St Monica Primary School

Inspection of St Monica Primary School St Monica Road, Sholing, Southampton, Hampshire SO19 8ES

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Not previously inspected

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The principal of this school is Hayley Clark. The head of school is Richard Waghorn. This school is part of Inspire Learning Partnership, a multi-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), Claire Lowe, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Rob Shaw. 4 and 5 March 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are safe and happy. They share joy, enthusiasm and a strong sense of pride about their school. Pupils know the school’s ‘INSPIRE’ values, such as integrity and excellence, deeply. Pupils understand how to keep themselves safe, including when online. They learn about risks such as cyberbullying and have trusted adults to turn to if they are ever worried or have any concerns. Pupils love to take on responsibilities such as school councillors and junior traffic ambassadors. They enjoy helping each other and making a positive difference to the school community.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils’ behaviour is positive. At breaktimes, pupils share, take turns and play happily. If any pupil finds managing their behaviour more challenging, they receive the help they need. Staff apply the behaviour policy fairly and consistently. Pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning. Pupils know the school’s routines and what is expected of them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

By the end of key stage 2, most pupils are well prepared for their next stage of education. The school has high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Although the most recent published outcomes are not as strong as the school aspires for them to be, current achievement for pupils in reading, writing and mathematics is improving.

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

The trust board and academy council know the school’s strengths and areas for development. They support and challenge leaders effectively, with a sharp focus on school improvement and staff well-being. Since opening as an academy, the school has improved rapidly. The staff are dedicated. They appreciate the support they receive to manage their workload successfully.

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

The school is highly ambitious for all pupils. Throughout the curriculum, the school has identified the key knowledge and skills it wants pupils to learn. Lessons are sequenced logically to help pupils build their knowledge increasingly well. For example, in English, pupils describe Second World War prisoners creatively. They combine knowledge and ideas from different lessons to write detailed descriptions. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have their needs identified quickly. The school adapts provision for these pupils expertly.

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

Staff have secure subject knowledge. In core subjects such as mathematics and English, staff check pupils’ understanding and adjust the curriculum appropriately. However, in some wider curriculum subjects such as music and geography, the school does not check how well pupils have learned the curriculum. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their understanding and do not achieve as well as they could.

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

Reading is prioritised. The school rightly focuses on teaching phonics well to help pupils gain the strong foundations they need. Starting in the early years, staff deliver the phonics programme systematically. Most staff model the sounds pupils learn precisely. If pupils fall behind, they receive robust support such as tuition and additional lessons to 4 and 5 March 2025

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help them grow in confidence and read with increasing fluency. However, reading books for pupils at the earliest stages of learning to read are not always matched closely to the sounds that they have learned. This creates additional barriers to their learning as the books they read are sometimes too difficult for them. This means a small proportion of pupils do not catch up to their peers as quickly as they could.

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In the Reception Year, children learn the curriculum well. The school has carefully designed an early years curriculum that links to ambitious milestones and clear end points. Activities help children to build their knowledge and skills effectively, such as counting and exploring numbers in mathematics. Children take pride in their work and share their writing with staff enthusiastically.

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Pupils learn about different cultures and beliefs. They enjoy the school’s ‘sun shines on’ activities, which help them to celebrate each other’s differences. Fundamental British values are taught clearly. Pupils know that democracy is important. They learn about concepts such as tolerance through assemblies and dedicated lesson time. The school provides a range of clubs and extra-curricular activities, for example football, choir, dance and gardening. If pupils are at risk of lower attendance, the school does all that it reasonably can to help pupils be in school successfully. The school understands the causes of lower pupil attendance and works closely with pupils and their families. There has been a significant positive shift in pupils’ rates of attendance overall.

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Parents are overwhelmingly supportive. They appreciate the hard work of the whole staff team and the support from the academy trust. One parent summarised the thoughts of others, saying, ‘It is clear to see that the staff have been working constantly to improve things for everyone…the school has gone from strength to strength.’

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff do not check what pupils know and can do as consistently and effectively as leaders intend, particularly in some wider curriculum subjects. As a result, some pupils do not learn as well as they could. The school needs to ensure staff check for gaps and address pupils’ errors and misconceptions precisely so pupils build on their prior knowledge and learn securely over time.  In phonics, the books pupils read are at times not matched well enough to the sounds pupils know. This hinders some pupils’ reading confidence and fluency. The school should ensure pupils at the earliest stages of learning to read access books that are matched to the precise sounds they need to improve. 4 and 5 March 2025

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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). 4 and 5 March 2025

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School details

Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school does not currently use any alternative provision.  St Monica Primary School joined Inspire Learning Partnership multi-academy trust on 1 May 2022.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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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 4 and 5 March 2025

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began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors met with the principal, the head of school and other leaders in the school and wider staff. The lead inspector also met with trustees and the chair of the academy council.  The inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics, geography, and music. For each deep dive, the inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors 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.

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 The inspectors considered the views of parents shared through the Ofsted online survey, Ofsted Parent View. They gathered the views of pupils and staff through the online pupil and staff surveys, as well as through interviews and discussions conducted throughout the inspection.  The inspectors reviewed a range of the school’s documentation, including self- evaluation reports, minutes of governing body meetings, local authority visit reports and behaviour incident logs.

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Inspection team

Carl McCarthy, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Kathryn Moles His Majesty’s Inspector 4 and 5 March 2025

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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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