St Mary's Catholic Primary School ,Chiswick

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 27 June 2023

Leaders have high aspirations for all pupils at St Mary's. It is a friendly and inclusive school. Pupils are proud to come here and feel supported. They are kept safe. Staff provide pupils with a wealth of interesting wider experiences. They motivate pupils to experience leadership and make decisions. Pupils thoroughly enjoy school. They are confident and interested to find things out. For example, they explore and talk enthusiastically about the role that planting plays in making the school more sustainable. The curriculum pupils experience enables them to achieve well. The provision for personal development focuses on helping pupils to be open- minded. They are taught to understand difference and how to show tolerance through the way they behave and speak. They talk kindly and maturely about how people and families may be different. They appreciate opportunities to try new things, be it through school trips or the varied club offer, such as edible gardens, learning Italian and watching musicals in the West End. Pupils also value and enjoy the residential trips to Paris and Ufton Court, where they get to take part in adventurous activities outdoors. Pupils comment that behaviour is mostly good. Pupils are respectful and polite, and they behave responsibly. Pupils know that bullying is not tolerated. Adults are quick to sort out problems. Pupils say that there are trusted adults they can talk to if they have a problem.

What the school should improve

• Leaders are still working to embed their curriculum goals in the foundation subjects. In some instances, teaching is not enabling pupils to secure important ideas in their long-term memory. Leaders should continue to focus on strengthening the implementation of the curriculum, ensuring that teaching focuses sharply on helping pupils to recall with fluency the knowledge that is particularly important for them to secure.
• While, overall, weaker readers receive suitable additional help, on occasion, this support is not sharply focused on getting pupils back on track as soon as possible. This can affect how swiftly these pupils become fluent readers. Leaders should accelerate the provision of additional help to weaker readers so that these pupils catch up rapidly.

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