St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School Quantock Drive, Ashford, Kent TN24 8QN

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Outcome

St Teresa’s Catholic Primary School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

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Outcome

The acting headteacher of this school is Lisa Huotari, who leads the school in the absence of the substantive headteacher. This school is part of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership (KCSP) 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), Annemarie Whittle, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Caroline Stockmann.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils celebrate the inclusive nature of this school community. They are proud to attend a place where everyone is welcome and different cultures are celebrated. For example, pupils discussed with relish the recent ‘culture days’ during which they learned about food, customs and native dress of different countries.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school values of kindness, love, respect, forgiveness and honesty are well understood by pupils, who receive recognition when they demonstrate these traits. They are happy to attend school, keen to engage in their learning and meet the high expectations that staff have of them. Pupils achieve well here.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils generally behave well. A renewed refresh of the behaviour expectations across the school has been effective in ensuring that the high expectations staff have for pupils’ conduct are increasingly met. Pupils know that they can speak to staff if they have any worries or concerns. They trust that, if they fall out with their friends, they will be supported to make friends again. On rare occasions where bullying has happened, pupils now report that this is something staff deal with well. 17 and 18 June 2025

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

The school, along with the trust, has developed a clear curriculum across subjects. This identifies the knowledge and skills that pupils need to know and is carefully sequenced from the early years to help pupils develop an increasingly secure body of knowledge and skills.

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

Phonics is taught well by staff with appropriate expertise. Where pupils need further support, the school provides well-placed interventions to develop pupils’ confidence and fluency in reading.

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

Teacher subject knowledge is generally strong. They give clear explanations to support pupils in understanding their work. Lesson activities are designed to engage pupils in their learning. However, in some subjects, there is not a consistently sharp connection between the intended learning and the activities undertaken in lessons. When this happens, pupils are not developing their knowledge and understanding in the way that is envisaged by the school.

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

Staff make checks on what pupils have understood. In some lessons, such as phonics, these checks are precise, so that misconceptions are picked up and corrected quickly. In other areas of the curriculum, however, these checks are not as consistently effective. This means that staff do not routinely have the same understanding about what pupils know or where they need more help.

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

Pupils are given opportunities to develop their leadership skills and act as role models. Becoming a member of the school council, an avilite (worship leader) or a house captain give pupils the chance to have their voice heard. For example, pupils recently campaigned successfully to increase the range of sports at social times. Older pupils act as ‘buddies’ to the youngest in the school. They are proud to hold these responsibilities, and the younger pupils aspire to the time when they get to take on these cherished roles themselves.

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

Staff have recently benefited from adept training to support their understanding of how best to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Across the school, pupils’ additional needs are identified carefully and understood well. Staff are given the information they need to support pupils with SEND in lessons. Additional adults are well trained and have the expertise to support pupils with more significant needs to access the curriculum. While the provision to support pupils with SEND is mostly strong across the school, in some instances learning is not consistently adapted well enough to meet the needs of some pupils. This means that, from time to time, some pupils are not able to access activities as readily as they could.

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

Changes to staff and some turbulence in leadership have meant that some parents and carers have worried about the stability in their child’s school. However, there has been able support put in place by the multi-academy trust, who have deployed leaders with relevant expertise to provide much needed stability. Despite the changes in personnel, the focus on children at the heart of decision-making has remained central to the focus of leaders’ actions. Governors and trust leaders maintain effective oversight of the school. 17 and 18 June 2025

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They put in place effective initiatives to assure themselves of whether the school’s actions have the impact they need to. They act purposefully where more action is needed to ensure the school continues to develop.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The checks made on pupils’ understanding are not consistently as precise as they could be. This means that staff sometimes do not pick up on subject-specific misconceptions quickly enough or lesson activities are not adapted in some subjects to have the intended impact on what pupils know and understand. The school needs to develop their assessment practices, so that staff can identify what pupils know and where they need to adapt their input accordingly, to support pupils in doing well.  In some subjects, there is not a consistently sharp link between the activities planned in lessons and the intended learning. This means that, at times, pupils may not understand or recall their learning as effectively as they could. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and support they need to make more considered links between activities and intended learning, to support pupils in achieving well.

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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. 17 and 18 June 2025

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This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good for overall effectiveness in October 2013.

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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). 17 and 18 June 2025

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School details

Headteacher Lisa Huotari (Acting Headteacher) Hayley Bennett (Headteacher) Website www.st-teresas.kent.sch.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 15 and 16 January 2020, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has been part of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership Trust since May 2017.  At the time of the inspection, the substantive headteacher was not present in school and the school is being led by an acting headteacher.  The school currently uses no alternative provision.  The school is part of the Archdiocese of Southwark. The most recent section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, took place in March 2020.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 17 and 18 June 2025

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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 their evaluation of the school.  The inspector held meetings with the acting headteacher, other leaders from within the trust, staff and pupils. The inspector met with the chair of trustees. She also met with members of the local governing committee, including the chair. The inspector also held a telephone discussion with a representative from the diocese.  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 took account of a range of other information, including the school’s

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development plans, school policies and trust and local governance committee minutes.  The inspector spoke with pupils about their experience of the school. They took account of parent and carer and staff views through conversations and responses to Ofsted’s surveys.

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Inspection team

Marian Feeley, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector 17 and 18 June 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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