St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 18 March 2025

The school's curriculum is ambitious. It reflects leaders' high expectations for pupils' academic achievement. These expectations are largely realised. The school's 12 virtues are bought to life through pupils' positive attitudes to school, their dedication to their learning and the kindness they show to each other. Pupils are deeply respectful. They describe difference as 'the special things that make us all unique'. Pupils accept and celebrate their many differences. This starts in the Reception class where children quickly become confident and independent learners who work and play together kindly. Behaviour at all times of the day is calm and settled. Learning in classrooms is purposeful and takes place without interruption. Bullying is rare. Pupils have confidence that when it happens, all adults take their concerns seriously and quickly deal with it. Pupils have meaningful opportunities to contribute to the life of the school. 'Happiness heroes' support other pupils when they are feeling sad. Pupils learn about fundamental British values, such as democracy, including through opportunities to take up democratically elected roles. School councillors, for example, are proud of the changes they have made to playtimes and the alterations to their lunchtime menu choices. St Mary's Catholic Primary Academy is a happy place where pupils thrive.

What the school should improve

• On occasion, teachers do not check what pupils know carefully enough. This means that work is not always accurately matched to pupils' needs. The school should ensure that assessment is used effectively to check on what pupils know and can do so that the work they complete in class is well matched to their existing knowledge and skills.
• The school's attendance strategies are not reaching some disadvantaged pupils whose absence remains too high. Consequently, some disadvantaged pupils miss out on too much learning and the experiences that the school provides. The school should refine its approaches to reduce persistent absence further for these pupils so that they can benefit from what the school has to offer.
• Adult interactions with children in the early years do not consistently focus well enough on the development of communication skills. As a result, children's vocabulary and language are not developed as well as they might be. The school should ensure that opportunities to grow children's language and vocabulary are prioritised so that children benefit from high-quality adult interactions as they learn through play.

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