All Saints' Catholic Voluntary Academy

Inspection of a good school: All Saints Catholic Voluntary Academy Church Street, Old Glossop, Glossop, Derbyshire SK13 7RJ

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Outcome

All Saints Catholic Voluntary Academy continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

All Saints is a thriving school. Staff aim for every child to find enjoyment, happiness and friendship. Pupils are happy, enjoy school life and make strong friendships.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is federated with a local school, St Margaret’s, and is a proud member of a trust. These partnerships have helped strengthen the school further. All leaders, governors and trustees have the highest expectations of pupils. As a result of effective joint working, the curriculum is continually developed. However, some aspects of the curriculum are quite new. There is further work to do in ensuring the most important and useful knowledge is set out in teachers’ plans.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Behaviour is a key strength of the school. Pupils raised no concerns about bullying. Older pupils are proud to support their younger peers during the school day. Pupils are keen to win tokens for their houses and collect prestigious badges for making good choices.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents who inspectors spoke to and received feedback from were overwhelmingly positive about school life and the leadership of the school. One parent stated that the school ‘is a wonderful, caring environment, with a family feel’. This sentiment was shared by many other staff and parents.

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

All Saints is a small school and staff have multiple responsibilities. Leaders have taken account of the demands on staff and have managed curriculum development effectively in recent years. Staff have been provided with the support and time to make changes to their plans and teaching. Subject development has been carefully prioritised and is having a positive impact on what pupils know and can do. For example, in mathematics staff have reviewed how they deliver the curriculum. As part of this review, staff have collaborated and worked particularly effectively with local schools. Learning builds carefully from the early years through to Year 6. New facts, methods and vocabulary are introduced clearly and revisited to help build pupils’ memory and confidence. 6 December 2022

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In some areas of the wider curriculum, leaders have introduced new schemes of work. These schemes help to support staff in improving their subject knowledge. Key knowledge and skills are appropriately sequenced. However, some of this work is quite new. There is further work to do to ensure that the most important knowledge is covered from year to year. Some pupils are not yet fully able to confidently talk about what it is they are getting better at or how their skills are developing over time.

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Staff use a range of assessment approaches. They make regular checks on what pupils can remember. This practice is particularly well established in mathematics and is developing, with the support of the trust, in the wider curriculum.

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The teaching of early reading is effective. Reading is prioritised in the school’s plans, and the teaching of phonics is well established. Staff follow a systematic programme and aim for all pupils to have cracked the phonics code by the end of Year 1. The school has had much success with its teaching of phonics and reading to pupils. Pupils learn sounds quickly and build fluency and accuracy in their reading. Leaders keep checks on any pupils that are not fully keeping up with the programme. Pupils receive extra support to help them catch up where it is needed. Staff who teach daily phonics lessons have recently received valuable developmental feedback on their practice. However, this feedback is not a routine feature of professional development. Opportunities for staff to share the most effective phonics teaching is limited.

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As a result of an effective grounding in early reading, pupils develop a love of reading. Inspectors spoke to pupils throughout the school about reading. Older pupils confidently select their own books to read for pleasure.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff know how to make adjustments to ensure that pupils can access the same curriculum. Pupils’ needs are quickly identified and appropriate support is put in place.

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Pupils’ behaviour is exceptional. Staff have established a very positive climate for learning. Pupils are eager to learn and get on with one another very well. Pupils attend lots of clubs and have a variety of responsibilities. Pupils in the chaplaincy team are particularly proud of the assemblies they lead. In these assemblies older pupils have helped their peers understand the importance of being kind and treating others fairly.

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All Saints work effectively with their partner school, St Margaret’s, and the trust to improve their provision. Governors and trustees know the school well, offer support and challenge, and are united in doing all they can to help pupils make progress.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders work well with local agencies to ensure pupils are kept safe and receive any support they may need. The school’s curriculum includes lots of opportunities for pupils to 6 December 2022

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learn about safety. For example, pupils spoke confidently about how to manage their feelings and share any worries they might have.

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Pupils are confident that any worries that they place in the worry box will be addressed by staff. Pupils also spoke knowledgably about the importance of road safety, online safety and the dangers of abandoned buildings.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 There are limited opportunities for staff to receive feedback on their phonics teaching or share one another’s practice. As a result, staff are not routinely benefiting from sharing the most effective approaches to teaching. Leaders should work with staff to identify the optimum ways to provide feedback and share best practice.  Further work is required to identify the most important knowledge that pupils are taught in aspects of the wider curriculum. Some pupils are not yet fully able to talk confidently about the key knowledge that they are acquiring. Leaders should continue to refine plans and assure themselves that the content most important for future learning is remembered and used by pupils.

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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, All Saints Catholic Primary School, to be good in September 2016.

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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. 6 December 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. 6 December 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10254873 Type of school Primary

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 All Saints Catholic Voluntary Academy converted to become an academy school in September 2018. When its predecessor school, All Saints Catholic Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall. The school joined the St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi-Academy Trust in September 2018.  All Saints Catholic Voluntary Academy is federated with St Margaret’s Catholic Voluntary Academy. The schools federated in 2014. There is one executive headteacher and one local governing board across the two schools.  The school does not use any alternative provision.  The school provides a before- and after-school club, which is based at St Margaret’s. The club is managed by the local governing body.  As a Catholic Voluntary Academy, the school was inspected by the diocesan education service in March 2019. The next section 48 inspection is due within eight years of the last. 6 December 2022

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school has 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 principal, senior leaders, the school improvement partner, the chief executive officer of the trust, governors, trust board members and trust staff.  Deep dives were conducted in the following subjects: reading, mathematics and art. To explore the effectiveness of these curriculum areas, inspectors spoke to senior leaders to understand overall curriculum design, met with staff to explore long- and medium- term thinking, visited lessons to see the curriculum in action and consider the activities chosen by teachers, considered work in pupils’ books, and talked to teachers and pupils about their experience and understanding of the curriculum.  An inspector visited the before- and after-school club based at St Margaret’s.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors reviewed responses to staff and parent surveys. Inspectors also took account of responses, including written free-text submissions, to Ofsted’s questionnaire for parents, Ofsted Parent View.  To determine the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the single central record, met with the designated safeguarding lead to discuss record-keeping and training, talked to staff about safeguarding, and reviewed attendance records.

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Inspection team

Jonathan Keay, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Ben O’Connell Ofsted Inspector 6 December 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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