St Mary's CE Primary School, Slough, SIAS Inspection Report

St Mary’s is a good multi-cultural church school, with very effective leadership. The school makes outstanding provision for pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Through its distinctive character, the school makes outstanding provision to meet the needs of all its learners. Children from all groups feel valued and special including, those from the many different ethnic or faith backgrounds, those with special educational needs and those who are experiencing difficulties or who cause problems for others. Relationships throughout the school are excellent, influenced by Christian care, tolerance and respect for one another. Pupils from a wide variety of backgrounds work well together, showing respect for each other’s beliefs and faith. The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the children is outstanding. Much of this can be attributed to the ‘Values’ programme which provides a focus in assemblies, helps the children to develop their understanding and puts these values into practice. The rewards system has helped to encourage good behaviour throughout the school. Through good teaching, the majority of pupils from all groups and backgrounds do well and fulfil their potential. Achievements are good in relation to prior attainment and social background. The staff, through their own good example, create a warm and friendly atmosphere throughout the school. The children are eager to talk with visitors and they are both polite and helpful. Parents confirm that all members of staff are approachable and deal with day-to-day issues in a sensitive manner. The pupils are able to express their views through the school council. The school council is able to bring about changes such as the provision of play equipment.

The impact of collective worship on the school community is good and at times outstanding.  Worship occupies a central part of school life. Acts of worship are well planned, using the ‘Values’ programme which forms a suitable framework. Acts of worship are consistently and recognisably Christian but are conducted in a sensitive way in order to embrace all the different faiths represented in the school, ensuring spiritual and moral development for all. Worship provokes a positive response from both parents and staff. Pupils speak positively about their experiences valuing the time put aside for reflection and for the singing of hymns. The school plans to put the evaluation of worship on a more formal basis, so that it can be used to further develop collective worship. There are strong links with St Mary’s church and the school receives regular input both from the local clergy, as well as visitors from several of the other Christian churches within the area. Those from other faith backgrounds have taken part in collective worship, providing valuable input into the cultural development of the children as well as to their appreciation of other faiths. This is an area which the school would like to develop further.