St Mary's Catholic First School, Hexham

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 11 July 2023

St Mary's Catholic First School is happy and welcoming. Pupils are considerate of the feelings of others. Those who are new to the school settle quickly and make friends. Pupils are eager to help those who are less fortunate. They value opportunities to raise funds for the homeless and those without clean water. Staff know pupils well in this small school. Relationships are strong and pupils feel safe. Pupils know that if they are worried, staff will listen and help them. Bullying is rare. Staff are quick to deal with incidents if they occur. Leaders are determined that every pupil will succeed. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) keep up with their peers. Older pupils have lots of opportunities to get to know the middle school. They are well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Pupils behave well in lessons and around school. There has been a lot of change in the school and much of the curriculum is new. Pupils enjoy their learning. They work hard and achieve well. Pupils have lots of opportunities to develop broader interests. They enjoy activities such as eco club and gardening club. Most pupils value their education and attend school regularly.

What the school should improve

• The quality of the curriculum for writing does not match the school's phonics programme. Pupils in key stage 1 do not get enough opportunities to write sentences using the words and sounds that they know. They move to extended pieces of writing without sufficient prior knowledge. Consequently, the spelling and punctuation in their extended writing is weaker than the standard of their reading. Leaders should continue to work with the trust to align the early reading and early writing curriculums.
• The newly designed curriculum identifies key content and vocabulary. However, in some lessons teachers do not focus sufficiently on key content. In these lessons, pupils struggle to complete their work independently. Their understanding of the important content is not secure without additional support from staff. Leaders should continue to implement their training programme for staff, so that the delivery of the new curriculum is consistently focused on the intended learning.

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