Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Our Lady of Fatima is an outstanding school which has improved significantly since its previous inspection and ensures that its pupils achieve exceptionally well. It provides its pupils with high-quality care, guidance and support and a curriculum that meets their needs and interests extremely well. One of the school's many strengths is the outstanding progress made by pupils in their personal and social development.

Pupils are tolerant, feel exceptionally safe, and blossom into confident individuals who demonstrate impeccable manners and behaviour and excellent skills in working either independently or within groups. The strong work ethic in all classes results from pupils' clear understanding of the... targets that they are expected to attain. A further key factor in the school's success is its outstanding partnership with parents and carers, based on excellent channels of communication.

Most of the parents and carers who returned the inspection questionnaire had positive views about all aspects of the school's performance. Typical of the many positive comments appended to questionnaires was, 'I am grateful to the staff at the school who ensure that my children are not only nurtured to achieve their full potential academically, but are encouraged to be independent, caring individuals with respect for others.' When children join the Reception class, they have skills that are similar to those expected for their age.

Pupils make good progress in each key stage and by the end of Year 6 their attainment is consistently high. Progress in Year 6 is exceptionally rapid because of the outstanding teaching in this class. Pupils' excellent skills in reading, writing and mathematics, together with their competence in using information and communication technology (ICT) contribute strongly to their learning in all subjects.

The few pupils who speak English as an additional language are fully integrated, make progress at the same rate as all other pupils, and attain equally high standards. Although teaching is good, teachers do not always ensure that their lessons provide consistently high levels of challenge for all groups of pupils at all times. This occurs for two reasons.

Teachers do not always use assessment information well enough when planning lessons and, when evaluating their own effectiveness, do not focus sharply enough on their impact on pupils' learning. The assessments in the Early Years Foundation Stage are of good quality, but are not recorded regularly enough. In the five years since her appointment the headteacher, with effective support from her deputy, has transformed the school.

The governing body and the whole staff share an ambitious vision for the school and are partners in a clear plan of action to further strengthen the school's performance. Good-quality monitoring of teaching, combined with very thorough tracking of pupils' progress and analysis of data, has enabled the school to pinpoint exactly where it needs to improve, and detailed planning underpins developments. The improvements made since the last inspection provide clear evidence of the school's outstanding capacity for sustained improvement.

Pupils' achievement, the curriculum, the quality of care, guidance and support and all aspects of leadership are better than they were. Although teaching remains good, it is more securely so. Improvements in learning stem from the teachers' good development of pupils' skills in assessing their own work and evaluating the progress that they make.

Information about the school

This is a one-form-entry primary school with seven classes and, as such, it is slightly smaller than average. The large majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds and the proportion from minority ethnic backgrounds is broadly average. These pupils are mostly from Irish, Caribbean or Asian heritage.

A very small minority of pupils have English as an additional language, but almost all of these start school with skills in English appropriate to their age. There are few pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Most of these have general learning difficulties.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is steadily rising year-on-year, but is below the national average. The school has achieved Healthy School status and the Activemark accreditation for its promotion of physical education and sport. In term-time, the school provides childcare both before and after the school day in the 'Early Birds' and 'Evening Owls' sessions.