St Aidan's Catholic Primary School, Wigan

Overview

Pupils “thrive at this happy, aspirational school” where they feel safe, secure, and eager to learn. The report highlights a “broad, stimulating and ambitious” curriculum that supports high achievement, particularly in reading, alongside “exemplary” behaviour and attitudes. While the school maintains strong relationships and effective safeguarding, specific improvements are required regarding handwriting standards and the purposefulness of certain learning activities.

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate “exemplary” behaviour and attitudes, creating “harmonious” classrooms free from distractions.
• Reading is “at the heart of the curriculum,” with staff delivering phonics consistently well so almost all pupils become “confident and accurate readers” by Year 2.
• The curriculum is carefully ordered to help pupils “know more and remember more,” resulting in a “rich body of knowledge.”
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive “high-quality personalised support” and access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.
• Governors bring “wide-ranging expertise,” and staff value leaders’ consideration of their workload and well-being.

Areas to improve

• The school must ensure teachers receive guidance to design “effective subject-specific approaches and activities,” as some current independent tasks “do not move pupils’ learning forward.”
• Expectations for handwriting are “not high enough”; the school must clarify standards to ensure pupils develop “legible and accurate letter formation” and sufficient writing fluency.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”