St Aidan's Catholic Primary School

Overview

St Aidan’s is described as a “nurturing and inclusive school” where pupils feel “happy and secure” due to high levels of care. While personal development is rated at a “strong standard” and early years provision is effective, the report identifies that older pupils have “considerable gaps in their knowledge,” resulting in achievement below the national average.

Strengths

• Pupils’ “personal development and wellbeing are central to the work of the school,” with a “well designed, highly effective” programme covering moral dilemmas, relationships, and British values.
• The early years curriculum is “strengthened” with a “sharp focus on developing children's language, early reading and vocabulary,” ensuring children are “well prepared for Year 1.”
• Staff create a “calm and nurturing environment” with “positive and trusting relationships,” resulting in good behaviour where “bullying is rare.”
• Leaders demonstrate a “clear understanding of what is working well” and take a “collaborative approach to improve the school,” supporting staff wellbeing and professional development.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure recent actions to strengthen mathematics teaching are “fully embedded” so all pupils secure number facts and apply them with “increasing fluency.”
• Gaps in older pupils’ “foundational knowledge” must be addressed “quickly” to enable access to the curriculum and better performance in national tests.
• The attendance strategy requires further strengthening to “reduce persistent absence,” particularly among disadvantaged pupils, to ensure regular attendance.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility” and concerns are “actively identified, acted upon and managed.”