St George's Catholic Primary School, Warminster

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 1231 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Susan Cannella Headteacher St George’s Catholic Primary School, Warminster Woodcock Road Warminster Wiltshire BA12 9EZ

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Catholic Primary School, Warminster

This letter sets out the findings from the monitoring inspection that took place on 12 February 2025, on behalf of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The monitoring inspection was carried out under section 8(2) of the Education Act 2005 and took place because the school meets the monitoring threshold as set out in the Monitoring Inspection Handbook .

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Catholic Primary School, Warminster

The purpose of a monitoring inspection is not to grade the school’s key and (where applicable) provision judgements, but to identify and report on the school’s progress. It is to highlight to the school and parents any improvements that school leaders have made since the school’s previous graded inspection.

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Catholic Primary School, Warminster

During the inspection, I discussed with you, governors, the local authority and the diocese, the actions that have been taken to improve the school since the most recent graded inspection. We discussed the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I also visited lessons, listened to some pupils read, undertook some work scrutiny and reviewed documentation. I have considered all this in coming to my judgement.

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Main findings

You took up the role of headteacher in September 2024 and appointed a new assistant headteacher in January 2025. There is now a sole chair of governors. Since the previous inspection, the school has focused on improving the quality of education. Pupils now follow a broad and ambitious curriculum. The school has thought about the order of the curriculum in almost every subject. As a result, pupils are beginning to build their learning on what they already know and can do.

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Main findings

In most subjects, the school has identified the most important knowledge and skills that pupils should gain. Pupils are beginning to benefit from this improvement. For example, they are developing some important knowledge in some areas of science and history. However, there is further work to do to ensure that the knowledge and skills are identified in all subjects. Some planning lacks detail in the specific knowledge that pupils should gain. This is the case in some foundation subjects and with the intended vocabulary that children should develop in Reception Year.

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Main findings

Pupils have positive attitudes towards reading. The school has strengthened its programme for pupils in the early stages of reading. It now checks much more effectively for gaps in pupils’ phonic knowledge. Consequently, the school provides more precise support for pupils to learn the sounds they need to read fluently.

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Main findings

The school is providing more meaningful training for teachers. This is strengthening their subject expertise and helping to raise their expectations of pupils. For example, the curriculums for writing and mathematics are now more ambitious. Teaching in these subjects is now presenting new information clearly and addressing pupils’ misconceptions. However, some improvements to the quality of teaching are in their early stages. This is because the new curriculum has only very recently been put in place. Therefore, it is too soon to fully evaluate the impact on pupils.

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Main findings

The school is determined to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). It identifies and assesses most pupils’ needs accurately. The school is beginning to adapt the curriculum better to meet these needs. Where this is the case, pupils with SEND are starting to deepen their knowledge and skills. However, there is further work to do to ensure that the school meets pupils’ needs. At times, teachers do not have enough information to adapt the curriculum suitably. The school needs to ensure that suitable adaptations are implemented consistently.

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Main findings

Leaders and governors now share a clear and ambitious vision for the quality of education. They have prioritised the right improvements since the previous inspection. The school has started to develop and implement systematic approaches to check the curriculum is having the intended impact on pupils. It is crucial that governors hold leaders strongly to account for the impact of improvements to the quality of education.

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Main findings

The school has valued support from external partners. For example, it has implemented advice about early years provision to make improvements to the learning environment for children in Reception Year.

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Main findings

I am copying this letter to the chair of the board of governors, the director of education for the Diocese of Clifton, the Department for Education’s regional director and the director of children’s services for Wiltshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted reports website.

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