Saint Paulinus Catholic Primary School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy

Inspection of a good school: Saint Paulinus Catholic Primary School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy The Avenue, Guisborough, North Yorkshire TS14 8DN

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Inspection dates: 13 and 14 December 2022

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Outcome

Saint Paulinus Catholic Primary School, A Catholic Voluntary Academy continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Saint Paulinus School embody the school’s mission statement ‘Love one another as I have loved you’. They know that it means to love and help everyone around them. There are eight shared values chosen by pupils and staff that underpin the mission statement. These values are reflected in everything that pupils do. Every day, in each class, teachers select a pupil for compliments. This helps to celebrate pupils’ talents and build their self-esteem.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders make sure that pupils understand the steps in the new behaviour policy. These steps help pupils to manage their behaviour well. This ensures that the school environment is calm and purposeful. Pupils know what bullying is. Pupils are clear that adults will sort it out if it happens. Staff develop routines in the early years that help children to concentrate and focus on their learning and play.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff enable pupils to take part in wider aspects of school life. Pupils are active in the community and their support for Saint Paulinus Church. They participate in Mass and sing at other church services. Pupils in Year 6 experience an outdoor adventure residential. This helps to build their resilience, confidence and social skills.

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

Leaders introduced new curriculums for some subjects this academic year. The basis for the curriculum is one word from the school’s mission statement, ‘love’. Each letter of the word ‘love’ represents a driver for the curriculum: learning, opportunity, values and excellence. These drivers shape the curriculum well and encompass the school’s aims.

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

Leaders have identified the key vocabulary that they want pupils to use and apply in each subject. They use common resources to support teachers’ planning in subjects such as 13 and 14 December 2022

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music. This brings consistency to the curriculum. Leaders are trialling new systems to check what pupils remember in their subjects. These are used well in mathematics but less effectively in some other subjects. For example, pupils can remember learning to play the samba drums in music but cannot link this to other topics that they have been taught, such as composition.

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Leaders recognise reading is the gateway to the wider curriculum. Teachers apply consistent approaches in phonics lessons to help pupils to read well. Adults in early years model high-quality conversations and encourage children to use this language in their play. Pupils who are not keeping up with the pace of the phonics scheme are identified through regular checks. These pupils have extra ‘keep up’ phonics lessons every day. However, there is some variation in how well adults use extra support to help pupils to practise their reading.

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There are a small number of pupils identified across the school with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders recognise that staff need training to ensure that the targets they set for pupils with SEND focus on their immediate need. Some targets are too broad to accurately show what success means for these pupils.

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In mathematics, leaders build teachers’ expertise. They give teachers opportunities to observe specialist mathematics teachers in other schools to develop their understanding of good practice. Teachers use retrieval tasks well at the start of each lesson to ensure that pupils are retaining and applying prior knowledge.

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Staff provide pupils with many leadership opportunities across the school, such as house chaplains, monitors, school council, play leaders and ‘bucket fillers’. ‘Bucket fillers’ are pupils who actively look for other pupils being kind or doing the right thing. Leaders give pupils access to extra-curricular activities to develop their talents and interests. These are specific to year groups and include activities such as gardening, arts and crafts, yoga and Monopoly.

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Leaders ensure that the spiritual, moral, social and cultural curriculum impacts positively on pupils’ personal development. For example, leaders use books from different cultures and traditions to provide pupils with a ‘window into another life’.

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The trust provides leaders with a balance of support and challenge that helps the school to improve. They recognise the school has implemented several new initiatives in recent years that need time to embed and flourish.

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Governors hold leaders to account in meetings. For example, they ask probing questions about pupil premium funding to ensure that it is spent effectively.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders train staff well on safeguarding issues. Further safeguarding training from the trust ensures that staff have an up-to-date understanding of safeguarding risks. The trust 13 and 14 December 2022

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safeguarding lead meets regularly with school leaders to check the school’s safeguarding procedures.

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Pupils are confident to share their worries with a trusted adult. Pupils are taught how to stay safe online. They know not to share personal information that can identify where they live or the school they attend.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 There is some variation in how well staff provide extra help to pupils when listening to them read. This means that some pupils receive conflicting guidance when reading. Leaders should ensure that all staff have the skills to support pupils with a structured, consistent approach to reading.  Teachers do not check what pupils have learned in the wider curriculum well enough. This means that they do not have a clear picture of how well pupils learn the intended curriculum. Leaders should work with teachers to develop more effective ways to check that pupils are learning the intended knowledge and skills across all subjects.  The quality of the targets set to help pupils with SEND make progress varies. Some pupils do not have targets that are specific enough to meet their needs. This makes it difficult for teachers to consistently provide the right support. Leaders should check that the targets on the support plans are accurate to help ensure that pupils make swift

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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 that the school to confirm 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2017.

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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. 13 and 14 December 2022

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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. 13 and 14 December 2022

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Headteacher Simon Geaves (Executive Headteacher)

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Date of previous inspection 20 September 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school joined Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust in 2014.  As the school is designated as having a religious character, it is inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005. The last section 48 inspection of the school was in July 2019. The timescales for reinspection have been extended because of COVID-19.  The school does not use any alternative provisions.

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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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the executive headteacher, the head of school, curriculum leaders, staff and pupils. Meetings were also held with representatives of the trust, the local governing board and the chief executive officer.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and music. For each deep dive, the inspector met with curriculum leaders, spoke to pupils 13 and 14 December 2022

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and teachers, visited lessons and looked at their work. Inspectors heard pupils read.  The inspector examined safeguarding records, attendance figures, curriculum plans and school policies.  The views of parents were considered from the responses to Ofsted’s parent questionnaire.  The views of staff were considered from meeting with them and their responses to Ofsted’s staff questionnaire.  The views of pupils were considered from meetings with them and their responses to Ofsted’s pupil questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 13 and 14 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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