The school is constantly striving to be the best that it can be. Although results have been consistently high at Key Stage 2, we need to improve reading levels throughout the school. Special areas in each classroom along with additional resources, reward systems, additional adult support and focused sessions on a Friday have been established to support this target.

The newly established Early Years team are working hard to revamp the indoor and outdoor Early Years areas. It is hoped that building work will be given the go ahead to relocated the Nursery and Reception classes next to each other and to extend the area to provide new toilets and joint wet play area.

The Deputy Headteacher is working to provide a systematic approach to subject management and to ensure that there is a creative approach to curriculum planning.

In order to develop pupils knowledge of the world around them and their place within it a teacher has been given specific responsibility to develop global awareness as part of our PPA activities.

Parking is difficult around the school. The Travel plan hopes to address the issue of ensuring that children can go to and from school safely.

The chart shows our school's contextual value added (CVA) score relative to that of other primary schools. CVA is a statistical means of assessing how effective a school is, by measuring pupils' progress using their test and examination results. The confidence interval shows the range within which we can be confident the score (calculated on the results of only one year group) represents the overall effectiveness of a school.

The percentile rank shows the percentage of schools with a score equal to or higher than ours.

This chart shows the Key Stage 2 results for 2007.

It indicates the percentage of pupils eligible for KS2 tests (usually 11 year olds) who achieved or exceeded the expected level (level 4)

Standards are consistently high. We are consistently ranked in the top 25% of schools of schools for value added, and often in the top 5% of schools nationally.

Pupils achieving Level 4 and above at the end of Key Stage 2 in

2006, 2007 and 2008
English 90% 90% 97%
Maths 94% 89% 90%
Science 97% 90% 100%

Pupils achieving Level 5 at the end of Key Stage 2 in

2006, 2007, 2008

English 22% 59% 67%
Maths 50% 41% 37%
Science 61% 9% 73%

Our curriculum is broad and balanced, meeting National curriculum requirements and the needs of all learners. Teachers plan lessons to stretch the more able, whilst also taking into account the needs of the less able. Teachers regularly assess children and use the information to plan subsequent lessons. Children are involved in understanding their own learning. Learning objectives are shared with the children at the start of lessons and reviewed at the end. Children are clear about what steps they will need to take next to improve their work.

Each class has a high level of adult support. The support staff work with pupils of all abilities, either individually or as a group.

Specific learning needs are catered for with precision teaching for maths and english, a reading support programme, Early Literacy Support for the youngest pupils, Springboard maths and an EAL support programme.

The school has a specific Needs Manager, to ensure that all learning needs are addressed.

Pupils are also supported in their learning by a Behaviour Support Worker.

The curriculum is supplimented by a variety of enrichment activities, visits and visitors, to ensure that all learning styles are catered for.

The school plays an active part in its Cathedral parish. This includes involvement in sacramental programmes as well as being on the Parish Pastoral Council, Hospitality Group and Liturgy Group and being present at Sunday mass, all Cathedral celebrations and weekly masses for each class.

Governors who are parents have established a communication and publicity group to improve links, provide avenues for consultation between school and parents as well as to provide and run social events. They produce a termly newspaper to celebrate the achievements of children out of school.

Parents help out in school and are informed of their children's education through Parents Evenings, Curriculum Newsletters, the termly newspaper and 'working with parents' sessions to share what and how their children learn. Every year the school runs Family Learning Courses. These last for 10 weeks and provide an opportunity for parents to develop their skills while they learn how to help their child more.

The school is part of a community improvement partnership which provides additional support for families. The school hosts Children's University for the locality and takes part in Civic and City events.

Pupils views are gathered through end of year questionnaires, termly consultation via our own school newspaper and through the School Council representatives. The children are all very proud of the school and are glad to belong to it. They feel they are taught well and are well cared for, there is little they would want to change.

The School Council did decide that they would like to initiate some playground improvements. Working alongside the Deputy Headteacher and teacher responsible for student voice they planned the zoned playground that is now in place. They have enjoyed helping with all the digging and planting and thoroughly enjoyed eating the vegetables and salad produce that they grew. Trained young leaders, along with a system of 'playground buddies' ensures that everyone has someone to play with.

The children expressed how much they enjoy the wide range of clubs and activities that are on offer to them. The school continues to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the sports co-ordinator programme and has extended for a second year its participation in wider opportunities which ensures that all children are given the chance to play a musical instrument.

In order to stay healthy and safe, pupils:

- participate in the National Fresh Fruit Scheme
- have water constantly available to drink
- have the opportunity to take their cycling proficiency test and then ride to school
- have milk at breaktime
- pupils exceed the national requirement for physical activity, as well as having extensive out of hours sporting opportunities, including football, hockey, netball, cricket, athletics, tag rugby, tennis and dance
- participate in healthy eating, road safety, walk to school, fire safety, stranger danger and drug awareness initiatives
- participate in health and dental surveys.

