Our Lady and St Gerard’s Roman Catholic Primary School, Lostock Hall

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to this happy and caring school. They have positive relationships with their peers.

Pupils appreciate how well cared for they are by kind and nurturing staff. This helps pupils to feel safe in school. Children in the early years make a remarkably strong start.

They learn to manage their emotions and to consider the feelings of others. Pupils are well prepared for each stage of their education.

The school is ambitious for pupils' achievement.

Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), live up to these aspirations. They achieve well across a broad range of subjects.

Pupils benefit fro...m a wide range of trips and clubs that help them to develop their individual talents and interests.

For example, pupils enjoy participating in theatre productions and competing in a range of sporting activities. All pupils benefit from learning to play a musical instrument.

Pupils are proud of the positive contribution that they make to school life.

They are enthusiastic about the responsibilities that they are offered. These responsibilities include taking on roles as school councillors or digital ambassadors. Pupils also raise funds for local and national charities.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Governors have worked closely with the school to improve the areas for development identified in the school's previous inspection. This has resulted in improved standards across the school. By the end of Year 6, pupils achieve well in a range of subjects.

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum which meets the needs of pupils. The content that pupils should learn and the order in which they should learn it has been clearly set out. This means that teachers know what to teach and when to teach it.

In most subjects, teachers have been well trained to deliver the curriculum effectively. They check that pupils' understanding is secure before introducing new learning. Pupils have plentiful opportunities to revisit and practise what they have previously learned in these subjects.

This helps them to know more and remember more over time. Pupils typically achieve well in these subjects. At times, staff are not quick enough to address the gaps that some older pupils have in their learning.

When this happens, they move on to new learning before they are ready and do not achieve as well as they should.

The school has made sure that pupils develop a love of reading from an early age.In the early years, children have many opportunities to listen to stories and rhymes.

The school has implemented an effective phonics curriculum. Teachers in the early years and in Years 1 and 2 skilfully build pupils' phonics knowledge.

The school makes sure that pupils read books that are carefully matched to their phonics knowledge.

Teachers quickly spot any pupils who may not be keeping up with the pace of the phonics programme. Staff support these pupils to catch up with the reading curriculum quickly. Older pupils speak enthusiastically about the books that they have read and enjoyed.

The school has designed effective systems to identify the specific needs of pupils with SEND. Staff ensure that these pupils learn the same content as their peers through suitable adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum. Overall, pupils with SEND achieve well.

They participate in all aspects of school life.

Pupils have positive attitudes to learning. Children in the early years settle exceptionally quickly to the school's routines and they concentrate for sustained periods.

They love learning outside in what they call the 'classroom under the sky'.

Most pupils attend school regularly. The school takes appropriate action to improve the attendance of those pupils who do not attend regularly.

Pupils learn about a range of important issues, such as equality and diversity. They learn how to look after their health and emotional well-being, for example through talking with trusted adults if they have a problem. Pupils have an age-appropriate understanding of healthy relationships.

They know how to keep themselves safe, including online.

Governors perform their roles well. They know the school's strengths and priorities for improvement and they provide effective challenge, while remaining considerate of staff well-being and workload.

Staff are proud to work at the school. They are well supported to fulfil their roles effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Weaknesses in the previous curriculum mean that, in a few subjects, pupils have gaps in their learning that teachers do not identify and address consistently well. This means that pupils sometimes do not have the essential knowledge on which to build. The school should continue their work to ensure that gaps in learning are identified, and that pupils are helped to catch up.

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