding

Pupils trust the adults in school to keep them safe. The curriculum ensures that pupils know what to do if they are worried. They are taught about the risks of being online and how to keep themselves safe in their community.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Assessment in a minority of foundation subjects is not fully developed. This means that in these subjects, teachers do not have precise information about how well pupils have remembered important knowledge. Leaders should ensure that assessment is further refined in these subjects to provide teachers with the information they need to plan learning that builds on what pupils already know and can do and ensure that pupils’ learning is secure.  In some subjects, subject leaders do not have a clear understanding of the impact of the curriculum in their subjects on pupils’ learning. This is because they are new to the role and have had limited opportunities to make sure that pupils know more and remember more over time. Leaders must ensure that all subject leaders have the time that they need to check the impact of the curriculum.

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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. 12 to 14 July 2022

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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 to 14 July 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10213904 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 15 and 16 March 2022, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a stand-alone academy working within the Holy Spirit Umbrella Trust. The members of the governing body are the academy’s trustees.  The school was judged to be good at its most recent inspection of denominational education and the content of the school’s collective worship under section 48 of the Education Act 2005. The school’s most recent section 48 inspection took place on 16 March 2016. Section 48 inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They restarted in September 2021. The next section 48 inspection will be within eight years of the previous section 48 inspection.  The school does not use alternative provision for its current pupils.

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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. 12 to 14 July 2022

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 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 have taken that into account in their evaluation.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics, history and geography. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, subject leaders and other members of staff. The lead inspector met with those responsible for governance, including the chair and vice-chair of the governing body. Inspectors spoke to the Director of Education for the Diocese of Hallam and remotely with the diocesan commissioned national leader of education.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour both in lessons and at breaktimes and

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lunchtimes. They gathered pupils’ views from both formal and informal discussions.  Inspectors scrutinised a range of documentation, including the school’s self- evaluation and improvement plan.  Inspectors checked the school’s single central record, met with the school’s designated safeguarding leader, and reviewed safeguarding information.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s parent survey, Ofsted Parent View. The inspectors also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey and Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Marcus Newby, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Richard Jones Her Majesty’s Inspector 12 to 14 July 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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