Ofsted Reports

We are delighted to announce that following the Ofsted Inspection on September 19^th 2017, St Mary’s has been judged to be a Good school under the relatively new and tougher Ofsted framework.  This is fantastic news and we say a HUGE thank you and CONGRATULATIONS to all of our dedicated staff, children, families, governors and school partners who show great devotion and commitment to                    St Mary’s school, day in and day out. Well done!

The Ofsted inspection letter highlights many of the school’s wonderful strengths including:

• Pupils make good progress, particularly through key stage 2. By the end of Year 6, pupils achieve exceptionally well in reading, writing and mathematics
• In 2017, teachers’ assessments at the end of Year 2 showed improvement on previous years, and with a significant increase in the proportion of pupils writing at greater depth
• Pupils are very confident that the school is a safe place and that adults in school have their interests at heart
• Pupils in the playground play well together and are confident that everyone behaves well and that bullying is not something they see
• Many parents refer to the school’s family atmosphere. This is at the heart of the school
• The curriculum is planned well across the school to ensure that pupils receive a broad and balanced curriculum while at the same time developing their literacy and numeracy skills
• Good and well-managed interventions make sure that low-attaining pupils make rapid progress and catch up with their peers
• Teachers ensure that while pupils develop their subject knowledge across subjects, there are many opportunities for pupils to use and apply their reading and writing skills, researching information and writing through different subjects
• The vision you have created, and which the whole school community has implemented, gives pupils an environment where they can learn and be both happy and safe
• The relationship between teachers and pupils gives pupils the confidence that they are cared for and safe
• Safeguarding is effective. The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are thorough
• Risk assessments are routine for any visits away from the school. Good planning is in place and staff are fully briefed on what to do if a serious incident happens while they are away from the school site
• Governors are very active and supportive of the school. They ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to achieve well and learn the values of care and respect
• Although attendance is not improving significantly, the number of pupils who are persistently absent are well supported.

The inspection letter from the Ofsted Inspector has been made available for you on our school website.

St Mary’s has two next steps linked to greater consistency in use of assessment.  Leaders and governors will build on these in our school improvement plan to ensure that:

• Greater consistency is introduced in both the challenge and support provided for pupils through the early years and key stage 1 to improve continuity of progress in writing, particularly for the most able pupils
• Assessment is used consistently well to ensure that all pupils are appropriately challenged through key stage 1, and that teaching consistently builds on pupils’ prior learning to secure good progress and high achievement.

With an Ofsted framework that has higher expectations than before, we are delighted with the successful outcome of the Ofsted inspection.  St Mary’s has seen very successful and sustained improvements over the years thanks to the dedication of our highly skilled staff, children, school partners, families and governors.

We look forward to our continued partnerships as we support our children and school community to aspire, to believe and to achieve the best they can.

Please read our most recent Ofsted letter below.

St Marys School Islington Ofsted Letter Sept 2017 (2)

During our last OFSTED inspection (September 2012) we were appraised as a Good school because:

• The headteacher and staff have built a harmonious learning community, where pupils are very safe and secure, love learning and behave well.
• The new headteacher, strongly supported by her senior team and governing body, provides a clear sense of purpose. Together, they have been a tenacious driving force in improving the quality of teaching and learning and in turn raising pupils’ achievement.
• Pupils achieve well, make good progress and reach broadly average levels of attainment. Attainment in reading is above average and the progress pupils make is outstanding.
• Teaching is good and so progress and learning across the school is good in most lessons. Teachers have good subject knowledge and manage behaviour well. They now plan precisely for pupils’ needs, especially those eligible for the pupil premium, disabled pupils and those with special educational needs and those new to learning English.
• Leaders monitor the school’s work robustly, hold staff to account for pupils’ performance and are strongly focused on improving provision. They have not shirked from the difficult decisions needed to address weak teaching which had been holding back pupils’ outcomes.

What does St. Mary’s need to do to improve further?

1. Accelerate the progress pupils make in writing and mathematics to reach above average standards by:

• ensuring that pupils are taught consistent methods of calculation in mathematics lessons and are provided with more challenging problem-solving tasks that extend their learning towards higher levels
• increasing opportunities for pupils to write independently and more extensively in subjects and topics across the curriculum.

2. Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching by:

• making sure that activities planned always stretch and extend the higher attaining pupils to learn at a swifter pace
• using questioning more consistently to assess and challenge pupils’ understanding
• giving pupils more responsibility for their own learning by encouraging them to be more active and inquisitive in class.

You will find our latest Ofsted report on the link below –

• Ofsted 2012 Inspection