Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, Hindley Green

SACRED HEART RC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 3 rd - 4 th February 2003

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SACRED HEART RC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Short inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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SACRED HEART RC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 1

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

School address: Swan Lane Hindley Green Wigan Postcode: WN2 4HD

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Appropriate authority: The governing body

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Name of chair of governors: Mrs M Featherstone

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Date of previous inspection: February 1998 Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 2

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Team members

4074 Mr R Gill Registered inspector 9511 Mrs A Longfield Lay inspector 16761 Mr M Hemmings Team Inspector

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Team members

PPI Group Ltd 7 Hill Street Bristol BS1 5RW

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Team members

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with the inspection contractor. Complaints that are not satisfactorily resolved by the contractor should be raised with OFSTED by writing to:

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Team members

The Complaints Manager Inspection Quality Division

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 3

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 4 - 7

Information about the school How good the school is What the school does well What could be improved How the school has improved since its last inspection Standards Pupils’ attitudes and values Teaching and learning Other aspects of the school How well the school is led and managed Parents’ and carers’ views of the school

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

Sacred Heart Primary School is situated in Hindley Green, Wigan. Most of the 191 pupils, 87 of whom are boys and 104 girls, live locally, but a small number of pupils travel some distance to attend this school. The proportion of pupils known to be entitled to receive free school meals is below the national average. Four pupils have a statement of special educational needs and a further 16 pupils are on the school’s register of pupils with special educational needs. The majority of pupils with special educational needs have learning difficulties. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs is below the national average for primary schools, but there are more pupils with statements of special educational needs than is found in most schools nationally. There are no pupils from an ethnic minority or who speak English as an additional language. Many children receive some form of pre-school education from a range of providers before starting

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL

school. The pupils’ attainment when they start school is similar to that found among pupils of the same age. The school has decreased in size since the last inspection due to a falling birth rate in the area. There are, consequently, four fewer teachers than in 1998. The school is operating without a deputy headteacher, there is no acting deputy in place and there have been several long-term absences, through illness, among the staff over the last few years.

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HOW GOOD THE SCHOOL IS

Sacred Heart provides a satisfactory standard of education. It has experienced some taxing circumstances in recent years and maintained standards well despite these difficulties. Pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6, which is satisfactory on balance, has kept pace with national improvements and compares favourably with the achievement in similar schools. This represents adequate achievement for pupils in general owing to the satisfactory teaching they receive. Pupils often achieve well in Year 2 and Year 6. Standards at the end of Year 2 have improved since 2001 making the comparison with similar schools very favourable. Leadership provided by the headteacher, governors and staff is satisfactory, but the day-to-day management, in a time of falling rolls, loss of staff and the disruption caused by staff absence has been good. The school provides satisfactory value for money.

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What the school does well

• Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained since the last inspection, and improved in some cases, during a difficult period for the school. • The school establishes very good behaviour and positive attitudes to work among its pupils. • The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal development.

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What could be improved

• The methods by which the school plans for the improvement of standards. • Teaching to raise standards, particularly for those pupils capable of higher attainment. • Pupils’ active participation in lessons. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governors’ action plan.

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

When the school was inspected in February 1998 it was judged to be providing a good quality of education. It was a new school with significant strengths. Since then, its set backs have affected pupils’ progress. Despite the difficulties, the school has made good advances in tackling the weaknesses present at the time of the last inspection, not least in raising standards in information and communication technology (ICT).

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HOW THE SCHOOL HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

Since 1998, the national strategies for literacy and numeracy have been satisfactorily introduced and resources for ICT have improved. The nationally recommended curriculum for four and five year olds has been implemented soundly. Resources and facilities to support the physical development of children in the Reception class have been improved. Teaching, throughout the school, has been affected adversely by the Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 5 loss of four experienced staff and the long-term illness of two others.

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STANDARDS

The table shows the standards achieved by pupils at the end of Year 6 based on National Curriculum test results.

