St Augustine's Catholic Primary School

Inspection of a school judged good for overall effectiveness before September 2024: St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School St John’s Road, Hythe, Kent CT21 4BE

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Outcome

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

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Outcome

The headteacher of this school is Sarah Thompson. 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?

This is a school that thrives on its sense of community, fostered by warm and supportive relationships. Here, pupils are friends across year groups. The youngest children feel strong connections to their older ‘buddies’ in Year 6, who sit with them at lunch and make sure their days are going well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel well supported by staff. They trust that, if they have any worries, adults will listen to and support them. They know that staff have the highest expectations of what they can achieve. They readily rise to meet these expectations, both academically and in terms of their behaviour.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils talk with relish about the important roles they play to enhance their school community. Their ideas are taken seriously and they are proud that they get to make things happen. Roles such as being worship leaders, members of the school and eco- council or house captains, are taken seriously. Pupils are further empowered to come up with ways of helping others. For example, one pupil created his own team of litter pickers in the school, another has set up her own lunchtime club to teach others sign language. Another came up with the idea for the ‘Kindness Koala’, the award given to the class that best demonstrates this essential trait. 24 and 25 June 2025

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

Reading is a priority in this school. Pupils are enthused by well-chosen books that are dotted throughout the school site. Phonics is taught well by staff with strong subject expertise. For those pupils that need additional support to read with confidence, the school provides careful interventions to support them to become increasingly fluent readers.

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

Staff have confident subject knowledge and explain things with clarity. Pupils engage readily in their lessons. Keen to answer questions, their hands fly up quickly to share their ideas. Staff deliver the well-considered curriculum with care. The school has identified the significant knowledge and skills that pupils need to develop as they progress through this planned curriculum. There is careful thought about the activities that will engage pupils in their learning, and what they will enjoy. However, in some lessons there is not consistently a sharp enough connection between the activities that pupils undertake and the intended learning. This means that, at times, pupils do not develop their knowledge at the rate or in the depth that the school intends.

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

Staff receive training to support them in ensuring that the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well anticipated. For example, ‘help desks’ appear in each classroom with well-considered resources that act as a support for any child who needs them. While these pre-emptive resources are effectively designed, there is not quite the same responsiveness at times when some pupils with SEND need more help in the moment. This is an area that the school recognises as part of their ongoing refinements to practice. Some pupils also access some of their learning in ‘The Bridge’, a space where lessons, such as English and mathematics, are more specifically adapted to meet their individual needs. This precise and tailored support helps these pupils to thrive as they secure this essential knowledge.

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

Pupils are well prepared for life beyond the school. As well as the leadership opportunities they relish, the school supports pupils in developing their character. Opportunities to engage in outdoor woodland activities help foster pupils’ teamwork and resilience. Pupils understand their school values, why it is important that their school community includes everyone and the value of kindness. They behave well, not just because they understand the school’s expectations, but because they too have a keen understanding of why this is so essential to everyone feeling happy to come to school each day. Pupils attend well. Where some need additional support to do so, the school is precise in identifying and providing the help they need.

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

The school, its leaders, staff, and parents and carers are united in their zeal about the positive direction the school continues to move in. While some changes in staffing and leadership had previously meant some felt unsettled, a decisive and positive clarity of purpose now unites all stakeholders. The impact of steps taken by leaders, and those in the multi-academy trust, are carefully measured. This assures leaders that the steps they are taking are as impactful as they can be. 24 and 25 June 2025

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some foundation subjects, there is not a consistently sharp link between the intended learning and the activities planned in lessons. This means that, on occasion, pupils spend time on activities that do not develop their knowledge and skills in the way that staff or their planned curriculums intend. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and support they need so that these links are more considered, 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.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the predecessor school of the same name to be good for overall effectiveness in March 2015. 24 and 25 June 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). 24 and 25 June 2025

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School details

Dates of previous inspection Not previously inspected

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Information about this school

 The school has been part of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership Trust since August 2022.  There have been a number of staffing changes since the last inspection, including the 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 January 2023.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision. 24 and 25 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 headteacher, senior leader, 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 conversation with representatives 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 24 and 25 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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