Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, a Voluntary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The executive headteacher, who took up post in January 2018, has transformed the school.

Governors are now making a valuable contribution. Since the last inspection, the local authority has increased its support for the school, and this has been most effective in the last 12 months. Pupils who were once unhappy in school now say that they love it.

The support for pupils' welfare has improved significantly. This critical change has underpinned the improvements that have been made across the school. Pupils now trust staff and feel well cared for.

Some aspects of pupils' behaviour are very strong. The quality of teaching is improvin...g rapidly. Alongside improvements in pupils' attitudes to learning, this has led to pupils achieving significantly better outcomes.

The headteacher has created a highly positive and optimistic culture throughout the school. Staff work well as a team and are determined to ensure that the school keeps improving. Staff are supported well through high-quality training.

This has made a strong contribution to improved teaching, learning and assessment. Although leaders are relatively new in post, the impact that they have had on the school is clearly evident. Leaders have maintained the aspects of the school that have been strong for many years, most notably in the early years, while rapidly improving the features that were weak.

Pupils' achievements in both reading and writing showed considerable improvement in 2018, and were also good. Achievement in mathematics also improved, but not as significantly as in English. School leaders are undertaking a review of the curriculum across the whole school.

They have already modified the content of the mathematics curriculum, which has brought immediate improvements. The curriculums that pupils follow for subjects other than mathematics and English are not as strong. Leadership of the early years has been strong for some time, and the provision is securely good.

From low starting points, children develop quickly and are well prepared for Year 1. Children are well cared for, and they make good progress. They are happy and behave well.

Information about this school

Over the past year, there have been significant changes to the school's leadership. The chair of governors, headteacher and deputy headteacher resigned from their posts. A new chair was elected in September 2017 and, later that month, the governors appointed an acting deputy headteacher.

A temporary executive headteacher took up post in January 2018. The person with responsibility for special educational needs changed in April 2018, and in May the role of acting deputy headteacher was made into a substantive post. Two new leaders took up their posts in September 2018, one with responsibility for the delivery of mathematics throughout the school, the other for English.

Governors have appointed a substantive headteacher to take up post in January 2019. The current temporary headteacher will continue to support leaders once the new headteacher assumes her role. The local authority and governing body brokered the temporary appointment of the executive headteacher, who also leads Seymour Park Community Primary School.

Seymour Park is a partner within the Trafford Teaching School Alliance. This is a group of schools that work together to improve education in Trafford. There have also been many changes to the teaching staff.

The teacher of the current Year 5 class took up post in April of 2018. Teachers of Years 1, 4 and 6 started at the beginning of this month. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is above the national average.

The school is expecting an inspection under section 48 of the relevant education act. The purpose of the inspection will be to evaluate the distinctiveness and effectiveness of the school's religious character. The school does not currently use any form of alternative provision for its pupils.