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Key

English C C C C well above average above average A B mathematics C C C B average below average C D science B C B B well below average E

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Key

The pupils attain standards that are at least average by the time they reach the end of Year 6. The general pattern is that they achieve satisfactorily in English and mathematics and go beyond the national average in science. They do well generally when results are compared to those achieved in similar schools. By the end of Year 2, pupils achieved comparable results to Year 6 pupils up until 2001 when their scores improved markedly. In 2002 they were above the national average in reading and writing and well above it in mathematics. Similar standards are evident, currently, among present Year 6 and Year 2 pupils. Pupils capable of higher attainment in Year 6 are achieving reasonably well, but they could do better. The school sets suitable targets for pupils in Year 6 and frequently meets and sometimes exceeds them.

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Key

Children are on course to reach the expected levels by the end of the Reception year. Pupils with special educational needs tend to make good progress throughout the school due to the extra help that they receive from teachers and their assistants. While girls often do better than boys in the school, they do not achieve as well as all boys nationally. This is primarily because there are too few opportunities for them to speak about their learning in lessons and this restricts their subsequent written work.

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Aspect Comment

Attitudes to the school Pupils have very good attitudes to their schooling. Behaviour, in and out of classrooms Behaviour is very good. Lessons are characterised by enthusiastic and polite response from pupils. Breaks and lunchtimes are pleasant social occasions. Personal development and relationships Good. Pupils form very good relationships with other pupils and with adults. They grow in self-confidence in response to the opportunities for personal development, but are not given enough chances to express their opinions and to be responsible for their own learning in lessons. Attendance Satisfactory. Attendance has improved and is now about average.

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Teaching of pupils in: Reception Years 1 - 2 Years 3 - 6

Quality of teaching Satisfactory Satisfactory Satisfactory Inspectors make judgements about teaching in the range: excellent; very good; good; satisfactory; unsatisfactory; poor; very poor. ‘Satisfactory’ means that the teaching is adequate and strengths outweigh weaknesses. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 6 The quality of teaching is satisfactory overall with no unsatisfactory lessons. Good teaching is present in many lessons, with a concentration of it in Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6. The school lacks very good and excellent teaching because challenge is often missing for those capable of higher attainment. Many lessons lack a sense of urgency designed to raise standards by involving pupils fully in their own learning. The national strategies for literacy and numeracy, for example, have been introduced satisfactorily, but teachers often tend to talk too much leaving pupils little time to consolidate what they have learnt through

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Teaching of pupils in: Reception Years 1 - 2 Years 3 - 6

discussion and self-evaluation. Teaching generates a very positive response from pupils, but they can be too passive in some lessons. Teaching is satisfactory in the Reception class where a good emphasis is placed on learning the basics of reading, writing and mathematics, but not enough emphasis is given to educational play designed to promote the oral communication of ideas. The school succeeds well in meeting the needs of those with special educational needs. The needs of talented pupils are not provided for rigorously enough, particularly in the creative subjects.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum Satisfactory. The school teaches all subjects of the National Curriculum and has sound strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy. The pupils have equal opportunities to learn, although not enough emphasis is placed on the creative subjects of art, music and drama. Provision for pupils with special educational needs Good. Pupils receive good support from teachers and teaching assistants.

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Aspect Comment

Provision for pupils’ personal, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural, development Good. They are taught to behave responsibly and to respect other people. The school provides a strong Christian ethos in which pupils grow to moral and social responsibility. Cultural development is limited in helping pupils to understand the issues involved in living in a multi-cultural society. How well the school cares for its pupils All staff know and care for the pupils well. Pupils’ behaviour and attendance are monitored closely. Pupils’ work is assessed satisfactorily by using tests and through marking their work, but the information generated is not used well to plan new work and to set targets for pupils. There is no comprehensive record of where pupils are up to in their learning and what they need to do next.

