St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 14 May 2024

Pupils thoroughly enjoy attending this happy school. Children in the early years are supported well to settle quickly when they join the school. Pupils appreciate the caring relationships that they forge with staff and with each other. Pupils listen carefully in lessons and are polite and respectful to each other. They understand and follow the school rules. The school has raised its expectations for what pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), should achieve. It has made changes to the curriculum to improve how well pupils learn. However, many of these changes are at an early stage of development and are not fully implemented. Pupils do not achieve as well as they should across the curriculum. Pupils have many opportunities to broaden their experiences through a variety of trips and activities. They value helping to care for others. For instance, looking after the recently hatched chick in the early years. Pupils are proud to take on roles of responsibility, such as being well-being ambassadors or buddies for younger children.

What the school should improve

• In some subjects, the school has not finalised the identification and order of key knowledge that pupils should learn from the early years to Year 6. This means that teachers do not have the guidance that they need to deliver these subject curriculums well. The school should ensure that the knowledge that pupils should learn and when this should be taught are clear across all subject curriculums.
• The curriculum in some subjects is not implemented consistently well to enable pupils to make connections with, and to build on, prior knowledge. Consequently, in those subjects, pupils do not understand and retain key knowledge sufficiently well. The school should ensure that subject curriculums are implemented as the school intends so that pupils develop a rich and secure body of knowledge.
• In many subjects, the school does not have assessment systems in place to check whether pupils have learned the intended curriculum knowledge. As a result, it is difficult for staff to identify gaps in pupils' knowledge, or for leaders to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of subject curriculums on pupils' learning. The school should ensure that assessment strategies support teachers and leaders to address any gaps in pupils' learning so that pupils build on their knowledge securely over time.

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