The school’s motto ‘Living, Loving and Learning in God’s Care’ threads through the daily life of St Mary’s. It is a friendly, happy and caring school. Parents value the care and attention given to their children’s learning and well-being. The headteacher leads the school well. Parents speak highly of the headteacher’s leadership. Pupils behave very well. They play nicely together at break and lunchtimes. Pupils are proud of the role they play in school life, for example being a playground pal, librarian, litter picker or school councillor is important to them. ‘It makes our school better.’ Pupils feel safe at school. If bullying ever happens, leaders deal with it well. Staff want all pupils to do the best they can. Pupils make the most of the clubs and visits on offer throughout their time in school. These include residentials, theatre trips, gardening, leading services and visiting the local nursing home. This helps them to be confident, articulate and responsible young people who are well prepared for secondary school. As one parent said, ‘My child bounds into school every morning and come homes very tired but full of excitement about everything they have learned.’ What does the school do well and what does it need to do better? Reception children have a good start to their school life. Staff know each child well. Children make the most of the well-organised and inviting early years environment. Exploring and investigating together, they learn well and are ready for Year 1. They benefit from times when they work alongside Year 1 and as part of the whole school. Pupils respond well to the very high expectations set by staff. Pupils begin to learn letters and sounds as soon as they start school. Adults teach letters and sounds in a structured way. However, they are not always clear on what pupils should know at what point in the year. Occasionally, teachers do not always challenge the most able well enough. This slows their progress. Younger pupils read regularly to a grown-up in school. This helps them to read become fluent readers. Older pupils enjoy books in a range of contexts. Older pupils also enjoy it when teachers read to them. Staff and pupils value the recently opened school library. Year 6 pupils are serious about their librarian responsibilities. They showed an inspector their ‘book fountain’. They explained how they arrange the books to help others choose and enjoy new books. All teachers are new to the school since September 2019. Two are newly qualified teachers (NQT). As a result, the headteacher is currently taking the oversight for all subjects. She has a clear plan of when teachers will take on the responsibility for a subject and for which subject. Staff are developing their leadership skills. She is supporting staff well in developing their teaching practice and setting high expectations for behaviour. Staff say she is very giving with her time and in supporting their well-being. Staff morale is high. The headteacher has trained staff so they support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to access all of the curriculum. This helps the pupils to be successful learners. The headteacher has introduced a new English scheme. This is helping teachers plan writing lessons that build on what pupils already know. Key stage 2 pupils say that they are enjoying revisiting the same book in English. They know the texts well and are becoming better writers. Pupils’ knowledge of grammar is good. The new spelling scheme is helping pupils to be more aware of their spelling. They use dictionaries to help both spelling and understanding the meanings of words. For example, during reading a child used a dictionary to look up the word ‘impeachment’. They were then able to explain the individual meaning of the word and in the context of the article as well. There is a new history scheme. Teachers use this to plan lessons that are beginning to help pupils know more, remember more and make links in their learning. For example, pupils learn about a time in the past when only men could vote and discuss the link to suffragettes in more recent times. The school’s curriculum is developing. There is some variation in how effectively subjects are taught. Some subjects, but not all, are well structured and sequenced. Teachers do not yet fully understand the smaller steps needed to help learning stick with pupils. However, it is clear from leaders’ actions that they are on the way to ensuring that all subjects are planned and sequenced in a way that will allow pupils to know more and remember more over time. Training of staff is already happening.