St Joseph and St Teresa's Catholic Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 February 2023

St Joseph and St Teresa's Catholic Primary School is a friendly, welcoming school. The inclusive, Catholic ethos ensures that all pupils fully participate in school life. Pupils are polite, respectful and care for each other. Pupils say they enjoy coming to school. They behave well in class and move around the building sensibly. Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. They participate fully in lessons and take pride in their work. Pupils feel safe and are safe. Bullying is rare. Pupils are adamant that racism and discrimination hardly ever happen. They are confident that adults will take any incidents very seriously and deal with these swiftly. Pupils have a range of opportunities to develop their leadership skills. The members of the pupil parliament are proud of their roles. They have recently raised money for a local food bank. Pupils enjoy attending extra-curricular activities such as football, dodgeball and multi-skills. A range of visits are built into the curriculum. Pupils talked enthusiastically about a recent visit to Temple Newsam where they were learning about Tudor crimes and punishments. Leaders provide opportunities for parents to join in their child's learning through initiatives such as the reading café and mathematics mornings. Parents enjoy attending these events and value the work of leaders and teachers. Leaders have high expectations and ambition for all pupils.

What the school should improve

• Although staff have received regular training, some staff do not model pure sounds precisely enough when teaching phonics. As a result, some pupils do not pronounce sounds correctly, and this impacts on their ability to accurately blend sounds to make words. Leaders need to provide additional training to ensure that all staff use pure sounds accurately and consistently.
• Leaders are unclear on how and when some aspects of pupils' personal development are explicitly taught or promoted. As a result, some aspects, such as the fundamental British values and the protected characteristics, are not explicit enough and pupils do not have an age-appropriate understanding of them. Leaders need to carefully map out all aspects of personal development making links between the variety of plans and resources they use.

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