Standish Lower Ground St Anne's CofE Primary School

Inspection of Standish Lower Ground St Anne’s CofE Primary School Wigan Lower Road, Standish Lower Ground, Wigan, Lancashire WN6 8JP

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Inspection dates: 12 and 13 November 2024

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Good Previous inspection grade Good 12 and 13 November 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and positive about being part of this school. They settle in well when they start in the early years. Pupils told inspectors that they enjoy learning new things. They understand that acquiring knowledge and skills will help them in their future lives. Pupils appreciate seeing their teachers and their friends each day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has recently raised its expectations for what pupils can and should achieve, including for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Most pupils achieve well across a range of subjects. They try hard and value recognition for their positive attitudes.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils behave well during lessons and at social times. Classrooms are usually calm and purposeful learning environments. Pupils know why it is important to follow the school’s rules, which include being responsible and respectful. They have positive attitudes towards the differences that exist between themselves and others.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides pupils with new experiences. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about visits to activity centres, the theatre and to see an orchestra, and about a residential trip. Visitors to the school enrich pupils’ understanding of different people and their professions, such as an artist and a disabled athlete. Pupils learn to play musical instruments and can join the school’s choir. They attend clubs in sports, arts and crafts.

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

The school has improved its quality of education during recent times. It has ensured that the curriculum is broad and balanced. It also determines the knowledge that pupils should learn and the order that this should happen. This begins in the early years, where children make a positive start to their education.

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

Teachers have benefited from support and training to further develop their subject knowledge. In the main, most staff help pupils to progress successfully through the school’s curriculum. Nonetheless, the school has not ensured that staff deliver the curriculum consistently well. For example, some staff’s explanations during lessons are not clear enough to enable pupils to develop a secure understanding of new concepts. Occasionally, some activity choices are not adapted well enough to meet some pupils’ needs. This limits some pupils in learning the intended curriculum as well as they could.

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

Pupils can talk with confidence about their learning and how it connects to what they already know. However, the school has not checked routinely enough on how well pupils develop their written and spoken communication skills. As a result, some of the mistakes that pupils make in their writing and in their speech go unchecked and unaddressed.

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

The school identifies pupils with SEND quickly and accurately. Staff work well with external professionals and with parents and carers to cater for their additional needs. For the most part, staff support pupils with SEND to learn well alongside their classmates. 12 and 13 November 2024

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The school has prioritised reading. It has selected high-quality texts that link to topics across the curriculum. Teachers read to pupils each day from a variety of texts. Pupils enjoy reading to their peers and acting as librarians. They relish receiving books as prizes.

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Children begin to learn phonics as soon as they start in the Reception Year. The school trains staff to deliver the phonics programme with fidelity. Pupils practise their reading skills using books that match their current phonics knowledge. Pupils who struggle with reading receive support that is typically effective. This helps most pupils to develop into confident readers in readiness for key stage 2.

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Pupils are polite and well mannered. In the early years, children learn to play well and to take turns with others. Pupils develop positive attitudes towards their learning. Most pupils attend school well. The school is working effectively to support some families of pupils who are persistently absent or late to school.

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The school has strengthened how it supports pupils’ personal development. Pupils learn about responsibility by taking on various leadership roles, including as school councillors, prayer and play leaders, prefects, members of a ‘roots and shoots’ club and ‘buddies’ to their younger peers. Pupils raise money for charities. They were proud to represent the school recently during a local service to mark Remembrance Day.

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In the past, the governing body was not fully effective in holding the school to account for the quality of education that it provides. This is an improving picture under new governance and leadership arrangements. Staff enjoy working at the school. They appreciate the support that they receive, which helps them to carry out their roles well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school has not made sure that staff implement subject curriculums consistently well. This hinders how well some pupils, including those with SEND, learn the intended curriculum. The school should better support staff in delivering the curriculum well, so that pupils learn as well as they could.  The school has not placed enough emphasis on checking how well pupils develop their written and spoken communication skills. This limits some pupils’ accuracy in their writing and in their speech, as some mistakes that they make go unaddressed over time. The school should ensure that staff check more precisely how well pupils secure these important skills. 12 and 13 November 2024

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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.

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Further information

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). 12 and 13 November 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 September 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, a new headteacher and a new chair of governors have been appointed.  The school uses one unregistered provider for a small number of pupils.  This Church of England school is in the Diocese of Blackburn. The school’s last section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, was in June 2023. The next section 48 inspection is due to take place by June 2028.  An external provider, which is registered separately with Ofsted, offers a before- and after-school club for pupils on the school’s site.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection that the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken this into account in their evaluation of the school. 12 and 13 November 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and history. In each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders and visited a sample of lessons. They spoke with teachers and with some pupils about their learning. Inspectors looked at samples of pupils’ work. They also considered the curriculum in some other subjects.  The lead inspector observed some pupils from Years 1 to 3 read to a familiar adult. He discussed reading with a group of older pupils.  Inspectors observed pupils’ behaviour during lessons and around school, including at playtime and during lunchtime. They spoke with several groups of pupils about their experiences at school and considered the responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  Inspectors met with the headteacher and other school leaders. The lead inspector met with representatives of the governing body, including the chair of governors. He also

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spoke with the school’s external improvement partner and representatives of the local authority and of the diocese.  Inspectors reviewed a range of documentation, including the school’s self-evaluation documents, improvement plans, minutes of governing body meetings and documents pertaining to pupils’ behaviour and levels of attendance.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their workload and well-being. They also considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. An inspector met with some parents at the start of the school day.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record and took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils. Inspectors considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.

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Inspection team

David Lobodzinski, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Sarah Barraclough Ofsted Inspector 12 and 13 November 2024

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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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