St Mary's Catholic Primary School

Inspection Report St Mary's Catholic Primary School

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103085 Unique Reference Number Waltham Forest LEA LEA 276839 Inspection number 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 Inspection dates Judith Dawson AI Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Station Road School address Primary Type of school Chingford Voluntary aided School category London E4 7BJ 4 to 11 Age range of pupils 02085294723 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 02085291012 Fax number 219 Number on roll Mr Richard Hopper Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Miss Philomena Egan Headteacher 26 June 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 276839 12 June 2006 - 4 to 11 13 June 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report 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.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by 2 Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

The majority of the pupils at this average sized Catholic primary school come from homes with favourable socio-economic circumstances. All pupils are Roman Catholic and the school aims to put Christian ideals are at the heart of its work. 58% of the pupils are boys. The number of pupils entitled to free school meals is below average. Fewer than average have learning difficulties or disabilities [LDD] or statements of special needs. Very few pupils do not have English as their first language and none are at the early stages of learning English. There have been no exclusions over the last five years. There is a thriving parents' association. The school has just been awarded Healthy Schools status.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: St Mary's Catholic Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006

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Grade: 2

The school, parents and pupils see St. Mary's as a good school and the inspectors agree. One parent says 'We feel privileged that our son goes to this school'. Pupils achieve well throughout the school and standards are generally well above average. Inconsistencies in the provision for Year 6 pupils in the past have resulted in a slight dip in standards this year but they are still above average. Pupils achieve well in the Foundation Stage and almost all achieve the early learning goals. Pupils' attitudes and personal development are outstanding. Pupils love to learn, work extremely hard and care for each other very well. Behaviour is exemplary. Teaching and learning are good. The excellent relationships generate a good ethos for learning. Teachers plan to meet pupils' diverse needs well. The quality of the teachers' marking varies throughout the school and pupils are often given insufficient guidance on how to improve their work.

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Grade: 2

The care, guidance and support within the school community is outstanding. There is a good curriculum which makes excellent use of the locality, visits and visitors to enhance learning. The school is led and managed well and some aspects of leadership are outstanding. Recent deficits in the budget have been addressed and the school provides good value for money. Personnel problems have been addressed very effectively and measures put in place ensure the school remains effective. The many recent initiatives now need to be evaluated and the outcomes used to help the school prioritise future developments. Issues from the last inspection have been addressed successfully. Because of the excellent start made by the new senior management team and the commitment of the staff and pupils, the capacity for further improvement is very good.

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What the school should do to improve further

* Evaluate the impact of new initiatives and prioritise areas for development. * Ensure the quality of marking and target setting is consistent throughout the school.

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Grade: 2

The pupils achieve well throughout the school. Children' abilities are generally above average when they join the Reception class and well above average by the end of Year 2 and Year 6. Pupils meet their challenging targets. Although current inspection evidence suggests standards have dropped slightly from the high standards of previous years, they still remain above average by the end of Year 6. The pupils' good achievement is a direct result of the good teaching they receive and their eagerness to learn. As a group of pupils in Year 2 said, 'Learning is fun'. Many of the present children in the Reception Class joined the school with abilities that are broadly in line with those expected for their age. They settled quickly, made rapid progress and now the great majority of children exceed the expected goals. There is no significant 2 Inspection Report: St Mary's Catholic Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006

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Grade: 2

difference in the progress made by boys, girls or pupils of different minority ethnic background or ability.

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Grade: 1

Personal development and well-being are outstanding. Pupils are helpful, polite, work well together and support others through charity fund-raising. Attendance is well above average and parents say that their children enjoy coming to school. More than one parent wrote of 'the happy atmosphere in the school'. This was reinforced by the pupils in discussions with inspectors. Their enjoyment of lessons leads them to work hard. Behaviour is outstanding and as a result, pupils rapidly grow in maturity and confidence. Their attitudes reflect the school's excellent spiritual, moral, and cultural provision. As pupils from different ethnic backgrounds join the school pupils learn about and celebrate their cultures. Pupils' social skills are very good. The school council has been successful in raising the issues of improved school dinners, and new playground equipment but they should be allowed to run their own meetings. The

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Grade: 1

school has just achieved the Healthy School's Award and as a result pupils have a good understanding of how to stay healthy and safe, and why exercise is important. The good progress pupils make in literacy and numeracy, and their sound development of information and communication technology (ICT) skills, make a good contribution to their future economic wellbeing.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and pupils' learning are good throughout the school. There are excellent relationships between pupils and teachers and pupils' commitment to their work ensures that they achieve well. In one outstanding mathematics lesson, the pupils glowed with self esteem as the teacher was humbled by their achievements. They delighted in correcting her 'mistakes' and learning was rapid and, to quote one pupil, 'exciting'. Teachers meet the needs of pupils of all abilities well and plan work that is achievable and challenging, based on accurate assessments of pupils' abilities. Pupils with LDD are identified swiftly and have good support. Teachers give plenty of praise in their marking. Pupils know what they need to do to reach the next levels in English and mathematics but few have short, personal targets generated by the outcomes of their work or their own perceptions of their learning needs.

