St Oswald’s Church of England Primary Academy has been praised by Ofsted for its aspirations stating, “leaders at all levels are ambitious for pupils including those who have a special educational need and/or disability.”
The Academy, located on Cross Lane, was inspected by Ofsted in November and was delighted to receive ‘Good’ in three of the five categories. This included behaviour and attitudes, personal development and its early years provision. Inspectors said that “the school prioritises pupils’ personal development. The Christian ethos underpins the values of school.” In addition, “there is a calm and orderly atmosphere around school” and “pupils understand responsibility and are active citizens.”
However, the school received ‘Requires Improvement’ for its quality of education, leadership and management and therefore its overall judgement. Inspectors felt the school had a strong curriculum and teaching practices, but further work was needed to implement this consistently across all subjects and year groups. Inspectors did acknowledge the strength of education in its early years setting stating, “teachers use a range of strategies to help pupils learn the curriculum. This is particularly strong in the early years where teachers make clear choices about the best ways to teach different parts of the curriculum.”
The school said it already has a robust improvement plan in place to ensure its curriculum is effectively delivered to all pupils and they are confident this will achieve long-term improvements. Additional work is being conducted around assessment and refining subject knowledge in other lessons to help extend the excellent practice in early years across the rest of the school. The report added that trustees, governors and trust leaders are providing “appropriate challenge and support to the school” which is already “helping the school to improve.”
St Oswald’s also received praise for its values, the strength of its extra-curricular and enrichment opportunities and its relationship with its families. Highlights included:
Gillian Wilson, Headteacher at St Oswald’s Church of England Primary Academy, said:
“The inspection positively highlighted how leaders have created a curriculum which is challenging and reflects their ambitions and that teachers use a range of strategies to help pupils learn the curriculum. We are continually working hard to address areas highlighted by the report and we feel confident that we have strong strategies in place to further build upon.
“We are incredibly proud of how our local community has supported and worked with our school in getting children back into learning routines after Covid and this has helped to significantly improve our attendance. We are pleased that inspectors recognised how school has worked with families to ensure pupils attend well.”
Carol Dewhurst, CEO of Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, added:
“We are pleased that this inspection reinforced the school’s own priorities and planning, recognising the many strengths within the school and the areas we are already working hard to focus on and refine over the coming terms.
“I am particularly pleased that the hard work and ambition of the school staff is recognised throughout this report, in particular the work the school does with families and vulnerable pupils to ensure that everyone is included and valued”.
To read the full Ofsted report click here.