St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 30 June 2026

St Paulinus Catholic Primary Academy has an ethos rooted in care and support. Everyone at the school works together to make it a happy place. New pupils and visitors receive a warm welcome into the school community. Pupils feel a sense of belonging. Most behave well and many attend regularly. In many subjects and in the early years, teaching has not been of a high enough quality over time. Leaders' expectations for what pupils can achieve have historically been too low. Consequently, many pupils have not been well prepared academically for the next stage of their education. Pupils are starting to benefit from leaders’ very recent improvements to teaching and learning. This includes disadvantaged pupils and those who speak English as an additional language. However, the adaptations that teachers make in lessons for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are not consistently effective. This hinders these pupils’ achievement. Leaders know that there is more to do to improve pupils’ achievement. They are taking appropriate action, but it is too early to see the full impact of this. Pupils are typically calm, thoughtful and reflective. They learn how to manage their own feelings and emotions. Pupil wellbeing champions help their peers when they need it. Skilled staff provide positive pastoral support which helps pupils to feel safe. Records show that bullying is rare. Pupils are confident that if it happens, their teachers will help. Pupils leaving the school in Year 6 are well prepared socially and emotionally for secondary school and for later life. They take part in community outreach activities, such as road safety campaigns. They can talk about a range of complex issues with maturity and eloquence.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should ensure that they continue to develop a culture where all staff have consistently high expectations for what pupils can achieve to support pupils to reach their full potential.
• Leaders should ensure that staff swiftly identify and fill gaps in pupils’ basic knowledge and skills to enable them to make more secure progress through the curriculum.
• Leaders should ensure that staff teach the curriculum effectively across all subjects and classes.
• Leaders should ensure that staff make effective adaptations to their teaching to enable pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or other vulnerabilities, to achieve well.
• Leaders should ensure that they support staff in the early years to design high-quality activities that will enable children to acquire the important knowledge identified in curriculum plans.

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