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The school where pupils look forward to turning up

9/ 5/2008

PUPILS at one north Manchester school get so much out of learning that their enjoyment of education was given an outstanding score by Ofsted.

Inspectors were so impressed with the happiness of children at St Clare's RC Primary in Blackley that they gave the school its top score in that section.

Overall, the vast majority of other areas were labelled good, thanks to hard work from staff.

The last Ofsted inspection highlighted the need to give more support to pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities and this had been achieved.

Poor attendance record of some pupils has also been addressed.

Inspectors described the school as "friendly and increasing in popularity" and somewhere where pupils make good progess.

Standards in English, maths and science at the end of year six have been consistantly above average over the last few years.

Particular mention was made of children's progress during Key Stage Two, which benefited from "good quality teaching, increased emphasis on high quality assessment and effective personalised guidance."

It was also said that most children meet or exceed their expected learning goals by the end of reception.

One factor inspectors found as a weakness was a lack of pupils' awareness of other faiths and cultures and the school has been told to improve on this.

Staff were also advised to try to improve space in foundation stage classrooms, where accommodation was described as "very cramped."

Headteacher Vincent Jones, himself praised for his strong leadership, said: "I am extremely pleased with the report. It reflects our achievements over the last three years and gives us a good platform to build on.

"The children love coming to school and we surveryed them in April 2007 just to get their view on coming to school. We have tried to create a school the children enjoy coming to. It was good to get their feedback."

He added: "We are one of the few schools in the city to have a large intake of 60 children but only 30 places at nursery. We need to have an early conversation with the local authority to see how we can improve that.

"How the foundation stage classrooms are set up is very limited in space. Ideally I'd like a 60-place nursery, then we could give the children continuity and quality of space. The quality of their environment is absolutely central to their experience of school."