St James' Catholic Primary School, Skelmersdale

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 22 February 2023

There is a genuine warmth in the interactions between pupils and staff at this nurturing school. One member of staff summed this up best as the 'loving approach' that pupils and staff take towards their relationships with each other. This helps pupils to feel well cared for and happy. Pupils feel safe. They rarely fall out with their classmates. Leaders deal with any bullying concerns effectively. Pupils meet leaders' high expectations for behaviour. Pupils engage enthusiastically in lessons and enjoy their learning. They play particularly well together at social times. For example, groups of friends take leisurely strolls around the racetrack while eating their snacks and chatting about their shared interests. Other pupils climb along the trim trail or play ball games together. Leaders capitalise on any unique opportunities that arise to give pupils special, one- off experiences. In recent times, these have ranged from video calls with people living near the Amazon rainforest to cooking experiences at a regional restaurant. Many pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well in many subjects.

What the school should improve

• Some pupils do not attend school as frequently as they should. This means that these pupils miss out on some important learning. Leaders should further review the strategies that are in place to improve pupils' attendance at school.
• Some pupils do not receive effective support to help close the gaps that they have in their phonic knowledge. This means that some pupils take longer than they should to become confident, fluent readers. Leaders should review the approaches that are used to help pupils who struggle with phonics. Leaders should also ensure that staff have the necessary expertise to deliver additional reading support well.
• In some subjects, leaders have not outlined sufficiently their expectations of how teachers should deliver important knowledge. This means that teachers do not deliver some subjects consistently well. In turn, pupils do not build their knowledge securely in these subjects. Leaders are not alert to some of the inconsistencies in teachers' implementation of the curriculum. Leaders should provide clear curriculum guidance for teachers so that teachers know how best to deliver subject content.

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