Saint Mary's Catholic Voluntary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 June 2025

Pupils enjoy coming to this welcoming school. They are happy and feel safe. They attend well. Pupils model the school's values and demonstrate a deep understanding of love and kindness. Pupils know that staff will listen and help them if they have a concern. Staff have consistently high expectations of pupils' behaviour. They manage any incidents consistently well and behaviour does not prevent pupils from learning. Pupils behave well in a calm and orderly environment. Pastoral support for pupils is effective. Pupils receive the support they need. They have a range of opportunities to develop their character. Pupils enjoy their leadership roles, for example the school council and the 'agents of change' who look at wider issues beyond the school. A range of clubs and trips enhance the curriculum. The school is rightly proud of its success in sports and music. The school has gone through a period of significant development since the last inspection. It acknowledges that published outcomes in 2024 are not where they should be. The school has raised its expectations of what pupils should learn. It has made significant improvements to the curriculum. However, these changes have not fully impacted on how well pupils achieve.

What the school should improve

• Some of the activities that teachers design to deliver the curriculum do not allow pupils to think as deeply as they might about the subject content. As a result, some important knowledge and vocabulary are not readily recalled by pupils or used to answer subject- specific questions. The school should ensure that pupils are given frequent opportunities to practise using the knowledge they are taught and to show what they know in lessons across the wider curriculum.
• In many lessons, teachers do not check closely enough on how well pupils are acquiring content. This means that teaching is not always closely matched to pupils' learning. The school should ensure that teachers consistently assess how well pupils achieve in lessons and, where necessary, adapt teaching in light of this.
• Learning is not always adapted well enough to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. As a result, these pupils do not always learn as well as they should. The school should ensure that the curriculum is matched closely to the needs of pupils with SEND, so that these pupils can learn effectively.
• Pupils' understanding of the fundamental British values, of the protected characteristics and of different faiths is limited. As a result, pupils do not have the knowledge they need to engage effectively in these aspects of life in modern Britain. The school must ensure that its provision for pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development promotes pupils' understanding of different faiths, British values and the protected characteristics securely.

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