St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The executive headteacher's strong leadership has been a major factor in the school's improvement since its last inspection. She has created a strong ethos where striving for the best is the ambition of all.

Leaders work closely with individual teachers to improve their practice. As a result, pupils' overall progress has improved as teaching has become consistently good. Governors have the skills and understanding to challenge leaders to maintain the drive for improvement.

The local authority and the federation have been close partners with the school on its journey of improvement. Children make good progress from their starting points in... all areas of learning across the Nursery and Reception classes. Pupils' attendance is consistently higher than the national average.

Most pupils are keen to learn, particularly now that they say they find teaching more interesting. Pupils behave well. They are kind to each other and show great respect to adults.

Leaders and governors make sure that pupil premium funding is enabling disadvantaged pupils to make good progress. Several teachers are new to teaching phonics this year and do not have the same level of expertise as had been developed in the previous team. Teaching in mathematics does not always challenge pupils, particularly the most able, to apply their skills and deepen their understanding of new ideas.

Pupils do not have enough opportunity to plan and carry out experiments and investigations in science.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. This school is above average in size compared with other primary schools.

Pupil numbers are rising as it completes its expansion to two forms of entry. The school has experienced considerable staff changes this year. This includes 10 new teachers.

The school is part of a hard federation with a local Catholic primary school. The federation has a single governing body and is led by an executive headteacher. Almost all pupils are from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds.

The majority are of Black African heritages. Over three quarters of pupils speak English as an additional language. This figure is high.

The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average. The proportion of pupils supported by funding through the pupil premium is broadly average. Children in the early years provision attend the Nursery part time and the two Reception classes full time.

The school provides childcare before and after school. The school meets the government's current floor standards. These set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics.