St Gilbert's Roman Catholic Primary School, Eccles

Inspection of St Gilbert’s RC Primary School Cambell Road, Winton, Eccles, Manchester, Lancashire M30 8LZ

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding 21 and 22 March 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop strong values during their time at St Gilbert’s RC Primary School. They show a keen sense of fairness. Pupils embrace difference. For example, they understand that a diverse range of people have made significant contributions throughout history. Leaders help pupils to believe that they too can have a positive impact in their community and in wider society.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils know that leaders and all staff expect them to work hard and behave well. Pupils rise to these expectations. They are attentive in lessons and keen to share their learning with others, including visitors.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils make everyone feel welcome. They are happy in school. Pupils relish playing together. They enjoy each other’s company. Pupils know what bullying is and that it is not tolerated in their school. They trust the adults who care for them. Leaders deal with occasional incidents of bullying quickly and well. This helps pupils to feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders expect all pupils to achieve well. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), develop into fluent readers. Many become confident mathematicians. However, in some subjects, pupils do not learn as well as they should. This is because leaders’ work to improve the curriculum in these subjects is at an earlier stage.

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better?

There have been several changes in leadership since the school was last inspected. New leaders have brought about much needed stability. They have an ambitious vision for what all pupils should achieve. Staff share this ambition. Their morale is high. However, there is more to do to make this vision a reality. Currently, pupils’ achievement, including pupils with SEND, is uneven across the curriculum.

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better?

In some subjects leaders have made clear what content should be taught and emphasised and when this should happen. They ensure that teachers know how to deliver this content well. Teachers introduce essential knowledge carefully in these subjects. They revisit this knowledge and check that pupils can remember it. In these subjects, pupils gain secure foundations on which to build new learning.

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better?

Leaders’ improvements to the curriculum in several other subjects are more recent. Their work to refine some curriculums is ongoing. Consequently, some teachers are not clear about what pupils need to know and remember in these subjects. This hinders how well teachers check that pupils have learned what they should. It also limits how well teachers design learning that builds on what pupils know already. Pupils’ recall of what they have learned across the curriculum is inconsistent as a result. 21 and 22 March 2023

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Leaders have made reading a priority. Pupils read widely and often. They develop secure reading habits. This contributes well to their strong achievement in reading.

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Leaders have thought carefully about the most important knowledge that children in the early years should acquire across each area of learning. For example, in the Nursery, children learn rhymes, listen to stories and quickly learn to recognise initial sounds. They are ready to start to learn to read as soon as they enter the Reception Year.

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Leaders’ early reading curriculum is well established. They have made sure that staff have the expertise to deliver this curriculum well. Pupils build their phonics knowledge systematically. Skilled staff support those pupils who find reading difficult to help them to keep up. However, on occasion, the books that pupils read do not match the sounds that they have learned closely enough. This hinders how quickly some of these pupils become fluent and confident readers. Leaders are in the process of reviewing the books that pupils read.

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Leaders ensure that staff have the expertise to identify pupils with SEND accurately. However, leaders do not make sure that these pupils are supported equally well. This means that some pupils with SEND do not access some areas of the curriculum as well as they could. This slows how well these pupils learn.

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Children in the early years quickly learn what adults expect of them. They make a confident start to school life and display a zeal for learning. Older pupils, including those with SEND, focus sensibly on their learning and rarely disturb others. They enjoy all that school has to offer.

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Leaders’ work to promote pupils’ personal development is rooted firmly in the culture of the school. Pupils readily think of others. For example, they engage in regular fundraising and charity work. This includes supporting local charities such as the food bank. Pupils benefit from a range of cultural experiences that broaden their horizons and prepare them for life in modern Britain. They are well prepared to be responsible citizens.

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Staff are proud to work at the school. They appreciate that leaders are considerate of their workload and well-being.

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Over time, governors have lacked rigour in their oversight of some aspects of leaders’ work. This includes checking that responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 are met well. However, there have been recent changes to the governing body. New governors have quickly built their knowledge of the school. They are beginning to offer leaders more effective support and challenge.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders keep staff up to date with their safeguarding training. Staff know what action to take if they become concerned about the safety or well-being of a pupil. 21 and 22 March 2023

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Staff pass on any worries to relevant leaders swiftly. Leaders carefully record and review information about safeguarding concerns. They liaise well with other agencies to support pupils and their families where necessary.

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Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. Leaders invite other professionals to visit school and teach pupils about personal safety. This helps to deepen pupils’ understanding of the risks involved when they are playing and working online.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ newly revised curriculums are at an early stage of implementation in several subjects. In these subjects, teachers do not use assessment strategies as well as they should to support pupils to remember key knowledge. This hinders how well some pupils learn. Leaders should ensure that teachers are well equipped to use assessment information effectively. This is so that teachers can design learning that builds on what pupils know and can do.  Leaders do not ensure that teachers know how to adapt the delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with SEND consistently well. This means that some of these pupils struggle to access the same curriculum as their peers. Leaders should ensure that teachers are trained well to provide effective support for pupils with SEND.  Governors’ oversight of some aspects of leaders’ work lacks rigour. This means that they do not hold leaders to account as effectively as they should. Governors

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

should make sure that they have the knowledge and skills that they need to fulfil their roles and responsibilities effectively.

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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. 21 and 22 March 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10267001 Type of school Primary

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Anne Marie Horrocks

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 11 and 12 June 2014, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 There have been several headteachers in post since the school was last inspected. Some of these have been in temporary roles.  The school belongs to the Diocese of Salford. Its last section 48 inspection took place in July 2019.  Leaders do not make use of alternative provision for pupils.

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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 that 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 headteacher, other school leaders and staff.  An inspector spoke with representatives of the local authority and the diocese. She met with a group of governors, including the chair of the governing body. 21 and 22 March 2023

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 Inspectors checked the arrangements for keeping pupils safe. They looked at a range of documentation and spoke to leaders and staff. Inspectors also spoke to pupils about whether they feel safe in school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and art and design. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited lessons, looked at samples of pupils’ work, held discussions with teachers and talked with pupils.  An inspector listened to pupils read with a familiar adult.  Inspectors also reviewed pupils’ work and spoke with leaders and pupils about the curriculum in a small number of other subjects.  Inspectors spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. Inspectors also considered the views of pupils shared through Ofsted’s online survey for pupils.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and well-being. Inspectors also

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considered the views of staff shared through Ofsted’s online survey.  Inspectors spoke with parents and carers as they dropped their children off at school. They considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View. This included the free-text responses.

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Inspection team

Jackie Stillings, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Peter Berry Ofsted Inspector 21 and 22 March 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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