St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School

Inspection Report St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School

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103470 Unique Reference Number Birmingham LEA 276930 Inspection number 30 January 2006 to 31 January 2006 Inspection dates Paul Sadler AI Reporting inspector

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

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Gumbleberrys Close School address Primary Type of school off Cotterills Lane Stechford Voluntary aided School category Birmingham, West Midlands B8 2PS 3 to 11 Age range of pupils

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0121 7832205 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0121 7852141 Fax number 267 Number on roll Father Paul Devany Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Pat Doohan Headteacher 3 July 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 276930 30 January 2006 - 3 to 11 31 January 2006 Inspection Report: St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 2006

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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 three Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

St Cuthbert’s School is a Roman Catholic Primary School serving an area of Stechford in north-east Birmingham. About seventy per cent of the pupils are from Roman Catholic families and the proportion of pupils receiving free school meals is above the national average. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities is 8.8%.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 2006

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding school. Pupils enter the school with skills and knowledge that are below average. They get a good start to their education in the Foundation Stage and by the time they leave at the end of Year 6 their standards are significantly above average. This is excellent achievement. The school provides outstanding value for money. The school has many strengths, of which the most prominent are the excellent teaching, which meets each pupil’s needs, and the high quality of the pupils’ personal development. Behaviour in the school is outstanding. Pupils have many opportunities to take responsibility, for instance, through the school council, to develop healthy and safe lifestyles and to make a positive contribution to the community. Through its ethos of promoting high achievement within a Catholic community, the school fosters the pupils’ spiritual, moral and social development outstandingly well. The curriculum is

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Grade: 1

a further strength; pupils have many opportunities to take part in sporting and other extension activities The school’s success owes much to the excellent leadership and direction of the senior managers and the governors. Parents are universal in their praise of the school. The school has no significant weaknesses but staff continue to strive to improve pupils’ attendance and punctuality. There is a strong commitment to ensuring that all pupils reach their full potential and that the school performs at a consistently high level. The school recognises it needs to develop its procedures for monitoring and tracking pupils’ progress The school views its effectiveness as good but it is in fact better than this. The school has improved substantially since the last inspection and has very good capacity to improve further.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Continuing to improve attendance and punctuality. • Refining the procedures to monitor and track pupils’ progress.

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Grade: 1

Pupils reach standards that are significantly above average when they leave at the end of Year 6 and they meet challenging personal and school targets. This represents outstanding achievement. They enter school with skills and knowledge that are below average, as assessed through the local education authority’s baseline assessment scheme. In the Foundation Stage they make good progress, especially in their personal development, which is outstanding. The pupils make rapid progress during Key Stage 1 and consistently achieve high standards by the end of Year 2. They write extensively and with clarity and discuss sophisticated language, such as differences between the words ‘astonish’ and ‘astound’. A recent project to accelerate boys’ development of writing skills has led to very rapid progress among a group that previously experienced difficulty. At the end of Year 6, standards have been above the national average over

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Grade: 1

a period of time. A slight fall in standards in 2005 has been carefully analysed by the school and steps have been taken to ensure this is not repeated. Pupils consistently 2 Inspection Report: St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 2006 make good progress. In Year 4, pupils can apply their mathematical knowledge to accurately work out differences in their heights. In Year 6, they can use text to make inferences, for instance, by using a reference to Berlin to infer that the setting is in Germany. Across the school, a notable feature is that all pupils produce a large amount of high quality work. All groups of pupils in the school make equally good progress, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities.

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Grade: 1

Pupils’ personal development, including their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, is outstanding. Pupils enjoy school and show very positive attitudes to learning. They participate with enthusiasm in lessons and show high levels of concentration. Pupils are extremely friendly and welcoming to visitors. Behaviour is outstanding in class and around school. As one pupil said, ‘I think it’s the best in Birmingham’. Through effective monitoring, attendance has improved and is now in line with the national average. Pupils benefit greatly from the school’s extremely positive Roman Catholic ethos. For example, an inspirational assembly featured high quality singing and very good opportunities for prayer and reflection. It successfully encouraged pupils to consider how they can make a difference to others after they heard the story of Irena Spendlerowa, listened to a reading and saw photographs of

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Grade: 1

children in Nepal. Displays of pupils’ artwork around the school, such as Aboriginal paintings and North American and Italian-style masks, are impressive and uplifting for the pupils. Pupils make outstanding contributions to the local and wider community. They raise funds for three local charities and for Uganda and Nepal. The pupils on the school council take their responsibilities seriously and have made valuable contributions to improving outdoor play equipment. Pupils understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They have a clear knowledge of good diet and participate well in a wide range of sporting activities.

