St Mary and St Peter Catholic Primary School

Inspection of St Mary and St Peter Catholic Primary School East Anglian Way, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR31 6QY

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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 Requires improvement 4 and 5 October 2022

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel safe. Pupils know any staff member will listen to them if they have a problem, working together to solve it. Pupils are clear about what bullying is and know that it does not happen often at their school. When it does occur, pupils trust staff to deal with it quickly and sensitively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils play well together at playtimes and lunchtimes, where they show kindness and polite manners. During lessons, pupils listen carefully to each other, working collaboratively to share ideas and find answers. This helps many pupils achieve staff’s high expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils like the range of extra-curricular clubs which are available to join and the trips and visits which are part of their learning. Older pupils enjoy their extra responsibilities, such as being ‘mini vinnies’, library monitors or part of the junior leadership team. These pupils work well to share their ideas with leaders to help make the school even better. Pupils also enjoy supporting the local community by, for example, visiting the local care home or collecting for the food bank. There are wider opportunities too for pupils to learn how to be charitable through arranging fundraising events for important causes.

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better?

Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum which means that teachers understand what pupils need to learn. Careful adaptations help all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to access the same curriculum as their peers. For example, pupils may receive specific resources, such as a word bank, to help them select vocabulary to use in their writing. Pupils work hard in lessons and most concentrate well. Relationships between staff and pupils are positive.

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better?

In most subjects, there is a clear sequence of learning from the Nursery Year to Year 6. Content builds on what pupils already know. In geography, for instance, pupils in Year 4 practise describing locations using the compass points before pupils in Year 6 learn how to use six-figure grid references. However, there are a few subjects where leaders have not set out the vocabulary and concepts children learn in the early years to ready them for Year 1. This shows itself in key stage 1, where some pupils struggle to recall knowledge they should know.

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better?

At the end of each topic, teachers check pupils’ learning. This helps teachers identify what pupils have learned to inform their teaching. Leaders are developing this further. In some subjects, teachers pose questions at the beginning of a topic and quizzes at the start of lessons. Teachers do this to make sure pupils remember what they were taught. This means teachers do not have to wait until the end of a topic to address pupils’ misunderstandings. Still, this effective practice is not yet in place in all subjects. Where it is not in place, pupils’ recall of what they were taught is not as strong as it could be. 4 and 5 October 2022

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Leaders prioritise reading. They introduced a phonics programme which clearly sets out what pupils need to learn. Staff received training in this approach. It starts with children in the Nursery Year learning to recognise sounds. This prepares them for learning the sounds that letters make in the Reception Year. For most pupils, books are carefully matched to the sounds that they are learning. Some pupils need some extra support to catch up and leaders have planned for this. Most pupils read aloud with fluency and confidence, enjoying what they read.

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Children in the early years enjoy well-planned activities. Some activities involve children working with an adult. Other activities allow children to play and explore. Staff observe children carefully, using questioning to develop children’s spoken language. Because staff model calm, kind behaviour, children feel confident to try again when things go wrong. For example, some children showed resilience, starting their construction again when their large dinosaur model fell apart.

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Leaders have thought carefully about how to support pupils’ personal development. For example, pupils know how to keep themselves healthy by learning about diet and exercise. Leaders promote equality and diversity through the books pupils enjoy. Pupils welcome visitors, such as a recent visit by a Paralympian. Pupils learn about different faiths, including their own. There are strong links to the local church and the pupils enjoy exploring gospel values through a weekly liturgy.

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Leaders, including those responsible for governance, provide a clear vision and effective support and training for staff. Curriculum leaders benefited from opportunities to work with leaders from other schools. Doing so helped curriculum leaders to develop most aspects of the curriculum well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders’ rigorous systems make sure that pupils are kept safe. Leaders oversee all required safeguarding checks on staff ahead of them working in the school. There is regular staff training. All staff are clear about how to raise a concern about a pupil. Leaders meet at least weekly to discuss the follow-up to any concerns. The skilled pastoral team provides effective support. It works with external professionals to support vulnerable pupils and their families.

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Safeguarding

Through the planned curriculum, pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. This includes when they are in the local community and online. 4 and 5 October 2022

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, leaders have yet to set out the concepts and vocabulary children learn in the early years to prepare them well for Year 1. As a result, teachers in Year 1 cannot easily make links to pupils’ previous learning to efficiently build on what they know. Leaders should make the necessary changes to their curriculum, ensuring that what children learn in the early years links logically to the planned curriculum in key stage 1.  In some subjects, teachers do not provide opportunities for pupils to link current learning to what was learned before. As a result, some pupils struggle to recall the important information leaders want them to know. Leaders should ensure that teachers check pupils’ recall and use this to inform their teaching, so pupils remember more over time.

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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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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. 4 and 5 October 2022

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 15 and 16 January 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the St John the Baptist Catholic Multi-Academy Trust.  The headteacher of St Mary and St Peter Catholic Primary School works across two schools in an executive capacity.  The school uses one registered and one unregistered alternative provider.  The school has a religious character, Roman Catholic, and was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 on 15 July 2019. The next inspection is due by July 2024.  School staff provide before-school childcare, a breakfast club, which is managed by school leaders. 4 and 5 October 2022

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the executive headteacher and head of school, as well as the chief executive officer, deputy chief executive officer and a director from the trust. Inspectors met with four members of the local governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics, geography and science. These included discussions with subject leaders, visits to lessons, meetings with staff and pupils, scrutiny of pupils’ work and a review of curriculum documentation. The lead inspector also listened to a sample of pupils read to a familiar adult.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors scrutinised the single central record of recruitment and vetting checks, met with the designated safeguarding lead to

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Information about this inspection

review records and spoke to pupils and staff.  To gather pupils’ views, inspectors held discussions with several pupils. They also observed pupils’ behaviour at breaktime and lunchtime. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  To gather parents’ views, inspectors met with several parents. Inspectors also took account of the 16 responses, including 12 free-text responses, to the online questionnaire, Ofsted Parent View.  To gather staff members’ views, inspectors held discussions with several of them. There were no responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.

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Inspection team

Heather Hann, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Jo Nutbeam Ofsted Inspector 4 and 5 October 2022

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