What have been our successes this year?
Religious Curriculum
Throughout the year we have been very lucky that Father Ahern has been almost a daily visitor and that Father William has celebrated mass in school with us each week. Our children have attended mass on all the important Liturgical days in the church calendar. With parental permission, they support families at Requiem masses throughout the year. The excellent links between school, parish and home have been fully maintained and we greatly appreciate the support of all parents and parishioners.
The Sacramental Programme has been exceedingly well supported by parents at meetings and celebrations. Catechists and teachers have worked closely in preparation of the children to receive the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Holy Communion.
Children in Year 3 and Year 5 visited the Marist Centre in November and January for reflections on “Reconciliation “ and “Getting on Together” . The children and staff thoroughly enjoyed the day and it was gratifying to receive a lovely letter from The Marist Centre praising our children for their excellent work ethic and behaviour.
We had a visit in December from Rosemary Naughton who presented a lovely day for Year 3 pupils on the “Labrynth” with the focus being working together.
Year 5 children had two very interesting visits from The Muslim Society. The children learned about the Muslim faith and beliefs and found it very informative and enlightening.
In March, Our Irish Dancing Team visited Rodney House Special School, and St. Mary’s parish hall to present a programme of Irish dance and music. They also took part in the Manchester Irish Music Festival on March 16th. at Manchester Town Hall.
Secular Curriculum
The percentage of pupils achieving 6+ points in the Foundation Stage profile has improved in 12/13 on 2008 results. 8/13 areas are now in line or above the LA. Good improvements have been made in Language for communication and thinking, Linking sounds with letters, Reading and Calculating and the gap from the LA and NA has narrowed. The percentage of pupils achieving 8+ points also improved overall. Girls outcomes are above boys in all CLL areas. The school has identified those pupils with gaps in their EYFSP and the Y1 teaching has planned appropriate activities to support pupils accordingly. Pupil outcomes at the end of the Foundation Stage are improved overall in comparison with the national expectation and show a higher percentage of pupils achieving 78+ points on the FSP.
The percentage of pupils achieving L2+ in Reading was 93% in Writing 88%, in Maths 93% and in Science 88%. Reading, Writing and Maths outcomes are all above the LA and NA for 2009. Reading, Writing and Science also show improvement on 2008 results. The percentage of pupils achieving at L2b is 84% in Reading, 77% in Writing and 77% in Maths. These results are above the NA and LA at L2b. The percentage of pupils achieving at L3 in all subjects has improved on 2008 results. Girls performed better than boys in all subjects however the gap in their outcomes has narrowed considerably in Writing. The average point score (APS) for all pupils was 15.7, which is above the LA of 14.4. Free school meal (FSM) pupil outcomes at APS 13.7 are below the No-FSM pupils APS of 16.2. The gap between the two groups has not narrowed from 2008. 3 school action pupils with APS 11.9 are below the LA APS of 12.7 for this group of pupils. 4 School action pupils with APS 8.7 are considerably below the LA APS of 11.4 for this group of pupils.
The school undertook a review of the schools pupil tracking and assessment procedures and how gaps in pupils’ knowledge and ability are supported has been a key priority. Evidence of narrowing gaps from the NA is now emerging in all core subjects. Overall there are improvements in pupil outcomes in the core subjects at L2+ and L3.. Girls outcomes in Reading show a 3 year improving trend. The school improvement plan is ambitious and designed to action further improvement for all groups of pupils.
The percentage of pupils achieving L4+ in English was 85%, in Maths 80% and in Science 92.5%. These results are above the NA and LA for English and Science and in line with the NA for Maths. The percentage of pupils achieving L4+ in English and Maths combined at 72.5% is in line with the NA and above the LA. All subjects show improvement on 2008 results. Two level+ progress has improved in English, Maths and Science and the declining trend in pupil outcomes halted. The percentage of pupils achieving at L5 is 27.570 in English and 27.57 in Maths. 17.5% of pupils achieved L5+ in English and Maths combined. These results have all improved on 2008. Boys outcomes have improved in Maths to in line with Girls but the girls outcomes in English have increased further in comparison with Boys. The average point score (APS) for all pupils was 27.7 which is above the LA of 27.0. Free school meal (FSM) pupil outcomes at APS 25.9 are below the No-FSM pupils APS of 27.7. The gap between the two groups has narrowed from 2008. 7 school action pupils with APS 26.7 are above the LA APS of 24.7 for this group of pupils. 5 School action pupils with APS 24.7 are above the LA APS of 23.3 for this group of pupils.
Overall the results at the end of KS 2 show good improvement in the core subjects to in line with the NA. Girls show a 3 year improving trend in outcomes at L4+ in English and the improvements in outcomes and conversion of KS1 results by 2 levels + indicates an improvement in the ‘value added’ (CVA) by the school and a reversal of the declining trend 06-08.
The attainment recorded above of these pupils shows that their value added achievement was 100.3. This is above the national mean and a considerable improvement on 2008 and places the school in the top 40% of schools nationally for achievement.