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Grade: 1

Teaching is outstanding because teachers know their pupils’ strengths and weaknesses very well and provide suitably challenging work that enables the pupils to make rapid progress. The pupils learn very effectively as a result of teaching they receive and their excellent behaviour. The pupils know what is expected of them and they respond very well, cooperate with each other and produce sustained, high quality work. Increasingly, they learn to work independently, for instance, when using the library for research. Teachers and their assistants are deployed skilfully to ensure that each pupil receives the level of support he or she needs. The adults’ individual skills are used to best effect, for instance, by using teaching assistants to teach music and information and communication technology (ICT). The teachers’ marking is of high quality. Individual pieces of the pupils’ work are carefully annotated, with comments from the teachers

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Grade: 1

3 Inspection Report: St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 2006 giving appropriate praise and showing how the work could be improved further. Pupils have individual targets in their books, through which they monitor their own progress with the help of fellow pupils, and the teachers endorse that the targets have been achieved.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum and other activities are excellent because these provide a very broad range of experiences that are suited to the needs and interests of all pupils. Subjects are presented in an exciting way, for instance, by creating a ‘rain forest’ in part of the classroom to support science, geography and other subjects. Science and ICT have both improved considerably since the last inspection. All pupils have at least two hours of sport and PE each week. During the inspection, most of the older pupils went on a cross-country run during lunchtime. There is a very wide range of other extension activities encompassing art, drama and music. Older pupils said that ‘extension’ was the best thing about the school. The curriculum is very successful in developing pupils’ self-confidence and the skills they will need in the future.

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Grade: 1

Care, guidance and support are outstanding. Children starting nursery settle really well because of highly effective induction procedures, including home visits. Staff know the pupils well so pupils are confident that they can turn to them for help when needed. As one pupil remarked, ‘Teachers help you if you have a problem’. There are very good procedures for risk assessment to ensure that pupils are safe. As pupils said, ‘It’s very safe here’. Child protection procedures are thorough, so vulnerable pupils are carefully monitored and very well cared for. Those with learning difficulties receive effective support from teaching assistants and this enables them to have full access to the activities provided. Assessment procedures are established and used very well to guide pupils’ learning. Clear learning targets are set for individuals in a range of subjects. All staff, including administrative staff, have a small group of pupils in whom

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Grade: 1

they take a special interest and who they regularly hear reading.

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are outstanding. The headteacher has developed and maintained the positive ethos of the school over a considerable period. The recent appointment of a deputy head has brought new skills and thinking to the school, particularly in the areas of tracking and monitoring pupils’ progress. In particular, there is a clear framework of expectation of high achievement and good behaviour to which all in the school community subscribe. The strong commitment by leaders and managers to evaluating the school’s performance and improving it further includes the development of a more secure understanding of the school’s performance in relation 4 Inspection Report: St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 2006 to other schools. Regular monitoring of the quality of teaching results in effective steps being taken to make any necessary improvements. The leadership ensures that

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Grade: 1

the Foundation Stage gives the youngest pupils a good start to their education. The school works well in partnership with external agencies. Pupils and parents are consulted about the school’s development and their suggestions are acted upon, for example, in the provision of playground equipment. Careful thought has been given to the deployment of resources, resulting in a decision to maintain relatively high levels of staffing. The impact of this on standards is continually monitored by senior staff and governors to ensure that best value is achieved. The matters raised in the last inspection have been dealt with successfully and the school has a very good capacity to make further improvements. 5 Inspection Report: St Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 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 Cuthbert's RC Junior and Infant (NC) School, 30 January 2006 to 31 January 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 1 How well do learners achieve? NA 2 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 1 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 3 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 1 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 1 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

Dear Pupils The inspectors who visited your school very much enjoyed talking and listening to you and seeing your work. We want to thank you for spending the time to do this. This letter is to tell you what we thought of your school and how it can be even better. We think St Cuthbert’s is an excellent primary school. The best things about the school are: • you are taught very well • you learn quickly and your work is of very good quality • your behaviour is excellent and there is no bullying • there are lots of interesting things to do at school, such as the extension activities • your teachers listen to what you think, for instance, in the school council and in class • you are taught to care for other people, both in school and in the wider world • your parents agree that St Cuthbert’s is a very good school. We think the school could improve even more if: • everyone came to school every day, except when they are ill, and arrived on

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

time • the teachers found out more about how good the school is when compared with other schools. Yours sincerely Mr Sadler Lead Inspector

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