St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School Foliage Road, Brinnington, Stockport, Cheshire SK5 8AR

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Outcome

St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud to be part of this caring school. They told the inspector that they enjoy meeting new friends and that they look forward to learning new things each day. Pupils are happy. They know that supportive staff will help them if they have any worries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for pupils’ achievement, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and for those who are disadvantaged. Pupils rise to these expectations. Typically, most achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Across the school, pupils behave well. They understand why the school’s ‘ASPIRE’ values are important to life in school and beyond. Pupils try hard to follow these. For example, they said that they aspire to be the best that they can be. Pupils know that it is important to develop their self-belief and to persevere during lessons so that they can learn well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from a variety of extra-curricular experiences. They visit places in the local area and beyond, such as farms, parks, museums, an opera and the local church. These trips help to enhance pupils’ learning of the curriculum. Pupils also participate in wider activities, which include sports, cooking, art, dance, well-being and gardening clubs.

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

The school has designed a broad and balanced curriculum, which starts from the beginning of the early years. It has determined the important knowledge that pupils should learn and when this content should be taught. As a result, pupils learn well across a range of subjects. Children in the early years benefit from firm foundations on which to build ambitious learning when they start in key stage 1.

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

Staff have strong knowledge of the subjects that they teach. They utilise training and support from the school and from subject specialists. This enables teachers to design suitable learning activities to deliver curriculum content. Mostly, staff provide pupils with clear explanations during lessons. However, at times, staff do not help pupils to learn and 11 and 12 July 2024

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understand new vocabulary well enough. This is because staff do not explain new words, including subject-specific terminology, in sufficient detail, nor do they check how well pupils have understood these new concepts.

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The school supports pupils with SEND effectively. Staff identify pupils’ additional needs as soon as they start school. They work well with external professionals, and with parents and carers, to enable pupils with SEND to learn the full curriculum. Nurturing staff help pupils in the ‘acorn classroom’ to regulate their emotions and to be ready to learn.

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Reading is a priority. The school has built its curriculum around carefully chosen and diverse texts. In the early years, staff immerse children in plentiful stories, songs and rhymes. The school inspires them to develop their love of reading, for example, by providing ‘reading cafes’ and arranging for different authors to visit.

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In the Nursery Year, children benefit from many activities that support their spoken communication and language skills. Staff implement a well-established phonics programme with fidelity from the start of the Reception class. Pupils read widely and often. The books that they practise their reading from contain the sounds that they already know. Most pupils develop into confident and fluent readers.

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Classrooms are calm and orderly, which contributes to pupils having positive attitudes to their learning. Pupils are polite and respectful towards others. They know that attending school is important. The school closely monitors pupils’ attendance. It is working to combat absence levels. However, persistent absence and lateness remain stubbornly high. Too many pupils miss out on important learning.

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The school supports pupils’ wider development well. Pupils learn how to look after their physical and mental health, and how to be safe outside of school. They learn how to be active and responsible citizens. For example, they raise money for charities, visit a local care home and support foodbanks. Pupils take on leadership roles in school, including as ‘Mini Vinnies’, librarians, sports leaders and school councillors.

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Staff value the school’s support for their workload and well-being. For instance, they appreciate a teamwork approach and said that everybody is happy to help them to fulfil their roles well.

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Governors support and challenge the school effectively to continually improve the quality of education that it provides for pupils. Most parents and carers commended the school for being a safe environment where their children thrive.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 11 and 12 July 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 From time to time, staff do not explain the meaning of vocabulary clearly enough or check pupils’ understanding of new words. As a result, some pupils develop misunderstandings about the meaning of these words, which limits their knowledge. The school should refine how staff introduce and explain terminology, including subject-specific vocabulary, so that pupils broaden and deepen their understanding of words and concepts.  Too many pupils do not attend school on time or regularly enough. These pupils miss out on important learning and wider experiences. The school should strengthen its attendance strategies and bolster its approach to working with parents, so that the level of persistent absence reduces.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2020.

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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 11 and 12 July 2024

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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). 11 and 12 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.st-bernadettes.stockport.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 11 and 12 March 2020, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This Roman Catholic school is in the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The school’s last section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, was in October 2017. The next section 48 inspection is due to take place by October 2025.  The school does not make use of alternative provision for pupils.  The school provides a breakfast club for pupils.

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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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken this into account in his 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 and spoke with teachers. He spoke with some pupils about their learning and reviewed samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also considered the 11 and 12 July 2024

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curriculum in some other subjects and spoke with pupils about their learning in those subjects.  The inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read with a familiar adult. He discussed reading with a group of older pupils.  The inspector spoke with groups of pupils about their experiences at school. He also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  The inspector observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and around school, including at breakfast club, at playtime and during lunchtime.  The inspector met with the headteacher and other school leaders. He held meetings with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  The inspector spoke with representatives of the local authority and of the diocese.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector reviewed the single central record and took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils. He considered the

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extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation documents, improvement plans, minutes of governing body meetings and documents pertaining to pupils’ behaviour and levels of attendance.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff. He also spoke with a range of staff about their workload and well-being.  The inspector took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text comments.

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Inspection team

David Lobodzinski, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 11 and 12 July 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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