St Wulstan's and St Edmund's Catholic Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 17 June 2025

Pupils are happy and enjoy being part of this lively and caring school community. They appreciate their teachers and their friends. Staff support pupils well, including if they have any worries or concerns. This helps pupils to feel safe. The school has raised its expectations for pupils' achievement. For the most part, pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning. However, due to some weaknesses in how the curriculum is designed and delivered, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Pupils are courteous towards others. They know that the differences between themselves and others should be respected. Generally, pupils behave well during lessons and throughout the school. Lessons are typically calm and purposeful. This is particularly the case in the early years, where children learn and play well alongside their peers. The school provides pupils with opportunities to join in with exciting activities that develop their wider experiences. For example, pupils benefit from residential visits and trips to museums, parks and a local library. They spoke fondly about the many sports clubs and tournaments on offer. Pupils participate in frequent exercise outdoors. They join their parents and carers at a 'pasta club', where they prepare healthy meals to enjoy at home.

What the school should improve

• The trust and the local governing body have not been prompt enough to address pupils' underachievement, including for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Consequently, over time, pupils have not achieved as well as they should. The trust and the local governing body should ensure that they further bolster the support and challenge provided to the school, to ensure that pupils' achievement improves.
• In several subjects, where curriculums are in development or have been recently established, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. These shortfalls have not been addressed before teachers move on to new learning, which makes it difficult for pupils to build successfully on what they already know. The school should ensure that staff identify and address pupils' misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge promptly, to help pupils to develop a secure body of knowledge.
• The school is not consistently effective in evaluating the delivery and impact of the curriculum. This reduces its ability to determine what is working well and where further improvements are needed to support pupils' learning. This includes for pupils with SEND. The school should ensure that it carefully checks how well the curriculum is implemented and supports staff to enable pupils to learn as well as they should.

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