Alice Ingham Roman Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

Inspection of Alice Ingham Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Millgate, Halifax Road, Rochdale, Lancashire OL16 2NU

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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 Good Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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Overall effectiveness Good

The headteacher of this school is David Marshall. This school is part of St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Academy Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Chris Foley, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Marie Garside CBE. There is also an executive headteacher, Marie Gavin, who is responsible for this school and one other. 19 and 20 March 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and settled at this school. They are considerate of each other and of staff, who care for them well. Pupils told inspectors that they make friends quickly and that they enjoy being part of the school’s community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school, with effective support from the trust, has taken the necessary steps to create a culture of high expectations for pupils’ achievements and for their wider development. Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), typically learn well. They proudly showcased their learning, such as clay sculptures that they had designed and made.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from calm and nurturing learning environments. The school has created additional spaces for pupils who require targeted support for their emotional health and well-being. Most pupils behave well. They learn to respect other people’s differences. For example, older pupils take part in activities that help them to understand some of the ways that disabled people partake in sports.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school aims to provide pupils with rich and varied experiences. Links with sports foundations and nearby universities broaden this offer. Visits to the local area and further afield assist pupils’ learning across a variety of subjects. These visits include trips to the church, museums, zoos and the Houses of Parliament. Pupils enjoy dance, sports and mathematics clubs.

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better?

During a time of instability in staffing, the school, the trust and local governors have worked together to minimise disruption to pupils’ learning. They have secured improvements to the curriculum. Published data does not reflect the strengths of this school. In 2023, pupils’ attainment in some subjects was significantly below national averages. A high proportion of pupils joined the school at various times across all key stages. Most current pupils are achieving well across the curriculum.

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better?

The school has designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. It has determined the small steps of knowledge that pupils should learn and the order that this should be taught. The curriculum is adapted to suit the school’s own context and includes references to the rich history of the local area.

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better?

Generally, staff have effective subject knowledge, and they present new learning clearly. In the main, staff select appropriate activities to deliver curriculum content, before checking that pupils have learned what was intended. Nonetheless, staff’s subject knowledge and their delivery of the curriculum is not consistent in all subjects and across the school. This limits how well some pupils learn important knowledge.

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better?

Pupils with SEND receive the support that they need. The school identifies their additional needs as soon as possible. It provides adaptations to the school day and 19 and 20 March 2024

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to learning activities, to help these pupils to fully access the curriculum. Staff liaise well with external professionals to enable pupils with SEND to be ready to learn.

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The school has a renewed focus on reading. For example, it has purchased new books and created spaces to foster a love of reading. Pupils visit the library to choose from a wide selection of texts. They listen to stories regularly. Older pupils said that they enjoy completing quizzes of the books that they have read. Reading lessons are helping to build their comprehension skills further.

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Children begin to learn phonics as soon as they start in the Reception class. Staff are well trained and access support from the trust to develop consistency in how well they assist pupils in learning to read. This includes providing additional help for pupils who fall behind. Pupils read from books that match their phonics knowledge. They typically develop into accurate readers by the time that they leave school.

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Pupils understand the importance of attending school regularly. The school monitors how well pupils attend and has taken action to address levels of low attendance. However, some pupils remain persistently absent, and some are late when coming into school. This means that these pupils experience less learning and less wider opportunities than they should. This sometimes restricts their achievements.

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The school has recently introduced a new system to encourage pupils’ positive behaviour. Most pupils have responded successfully to this. They have mainly positive attitudes towards their learning. Clear routines begin from the start of the early years. This helps children to settle quickly and develop a sense of belonging.

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The school has thought carefully how to support pupils’ personal development. Pupils discuss improvements that they can make to the school and to the environment in their roles as school councillors and eco-team members. Older pupils look after younger pupils, such as by modelling behaviour expectations during assembly and helping them to develop their sports skills.

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Staff appreciate being part of the wider trust team. The trust and the school are supporting staff to fulfil their roles well, while considering their workload and well- being. For instance, the trust is coaching staff in effective curriculum delivery.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 There is variability in staff's subject knowledge and how well they deliver the curriculum in some subjects. This inconsistency hinders how well some pupils learn the intended curriculum. The school should provide staff with the necessary 19 and 20 March 2024

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guidance and support to further develop their subject knowledge and help them to implement the curriculum consistently well.  Some pupils do not attend school on time or as regularly as they should. As a result, they miss out on important learning, which limits how well they achieve. The school should build on its attendance strategy and work closely with parents and carers to further reduce levels of pupils’ absence.

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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). 19 and 20 March 2024

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School details

Headteacher David Marshall (headteacher) Marie Gavin (executive headteacher) Website www.aliceingham.stoccat.org.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 9 and 10 March 2022, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is part of the St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Academy Trust.  Since the previous inspection, an acting headteacher and an interim executive headteacher have been appointed.  The school does not make use of alternative provision for pupils.  The school provides a breakfast club for pupils.  This Roman Catholic School is in the Diocese of Salford. The school’s last section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, was in June 2018. The next section 48 inspection is due to take place before the end of 2026.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. 19 and 20 March 2024

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 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders and visited a sample of lessons. They spoke with teachers and with some pupils about their learning. Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work. They also considered the curriculum in some other subjects.  The lead inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read to a familiar adult. He discussed reading with a group of older pupils.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and around school, including at breakfast club and during lunchtime. They spoke with several groups of pupils

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about their experiences at school and considered the responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other leaders of the school. The lead inspector met with representatives of the trust and of the local governing body. He also spoke with a representative of the diocese.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self- evaluation documents, improvement plans, minutes of local governing body meetings and documents pertaining to pupils’ behaviour and levels of attendance.  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.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and their well-being. They considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.

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 There were insufficient responses to Ofsted Parent View to consider, however, inspectors did take account of the free-text comments. The lead inspector met with some parents at the start of the school day.

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Inspection team

David Lobodzinski, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Lindy Griffiths Ofsted Inspector 19 and 20 March 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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