This smaller than average school is situated in an area of significant social and economic disadvantage. At St Patrick's 55% of the pupils are eligible to receive free school meals, which is very high compared with the national picture. Children's attainment levels on entry to the Nursery are very low. There is a rich variety of cultures and heritage in the area. Almost 40% of pupils are from families belonging to minority ethnic groups. The proportion who speak English as an additional language is 16%, and this is increasing. Many of these pupils are in the earliest stages of learning English. The number of pupils entering and leaving the school at other than the usual times is higher than the national average, as is the proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The school holds an impressive variety of awards, including: ■ Investor in People status National Healthy Schools Award ■ Activemark Gold ■ Artsmark Gold ■ ICT Mark ■ Dyslexia-Friendly School Award ■ Fairtrade School Award ■ Basic Skills Quality Mark ■ International Schools Award. ■ Key for inspection grades Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate Inspection Report: St Patrick's Catholic Primary School, 11 December 2007 4 of 9 Overall effectiveness of the school Grade: 1 St Patrick's is an outstanding school. It accepts pupils from a wide range of cultures and abilities and quickly settles them in to its calm and purposeful learning environment. Parents speak highly of the school. They say, 'It has an exceptionally caring attitude towards children', and that children want to, 'get up very early as they like coming to school so much'. There are well established routines and high expectations, and the care, guidance and support offered to pupils is excellent. As a result, pupils make exceptional progress in their personal development. The great majority of pupils make outstanding progress academically. Well qualified teaching assistants and learning mentors effectively support individuals, small groups of pupils and their families. This results in confident learners who thoroughly enjoy coming to school and achieve very well. Pupils' progress in writing, while good throughout the school, is less rapid than that in reading, mathematics and science, and not enough more able pupils reach the highest levels at the end of Years 2 and 6. The standards achieved by the school fluctuate from year to year, depending upon factors such as pupils' skills and levels of development on entry. Nevertheless, overall standards are consistently in line with the national average at the end of Year 2, and above average at the end of Year 6. Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. They demonstrate a very good degree of mutual support and understanding. For example, Friendship Stops in the playground ensure that no pupils are left out of playtime activities, and a strong buddy system encourages older pupils to look after the younger ones. There is very little bullying and few racist incidents occur because pupils have learned to treat one another in the way in which they would like to be treated. All adults have high expectations of good manners and behaviour. Their kind and courteous approach means that pupils respond with exemplary behaviour, very positive attitudes to learning and high self-esteem. Pupils have an exceptionally good understanding of how to keep healthy, both within and outside the school. They contribute to the local and worldwide community in a number of ways and talk confidently about the school's role in improving things. For example, pupils take part in the international project to 'Make Poverty History' and have undertaken a local transport study to improve traffic conditions in the area. Strong international links ensure pupils' awareness of social and cultural diversity, and they particularly enjoy opportunities to sample food and learn about traditional dances and art from all over the world. In this rich and nurturing environment pupils love coming to school, have great trust in their teachers and take pride in their achievements. Attendance rates are satisfactory owing to a variety of outside factors affecting the welfare of a small number of pupils and their families. The school does everything it can to promote good attendance, and the great majority of pupils are rarely absent because school is so much fun! Teachers establish very good relationships with pupils and manage their classes very well. The working atmosphere is relaxed and purposeful. Teaching and support staff have an excellent understanding of pupils' changing needs as pupils improve, and adapt their approaches in class accordingly to maintain the pace of progress. Teachers use assessment and marking well to ensure that work is well matched to individual and group needs and that pupils know what they need to do next to improve. The school has a wealth of data on pupils' progress. It analyses this well to identify where pupils need additional help or challenge, and to support planning for school improvement. It sets challenging targets.