St Bernard's RC Primary School Manchester

Overview

St Bernard’s RC Primary School Manchester continues to be a good school, described as a “caring, inclusive and supportive place where all pupils can learn.” Leaders have successfully raised expectations, resulting in transformed behaviour and attitudes to learning, while maintaining a strong focus on staff wellbeing and pupil safety.

Strengths

• The school is praised for its “kind school community” where pupils are “considerate of everyone’s differences” and feel safe to express concerns.
• Leaders have “systematically and rapidly address[ed] areas for improvement,” leading to notable progress in reading and mathematics.
• The curriculum is “carefully thought out” and “logically organised,” with teachers using clear explanations and subject-specific vocabulary.
• Reading is a high priority, with staff being “confident and well-trained in the teaching of phonics” and providing targeted support for those with gaps.
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive “individualised programmes” and access the “same ambitious curriculum as their peers.”

Areas to improve

• In a few subjects, teachers do not check what pupils have remembered thoroughly enough, meaning learning is not always secure before moving on.
• Leaders should introduce robust systems to help pupils revisit key knowledge regularly, as some struggle to remember content learned over time.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with leaders creating a “strong culture of vigilance” and staff taking a ‘pennies in a jar’ approach to reporting concerns.