St Mark's Catholic Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 October 2024

Pupils enjoy coming to St Mark's primary school. They arrive each day with a happy smile, keen to meet with their friends and learn new things. Pupils appreciate the differences between each other. They welcome everyone warmly to their school. Pupils enjoy the opportunity to support their peers in school. For example, they are proud when they get the chance to be a member of the school council, sports council or a 'worship warrior'. Pupils treat each other, adults in school and visitors with mutual respect. Relationships between members of this school community are strong. Pupils are kind to each other in school and they play well with each other on the playground. They conduct themselves well when moving around the school. In lessons, pupils listen attentively to their teacher. They learn without interruptions. There is a renewed focus on the school having higher expectations for pupils' achievement across the curriculum. The school is resolute in doing what it can to ensure that pupils achieve highly. This includes improvements to the design of the curriculum. However, there is still more to do to ensure that these expectations are realised, and pupils' achievement improves. Currently, some pupils do not achieve as well as they should in a few subjects.

What the school should improve

• Systems that governors use to check on the school's performance are new. This means that their understanding of some aspects of the curriculum is not as secure as it could be. Governors should embed their systems for gathering high-quality information about the school's performance so that they can hold the school more effectively to account.
• Some staff are unsure about how to implement some of the curriculum subjects and areas of learning in the early years. This means that they design activities which are not appropriate for pupils or do not support the intended learning. Pupils do not achieve well in these subjects as a result. The school should ensure it provides effective subject-specific professional development so that staff deliver these curriculums as intended.
• Some staff do not have secure enough expertise to deliver the phonics programme. As a result, some pupils do not achieve as well as they could in early reading and writing. The school should ensure that staff receive focused professional development so that staff deliver the phonics programme well.
• Sometimes teachers do not address pupils' errors in their written work. This means that pupils continue to make mistakes in their letter formation, spelling and grammar. The school should ensure that teachers address pupils' errors so that they avoid repeating common errors in their written work.
• Some pupils do not attend school as often as they should. This means that they miss out on important knowledge. It makes it more difficult for some pupils to successfully build up a rich body of knowledge over time. The school should ensure that these pupils attend school as often as possible.

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