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and management by the headteacher and other key staff Satisfactory. The headteacher takes a firm lead in steering the school’s ethos and is well supported by a committed team of teachers. The school has been well managed through a difficult period, but pressing short-term issues have prevented the school from planning properly for the future. The headteacher and key staff know what needs to be done, but plans are not realised in a systematic enough way. How well the governors fulfil their responsibilities Soundly. The governors are active, supportive and involved in the work of the school. They have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and a reasonable picture of the weaknesses, but lack a fully operational system with which to monitor the quality of the school’s provision. The school’s evaluation of its performance Satisfactory. The headteacher and staff have evaluated the school’s

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Aspect Comment

practice well, but the school’s development plan has far too much itemised for the current year and is very vague about what needs to happen in the next two years. The strategic use of resources Good. Teachers and support staff are deployed well. Good use is made of the school grounds to extend pupils’ learning. The school’s budget is well managed. Temporary staff are well inducted into the school and the combined staff show a strong commitment to improving the school. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 7 The school challenges itself to improve its performance, consults with parents and pupils in limited ways and spends its funds wisely. As a result, the principles of best value are applied satisfactorily, but the governors could be more proactive in ensuring that issues of school development are planned for in a more manageable way.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

• Children like school and they behave well. • Teaching is good and children make good progress. • Children are expected to work hard and achieve their best. • The school is well led and managed. • The school is a welcoming place in which children become mature and responsible. • The range of activities outside lessons. • The degree to which the school works closely with parents.

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What pleases parents most What parents would like to see improved

The inspection findings agree with most of the parents’ positive comments. Much of the teaching is good, but it is satisfactory overall. Children make satisfactory progress overall, but often make good progress in Year 2 and Year 6. The school works very closely with parents, but the range of activities outside lessons could be broadened. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 8

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

cases, during a difficult period for the school.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

1. The headteacher and governors have managed well during a difficult period for the school. A falling birth rate locally has resulted in nearly 50 fewer pupils since the time of the last inspection. Therefore the school has had to reduce its teaching force by four, including some subject specialists that contributed well to the character of the school. During the same period, some staff, including key members of the senior management team, have been absent for health reasons on a long-term basis. This has meant that some classes have been taught by supply teachers for many weeks. The headteacher, with the committed support of the governing body, has maintained standards well. New and supply staff have been well inducted into the school so as to ensure that pupils’ learning has not been too disrupted. Parents believe that this situation has been managed well. They agree strongly that the school is well led and managed and that expectations for pupils’ achievements are high.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

Furthermore, they know that the school has improved well since the last inspection. In their opinion, the scope of homework has been broadened, there are greater opportunities for pupils to learn using the school grounds, healthy eating has been promoted successfully and the provision for learning through ICT and in the library has increased. In addition they believe correctly that pupils with special educational needs have continued to be well supported in their learning.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

2. Standards have remained relatively unaffected by these events. The general pattern is for the proportion of pupils reaching the nationally expected levels, in English and mathematics, at the end of Year 2 and Year 6 to have improved at least in line with the increase in the national average over the years since the last inspection. In science, at the end of Year 6, progress has been more marked compared to the national picture. There has, among 11 year olds, been less of an increase in pupils gaining higher levels in national tests and this has caused results in English and mathematics to remain around the average of the last three years. More pupils than expected have reached the higher level in science.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

3. Pupils’ achievements at the end of Year 2 have improved well since the last inspection. In 2002, pupils were above the national average in reading and writing and well above it in mathematics. This compared most favourably with results achieved by similar schools. This all round good achievement was due to a more consistent expectation that some pupils would attain at the high level for seven year olds. For example, before 2001 no pupil in the school had ever achieved a higher level in writing. However, in 2002, 13 per cent reached it. This was due to more specific teaching that targeted certain skills in a rigorous fashion.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

4. The maintenance in the satisfactory quality of teaching, and improvements in certain areas such as Year 2 and Year 6, have been well supported by regular monitoring and evaluation by the headteacher and subject co-ordinators. Teachers’ plans and lessons have been scrutinised well and pupils have been interviewed usefully about their work. This has helped, in Year 6 particularly, to improve the way that pupils’ work is marked, giving them far more productive advice about how to improve and allowing them to comment on the advice given and their rate of progress.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

5. The school has rightly identified the need to record pupils’ attainment more systematically and use this information to set small step targets to help pupils improve their levels of achievement. The school believes correctly that this is likely to produce a higher proportion of higher attainers at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. This process has begun and it was the rudimentary system introduced in Year 2 that caused the levels of performance in writing to improve in 2002.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

