St Paul's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: St Paul’s Catholic Primary School Sundridge Park, Yate, Bristol BS37 4EP

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Outcome

Evidence gathered during this ungraded (section 8) inspection suggests that aspects of the school’s work may not be as strong as at the time of the previous inspection. The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school regularly. The school is a nurturing environment where relationships are strong. Pupils understand the school values, such as friendship, caring and thankfulness, which underpin daily life. Pupils respect each other and treat one another with kindness. This helps the school community to live the ‘St Paul’s way’.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Typically, pupils achieve in line with national averages at the end of key stage 2. However, the school has not developed its curriculum with enough rigour. Weaknesses in curriculum design mean that pupils often experience a curriculum that does not deepen their knowledge.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well. They know what teachers expect of them. Pupils mix harmoniously at breaktimes. However, the lack of ambition in the curriculum sometimes leads to pupils losing focus in lessons. When this happens, their attitudes to learning dip and the work they produce is not of a high quality.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop a sense of belonging because they have a strong voice in the school. For example, roles on the health and safety panel, as pupil chaplains and as part of CAFOD club enable pupils to make a genuine contribution to the life of the school. This helps pupils develop a sense of local, national and global citizenship.

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

Over time, the necessary improvements to the school’s curriculum have not been tackled urgently enough. This is in part because, until recently, governors had an overly generous 23 and 24 April 2025

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view of the school’s work. Their processes to evaluate the curriculum did not focus on its impact on pupils’ learning. More recently, the school has rightly identified curriculum design as an area for development. However, this development still lacks rigour.

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The school is currently designing the wider curriculum. The concepts that it wants pupils to understand are clear, but the school has not identified the small steps of knowledge within these. For example, in history the school has identified ‘chronology’ as a key concept. However, the curriculum does not set out how pupils will develop their understanding of this concept over time. This makes it difficult for staff to design learning that builds on pupils’ prior knowledge. This is more successful in reading, where children in Reception get off to a good start. They learn to segment words and blend sounds confidently, which helps them to learn to read. This prepares them for Year 1 and beyond where pupils learn from progressively more complex texts. This develops pupils’ ability to read and understand a wide range of genres, content and vocabulary.

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The teaching of the curriculum varies widely across year groups and subjects. The school has not consistently focused on improving teachers’ subject knowledge. Consequently, many staff do not have a secure grasp of the subjects they are teaching. This includes in English and mathematics. Tasks are not designed to deepen pupils’ understanding. Pupils struggle to recall knowledge they have previously learned. This means they struggle to build on what they should already know.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are included in the life of the school. Nevertheless, the weaknesses in the curriculum overall are equally the case for pupils with SEND. Provision for pupils with SEND is sometimes imprecise. This means that teaching is not well matched to pupils’ starting points. As a result, some pupils with SEND do not learn as well as they should.

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Pupils’ personal development is a priority for the school. The school has developed strong support for pupils’ well-being and mental health. Pupils benefit from learning about the importance of sleep and breathing techniques. They learn about how everyone is different. They benefit from visits to places of worship from other world religions. Pupils understand some of the protected characteristics. The school’s values teach them to respect each other’s beliefs and opinions.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has not identified the specific knowledge pupils need to learn, nor developed staff’s subject knowledge well enough. Consequently, staff lack the skills and knowledge to help pupils to learn well. This is hampered further because they are not clear about the key knowledge pupils should learn. The school should identify the 23 and 24 April 2025

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precise knowledge it wants pupils to know and develop staff’s expertise so that pupils learn well across the curriculum.  The implementation of the curriculum is stronger in some subjects than others. Staff use a range of teaching strategies with varying degrees of success. As a result, pupils do not learn evenly across the curriculum. The school should rapidly improve the consistency of the implementation of its curriculum so that pupils learn well across subjects and ages, including in the early years.  Teaching is not consistently well matched or adapted to the needs of pupils with SEND. Consequently, pupils with SEND do not learn key concepts securely enough. The school should support teachers to adapt learning for pupils with SEND effectively so they build successfully on what they already know.

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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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in October 2019.

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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. 23 and 24 April 2025

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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). 23 and 24 April 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.stpaulscatholicprimary.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 22 and 23 October 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school is a voluntary-aided Catholic primary school in the Diocese of Clifton. Its last Section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, took place in November 2024.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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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 her evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, other leaders and staff. She also met with members of the governing body and held telephone conversations with representatives from the local authority and the diocese. 23 and 24 April 2025

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 The inspector visited a sample of lessons, spoke to pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  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 observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school site. In addition, she met with pupils informally and formally to hear their views.  The inspector considered responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses. She also took into consideration responses to Ofsted’s staff and pupil surveys.  The inspector examined a range of documents provided by the school.

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Inspection team

Angela Folland, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 23 and 24 April 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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