St Mary's Priory RC Junior School

Inspection of a good school: St Mary's Priory RC Junior School Hermitage Road, London, N15 5RE

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Inspection dates: 30 and 31 January 2024

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Outcome

St Mary's Priory RC Junior School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils strive to adopt the school’s values of respect, tolerance, resilience and ambition. They know and follow the key school expectations to be kind and work hard. By embracing these rules and values, pupils and staff help to ensure that life at the school is fun, academically productive and character enhancing. Pupils enjoy their time at the school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders have introduced a broad and balanced curriculum. Expectations are high for the knowledge and skills that pupils will learn. The school has ensured that all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn the school’s ambitious curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work well in lessons. Their behaviour supports learning in class. They support each other to master the curriculum. Around the school, pupils are polite and friendly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders ensure that all adults in the school treat safeguarding as their responsibility. Pupils said that they can speak to any adult in the school if they have any worries. Pupils are kept safe.

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

Leaders have devised a curriculum that builds up pupils’ knowledge and skills and builds on what pupils have previously learned. Although some parts of the curriculum are well established and others are being established, the positive impact it is having on the learning of the pupils is clear. The curriculum prepares pupils for secondary school. It meets the aims of the national curriculum, and in some subjects it exceeds them. Leaders have thought carefully about the activities and routines that are used in lessons to support pupils’ learning. These help pupils to know and remember more.

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

The school has ensured that in all lessons, pupils are taught key terminology, words and phrases. Pupils are helped to learn, remember and use this vocabulary. 30 and 31 January 2024

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Checks on pupils’ understanding and recall also support pupils to remember the curriculum. Teachers use assessment information to adapt future learning and fill any gaps in pupils’ knowledge.

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Selected pupils receive extra support with early reading and phonics in Year 3 to help them to become fully fluent readers and develop a love of reading. Staff are highly trained and they deliver phonics with precision. They identify gaps in pupils' understanding. Then they put in place appropriate support to fill these. Parents and carers are given training to help them read effectively with their children at home. Pupils spoke passionately about their best-loved stories and why they are their favourites.

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The school has equally high expectations for pupils with SEND. The needs of pupils with SEND are quickly identified and appropriate support plans are put in place. The impact of plans is measured and adapted when required. Leaders make it clear that the learning of pupils with SEND is everyone’s responsibility. The school supports staff through regular training.

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Pupils behave well at the school. They are respectful to one another and follow the school’s rules so that learning proceeds without interruption. The school is a happy place to be. The school looks after the well-being and workload of the staff.

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Pupils’ attendance rates are high. Leaders have developed robust systems for encouraging pupils to attend school regularly. They work with families, particularly the most disadvantaged, to provide support.

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The school has carefully planned the personal development curriculum. Leaders want all pupils to develop character and grow into successful citizens in the future. Trips, the school’s personal, social and health education curriculm and the wider academic curriculum contribute strongly to this work. The school has a carefully planned variety of extra-curricular clubs. Following the pandemic, the school focuses on sporting clubs to support pupils’ physical well-being. Pupils are encouraged to take on leadership roles, for example as librarians and house captains. The school also encourages the pupils to raise funds for charities at home and abroad.

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The school has dealt well with the adaptions needed due to the discovery of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in the main hall. Leaders are strengthening the roles of leaders of subjects at the school to support the success of the pupils further.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 30 and 31 January 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some parts of the curriculum are being established. The school should be sure to continue their work to embed and strengthen the curriculum and develop the role of middle leaders at the school.

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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 2014.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents 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 pu- pils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium fund- ing (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). 30 and 31 January 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.stmarysrcpriory.haringey.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 September 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The headteacher was appointed to the role since the last inspection.  The school is in the federation of St Mary’s Priory Catholic Infant and Junior Schools and they share the same site and a governing body.  The school operates a breakfast and an after school club.  Leaders use no alternative provision.  The school is a Roman Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Westminster. The school received its most recent section 48 inspection in May 2022.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.  Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s educational provision. 30 and 31 January 2024

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 This was the first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher and other senior leaders. He held discussions with representatives of the local authority and members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, history and mathematics. The inspector discussed the curriculum with leaders, visited lessons, reviewed pupils’ work, met with pupils to discuss their learning, and met with subject leaders and teachers.  The inspector also considered the curriculum in other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered

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the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector spoke to pupils during lesson visits. They observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and at break and lunchtimes. The inspector spoke to staff about behaviour and about their workload in the school.  The inspector considered responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for parents, pupils and staff.

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Inspection team

Luke Stubbles, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 30 and 31 January 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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