6. Determined management by the headteacher and the governing body has helped to determine the correct and most pressing areas for development. The school’s current plan contains the most important priorities. They judge rightly that the school needs to develop a systematic form of recording pupils’ attainment and setting targets for improvement. Furthermore, they know that teaching needs to provide greater challenge for pupils capable of higher attainment, place more emphasis on developing pupils’ skills in spoken communication and rebalance the curriculum to give Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 9 wider opportunities for creative work. In all this the governing body has kept its finger on the pulse by supplementing their regular reports from the headteacher with written reports from subject co- ordinators. This has helped to keep them fully informed of current issues and appraised of suggestions about how they can be tackled.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

The school establishes very good behaviour and positive attitudes to work among its pupils.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

7. The school has managed successfully to create an ethos in which very good relationships result in very positive behaviour by pupils, improved attendance and a keen interest in lessons and school life in general. It is expected that pupils will behave well, at all times, and that they will be positive in lessons. In return, pupils respond eagerly to these expectations, often showing 100 per cent commitment to what they are doing.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

8. Pupils’ attitudes and behaviour in lessons are at least good in every class. In about half of the lessons, these characteristics are very good. From the Reception class onwards there are telling examples of productive relationships leading to sustained periods of concentration and high levels of involvement in tasks by pupils in their learning. For example, in the Reception class, children are already on course to reach higher levels than expected nationally in their ability to listen fruitfully, answer politely and concentrate well. In one lesson, children loved fishing for cardboard letters from the tummy of their class mascot who had swallowed them. This was a real incentive to learn letter sounds in a way that was characterised by warm relationships, good humour and very sensible responses by the class.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

9. This theme of co-operation and concentration is developed to a high level of achievement as children progress through the school. The school ethos is one of doing your best and listening sensitively to others. Parents fully appreciated the school’s success in this respect. Many state that it was this atmosphere of politeness and concentration that attracted them to the school in the first place. Even when pupils are free of the more formal constraints of learning English and mathematics, they have very good control and poise in their learning. In a Year 1 art and design lesson, pupils had great fun in making imaginative creatures from recycled materials. They spontaneously burst into dramatic role-play with their princesses, space aliens and monsters, but in a way that was well ordered and full of appreciation for what others had produced. This had a special effect in raising pupils’ levels of self-

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

esteem. In Year 2, pupils in a dance lesson behaved superbly, showing excellent powers of control over their movements. They listened with rapt attention to the taped broadcast and moved very well when required.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

10. The positive attitudes and very good behaviour created by the end of Year 2 are perpetuated in Years 3, 4 and 5. In these classes pupils are highly motivated, show good working habits and respond very well to teachers and their assistants. For example, in a Year 3 ICT lesson in the computer room, pupils experienced good success in their learning about spreadsheets by listening very closely. Those pupils with special educational needs made very good use of the support provided for them by teaching assistants. By the time they are in Year 6, pupils take their learning very seriously, showing great responsibility when working individually or in groups. These skills are all the more important this year because there are 37 pupils in the class and co-operation is of the utmost importance.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

11. Pupils’ personal development is underlined by the fact that they all understand and appreciate the school rules. They show such confidence in their learning because they are treated so considerately by their teachers. A music lesson in Year 5 typified the kind of relationships that are common throughout the school. Pupils were continually thanked for their contributions to the lesson. This excellent feature of teaching affected the way that pupils behaved and felt about themselves. In Year 6 pupils enjoy all the responsibility that is afforded them. They look after equipment around the school, get assemblies ready and take a strong lead in the school’s pastoral care programme. In their academic work, 11 year olds take teachers’ comments in their exercise books very seriously and try hard when correcting their mistakes.

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Good management has ensured that standards have been maintained, and improved in some

12. At breaks, in assembly, in the dining room and in lessons, the pupils behave very well. There is no tension or bullying among pupils. An assembly for seven to 11 year olds demonstrated the warm relationships that exist, especially when Year 5 pupils led the singing and prayers and the rest of the pupils joined in so well. The pupils are very polite and greet visitors cheerfully. The headteacher, Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 10 teachers and support staff are consistently fair and firm in their dealings with the pupils, reflecting their common understanding of the principles that the school has established. A family atmosphere pervades the school, with pupils and adults working as a team.

