St Clare's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a good school: St Clare’s Catholic Primary School Cloes Lane, Clacton-on-Sea, Essex CO16 8AG

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of good as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might be outstanding if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Jamie Whiteside. This school is part of The Rosary Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Simon Fenning. There is also an executive headteacher, Bridget Harris, who is responsible for this school and is the chief accounting officer (CAO) of the trust.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school ‘learn to love and love to learn’. They talk excitedly about their lessons and can remember what they have learned. Pupils tackle challenging tasks in lessons resiliently and are keen to do their best. They rise to teachers’ high expectations. As a result, pupils achieve highly.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils proudly take on leadership roles, including school councillors, play leaders and library monitors. The maturity pupils demonstrate in these roles shows their readiness to progress to the next stage of their education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. It reflects the school’s six core values. For example, pupils demonstrate compassion and respect for each other and they play very well together at social times. As a result, pupils are happy and feel safe.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils have extensive opportunities to extend their classroom learning. This includes visits from a rabbi and the ‘fossil man’. They attend trips, including to a local castle and longer residentials stays. These enrich pupils’ subject knowledge and develop important cultural understanding.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Many pupils participate in clubs such as choir, culture club and mindfulness. They regularly compete in sporting events at trust and county levels. These enable the pupils to develop their talents. 16 and 17 July 2024

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

The school has developed a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum. Its stated goal is to ensure ‘every child is a successful learner’. The well-trained staff make lessons interesting and memorable. They ensure that pupils can recall what they have learned. They do this through quizzes and skilful questioning. Teachers engage pupils’ curiosity by their continual focus on inquiry in lessons. Pupils devise and answer their own questions about learning. This means that pupils can learn more about the subjects they study. Staff constantly check pupils’ learning and provide appropriate support. As a result, pupils achieve highly.

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

Many children begin nursery with weak communication and language skills. They then improve these skills through imaginative play environments and purposeful adult interactions. As a result, children leave nursery with a strong foundation on which to learn to read. In Reception, phonics lessons engage children through fun but meaningful activities. This helps children practise and remember the sounds they have learned. Pupils participate in stimulating activities. This ensures that they build strong foundations for the next stage of learning.

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

The school ensures that learning to read is of the highest priority. Expert staff rapidly identify pupils who do not keep up with the pace of the phonics programme. These pupils immediately receive the appropriate support to become accurate and fluent readers. As pupils progress through school, teachers embed and extend pupils’ reading skills. Pupils apply these skills to a sophisticated range of texts. As a result, pupils achieve extremely well in reading. They also start their lifelong love of reading.

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

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make strong progress. Leaders quickly identify pupils with SEND needs and provide the appropriate support. Expertly trained staff deliver effective adaptations within lessons. Leaders work together with parents and external agencies to secure the right support. This ensures that pupils with SEND continue to receive the help they need. The school’s nurture provision provides personalised support for some pupils. This includes helping pupils to manage their emotions.

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

Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary in lessons. They are eager to finish all tasks and work together well, supporting their peers. As pupils move around the school, they are respectful to each other and courteous to adults. They also behave very well at social times.

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

The school develops pupils as ‘citizens of the world’. To do this, pupils learn about other faiths and cultures and respect for all. They read diverse texts and debate topical issues. Pupils also take part in celebrations such as Judaism Day. Pupils actively help the local community. This includes working with a local refugee charity and visiting the local care home. These activities embed pupils’ deep appreciation of worldwide citizenship. Pupils 16 and 17 July 2024

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take part in activities that include music and acting. This inspires pupils and raises their aspirations. The school aims to develop pupils into resilient, compassionate and respectful citizens.

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Staff feel valued by leaders, both at trust and school levels. They know that leaders prioritise their workload and well-being. Leaders offer extensive training for staff. All leaders are rightly proud of the significant improvements in the school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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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 December 2015.

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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 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). 16 and 17 July 2024

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School details

Date of previous inspection 11 December 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has a Catholic religious character. The most recent inspection of its religious character, under section 48 of the Education Act 2005, took place in June 2022. The next section 48 inspection is due by June 2027.  The school runs a breakfast club.  The school uses one registered alternative provider and one registered medical provision.  The school has opened a nursery provision for two-year-olds since the previous inspection.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 16 and 17 July 2024

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 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and has taken that into account in this evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher and the special educational needs coordinator.  The inspector met with the chair of the board of trustees, members of the local governing body, with a representative of the diocese and the local authority.  The inspector conducted deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. For each deep dive, the inspector held discussions with curriculum leaders, visited samples of lessons accompanied by school leaders, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. The inspector also viewed samples of pupils’ extended writing across the curriculum.  The inspector listened to some pupils read to a familiar adult.

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 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 culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  A range of records relating to behaviour and attendance were reviewed.  Consideration was given to the views of 20 parents through the responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey and the 16 free-text responses. The views of staff were considered from meetings held with them and from the responses to Ofsted’s staff survey.  Pupils’ views were gathered from discussions with the inspector.

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Inspection team

Rowena Simmons, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector 16 and 17 July 2024

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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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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