Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School

Inspection of a good school: Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School Lane End Road, Bacup, Lancashire OL13 9RR

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Outcome

Bacup St Saviour's Community Primary School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school fosters a warm and welcoming atmosphere for all. Pupils are proud of their school and demonstrate a willingness to succeed. They work hard to meet the school’s high expectations for their learning. As a result, most pupils achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils develop strong and trusting relationships with staff. Older pupils foster close connections with their younger peers. They act as positive role models and help any children that struggle to find a friend at playtime. On the whole, pupils behave well. However, minority of pupils that struggle to regulate their own behaviour are not consistently well supported to meet the school’s expectations.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils benefit from the school’s promotion of the importance of sport and fitness. They enjoy a diverse assortment of clubs and teams including table tennis, basketball and yoga. There are many opportunities for pupils of all abilities to participate in competitive sport.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils value an array of visits that enhance their learning, such as a visit to a Roman museum to explore artefacts that brought their history learning to life. Older pupils were keen to share their experiences of a residential trip during which they undertook adventurous outdoor activities such as jetty jumping and riding a zipline.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school and the governors share a clear and inspiring vision for pupils’ education. To that end, the school has designed an ambitious and broad curriculum. This is rooted in the local area, allowing pupils to develop their sense of community and belonging.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

In most subjects the school has determined how pupils’ knowledge develops from the early years up to Year 6. It has thought carefully about how it organises learning in the mixed-age classes, so that older pupils continue to develop their knowledge alongside 17 July 2024

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their younger, less-experienced peers. In the early years, the curriculum maps out the learning that children need to prepare them well for key stage 1.

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Staff enjoy working in the supportive and collaborative environment which the school fosters. They benefit from a rigorous programme of training and development. As a result, they typically design learning that furthers pupils’ knowledge. Nonetheless, at times, staff are not sufficiently precise in their checks on pupils’ understanding. They sometimes move activities on without recognising that pupils have not learned all that they intend. This causes gaps in pupils’ knowledge which can hamper their future learning.

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Children in the Reception class settle in quickly. They display persistence and determination when completing tasks. Staff design enticing activities that are rich in learning. For example, when setting up a ‘café’, children enjoyed writing menus including a range of food and drinks which allowed them to practise their phonics knowledge and letter formation.

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The school ensures that children start to learn to read as soon as they join the school. Staff have been trained in the school’s reading programme and mostly implement this well. Pupils read books that contain the sounds and words that they know. This allows them to develop their confidence and fluency. They relish spending time in the inspiring library. Pupil leaders help to select the texts that are stocked, choosing a wide range of appealing books. This helps to inspire a love of literature in their peers that sets them up well to become lifelong readers.

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Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from suitable support. The school quickly identifies these pupils and works closely with staff and external agencies to ensure that it targets learning to meet their needs. This means that pupils with SEND progress well through the curriculum.

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The school sets high expectations for pupils’ behaviour. Despite this, some staff do not consistently ensure that pupils uphold these standards. The school does not provide enough help for some pupils to develop and maintain positive behaviour that is conducive to learning. As a result, these pupils sometimes behave in ways that prevent them from learning as well as they should.

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The school’s provision for pupils’ wider development is extensive. It has thought carefully about what pupils should understand in order to be positive members of their community. This includes learning about the importance of fundamental British values such as democracy, tolerance and respect. When learning about the importance of maintaining positive mental health, older pupils learn about coping with grief and loss and the many ways that this can affect people.

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Governors are knowledgeable about the school. They work closely with school leaders to support and challenge them suitably. For example, they ensure that the school takes swift action to intervene if a pupil’s attendance starts to decline. This contributes to most pupils rarely being absent. 17 July 2024

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes teachers do not check well enough that pupils have grasped the intended learning before moving on. Consequently, some gaps in pupils’ knowledge remain over time. The school should ensure that teachers make accurate checks on pupils’ learning and use them to address weaknesses in what pupils know and remember.  Staff do not consistently promote high standards of behaviour. The school does not give enough help to pupils who struggle to behave. As a result, at times, the behaviour of some pupils prevents them from learning as well as they should. The school should make sure that staff consistently apply the school’s behaviour policy and help pupils to behave well.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2019.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school. 17 July 2024

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In the report, 'disadvantaged pupils' is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school's pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 17 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.bacupstsavioursprimary.co.uk

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 6 and 7 March 2019, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides a breakfast and after-school club.  The school does not use any alternative provision for pupils.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with senior leaders, including the headteacher and a range of staff.  Inspectors spoke with members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors. The lead inspector also met with a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors reviewed a wide range of evidence, including the school’s self-evaluation documents, improvement plans and minutes of local governing-body meetings. Inspectors also reviewed records of pupils’ behaviour and attendance. 17 July 2024

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors spoke with pupils about their experiences of school and their views on behaviour and bullying. They observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and at social times.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in early reading, mathematics and physical education. For each deep dive, they discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke with some staff and with pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors reviewed pupils’ work in some other subjects.  Inspectors observed pupils read to a familiar adult.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text

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comments. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online surveys for staff or pupils.

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Inspection team

Charlotte Oles, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Lindy Griffiths Ofsted Inspector 17 July 2024

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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