Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School Leigh

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 July 2025

Most pupils enjoy coming to school each day. They look forward to their learning. Pupils value the positive relationships that they have with staff and with each other. Pupils strive to meet the school's increased expectations for their behaviour and conduct. In the main, pupils follow the school's rules and are courteous. Pupils enjoy spending time with Daisy, the school dog. Alongside staff, she helps pupils who may need extra support to regulate their emotions and behaviour. The school is ambitious for all pupils to achieve highly. Increasingly, more pupils build knowledge effectively in a range of subjects. However, some pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are not currently supported well enough to achieve as well as they could. As a result, some pupils, including those in the early years, are not as well prepared for the next stage of their education as they should be. Pupils appreciate the school's well-considered offer to enhance their learning and develop their character. They value visiting different places in the local area. Pupils enjoy their roles as play leaders, where they help younger pupils at breaktimes. Other responsibilities include supporting pupils who arrive from different countries to settle in quickly and feel welcome.

What the school should improve

• Some staff do not select the most effective approaches to support some children in the early years to develop their vocabulary and knowledge as well as they should. This hinders children's learning across the curriculum. The school should make sure that staff are supported to develop children's knowledge and language successfully, so that they are better prepared for key stage 1.
• The school has not ensured that staff successfully address gaps in some pupils' reading, writing and mathematics skills. This means that these pupils do not have the tools that they need in order to access the next stage of their learning. The school should make sure that pupils have mastered basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics and can apply these across the curriculum.
• Some of the support for pupils with additional needs, including those with SEND, is not as timely or as effective as it should be. This means that some of these pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school should improve the quality of support that pupils receive so that these pupils make strong progress through the curriculum.

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