St David Haigh and Aspull CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 25 January 2023

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), get on well with each other and make friends easily at this school. Children in the early years quickly build trusting relationships with staff and with other children. Older pupils benefit from positive and respectful friendships with each other. Leaders, governors and staff are highly ambitious for every pupil. Leaders have high expectations of pupils' behaviour and what they can achieve academically. Pupils are keen to behave well. They love to receive rewards using the 'peg' system. Overall, pupils work hard in lessons. Pupils, including those with SEND, achieve well. Children in the early years are also well prepared for Year 1. Pupils understand the differences between bullying and being unkind. They are confident that leaders and staff will listen to their concerns. Any incidents of bullying are dealt with quickly and effectively by staff. Staff work to ensure that unkind behaviour does not happen again. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe in school. Pupils learn a great deal about other faiths and cultures. They speak kindly and maturely about how families may be different to their own. Pupils said that everyone is made to feel welcome at this school. Pupils enjoy the varied enrichment activities that are on offer to them. They particularly enjoy trips with pupils from other schools in the trust. This helps them to broaden their friendship groups. Older pupils are looking forward to taking part in a residential experience.

What the school should improve

• In a small number of subjects, teachers are not clear enough about the knowledge that they want pupils to learn. Sometimes, this prevents teachers from selecting the most appropriate activities to help pupils to acquire new knowledge. Leaders should ensure that teachers are clear about the knowledge that pupils should learn in these remaining subjects. They should also ensure that teachers are well trained to choose the most appropriate activities to help pupils to learn.
• A few pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should. This means that these pupils miss out on important learning. Leaders should continue their work to improve pupils' rates of attendance so that all pupils benefit from all that the school has to offer.

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