Saint Albert the Great Catholic Primary School, a Voluntary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 29 April 2025

Pupils are proud of their school. The school's values, such as kindness, resilience and inclusion, shine through the way pupils conduct themselves in lessons and around the school. Relationships between pupils, and between staff and pupils, are warm and respectful. Overall, pupils behave well. The school puts support in place to help any pupils who find it tricky to manage their feelings and behaviour. This helps these pupils to meet staff's high expectations and learn well. The school's extensive outdoor environment offers pupils many opportunities to be physically active. Pupils in all year groups appreciate these and play happily at lunch and breaktimes. Indoors, classrooms are calm, purposeful spaces where a culture of learning and aspiration prevails. The school has high hopes for pupils' achievement. It has established a culture of ambition for all. Pupils work hard in lessons and strive to meet staff's expectations. Increasing numbers of pupils achieve well. Pupils relish the experiences on offer that develop their character and extend their skills and talents. Some pupils take on leadership roles such as well-being ambassadors and sports leaders. Others run lunchtime clubs for younger pupils. There is a strong sense of belonging to a caring community, where everyone supports each other.

What the school should improve

• Occasionally, staff's checks on pupils' understanding are not as effective as they could be. At times, some pupils' gaps in learning are not identified or addressed. At other times, pupils who are ready to move on are not given the opportunity to deepen their learning. The school and trust should support staff to use assessment effectively and consistently, so that all pupils' gaps in knowledge are addressed and pupils progress as well as possible through the curriculum.
• In a small number of subjects, the school has not mapped out the curriculum as well as it has in others. It has not identified precisely the key knowledge that pupils should learn in each year group. As a result, teaching in these subjects does not build pupils' knowledge as securely as it does in others. The school and trust should ensure they complete the process of curriculum improvement in these subjects, so that pupils learn equally well across the curriculum.

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