St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Paula Dix Executive Headteacher St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School Tile Barn Close Cove Farnborough Hampshire GU14 8LS

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Primary School

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection of your school that took place on 9 November 2022 on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school has received two successive judgements of requires improvement at its previous graded (section 5) inspections.

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Primary School

During the inspection, I discussed with you and other senior leaders, governors and the local authority the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also met with subject leaders, discussed curriculum plans, visited lessons, spoke to children and looked at your plans for improvement. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Primary School

St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School continues to require improvement.

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Leaders have made progress to improve the school, but more work is

necessary for the school to become good.

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Main findings

Since your last graded inspection, you have worked quickly to make improvements to the school’s curriculum. You have successfully put in place a new programme for the teaching of early reading and made sure that staff are trained to deliver this consistently well. The reading books and resources that you now provide for pupils who are learning to read match the sounds they know. You have also improved the way that teachers assess pupils’ progress through your reading programme. This is helping you to identify more quickly when pupils are falling behind so that you can help them to catch up.

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Main findings

You have made notable improvements to some other subjects in the curriculum, for example: history, geography and science. As part of this work, you have prioritised training and support for subject leaders. There has rightly been an emphasis on ensuring they have the capacity and expertise to carry out their roles effectively. There is now a clear and shared understanding of what pupils will learn in each of these subjects. This is intended to help to make sure that pupils know and remember more as they follow the curriculum from the early years to Year 6. Working alongside subject leaders you have also made sure that teachers have the subject knowledge that they need to deliver the curriculum well. Although effective, you recognise that these improvements are still recent and not secure in all subject areas. You identify French and computing as areas where work is still needed to improve the quality of education.

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Main findings

The successful developments to the curriculum that you have led so far demonstrate that you and your team have the capacity to continue improving the quality of education in the school. You have a realistic and precise understanding of what you have achieved and what still needs to be done. You check regularly that the curriculum being delivered by teachers is moving towards the vision which you have set out. You take account of staff workload as you instigate these changes and prioritise actions sensibly. Governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s progress since the last inspection. They work with leaders closely and provide challenge to assure themselves that the standard of education in the school is improving quickly enough.

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Main findings

Governors and your leadership team appreciate the input you get from local authority school improvement visits and use this resource well. You have worked closely with the local authority when making improvements to your phonics programme and the curriculum in foundation subjects. You have also made use of the training they offer to grow the expertise of your subject leaders. You work with other schools both within your federation and the local area. These opportunities have been used to build the capacity of leaders in your school.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the director of education for the Diocese of Portsmouth, the Department for Education regional director and the director of children’s services for Hampshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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