Holly Mount Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury

Inspection of Holly Mount Roman Catholic Primary School, Bury Hollymount Lane, Greenmount, Bury, Lancashire BL8 4HS

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Outstanding Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Overall effectiveness Good

This school was last inspected under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 twelve years ago and judged ‘Outstanding’ under a previous inspection framework. This reflected the school’s overall effectiveness under the inspection framework in use at the time.

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Overall effectiveness Good

From then until November 2020, the school was exempted by law from routine inspection, so there has been a longer gap than usual between graded inspections under section 5 of the Act. Judgements in this report are based on the current inspection framework and also reflect changes that may have happened at any point since the last graded inspection. 7 and 8 February 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly and welcoming school. Staff and pupils forge strong relationships with each other. Pupils know that they have adults in school to look after them and support them with any problems that they may have. This helps pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to feel safe and happy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite and display high levels of respect for one another. This fosters a purposeful and focused learning environment. Pupils make effective use of the school’s large outdoor space. At breaktimes, they enjoy spending time with their peers and they appreciate the wide range of equipment that they can play with.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school sets high expectations for pupils’ achievement. Pupils, including those in the early years, are highly motivated to learn. They take pride in their work and most pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils proudly participate in events where they can represent the school, including in sports. They also enjoy leading and taking part in various clubs, such as baking, choir, comic and art. This offers pupils the opportunity to nurture their talents and learn new skills.

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better?

In most subjects, including in the early years, the curriculum is carefully mapped out and broken down into small chunks of learning. This enables staff to design teaching activities effectively. Pupils’ learning is checked skilfully to ensure that they have the knowledge that they need to learn new content. This helps pupils to progress successfully through the curriculum and achieve well.

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better?

In a few subjects, the knowledge that pupils need to know and use is not organised well. Occasionally, some staff are not sufficiently clear about how pupils’ learning builds on what they know already. At times, this means that staff are not equipped to deliver the curriculum effectively. As a result, some pupils do not show the same depth of understanding of their learning as they do in other subjects.

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better?

The strong staff expertise in the early years means that the curriculum is designed and delivered extremely well. Developing communication and language is the bedrock of the curriculum in the early years. Staff design learning activities which promote high-quality talk across all areas of learning. This helps children to use highly ambitious vocabulary with ease. The curriculum enables children to gain an exceptionally broad and deep understanding of the world around them. They are more than ready for the next stage in their education.

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better?

The phonics curriculum is well designed and delivered consistently well. Children build a strong knowledge of sounds and letters from the moment that they join the Reception class. This supports them to develop a secure knowledge of phonics by 7 and 8 February 2024

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key stage 1. Pupils, including those in early years, regularly read books that closely match the sounds that they know. This enables them to practise reading with fluency and accuracy. Pupils who do not keep up with the phonics programme are supported effectively to catch up quickly. This helps these pupils to become confident in reading.

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From the outset, the school cultivates a love of reading. Pupils, including those in the early years, read a wide range of texts with staff. The recent enhancements to the library resources have encouraged pupils to place more attention on reading. As such, most pupils are enthusiastic about reading.

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The needs of pupils with SEND are identified rapidly. The school makes sure that pupils with SEND are supported well so that they can learn the same content as their peers. Most pupils with SEND achieve well.

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Pupils, including those in the early years, display a positive attitude towards their learning. They understand and follow the school routines well. Prefects from the older year groups encourage younger pupils to move around the school in an orderly manner. This creates a calm learning environment without disruption.

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The school seizes every opportunity to promote pupils’ wider development. Pupils learn how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. They understand how to manage risks online, in the home and in the community. Pupils have a wide range of opportunities to develop as considerate and active citizens. For example, they thrive when taking on pupil leadership roles, such as ‘happiness heroes’ and ‘Hollymount hands’. These roles inspire pupils to support worthy causes and assist vulnerable members of society. Older pupils relish their roles as ‘special friends’ where they help children in the early years to settle into school. These opportunities build pupils’ confidence. They are well prepared for life beyond the classroom.

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The governing body works closely with the school to improve the quality of education. Staff collaborate and provide feedback on new improvement strategies. This supports the school to review the impact of any change and carefully manage staff’s workload and well-being. That said, some of the school’s systems to evaluate its actions are not sufficiently clear and accurate. On occasion, this means that the school and the governing body are unaware of the effectiveness of any improvement strategies. At times, this hampers how well the school’s priorities are addressed.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In a few subjects, the knowledge that pupils need to learn is not organised as well as it should be. This hinders how well teachers deliver the curriculum and 7 and 8 February 2024

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build pupils’ knowledge over time. Some pupils’ learning is uneven as a result. The school should ensure that the curriculum provides staff with the guidance that they need to help pupils learn all that they should.  Some of the school’s evaluation systems do not provide a clear enough view of the impact of its actions. At times, this hampers how effectively the school identifies and addresses areas for improvement. The school should better analyse and evaluate improvement strategies to ensure that they have the intended positive impact.

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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' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 7 and 8 February 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chair of governing body Maurice Sidorczuk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26 January 2012, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The current headteacher and deputy headteacher were appointed in September 2016.  The school does not make use of any alternative provision.  The school is a Roman Catholic school in the Diocese of Salford. The most recent section 48 inspection took place in September 2023. The next section 48 inspection is due to take place before September 2028.

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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

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 7 and 8 February 2024

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 Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, senior leaders and subject leaders. Inspectors met with a range of other staff and leaders during the inspection. Inspectors also spoke with a representative of the diocese.  Inspectors spoke with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. Inspectors also spoke with a representative of the local authority.  The inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during social times and during movement around the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, art and design, science and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with leaders and teachers, visited a sample of lessons, reviewed samples of pupils’ work, heard pupils read and spoke with some pupils.  Inspectors also met with subject leaders to review other areas of the curriculum.  Inspectors spoke with the leaders responsible for personal development, early

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years, behaviour and attendance and SEND.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documents, including leaders’ self-evaluation, attendance and behaviour records.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record, took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses. The inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff. There were no responses to the surveys for pupils.

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Inspection team

Amina Modan, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Louise McArdle Senior His Majesty’s Inspector 7 and 8 February 2024

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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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