Riddlesden St Mary's CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 March 2025

Pupils feel part of a family in this warm and welcoming school. They feel safe and enjoy excellent relationships with staff. They willingly embrace opportunities to contribute to school life and develop their leadership skills. Pupils learn about their responsibilities for the environment while feeding the birds, growing vegetables or planting trees in their woodland. Pupils behave well. They show kindness and consideration for each other. Older pupils take turns to help younger ones at lunchtimes. Their kind and thoughtful attitudes reflect the ethos of the school. Staff act as excellent role models. Expectations are consistent throughout the school. Pupils often work together to help those less fortunate than themselves such as baking cookies for the homeless. Pupils are clear that they are all equal and that it is okay to be different. Pupils are taught to understand different emotions. They are shown ways to help themselves feel calm and be ready to learn. The school is ambitious for all pupils' achievement. The curriculum interests and challenges pupils. Most pupils focus on their learning and work with determination. Children in the early years are particularly engaged and enthused. They have settled well into school. Pupils achieve well overall.

What the school should improve

• Some pupils do not get enough opportunities to practise elements of the early writing curriculum, such as letter formation or using the sounds they know to spell words accurately and form sentences. They make many errors in their writing, which are not addressed swiftly or consistently. These errors become embedded over time. The school should ensure that all pupils get enough opportunities to secure important foundational knowledge before they are given more complex tasks.
• In a small number of subjects, the school has not identified the essential knowledge pupils need to learn. This means pupils struggle to remember important facts and connect new key learning to what they already know. This means they do not learn the curriculum as well as they could. The school should clearly define the essential knowledge pupils need to know across all subjects.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)