The Salesian Academy of St John Bosco

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 3 February 2026

Pupils are happy and proud to attend this school. From the moment that they walk through the school gate, staff are on hand to support them. Staff are confident to identify any barriers that pupils may have to their learning or wellbeing, and they are increasingly skilled in helping to reduce these barriers. This helps pupils, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to build trust in staff. Pupils respond ever more positively to the clear boundaries that leaders have established around behaviour. Pupils rise to the school’s high expectations and they behave well. They exemplify the school’s values of respect, understanding, affection and humour. Pupils are confident that any form of bullying or discrimination is not tolerated. This contributes to pupils feeling safe in school. Where teaching is of a high quality, pupils are motivated and attentive. Typically, they learn well. However, this is not consistently the case. Past weaknesses in the quality of the curriculum and teaching mean that some pupils have gaps in their learning. As such, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. With the support of the trust, leaders are beginning to address this. Pupils are starting to understand the importance of attending school regularly. There are some green shoots of improvement with younger pupils attending school more regularly than older pupils. Even so, pupils’ typical attendance remains too low. Pupils’ ambitions are rising. They engage in some of the trips that the school offers to places of cultural value, which helps to develop their appreciation of the wider world. Pupils also engage in charitable activities, such as raising money for a local food bank. That said, pupils’ understanding of what it means to be a citizen in Britain remains underdeveloped.

What the school should improve

• Leaders should ensure that teachers respond appropriately to assessment information and adapt teaching accordingly so that learning builds securely over time.
• Leaders should support teachers to design activities that allow pupils to consolidate their learning and move to greater independence, so that they remember their learning over time.
• Leaders should ensure that gaps in pupils’ writing and mathematical knowledge are addressed promptly, so that pupils achieve as well as they should.
• Leaders should continue to prioritise improving pupils’ attendance, so that the successes that they have had in encouraging younger pupils to attend school regularly are replicated with older pupils.
• Leaders should ensure that the curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education identifies all the important knowledge that pupils should learn, so that teachers can support them to build this knowledge securely over time.
• Leaders should support those responsible for subject leadership to ensure the curriculum is delivered consistently well across subjects.

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