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The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal

13. The school’s provision for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good overall, but very good in the respect of the social and moral aspects. A series of very well planned activities, termly and annual events, links with the local secondary school and the general ethos of the school create pupils who are mature and responsible. Parents recognise this as a real strength of the school.

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The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal

14. The school’s ethos is warm, welcoming and supportive. It is, for example, very effective at meeting the needs of children with special educational needs by modifying the accommodation and providing qualified support for them in lessons. More informally, the pupils all support others that need extra help as a matter of course; it is part of the school ethos. The school has a very effective ‘Buddy’ system through which older pupils are linked with children in the Reception class and Year 1 to help them integrate into school life and feel part of the wider family. There is a weekly assembly devoted to this activity during which pupils have a chance to talk about how they feel this kind of induction is working. Pupils enjoy the chance to mix socially like this and to reflect on the influence of their actions.

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The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal

15. The morality of behaving well and thinking of others is part of the school’s fabric. Helping out around school is the norm. For example, older pupils enjoy volunteering to help teachers in the classrooms to prepare resources for younger children. They also get great satisfaction from looking after the school’s garden. Pupils are sure that bullying is not present because it would be alien to the school’s mission. They are convinced that the school helps their characters to grow and that the headteacher’s strong influence is the reason behind much of this; as one child said, “The headteacher is always there for them.” This outward looking feature of school life has recently been formalised into a termly Citizenship Award. Pupils who show the virtues of serving others and putting the community first receive the award after every pupil has had a chance to vote. They are proud to receive the

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The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal

trophy, but also proud to be part of a school that takes social and moral development so seriously. There are rewards attached to working hard and thinking of others. The school realises that pupils need to be motivated and to that end it has instituted a regular prize draw in which pupils are able to win pens and stationery in recognition for their mature attitudes.

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The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal

16. Older pupils, in Year 5 and Year 6, have plenty of opportunities to enjoy each other’s company. There is, for example, an annual residential visit to the Lake District for geographical field studies, school teams compete against other Wigan schools and pupils regularly raise funds for charity. On a wider basis, two pupils from each class comprise the school’s Eco committee that is devoted to improving the school’s environment along ecologically friendly lines. They meet often to discuss how to make the school a more exciting place in which to work. In all these ways, pupils are learning valuable social and moral lessons in preparation for adult life.

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The very good provision for social and moral development has a strong effect on pupils’ personal

17. Pupils are sometimes given the chance to discuss moral issues in lessons. When this happens pupils take the opportunity very seriously and listen well to each other. For example, in Year 1 pupils were reading the story of the Red Fox and were talking about the behaviour of the fox in eating other animals. The common view was that he was cruel, but one child wrestled well with the notion that, “He was not being naughty to eat other animals because that is what foxes do.” The teaching did well to promote this kind of discussion for the benefit of pupils’ social and moral development. Pupils enjoy working collaboratively in lessons. For example, in ICT pupils in Year 3 created spreadsheets together in a very productive way. Pupils in Year 6 collaborated very well in a geography lesson when they were asked to plan, in groups, a presentation describing how a river behaved in the course of its

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

The methods by which the school plans for the improvement of standards.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

18. The school’s development plan was praised at the time of the last inspection. It usefully covered a Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 11 three-year period, focusing on the development of the curriculum and raising standards in English, mathematics and science. It was criticised for not containing sufficient detail about planned expenditure beyond the first year of implementation. Eventually, this uncertainty about future funding persuaded the headteacher and the governing body to abandon a three-year plan and adopt a one- year version. Currently, the school has an Improvement Plan for 2002/2003. It contains very many tasks satisfactorily divided up into chapters that are designed to make the process manageable. This short-term plan embodies successfully most of the school’s central areas for development. However, there are too many weighty issues for the school to tackle in one year. The attempt to plan within the

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

known budget has ignored the fact that many substantive issues do not need financial backing and would usefully be spread over two or three years. For example, the school knows correctly that a greater emphasis needs to placed on the creative subjects; what the pupils do and what standards they achieve. This has some financial implications, but is more to do with curriculum planning and ways of teaching.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

