Holy Family Catholic Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 September 2022

Pupils are happy and enjoy coming to school. They experience a broad and rich curriculum and speak enthusiastically about their learning. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education. The atmosphere in school is friendly, respectful and polite. Children in the early years quickly learn the routines that help them to be successful. Pupils respond to the high expectations staff have of their learning and behaviour. Bullying is rare. Pupils feel safe. They are confident that staff will always listen and follow up any worries they may have. Lessons are purposeful because pupils listen carefully. They consider each other's points of view and willingly share ideas. Pupils learn to be resilient to setbacks. They encourage each other to overcome challenges and to achieve their best. Pupils learn to communicate confidently and with conviction. They know that their voice will be heard. Pupils are committed to the additional roles they have in school. They work together to make a positive difference to school life and the wider community. Consequently, they learn to be responsible and active citizens. Parents value the school's nurturing ethos and the care and support their children receive from the team of dedicated staff.

What the school should improve

• Leaders have introduced a new programme for the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics and early reading. Staff are developing their confidence to implement the new programme. Leaders should ensure that staff continue to receive the guidance and training they need to implement the new programme well, building on the effective practice that is already in place.
• Additional support is in place for older pupils who are not yet confident readers. However, these pupils, including pupils with SEND, are not catching up with their reading as quickly as they could. This is because the support they receive does not focus sufficiently on ensuring that pupils secure, practise and apply their phonics knowledge to decode unfamiliar words. Leaders should ensure that these pupils practise and apply their phonics knowledge regularly, using carefully chosen, decodable texts so that pupils gain confidence and fluency in their reading and catch up quickly.
• Parents receive a lot of information from the school. The number of channels that staff use to communicate with them has increased during the pandemic, so sometimes this is confusing, and information is easy to miss. Leaders should review their arrangements for communicating with parents so that parents can access the information they need quickly and efficiently.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)