St Anthony's Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy

Inspection of a good school: St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy Bradford Road, Clayton, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD14 6HW

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Outcome

St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy continues to be a good school.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Sarah Kenyon. This school is part of Blessed Christopher Wharton 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), Christopher James Hanson, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Joe McDonnell.

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What is it like to attend this school?

St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School is a happy school where pupils enjoy learning and feel safe. The school’s virtues of tolerance, honesty, courage and gentleness are woven through the fabric of the school. Pupils show respectful and tolerant views of others. They enjoy learning about different faiths and cultures.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ behaviour and achievement. As a result, most pupils behave well, achieve well and they have positive attitudes towards their learning. There are warm relationships between pupils and staff. Pupils are confident that staff will resolve any issues or concerns they may have.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy contributing to their school and local community through activities such as ‘faith in action’. Older pupils enjoy taking on additional responsibilities. Pupils participate in a range of enrichment activities. For instance, singing at a care home in the locality.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most parents and carers who made their views known during the inspection are very positive about the school. Comments such as ‘the school feels like a family’ are common. The majority of staff have worked at the school for a long time. They are proud to work at the school. They understand pupils’ individual needs well. 2 and 3 July 2024

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

Staff have high expectations of what pupils can and should achieve, particularly in reading and mathematics. As a result, by the end of Year 6, pupils attain highly and make progress that is well above the national average in these subjects. The school has rightly focused on improving pupils’ writing. Because teachers are focusing on teaching the basics in writing, pupils are becoming increasingly fluent writers. Pupils are well prepared for secondary school.

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

In the early years, the school places high importance on developing children’s understanding of numbers. Staff provide many opportunities for children to apply their understanding. These provide children with the important foundations in mathematics needed in key stage 1. The mathematics curriculum is ambitious across the school.

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

Pupils enjoy reading for pleasure. They talk with interest about the books that teachers read to them in class. Early reading is taught consistently well. Staff are well trained in the school’s phonics programme. Teachers ensure that the books pupils read are well matched to the sounds they know. The school has provided additional information about the school’s phonics programme to parents. This enables parents to support their children at home.

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

Pupils with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well by staff. The school seeks advice and support from outside agencies when required. Leaders are currently working with staff to ensure that the targets on pupils’ support plans are consistently clear.

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

The school has identified the most important vocabulary and key concepts that pupils must learn across the curriculum. However, in some foundation subjects, teachers do not check well enough that pupils remember what they have been taught. In these subjects, there are not enough opportunities for pupils to use subject-specific vocabulary in different contexts. As a result, pupils’ understanding of important vocabulary and concepts is not developed as well as it could be.

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

Low-level disruption in lessons is not tolerated by staff. Routines are well established. Most pupils behave well. They are confident to get involved and contribute to class discussions. Pupils take pride in the presentation of their work.

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

Attendance is high profile at the school. Most pupils attend well. However, disadvantaged pupils are more likely to be absent regularly than their peers. Leaders are taking action to address this. Some pupils’ attendance has improved as a result.

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

Pupils have opportunities to develop spiritually when helping with collective worship. Pupils benefit from a range of enrichment opportunities including, ‘creative minds’, chess club, visiting artists and ‘singing stars’. As a result of the school’s evaluation of its own effectiveness, leaders have plans to develop the extra-curricular offer for younger children. 2 and 3 July 2024

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In personal development lessons, pupils learn about topics such as online safety, the dangers of drugs, peer pressure and consent. Although pupils understand many of the risks they may face outside of school, older pupils do not understand the dangers of radicalisation and extremism. Pupils understand the importance of fundamental British values such as democracy and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

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Despite staffing turbulence this year, staff continue to feel well supported by senior leaders and the trust. Staff value the training they receive from the school and the trust. Governors, and the trust, know the school’s strengths and areas that require further development well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In the foundation subjects, teachers’ assessment of pupils’ knowledge and skills is inconsistent. This leads to gaps in pupils’ learning and some pupils do not remember what they have been taught. The school should ensure that teachers regularly check for misconceptions and gaps in pupils’ knowledge. The school should also ensure that staff check that pupils remember long term what they have been taught.  The subject-specific vocabulary and key concepts that the school has identified as being important for pupils to remember are not repeated and practised by pupils. This means that pupils do not remember consistently the meaning of these important words and concepts. The school should ensure that pupils use subject-specific vocabulary and key concepts in their written and spoken language more frequently and in different contexts.  Older pupils do not understand the dangers of radicalisation and extremism. This

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

means that they are not prepared well to manage the risks that they may face outside of school. The school should ensure that pupils are equipped to deal with all of the potential risks that they may face in the local and wider communities.

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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. 2 and 3 July 2024

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This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, to be good in October 2017.

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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’ 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). 2 and 3 July 2024

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School details

CEO of the trust Christopher James Hanson

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School details

Website www.stanthonysclayton.bradford.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, A Voluntary Academy converted to become an academy school in May 2020. When its predecessor school, St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, was last inspected by Ofsted, it was judged to be good overall.  The school is one of 19 schools in the Blessed Christopher Wharton Catholic Academy.  The school is a Roman Catholic primary school within the Diocese of Leeds. The school’s previous section 48 inspection took place in March 2018. The school anticipates that the next section 48 inspection will take place in the 2024/25 academic year.  A new headteacher has taken up post since the predecessor school was inspected.  The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average.  The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above the national average.  The school does not make use of alternative education provision.  The school runs a breakfast club for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of the school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school has received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken this into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects, visited lessons and spoke to pupils.  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 the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around

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Information about this inspection

safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector visited the school’s breakfast club.  The inspector observed pupils during social times and held formal and informal discussions with groups of pupils, including a group of girls.  The inspector considered the views of staff and parents who responded to Ofsted’s surveys. The inspector also spoke to some parents when they were collecting their children from school.  The inspector met with the CEO of the trust, a trustee, the chair and vice-chair of the academy council and one of the school’s foundation governors.  The inspector met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, the business manager, the special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and early years leader, and a SENCo from another school in the trust.  The inspector held a telephone call with the director of education from the Diocese of Leeds.

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Inspection team

Michele Costello, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 2 and 3 July 2024

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