St Luke's Church of England Aided Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: St Luke’s Church of England Aided Primary School Park Street South, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV2 3AE

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Inspection dates: 19 and 20 November 2024

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Outcome

St Luke’s Church of England Aided Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils, staff, parents and carers are extremely proud of their school. St Luke’s is a caring and happy place to be, where every person matters. The school places high emphasis on pupils showing endurance when things become difficult. As a result, pupils are motivated to do well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school’s curriculum enables pupils to achieve well. Pupils are enthusiastic about the help they receive with learning and their wider needs. They enjoy learning new things and are well supported to deepen their understanding of the subjects they study.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils understand the importance of including everybody. They learn the importance of celebrating differences and recognising that they are all unique. Performing at a diversity concert or being courageous advocates are just a few of the ways they learn about this. Pupils take pride in supporting those who need their help and raise lots of money for the charities they support.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They enjoy warm relationships with staff and each other. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe and have a deep understanding of the risks they may face online. They find school exciting. Trips, residential visits and visitors bring their learning to life.

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

Leaders, supported by the governing body, have recruited a dedicated team of staff. All are committed to do their best for the community they serve. They make decisions in the 19 and 20 November 2024

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best interests of pupils. The school accurately identifies improvement actions and makes sure that staff are well trained to deliver them. Staff feel well supported and feel that their well-being matters to leaders. They know that the opportunities they receive to develop their understanding enable them to deliver the curriculum as intended.

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The school has worked well to develop a curriculum that interests and supports the needs of its pupils. For example, pupils develop a deep understanding of ancient civilisations and know lots about how computers work. Staff check what pupils know and remember well. They make sure that new learning builds on what pupils already know. Pupils enjoy it most when their learning is practical. This helps them to apply what they know to new situations.

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Many pupils arrive at this school with limited language and communication skills. From the first days in school, they begin to learn how to interact with other children and form close relationships with adults. However, there is further work to do to develop the language and communication skills of pupils at the initial stages of understanding and speaking English. Some pupils require more support to be able to talk about their learning before they complete activities.

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Pupils develop a love of reading. The school has recently improved how it delivers phonics to those at the early stages of reading. This is helping more pupils to read at an age- appropriate level. Those who need additional support with their reading get this daily. Children in the early years develop their enjoyment of literature through rhymes, songs and play. They show an increasing ability to sit, listen and concentrate when adults are reading to them.

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Pupils enjoy creative writing, and many become better writers by the time they leave the school. However, the school’s new approach to developing pupils’ early writing skills is not being delivered consistently well. This means that some pupils are not being supported to form letters, spell, and write sentences at an age-appropriate level.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Those with the most complex needs have individualised programmes designed to support their emotional and learning needs. The school works well with outside agencies and parents to develop strategies to support pupils’ learning. Most pupils’ learning is adapted well to enable them to make progress.

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The school’s work to improve the attendance of pupils who were previously away from school too often is a strength. In partnership with outside agencies, the school helps parents to understand the importance of their children being in school each day. They help families by providing extra support, and this has improved some pupils’ attendance significantly.

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Pupils are grateful for the education they receive. They demonstrate the school’s values of compassion, hope and friendship because staff model them. Pupils welcome opportunities to talk about their school and show good manners and kindness to visitors. Being selected to receive a ‘golden ticket’ for being ready, respectful and safe is something that all pupils 19 and 20 November 2024

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hope to achieve. Many also look forward to the prospect of being selected to be a member of the junior leadership team.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school’s new approach to early writing needs to be embedded and delivered consistently. This means that some pupils are not being supported to form letters, spell, and write sentences at an age-appropriate level across the curriculum. The school should ensure that the expected approaches for writing are applied so that pupils develop their writing skills securely in line with age-related expectations.  The school’s work to develop the language and communication skills of pupils at the initial stages of understanding and speaking English is not impacting as intended. Some pupils require more support to be able to talk about their learning in a meaningful way before they complete activities. The school should further develop its approaches to oracy and ensure that they are consistently applied to all pupils.

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Background

Until September 2024, on a graded (section 5) inspection we gave schools an overall effectiveness grade, in addition to the key and provision judgements. Overall effectiveness grades given before September 2024 will continue to be visible on school inspection reports and on Ofsted’s website. From September 2024 graded inspections will not include an overall effectiveness grade. This school was, before September 2024, judged to be good for its overall effectiveness.

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Background

We have now inspected the school to determine whether it has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at that previous inspection. 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’s work has improved significantly or that it may not be as strong as it was at the last inspection, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection. A graded inspection 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 for overall effectiveness in November 2014. 19 and 20 November 2024

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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). 19 and 20 November 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 March 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not use alternative provision.  As the school is designated as having a religious character, it is inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005. It received its last section 48 inspection in November 2019. The next inspection will take place within eight years of this date.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work. 19 and 20 November 2024

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 The inspector met with a range of leaders, including those responsible for the curriculum, teaching and learning, behaviour, attendance, personal development and safeguarding.  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 safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  The inspector spoke with the local authority adviser and the Christian distinctiveness adviser from the diocese.  The inspector met with the chair and vice-chair of the governing body and two other members of the governing body.  The inspector considered the survey responses to Ofsted Parent View and the free-text comments from parents.  The inspector also evaluated the responses to the online staff and pupil surveys.

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Inspection team

Tony Bradshaw, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 19 and 20 November 2024

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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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