St Josephs R.C.Primary School Neath

Highlights from Latest Inspection

St Joseph's R.C.

Primary School provides a nurturing environment where pupils feel safe and secure. Ensuring the well-being of pupils is a high priority for all members of the school community. As a result, pupils feel cared for and valued by staff.

The newly appointed acting headteacher has built strong relationships with pupils, parents and staff. She has established a culture of trust and kindness. However, leadership and governance do not show the capacity to identify or address areas in need of improvement.

Over time, leaders have not identified weaknesses in the quality of teaching and provision for younger pupils or the need to provide greater challenge for more able pupils. The school has a substantial def...icit budget and there is no plan in place to address this. Leaders and staff are continuing to develop their school curriculum to align with the Curriculum for Wales.

Provision to develop pupils' Welsh language skills is appropriate and supports most pupils to make suitable progress. A few pupils in Year 3 and Year 4 make good progress in this aspect of their learning. The school has made positive improvements in the provision for pupils with additional learning needs (ALN) recently.

This has resulted in improved progress for these pupils. Overall, the teaching and the learning experiences provided for pupils do not support them to make enough progress across the full breadth of the curriculum during their time at school. Provision for the school's youngest pupils is particularly weak.

Across the school, teachers do not support pupils to use their skills well enough. The range of learning experiences is limited, and pupils have little influence over what or how they learn. A few safeguarding issues were brought to the attention of the school during the inspection.

Recommendations R1 Address the safeguarding and health and safety issues identified during the inspection R2 Improve strategic leadership at all levels and implement effective evaluation and improvement processes that focus on improving outcomes for pupils R3 Improve teaching and assessment R4 Improve the curriculum and provision for pupils' skills including their independent learning skills What happens next In accordance with the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion, that special measures are required in relation to this school. The school will draw up an action plan to show how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will monitor the school's progress usually every four to six months.