St Joseph's RC Primary School, Halliwell, Bolton

Overview: St Joseph's RC Primary School, Halliwell, Bolton has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection. Pupils are happy and settle well at the school, understanding the importance of attending regularly to learn and prepare for their future lives. The school has high aspirations for pupils' achievement and provides well for their wider development.

Strengths:

• Pupils are happy and settle well at the school.
• The school has high aspirations for pupils' achievement.
• Pupils behave well and have positive attitudes towards their learning.
• The school provides well for pupils' wider development, including regular opportunities to learn outdoors and participate in sports events.

Areas to improve:

• At times, staff do not provide clear explanations of new learning, and they do not check carefully enough what pupils have understood.
• The support for some pupils at an earlier stage of reading is not fully effective, which means that these pupils do not become fluent and accurate readers as quickly as they could.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.