St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Bodmin

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 1 April 2025

The school lives out its vision of 'Make a difference together'. Staff put pupils at the heart of everything they do. The school has highly positive relationships with its parents and carers. Staff endeavour to support both pupils and their families with any issues they may have. This excellent pastoral support helps pupils to be happy and enjoy school. The school is ambitious for its pupils. This includes pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds or those that have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff expect pupils to work hard. Pupils thrive on these expectations. In lessons, pupils try their best and are eager to engage with their learning. A small number of pupils find it difficult to manage their emotions. The school supports these pupils well. It carefully adapts the pupils' provision to help them improve their behaviour. Pupils enjoy a diverse range of clubs in which to pursue their talents and interests. The school ensures that there is opportunity for all. It removes barriers so that disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND can participate fully in these. Pupils learn to be caring and thoughtful citizens. For example, they raise money for charities and litter pick in the local community.

What the school should improve

• On occasion, teachers do not consider what pupils can already do well enough. Some pupils complete tasks that are too easy and do not extend their knowledge fully. As a result, those pupils who are already secure in their learning do not extend their knowledge as much as they are capable of. The trust should ensure that teachers provide work which fully extends pupils' learning so that they achieve the highest possible outcomes, including a greater proportion of pupils achieving the higher standard in reading and mathematics.
• In some subjects, the opportunities for pupils to recap and recall previous learning are at an early stage of development. This means that some pupils struggle to recall previous concepts and find it difficult to make links to new learning. The trust should ensure that it establishes systems across the curriculum for pupils to revisit and recall their learning so that pupils can build on prior learning effectively.

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