Our Lady and St Werburgh's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Our Lady and St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary School Seabridge Lane, Clayton, Newcastle, Staffordshire ST5 4AG

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Inspection dates: 14 and 15 September 2022

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Outcome

Our Lady and St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

In the words of its mission statement, this school ‘is a place where all are valued, and none left out’. As a result of this ethos, which all staff promote, pupils are happy to attend school. They feel safe and cared for.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff have high expectations of behaviour and attitudes which pupils live up to. Pupils listen attentively in lessons and work hard. They show respect to staff and each other. Pupils say that bullying does not happen. They know that staff take any poor behaviour seriously and deal with it.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy their learning. For example, they speak with enthusiasm about their favourite authors and stories. Most pupils can read well for their age. However, a small number need more support. This is starting to happen. Pupils remember a lot of what they have learned in other subjects. With support, they are starting to connect their learning across the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The wider curriculum helps to develop pupils’ character. Roles such as house captains or being a ‘Mini Vinnie’ help pupils to contribute to their school community. Pupils also have many opportunities to develop their talents and interests. They enjoy a range of sports and music clubs.

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

Since the new headteacher took up the post, there has been renewed energy within the school. She has created a strong team of leaders and acted with urgency to address the impact of the pandemic. Together with staff, she has redesigned the curriculum. It is now coherently sequenced. Leaders are continuing to refine some subject curriculums. They are taking the right actions to ensure that all pupils access an ambitious curriculum. Expectations for what pupils can and should achieve are high. 14 and 15 September 2022

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Reading is a high priority in the school. All pupils use the vibrant school library. Leaders want pupils to learn to read and love to read. Staff have all received phonics training, so they have the expertise needed to teach early reading. Phonics begins at the start of early years using a systematic programme. The books pupils read are closely matched to the sounds they know. Most pupils can read age-appropriate texts confidently and fluently. However, there are a small number at the early stages of reading who do not use phonics to attempt unknown words. This hinders their fluency and confidence.

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From the time they start, children in the early years learn to count and understand number. The curriculum ensures that this knowledge builds steadily. This helps children in the early years and pupils in the rest of the school to gain a secure understanding of the key concepts in mathematics. Teachers give clear explanations and use practical resources to enable pupils to access the learning. The work given to pupils ensures that they can achieve the intended outcomes in mathematics.

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In other subject areas such as history, the work given to pupils does not always help them to learn what is most important. Some tasks focus more on writing skills or enjoyable activities rather than meaningful learning in history. Such work does not help pupils to achieve well in the subject.

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Staff use assessment daily to inform their teaching. They also use more formal assessments each term to find out how well pupils have learned the curriculum. Leaders analyse the outcomes of assessments. This helps to identify pupils who may need further support with their learning.

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Leaders have reviewed how staff support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities in school. Staff have had a range of training to develop their expertise. They provide support in the classroom and scaffold pupils’ learning effectively. Leaders employ specialist services to make accurate assessments of pupils’ needs. They work closely with families to agree on appropriate targets and measure all steps of progress. This helps pupils to learn more of the curriculum.

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Pupils respond well to leaders’ and staff’s high expectations for their behaviour. This starts in Nursery. Pupils are polite to each other, staff and visitors to the school. The school is calm and orderly, and pupils’ learning in lessons is rarely disrupted.

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Pupils’ wider development is central to the curriculum. Pupils take on responsibilities such as being librarians and leading assemblies. They learn about different cultures and religions so that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

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The directors from the multi-academy trust and the governing body understand their roles and responsibilities. They support leaders to identify appropriate priorities and hold leaders to account for the quality of education provided. Staff say that leaders are considerate of their well-being and workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 14 and 15 September 2022

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Leaders provide a range of safeguarding training to staff. This includes making sure that all staff are aware of any signs that a pupil might be at risk of harm. All staff know how to report safeguarding concerns. Leaders act on any concerns raised immediately. They refer to external agencies when required and rigorously follow up with agencies to ensure that pupils are safe.

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Through the curriculum, pupils learn how to stay safe online. They also learn about safety on the roads and around water.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some subjects, some of the work given to pupils does not support them to achieve the intended outcomes in the curriculum. As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects. Leaders must ensure that they support teachers to understand the most appropriate work to give to pupils so that they achieve the intended outcomes.  A small number of pupils do not use phonics well to decode unknown words. As a result, they cannot read confidently or fluently for their age. Leaders should ensure that these pupils receive appropriate support in phonics to improve their ability to read.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, Our Lady and St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary, to be good in March 2014.

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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. 14 and 15 September 2022

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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. 14 and 15 September 2022

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School details

Website www.ourlady-st-werburghs.staffs.sch.uk/

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 Our Lady and St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary School is a Catholic primary school for pupils aged three to 11.  Section 48 inspections were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They restarted in September 2021. The school had its last section 48 inspection in May 2018. Its next inspection will be within eight years of that inspection.  Leaders do not use alternative provision.  Our Lady and St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary school converted to become an academy school in April 2018. When its predecessor school, Our Lady and St Werburgh’s Catholic Primary, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.

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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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector reviewed documents on the school’s website, as well as published information about the school’s performance. 14 and 15 September 2022

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 The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, the assistant headteachers, the special educational needs coordinator, subject leaders, governors, including the chair of the governing body, representatives from the board of directors, including the accounting officer, and also spoke to a representative of the diocese.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the lead inspector met with subject leaders, spoke to teachers, visited lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work from the previous year.  The inspector met with the headteacher, who is the designated safeguarding lead. Pupils’ case files were reviewed. The single central record of the checks on staff’s suitability to work with children was scrutinised.  The inspector met with staff to discuss their workload and the support they receive to

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carry out their roles.  The inspector spoke to pupils about how safe they feel in school and how they learn to keep themselves safe.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, the pupils questionnaire and the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Helen Forrest, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 14 and 15 September 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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