Holy Family Catholic Primary School

Inspection of Holy Family Catholic Primary School Marlowe Avenue, Swindon, Wiltshire SN3 2PT

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The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Early years provision Outstanding Previous inspection grade Requires improvement

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The headteachers of this school are Karen Bathe and Nadia Mossop. This school is a single academy trust school. Other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Andrew Szeliga. 1 and 2 July 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Holy Family is an inclusive school. Staff create an environment where pupils show respect for each other. There are strong relationships between pupils and staff. Pupils feel safe and can rely on their teachers to support them with any concerns they have. Pupils know to be respectful and safe when any conflict arises. As a result, bullying is rare.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Overall, pupils demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. This is most evident in the early years, where children learn exceptionally well. Pupils enjoy talking to each other about their learning in class, which helps to develop their understanding. For the most part, the school sets high expectations. Pupils produce high-quality work. As a result, they achieve well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils take great pride in the responsibilities they hold. The work of the pupils’ chaplaincy team helps to embed the school’s core values of forgiveness and love. Teachers celebrate pupils’ successes outside of school by sharing ‘good news’ stories in assemblies. Parents know that their pupils’ talents and interests are prioritised at Holy Family.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides a wide range of opportunities for its pupils. For example, pupils develop their character by speaking to their local MP about the issues they face in their community.

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

The school implements a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of most pupils effectively, including those identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school has invested significantly in staff development so that, in most subjects, teachers deliver the curriculum well. Moreover, the school ensures all teachers get the right support to identify pupils who need extra help. For example, in the nursery, staff support children to develop their communication skills. This helps children to be confident when sharing ideas.

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

The school has prioritised reading. This begins in the Nursery and Reception classes, where children learn to recognise and say their letter sounds. This helps children to learn to read with confidence and fluency. Where pupils struggle to read, the school provides appropriate support to help them to keep up. Older pupils analyse texts well. They use key information to answer more complex questions. Children’s love of reading is evident in the early years. The school has increased the range and challenge of books available to older readers to inspire their enjoyment of reading.

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

In most subjects, the school teaches sequences of learning that build on pupils’ knowledge over time. Staff make the right checks during lessons to ensure that pupils understand subject content. This starts in the early years, where staff use children’s interests to create exciting learning opportunities. Through well-planned provision, children in the early years eagerly learn to master basic skills, such as writing and counting. Pupils build on this knowledge over time and apply it well to new learning. However, in some areas of the curriculum, pupils struggle to recall their previous learning. 1 and 2 July 2025

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Teachers do not identify and address gaps in pupils’ knowledge. This makes it hard for pupils to build on and deepen their knowledge over time in these subjects.

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In most subjects, the school sets high expectations for pupils’ learning. However, sometimes, expectations of what pupils can achieve are not ambitious enough. When this happens, the school does not provide the right challenge for pupils to tackle and secure more complex learning. As a result, some pupils do not achieve as well as they could.

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The school promotes pupils’ personal development well. Pupils demonstrate the school’s ethos of kindness and compassion. They care deeply about one another. Pupils speak to each another with consideration and respect. Peer mentors help pupils to feel confident to talk about any concerns they have. Pupils feel part of the school ‘family’. They are confident that everyone is treated equally here. Pupils develop as compassionate, active citizens. For example, they send Christmas cards to older, local residents.

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Governors know the school well. They support and challenge school leaders. Governors have invested significantly in the quality of education for all pupils. They make decisions in the best interests of pupils and ensure that staff’s well-being and workload are cared for.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Sometimes, the school does not provide sufficient opportunities for pupils to tackle ambitious ideas or extend their thinking. As a result, some pupils do not deepen their knowledge of key concepts. The school must ensure that staff have the expertise to implement the curriculum with the ambition it intends and to enable pupils to secure and deepen their knowledge.  In some subjects, the school does not revisit and secure pupils’ knowledge before introducing new ideas. This makes it hard for pupils to build their learning over time. The school should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to use assessment effectively to spot and address gaps in understanding promptly.

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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. 1 and 2 July 2025

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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). 1 and 2 July 2025

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School details

Headteachers Karen Bathe and Nadia Mossop (co- headteachers)

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 28 February and 1 March 2023

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Information about this school

 The school provides educational provision for two-year-old children.  The school uses one registered alternative provision.  This is a Roman Catholic School. It was last inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 in November 2024.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024 will not be given an overall effectiveness grade.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation about the quality of a school’s education provision 1 and 2 July 2025

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 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held discussions with the co-headteachers, assistant headteacher, special educational needs coordinator, a school improvement advisor and members of the local governing board.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, history, mathematics and art. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited samples of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some pupils about their learning and looked at samples of pupils’ work.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other subjects.  The lead inspector listened to pupils in Years 1, 2 and 3 reading to a familiar adult.  Inspectors looked at a range of policies and documents related to pupils’ welfare and education. They observed pupils’ behaviour in lessons and around the school.

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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’ interest first.  Inspectors took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including any free-text responses, and the staff and pupil surveys. They also met with parents at the end of the school day.

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Inspection team

Darren Preece, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Teresa Hill Ofsted Inspector 1 and 2 July 2025

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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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