St Martin of Porres Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Martin of Porres Catholic Primary School Blake Road, New Southgate, London N11 2AF

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Outcome

St Martin of Porres Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly school where everyone knows your name. Pupils are proud to recite the school’s motto. They are taught to be respectful and kind towards everyone. This is lived out in this caring and nurturing environment where a strong culture of respect permeates working relationships between pupils and adults.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are kept safe and feel safe at school. If they have any concerns, they know they can speak to adults who will help them. Bullying is rare. If it does occur, it is dealt with quickly by staff. Pupils behave well. This is because leaders have high expectations of them. Classrooms are lively places where pupils are enthusiastic and enjoy talking to each other about their learning. Pupils learn well across the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders create many opportunities for pupils to develop their leadership skills. For example, the ‘Mini Vinnies’ raise funds to support the local homeless shelter. All pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), have regular opportunities to attend a variety of after-school activities such as Irish dancing, karate and chess.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are positive about the school. One parent commented: ‘This is a loving community school where the teachers are very nurturing.’ This was a view shared by many.

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

Leaders have designed a well-thought-out curriculum which identifies the knowledge and skills that pupils are expected to learn. To enrich pupils’ learning, leaders have built into the curriculum an interesting range of wider experiences. For example, pupils recently visited the British Museum to investigate G reek pottery and artefacts

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

The curriculum is sequenced so that pupils build their understanding over time. For example, in mathematics, children in early years develop their spatial reasoning through 8 and 9 February 2023

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identifying familiar shapes. In Years 1 and 2, pupils use this knowledge confidently to compare and classify shapes based on their properties. Pupils are then well prepared to tackle more complex ideas about shape later on in the curriculum, such as calculating unknown angles in triangles and quadrilaterals. Similarly, in art, pupils explore a wide range of media and materials. Pupils are taught to carefully consider the importance of selecting and mixing colours. This learning enables older pupils to be ready to recognise and critique different techniques, and work in the style of artists such as Prymachenko and Monet.

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Reading is a priority. The curriculum for early reading builds sequentially so that pupils practise and embed their phonics decoding skills. For example, children in the early years learn letters and the sounds they make straight away. They use this knowledge to blend them together to read words accurately. Older pupils draw on their phonics knowledge to decode and blend more complex words and read more fluently. However, occasionally, younger pupils struggle when reading unfamiliar words. This is because there are times when the books that these pupils read are not matched carefully to the sounds that they have learned.

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Pupils love to read widely. They said that their teachers make reading enjoyable. Older pupils readily engage with a variety of more demanding texts, including books by Charles Dickens and Mary Shelley.

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Teachers check how well pupils understand what they have learned. Errors or misconceptions are identified and addressed. Staff provide effective support for any pupils who fall behind so that they catch up quickly. Leaders are committed to ensuring that pupils with SEND access the same curriculum as their peers. Teachers know about pupils’ specific barriers to learning and what they might find more difficult. They carefully adapt activities to support pupils’ needs.

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Pupils are keen to learn. They behave well and learning time is not wasted.

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The curriculum is planned to support pupils’ wider development. Pupils learn about the importance of resilience, determination and courage. They debate the impact of the past and what it means for the present. For example, they have learned about how the role of women has changed in society since the Second World War. Leaders regularly invite visitors into school to share their life experiences with pupils. For example, medal winner Victoria Ohuruogu spoke to pupils about her experiences representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games.

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Staff, including those in the early stages of their careers, are proud to work in the school. They feel well supported by leaders. Staff appreciate the steps that leaders have taken to manage their workload and support their well-being. 8 and 9 February 2023

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Systems and procedures for safeguarding are robust. Leaders and staff receive regular and up-to-date training. As a result, staff know the importance of reporting concerns quickly. Staff know pupils and their families well. Leaders work closely with outside agencies to ensure that necessary support is secured swiftly.

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Safeguarding

The curriculum has been designed to help pupils understand how they can stay safe, including when working online.

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Safeguarding

Leaders and governors ensure that all necessary pre-employment checks on staff are completed appropriately.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few cases, the books that younger pupils read are not closely matched to the sounds that they have learned. This makes it hard for these pupils to decode unfamiliar words and read with sufficient accuracy. Leaders should ensure that staff sharpen their selection of books for these readers so that they are well focused on the sounds that pupils have secured.

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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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in September 2012. 8 and 9 February 2023

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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.

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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. 8 and 9 February 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10255490 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Louise Fleming (Executive headteacher)

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School details

Date of previous inspection 10 October 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of a federation with another local Catholic school.  St Martin of Porres is a Catholic school within the Diocese of Westminster. The school’s last section 48 inspection was in March 2018.  Leaders do not use any alternative provision.

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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, head of school and other leaders.  The inspector met with three representatives of the governing body. A discussion was held with a representative of the Haringey Education Partnership.  The inspector carried out deep dives in reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited lessons, spoke with pupils and looked at samples of their work. 8 and 9 February 2023

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 The inspector also considered other subjects as part of this inspection.  The inspector observed pupils at lunch and play time.  In considering safeguarding, the inspector scrutinised records, including the single central record of pre-employment checks, and spoke with the designated safeguarding lead.  The inspector considered the views of pupils, parents and staff through discussions and reviewing their responses to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Dawn Titus, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 February 2023

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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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