St Francis Catholic Primary School, Braintree

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 June 2024

St Francis is an inclusive school where pupils are happy. They love coming to school and are proud to talk about the values and virtues they learn. Pupils feel part of a community where everyone is valued. Relationships with staff are positive and nurturing. Parents praise the support their children receive. Pupils contribute well to the community. For instance, elected members of 'Laudato Si' take their role seriously, working with leaders to make decisions, representing their peers, improving the school environment and caring for the world around them. Pupils are safe, and say without hesitation, that they feel safe at school. They learn to be kind to each other. Pupils behave very well in lessons and at breaktimes. Classrooms and corridors are calm places to be. Children in the early years learn the routines that help them to be successful in school. Pupils learn a rich and broad curriculum. They achieve well. They enjoy reading regularly and love spending time in the school libraries. Pupils who need extra support get the help they need from well-trained additional adults. This builds their independence and enables them to access the curriculum successfully.

What the school should improve

• Teachers sometimes do not adapt learning successfully to account for pupils' prior knowledge. Some pupils do not find the work sufficiently challenging to enable them to attempt new learning. The school should ensure that learning is consistently tailored to build on pupils' existing knowledge so that they move on to learning more complex content and knowledge when they are ready to do so.
• Pupils do not have access to a wide range of clubs and activities to help promote and nurture their interests. This means that the development of pupils' interests and talents is not as full as it could be. The school should expand the range of extra-curricular activities, ensuring they align with pupils' interests, so that pupils can develop their talents and extend their learning opportunities.
• The school does not always record and monitor information about pupils' behaviour, attendance and well-being in detail. This means that the school's actions to address behaviour, attendance or well-being concerns are sometimes less effective. The school should make sure that all checks on pupils' attendance, behaviour and welfare, and actions taken, are recorded in detail. The school should use this information to inform all work to improve individual pupils' behaviour, attendance and well-being.

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