St Oswald's Worleston CofE Primary School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 23 May 2023

Pupils love coming to St Oswald's Worleston CofE Primary School. They feel a strong sense of belonging in this caring learning environment. Pupils feel happy at school. Leaders encourage pupils to flourish. They are ambitious for all pupils, regardless of their backgrounds. Leaders and staff expect pupils to achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Pupils, including those children in the Nursery and Reception classes, enjoy their lessons. They eagerly look forward to learning each day. Pupils are especially enthusiastic about their 'connected curriculum'. As a result of a carefully designed curriculum, pupils typically achieve well across the school. Pupils are polite and courteous. Leaders deal with any allegations of bullying or poor behaviour effectively. As a result, pupils said that they are confident to report any issues to staff. Pupils contribute their views and ideas through the school's ethos team and the school council. Many pupils choose to attend before- or after-school clubs, where they can engage in arts and crafts and sporting activities. All pupils have the opportunity to attend residential trips and they enjoy meeting the regular visitors to school, such as archaeologists.

What the school should improve

• The design of the curriculum in a small number of subjects is not as well developed as it is for other subject areas. Occasionally, this prevents some teachers from choosing the most appropriate activities to help pupils to learn new information. Leaders should ensure that they finalise their curriculum thinking in these remaining subjects, so that pupils know and remember more.
• In a few subjects, teachers do not use leaders' assessment systems as well as they should to check whether pupils have retained what has been taught. This means that, on occasions, some pupils do not remember all that they should. Some pupils also develop misconceptions that go unchecked. Leaders should ensure that teachers use assessment systems consistently well.
• Levels of persistent absence remain high for a small proportion of pupils. As a result, sometimes these pupils do not access all that the curriculum has to offer. Leaders should ensure that levels of persistent absence reduce.

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