19. The current plan has been produced in reaction to the difficult times the school has experienced. Owing to staff reduction and absence, there are many areas for development that have not been tackled. The school is now attempting to make up for lost time by setting out a comprehensive agenda to be dealt with at a fast pace. Already deadlines have been missed. For example, the school planned for the computerised recording system for pupils’ attainment to be in place by January 2003. This has not been achieved because the deadline was too ambitious. The school does not yet have a coherent paper-based system that staff understand and use with confidence. This is an example, typical of others in the plan, where the school is attempting to implement systems that have, as yet, little or no foundations. There are certainly many items in the current plan that could be achieved in one year, for example, monitoring national test results and reporting to governors about

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

what needs to be done to effect improvement. However, a central core of the plan is ill conceived in terms of what can realistically be achieved in the short-term.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

20. The school’s intention is to raise standards even further by ensuring, for example, that those pupils capable of higher attainment fulfil more of their potential. This is interlinked with issues relating to the achievement of girls, writing standards in general and the development of pupils’ ability to explain ideas, offer suggestions and analyses their own performance. However, there are gaps in the fabric of the plan that have a significant impact on how development is progressed. The chapter on teaching and learning, for example that should contain evidence of how lessons need to be improved, is mainly concerned with the machinery of monitoring and the production of policies. Despite having monitored lessons since 1999, the school does not yet have a consistent clear idea of what teachers need to do, in lessons, to ensure that standards go on improving. Equally, there is no plan to moderate the

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

school’s judgement on teaching by involving the local educational authority, for example, to provide an on-going specialist view.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

21. The school has incorporated a valuable chapter entitled ‘Inclusive Education’ into its plan. This deals with issues such as special educational needs, attendance and provision for gifted and talented pupils. There is also the general matter of making sure that lessons are planned to cater well for all pupils irrespective of their previous level of achievement. It fails, however, to provide details on the issues of girls’ attainment and a curriculum that includes a multi-cultural dimension.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

Teaching to raise standards, particularly for those pupils capable of higher attainment.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

22. Teaching has a satisfactory influence on pupils’ learning and the standards they achieve. Its profile does not contain any significantly unsatisfactory work or any very good and excellent lessons. The quality of teaching throughout the school is fairly middle of the road with a satisfactory proportion of good teaching that is usefully concentrated towards the end of the infants and the juniors in Year 2, Year 5 and Year 6. Lessons often achieve a satisfactory conclusion, but lack the kind of brisk pace and sense of urgency designed to ensure that pupils have demanding personal targets and achieve their best.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

23. Even in Year 2 and Year 6, where teaching is often good, the lessons sometimes lack the necessary drive. In a Year 2 mathematics lesson, for example, pupils satisfactorily created a graph to show where individuals in the class went shopping and were then able to make judgements about the data. However, the mental arithmetic opportunities during the lesson, and the discussion at the end, lacked Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 12 quality in terms of the quick recall of facts, the discussion of ideas and the recognition of what had been achieved in the lesson. Pupils were not given enough opportunities to talk about their learning and to consolidate their understanding of ideas. This affected those capable of higher attainment; in particular, expectations were too low for their achievement. Similarly in Year 6 an otherwise good lesson in English was limited by a lack of clear guidance for those pupils capable of writing their

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

persuasive letter at a higher level. The behavioural management of this large class comprising 37 pupils was good, but those capable of higher attainment were spread around the class making it very hard for the teacher to inspire the more competent writers to achieve a higher standard.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

24. In most lessons teaching operates at too basic a level when asking questions. The preferred method is for the teacher to ask a simple question requiring a one-word answer to the whole class and wait for a show of hands. This is appropriate on some occasions, but is a limited strategy for constant use. In using this method to the exclusion of others, teaching tends, in general, to reinforce gender differences in a way that penalises both boys and girls. Girls get satisfaction from answering simple, straightforward questions. They then sometimes become shy about tackling questions that require a thoughtful, but risky, response. Boys wait a long time for the less predictable questions, relish them when they arrive, but can be too passive for long periods.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

