St Richard's Catholic Primary School, Skelmersdale

Overview: St Richard's Catholic Primary School is a calm and welcoming place where pupils enjoy learning and spending their social time together. They develop positive relationships with each other and with staff, and are keen to make the most of the wide range of opportunities that are on offer at school.

Strengths:

• The school is a harmonious community where pupils develop positive attitudes to school and to their learning.
• Pupils are polite and considerate as they move around the school.
• The school provides a wide range of high-quality opportunities for pupils' personal development, including learning about how to keep physically and mentally well, and developing healthy and positive relationships.
• The curriculum is ambitious and well-organised, with teachers from the Nursery Year to Year 6 knowing precisely what to focus on with their classes.
• Teaching staff are well-trained and use effective and consistent approaches when delivering the curriculum.

Areas to improve:

• In a small number of subjects, including reading, there is variability in the rigour in which the school identifies and addresses gaps in pupils' knowledge.
• In these areas, some pupils do not build up their knowledge as quickly or as well as they could.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.