St Oswald's Catholic Primary School, Longton

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 May 2023

Pupils, including children in the early years, said that they feel happy and safe at school. They described St Oswald's Catholic Primary School as a friendly and caring learning community, where staff encourage them to try everything. Staff have high expectations of pupils' achievement. Pupils benefit from a broad and varied curriculum. They spoke enthusiastically about their learning. Pupils are articulate and confident. In lessons, pupils listen carefully to teachers' instructions and are eager to take part in activities. They achieve well. Pupils are clear about the high standards of conduct that leaders expect. They understand the school's golden rules and they support each other to follow them. Across the school, pupils behave well. They enjoy positive relationships with staff. Pupils were confident that leaders deal with any incidents of bullying effectively. Pupils benefit from a vast array of extra-curricular clubs, trips and visits. For example, they talked with relish about the school's 'tough kidder' obstacle race and visits to local museums. Older pupils are positive role models for younger pupils, for example, when acting as reading buddies to children in the Reception class.

What the school should improve

• In some foundation subjects, leaders are still refining what they want pupils to learn and the order in which this content should be delivered. This hinders teachers in designing learning that builds securely on pupils' prior knowledge. Leaders should ensure that the curriculums in these subjects define the most important things that pupils need to know and that they are logically ordered. This is so that pupils can learn deeply in these subjects.
• In some subjects, teachers' checks do not provide sufficient enough information about how well pupils have learned the content in the curriculum. This sometimes prevents teachers from identifying pupils' misconceptions quickly enough. As leaders finalise the curriculums in the foundation subjects, they should ensure that assessment strategies support teachers to pinpoint and remedy pupils' gaps in knowledge.

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