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Grade: 2

There is a good curriculum with some outstanding features. The basic skills of literacy and mathematics are provides for effectively. Weaknesses in the provision for music and science identified in the last inspection report have been addressed well. Teachers 3 Inspection Report: St Mary's Catholic Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 are starting to establish stronger links between subjects and plan more systematically for the use of computers to support learning. Provision in the Foundation Stage is very well planned with excellent use of visits to support learning, so that children get off to a very good start. The curriculum is well planned throughout the school, meeting the needs of all pupils, including those with LDD and the most able. An outstanding range of visits and visitors considerably enhance the whole curriculum. Pupils learn how to stay safe and healthy through personal, social and health education and in

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Grade: 2

lessons in science and physical education. There is an excellent range and variety of out-of-school clubs and activities that are much appreciated by both pupils and parents.

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Grade: 1

Pupils are given outstanding care, guidance and support. The school provides a safe and secure working environment. All vetting and child protection systems are securely in place and effective health and safety procedures are regularly reviewed. The school works hard to ensure that all pupils attain their potential. The staff know their pupils very well and there are excellent relationships between pupils and teachers across the school. Parents are very supportive of the care taken of their children. As one parent wrote 'I am forever grateful for the teachers' support and couldn't ask for a better education for my child'. Particularly good support is provided for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities enabling them to achieve well. Guidance and support for pupils' spiritual and personal development is a significant part of the school's work. Pupils have targets for English and mathematics and they know what they need to do

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Grade: 2

Leadership and management are good overall and some aspects of leadership are outstanding. The new headteacher responded to the school's immediate needs with considerable skill, ensuring that problems with personnel had as little impact on pupils' learning as possible. As a result, standards remain above average in Year 6 in spite of some turbulence in their education last year and pupils meet their challenging targets. Many measures have been put in place to improve aspects of school life and the school is a happy, caring and hardworking community. Parents are involved in the life of the school and overwhelmingly support the new leadership and management. The governors are now fully involved in the management of the school and their expertise in many aspects of school life enables them to support and evaluate initiatives effectively. Subject leaders plan for improvement and have a clear understanding of the school's

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Grade: 2

strengths. Very good systems for monitoring teaching have been put in place and the outcomes form part of the teachers' developmental targets. The inspectors agree with most judgement that the school makes about its performance apart from the school's modest evaluation of pupils' personal development and wellbeing and its care, guidance and support, which are outstanding. Although the 4 Inspection Report: St Mary's Catholic Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 school has many plans for development, the evaluation of the outcomes of many of the recent initiatives is limited. The senior management team needs to ensure that systems, such as the development of pupils' full potential through personal target-setting and running the school council, are fully effective. Also policies, such as the marking policy, must be fully embedded in order to have the maximum impact on pupils' learning. The evaluation of these initiatives should inform the school's

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Grade: 2

priorities for development to ensure that it continues to build on its many strengths. 5 Inspection Report: St Mary's Catholic Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006 .

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: St Mary's Catholic Primary School, 12 June 2006 to 13 June 2006

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 1 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 2 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 2 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 1 The behaviour of learners NA 1 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 2 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 1 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 1 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 2 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse Yes Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Pupils Thank you very much for making us feel so welcome. We really enjoyed talking to you and seeing how well you learn. A special thanks to the school council and those of you in Year 2 and Year 6 who talked to us and shared your views.You told us that you have a good school and we agree. We were very impressed with your behaviour and how hard you work. You have every right to be proud of your achievements in both your work and the way that you care for each other. Your behaviour is excellent and those of you with responsibilities carry them out diligently. It is evident that you enjoy school. You are hardly ever absent from school or late for your lessons. You are taught well and have excellent relationships with your teachers and each other. This helps you to learn well. You learn about interesting things and the school gives you excellent opportunities to extend your learning by going on visits and having visitors to school. I hope

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

that Year 3 have a chance to ask their questions in St. Albans. The school takes very good care of you all and makes sure you are safe and know how to care for yourselves by keeping healthy. I am sure that, after this week, there are some very safe cyclists on the streets of London! Miss Egan leads the school very well and has worked very hard to make sure that you have all you need to help you learn. The leadership and management team and the governors run the school well and are excellent at taking action to improve the school when needed. The teachers could help you even more by making sure that the changes they make are working well so that you make the most of them. I am sure, for example, that the school council could be responsible for running its meetings. Some of your teachers do not give you enough information to help you improve your work when they mark your books. You could make your work even better if

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

you had little targets that help you learn from your recent work. Many of you could make your own targets because you know what you need to do to improve. Best Wishes Mrs J Dawson Lead Inspector

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