The school offers excellent pastoral care which is supported by the work of the Family Link, Behaviour support and Mental Health Workers and the Parish Priests

This chart shows the percentage of half days missed through authorised and unauthorised absence by all pupils at the school.

Information is given for the school, for schools within the local authority and for all schools.

The school runs after school activities for hockey, netball, football, athletics, dance, games and art. As well as taster courses for different sports.

In school opportunities include football coaching, global awareness, music, and Art.

Close relations with the Catholic Cluster have resulted in joint ventures such as 'Rock Challenge' and music evenings as well as a variety of transition events.

All pupils regularly go on school trips, these include a weeks residential on a farm in Devon and three days of activities on the Isle of Wight.

The school hosts Children's University on a Saturday for our children and those from the local area.

The children are also offered many 'one off' opportunities throughout the year, including history workshops, class trips and theatre productions.

Our school is situated in very close proximity to the Catholic Secondary School. As a result the majority of pupils transfer to St. Edmund's. Out of our last cohort of 29, 19 now attend St. Edmund's, 5 pupils transfered to Oaklands, 2 to St. John's College, 1 to Admiral Lord Nelson, 1 to Priory and 1 to Springfield. Owing to the close proximity past pupils are frequent visitors to the school keeping us up to date with how they are getting on, as well as looking to us to continue the guidance and support that they received while with us. The Deputy Headteacher is a regular visitor to St. Edmund's to ensure that any issues arising from transition are addressed quickly and support given to staff and pupils.

This is an outstanding school. Pupils' achievement is outstanding; they enter the school with attainment below the expectation for their age yet, for the last four years, those leaving at the end of Key Stage 2 have achieved standards above national averages. Their progress has been significantly better than national levels, given their starting points and the context in which the school is working. The pupils' personal development is also outstanding. Their behaviour and attitudes are excellent and they spoke eagerly about their enjoyment of learning and of the broad range of opportunities available to them. Pupils feel very confident that the school cares for their safety and well-being. They are extremely supportive of each other, listening carefully to different views, as well as growing in confidence to put forward their own. Their moral development is particularly strong and is evident from the early stages of their time in the school.

Teaching and learning are good overall and some is outstanding. The curriculum and the care, guidance and support provided for pupils are also outstanding and contribute to an ethos of care for individuals and to an atmosphere in which learning is encouraged. The headteacher and other leaders adopt a clear focus upon raising achievement, and the outcomes for pupils over recent years show how successful this approach has been. There is a strong and appropriate focus in each key stage upon raising standards in the basic skills of literacy and numeracy. The staff have high aspirations for the pupils and adopt a strong focus on building their learning skills and confidence. Small group teaching is usually very effective in raising the attainment of pupils of all abilities. However, the quality of independent group work is not wholly consistent across the school 7 and occasionally activities are not matched closely enough to pupils' needs. The school has beneficial partnerships with other schools and organisations, including the city's university. Staff are proactive in seeking to involve parents in their children's learning. Among the many parents and carers who responded to Ofsted's pre-inspection questionnaire, the great majority were very positive in their views of the school.

The leadership and management of the school are outstanding. Managers evaluate carefully and accurately the work of the school, which has made good progress since it was last inspected. Governors are active in the school and discharge their responsibilities well. Most statutory requirements are fully met although further work is needed to ensure that the results of the school's monitoring of its policy on disability are communicated to parents. Much has been achieved in promoting high achievement and in engaging pupils in their learning. Together with the strengths in the leadership and management of the school, this is clear evidence of its excellent capacity to continue to improve.

Date of last inspection: 12-Mar-2008

Ofsted graded our school as outstanding Inspectors made judgements on a scale:
outstanding (grade 1); good (2); satisfactory (3); inadequate (4).

View the Ofsted page for St John's Cathedral Catholic Primary School

Our last OFSTED Inspection was carried out in March 2008 when we were judged to be 'Outstanding'. The main issues arising from Inspection as far as the school was concerned was, to ensure that Early Years would be judged to be 'Outstanding' next time and ensure consistency in the quality of teaching.

Under the leadership of the Deputy Headteacher, a programme of subject management and development has been put in place including regular monitoring in all subjects.

This has resulted in increased confidence among the managers who now have greater accountability for their subject. Monitoring in all subjects has highlighted the strengths and weaknesses among teachers in different subjects, which have then been utilised or addressed through additional support, inservice training or coaching. This has resulted in greater consistency in standards of teaching.

A new Early Years Manager has been appointed who has established a new staff team. The environment, and curriculum have all been modified and are being adapted further in the light of recent developments arising from the Rose review.

If you would like more information about school policies, including our policies on special educational needs and disability, admissions, finance, school food and our complaints procedure, please contact us:

By telephone: 023 92821055
By email:

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