25. Sometimes the planning for lessons contains weaknesses that influence the lesson in a way that limits the progress of some pupils. For example, in many cases, such as the history lesson in Year 5, teaching is usefully based on the national scheme of work, but does not include activities designed to help some pupils reach the recommended higher levels. In this particular lesson, the whole class was expected to describe how evacuees in the Second World War might have felt when they arrived at their temporary destination. This left those capable of more sophisticated thinking unchallenged to extend their thinking and imagine a far wider and more complex range of feelings to ascribe to the evacuees. This planning for all pupils to tackle the same task is common throughout the school. It can advantage the lower attainers because they receive extra help to succeed, but it sets a false ceiling of expectation for many others.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

26. The school has rightly set itself the task of producing a comprehensive system for recording pupils’ attainments and setting them personal targets to achieve the next level. This is planned to dovetail with the work undertaken to ensure that the school achieves its targets for pupils at the end of Year 2 and Year 6. It is too early for this system to have borne fruit except in Year 2 where more pupils have achieved the higher level in writing recently because personal targets were set and pupils were encouraged well to achieve them. However, teaching sets too few targets for pupils to reach. The learning objectives for the lesson are not always shared productively with the pupils and specific groups are not given a detail breakdown of what they are expected to achieve by the end of the lesson. This inevitably limits the progress of all pupils, but particularly those capable of higher attainment. The good, but infrequent, involvement of pupils in enrichment classes at the local high

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

school does little to make up for this daily lack of specific challenge.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

Pupils’ active participation in lessons.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

27. Pupils’ very good attitudes and behaviour in lessons is not fully capitalised on by the teaching. Very often teachers summarise what has been learned and leave little opportunities for pupils to say what they think they have achieved and what could have been improved upon. This is as true for creative subjects such as art and design as it is for mathematics, for example. This shortcoming in learning was most marked in an otherwise very powerful dance lesson in Year 2. Pupils moved skilfully to depict scenes from Sleeping Beauty, but rarely had an opportunity to speak about what they were doing. Their control of movements and general behaviour was superb, but learning through discussion was minimal.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

28. The development of pupils’ ability to talk about their learning, express opinions and communicate their understanding proceeds in a limited way, in literacy and numeracy lessons, from the Reception class onwards. In the Reception class too few demands are made on children to talk expansively while playing and extension tasks for higher attaining children are not rigorously pursued and discussed fully enough with the children concerned to make sure that they understand what is expected of them. The school is aware of these weaknesses, but there is too little detail in the development plan to give guidance about the improvements needed in pupils’ learning. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 13 29. Occasionally, lessons require pupils to work collaboratively in groups. For example, in the geography lesson in Year 6, but there are too few of these opportunities throughout the school. This does not

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

allow pupils to acquire the skills of discussion and negotiation necessary to give them confidence to speak out in front of the whole class when stating a point of view, expressing an opinion or summarising what they learnt.

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WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED

30. The marking of pupils’ work is regular and accurate, but does not often engage pupils in a two-way dialogue about their learning. Sometimes teachers state that improvement is needed in a particular area, but it is not communicated as a challenge to inspire pupils. An exception to this is in Year 6 where marking is very good. Teaching sets targets in a challenging way and pupils are invited to write a reply to the teacher’s comments showing how well they have understood them. Pupils plainly enjoy this process and, by their comments, demonstrate that they are committed to the agreed improvements.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

31. To improve standards further, the headteacher, staff and governors, with support from the diocese and the local education authority, should:

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

I. Strengthen the planning for school development by: • producing a plan that prioritises actions in the short-, medium- and longer-term; • implementing methods of monitoring and evaluation to generate the most comprehensive agenda for improvement; and • incorporating the issue of multi-cultural education to the existing plan.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

II. Improve the quality of teaching by: • ensuring that all lessons include a well paced beginning, middle and end that contain high expectations for all pupils; • broadening the breadth, depth and scope of questions asked to pupils; • improving the planning of lessons to include tasks to suit all levels of ability; and • setting pupils objectives and targets to achieve based on a clear understanding of their past achievements.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

III. Increase the involvement of pupils in their learning by: • creating more opportunities for them to speak about their learning; • promoting collaborative group work when relevant; and • devising a school system of marking that involves pupils more in the setting of their own targets for improvement.

