St Mary's CofE Primary School Rawtenstall

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 March 2025

St Mary's is a happy, welcoming school. Staff place the warm and positive relationships that they foster with pupils at the heart of all they do. This helps children settle quickly when they start in the Reception class. Pupils know that staff want the best for them and that there is always a kind member of staff to talk to if they have any worries. This helps pupils to feel safe. Pupils behave well. They engage readily in lessons and show a keen interest in their learning. Pupils also behave well at other points of the day. They regularly demonstrate the school's values, which include trust, forgiveness, respect and honesty. This means that the school is a consistently calm, pleasant place to be. The school has high expectations for pupils' academic success. Pupils work hard and typically achieve well across a range of subjects. The school ensures that every pupil is given a wide range of opportunities to develop their talents and interests. These opportunities include visits to local places of interest that help pupils to learn about their community, as well as adventurous outdoor learning trips and competing in sporting and technology challenges with other schools.

What the school should improve

• The school's expectations for pupils' early writing are not sufficiently ambitious. Children in the early years and pupils in key stage 1 do not develop the appropriate foundations that they need for written communication. As a result, pupils' writing fluency does not improve as well as it could as they move through each year group. The school should ensure that there is an increased emphasis on pupils' writing skills and knowledge so that their writing knowledge and fluency improves to match their success in reading.

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