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WHAT SHOULD THE SCHOOL DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER?

(Paragraphs: 27 - 30) Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 14

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Summary of the sources of evidence for the inspection

Number of discussions with staff, governors, other adults and pupils 11

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactor y Poor Very poor

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Summary of teaching observed during the inspection

The table gives the number and percentage of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about teaching. Care should be taken when interpreting these percentages as each lesson represents more than five percentage points.

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s roll (FTE for part-time pupils) 191

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of full-time pupils known to be eligible for free school meals 13

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs 4

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils on the school’s special educational needs register 20

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Information about the school’s pupils

English as an additional language No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Number of pupils with English as an additional language 0

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupil mobility in the last school year No of pupils

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who joined the school other than at the usual time of first admission 14

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Information about the school’s pupils

Pupils who left the school other than at the usual time of leaving 10

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Attendance

National comparative data 5.4 National comparative data 0.5 Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 15 Both tables give the percentage of half days (sessions) missed through absence for the latest complete reporting year. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 16

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 1 for the latest reporting year 2002 8 15 23

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

National Curriculum Test/Task Results Reading Writing Mathematics

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Boys Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 15 15 15

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentage of pupils School 91 (93) 91 (96) 96 (100) at NC level 2 or above National 84 (84) 86 (86) 90 (91)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Boys Numbers of pupils at NC level 2 and above Girls 15 15 15

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentage of pupils School 91 (96) 96 (100) 96 (100) at NC level 2 or above National 85 (85) 89 (89) 89 (89)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2)

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Number of registered pupils in final year of Key Stage 2 for the latest reporting year 2002 8 19 27

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

National Curriculum Test/Task Results English Mathematics Science

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Boys Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 16 15 18

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Percentage of pupils School 81 (81) 78 (83) 93 (93) at NC level 4 or above National 75 (75) 73 (71) 86 (87)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Teachers’ Assessments English Mathematics Science

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Boys Numbers of pupils at NC level 4 and above Girls 17 15 18

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Percentage of pupils School 85 (86) 78 (88) 93 (98) at NC level 4 or above National 73 (72) 74 (74) 82 (82)

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

Percentages in brackets refer to the year before the latest reporting year.

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Attainment at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6)

• When there are fewer than 10 pupils in each group their number is omitted from the table. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 17

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Categories used in the Annual School Census No of pupils on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

White – any other White background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Mixed – any other mixed background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British - Pakistani 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Asian or Asian British – any other Asian background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – Caribbean 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

Black or Black British – any other Black background 0 0 0

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Ethnic background of pupils Exclusions in the last school year

The table refers to pupils of compulsory school age only. It gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of pupils excluded. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 18

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of qualified teachers (FTE) 8 Financial year 2001/2002

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Number of pupils per qualified teacher 23.87

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Education support staff: YR – Y6 Total income 437,108

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total number of education support staff 7 Total expenditure 441,962

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Total aggregate hours worked per week 123 Expenditure per pupil 2,243

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Balance brought forward from previous year 17,331

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Teachers and classes Financial information

Balance carried forward to next year 12,477

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers who left the school during the last two years 2

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of teachers appointed to the school during the last two years 0.5

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Recruitment of teachers

Total number of vacant teaching posts (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of a term or more (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

Number of unfilled vacancies or vacancies filled by teachers on temporary contract of less than one term (FTE) 0

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Recruitment of teachers

FTE means full-time equivalent. Sacred Heart RC Primary School - 19

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Percentage of responses in each category

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child is making good progress in school. 66 30 3 1 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

Behaviour in the school is good. 63 34 3 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child gets the right amount of work to do at home. 54 40 6 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 48 44 7 0 1

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Percentage of responses in each category

I would feel comfortable about approaching the school with questions or a problem. 71 24 4 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school expects my child to work hard and achieve his or her best. 65 33 1 0 1

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school works closely with parents. 40 48 10 0 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is well led and managed. 67 31 2 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is helping my child become mature and responsible. 67 28 1 1 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school provides an interesting range of activities outside lessons. 31 40 11 8 10

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