Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy

Bishop Rawstorne Church of England Academy

Address: Highfield Road, Croston, Leyland, Leyland, Lancashire, PR26 9HH Unique reference number (URN): 137296

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

Pupils achieve very well across the curriculum. Over a sustained period of time, the standards that pupils achieve in national examinations have been well above average in many subjects. Pupils whose starting points are lower, or who face other barriers to their learning, make comparable progress to their peers. This reflects leaders' highly successful approach to ensuring that the most vulnerable pupils thrive academically.

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Achievement Strong standard

Pupils in all year groups develop detailed knowledge and articulate their learning confidently. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities produce work of high quality. Pupils who struggle with reading, writing or number quickly catch up. This helps them to learn well across the whole curriculum. Overall, pupils leave the school strikingly well prepared for their next steps. They move on to appropriate education, employment or training that matches their interests and abilities.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders have designed a curriculum that ensures that an ambitious breadth of knowledge is an entitlement for all pupils. Leaders draw on their detailed insight about how pupils learn in each subject to make well-reasoned improvements. For example, the recent changes to the school's timetable have enabled pupils in key stage 3 to experience more depth in their learning, increasing their readiness for further study. Where pupils do not choose a subject at key stage 4, leaders have carefully planned ambitious cross-curricular opportunities, which enrich and develop pupils' knowledge beyond their GCSE subjects.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

In recent years, leaders have taken a highly focused approach to enhancing teachers' expertise. This, coupled with a thorough programme of quality assurance, has ensured that the curriculum is taught consistently well across subjects and year groups. Teachers draw on deep subject knowledge to explain new concepts clearly. The school's work on assessment techniques has helped teachers to pinpoint any misconceptions that pupils have and address them swiftly, before they hinder further learning. Teachers understand the needs of their pupils well. This helps them to reduce barriers to pupils' learning effectively. This includes supporting pupils with their literacy skills.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Through their actions and practices, leaders demonstrate the highest expectations for all pupils. This reflects the school's strong moral purpose to provide a high-quality education for pupils who face barriers to their learning or wellbeing. Although the school's population of disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils is relatively small, these pupils are prioritised. Expectations for them are not lowered. They thrive.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders oversee rigorous systems for precisely identifying pupils' needs. These systems provide staff with the information that they need to meet pupils' needs effectively. Most often, this is through high-quality teaching and appropriate additional support. Positive classroom experiences help to foster a high degree of confidence in pupils with special educational

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Expected standard

needs and/or disabilities. These pupils get the help that they need to overcome most difficulties and learn well alongside their peers. Where extra support is needed, leaders work closely with external agencies to secure it. For example, they work in close partnership with the virtual school to support pupils in care. This includes the sensible use of pupil premium funding.

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Expected standard

The school makes appropriate use of alternative provision. For most pupils, this acts as a short-term bridge back to mainstream education. Leaders rigorously check the impact of this provision.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Pupils attend this school at far higher rates than their peers nationally. This is especially the case for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged. Senior leaders are ambitious to drive up standards of attendance even higher. They have successfully embedded a positive culture of attendance, where pupils understand that every day counts. Staff draw on detailed knowledge of individual pupils to successfully support those who find coming to school difficult.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders' high expectations of pupils' conduct, alongside a renewed approach to managing any poor behaviour, have contributed to a calm and purposeful learning environment. Lessons usually proceed without disruption. Pupils typically understand what is expected of them, follow clear routines and display an impressive motivation to learn. It is the norm for pupils to do the right thing without being asked. The school's work to help some pupils who struggle to regulate their own behaviour has been largely successful.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders do not tolerate bullying or discriminatory language. That said, a small minority of pupils who have experienced bullying do not have faith that the school will take action if they report it. This is not the case. The school is working with these pupils, and their parents and carers, to renew their confidence in the school's processes.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders demonstrate a relentless ambition for all pupils to thrive. They are ably supported by well-informed governors, who ensure that the school's priorities are clear, pragmatic and driven by pupils' best interests. Governors provide an appropriate level of support and challenge to leaders. This partnership has helped to ensure that the needs of pupils who face barriers to their learning or wellbeing are central to leaders' decision-making. As a result, these pupils' successes, both academic and personal, are noteworthy.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The school does not rest on the laurels of its previous performance. Recently, governors have taken steps to strengthen the school's leadership further. In turn, this has helped leaders to bring about improvements in several aspects of the school's provision. For instance, leaders' sustained focus on developing staff expertise in teaching and checks on pupils' learning has made a tangible difference to pupils' achievement and brought about a strong standard of provision for vulnerable pupils. Aligned with this, leaders' consideration of workload has helped staff to feel more valued and supported than in the past.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

However, some of the leaders' actions to improve the school are much more recent. They have not had the time to bring about the positive impact that leaders anticipate. For instance, work to enhance the school's programme of careers and personal development is at an earlier stage. Added to this, in a couple of areas, leaders' analysis of the impact of their work is less thorough than in those where leadership is more established. This sometimes means that improvements are not targeted to the pupils who would benefit the most from them.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school places a high priority on pupils' personal development and wellbeing. Pupils consider their learning in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education to be just as important as their other curriculum subjects. This curriculum emphasises the most important PSHE topics for each year group. As pupils move up through the school, they develop secure knowledge, which will support them to make well informed and safe decisions in their future lives. For instance, pupils speak with confidence about the fundamental British values.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

Mindful of the school's rural location, leaders have ensured that pupils also benefit from a range of culturally enriching opportunities that they might not ordinarily access. For instance, visits to the theatre and to art installations are a universal entitlement. Added to this, many pupils participate in a wide range of extra-curricular activities. These include musical and sporting endeavours, as well as opportunities to serve their peers in leadership roles. This helps pupils to build their social skills, develop existing interests and gain new ones. Leaders are improving the way in which they analyse pupils' engagement with these opportunities, in particular to ensure that disadvantaged pupils benefit fully.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The school provides a suitable careers programme, which draws on links with local employers and colleges. Pupils who may need extra support to prepare for adulthood are given the advice and guidance that they need to succeed. Leaders have begun further enhancements to the school's careers programme. These are in the early stages of development.

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Personal development and wellbeing Expected standard

The pastoral support that many pupils receive is a strength of the school's provision. Most pupils are confident in this support and value the positive relationships that they have with staff. However, leaders have been slower to recognise that a small minority of pupils may benefit from a more carefully tailored approach to feel fully included in school life.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Many pupils, and their parents and carers, consider it a privilege to attend Bishop Rawstorne. Some travel from far and wide to do so, rarely missing a day. Pupils know that they benefit from a high standard of education, which extends beyond their curriculum subjects. For instance, pupils are encouraged to speak out about injustices in their local communities and the wider world through advocacy and charitable acts. They put these experiences on an equal footing with their academic learning.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Staff know pupils very well. They use this knowledge to reduce any barriers to learning and wellbeing as far as they can. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive highly effective support. They, along with their peers, enthusiastically rise to meet the school's high aspirations. Pupils typically achieve very well at this school. Recent years' GCSE results have been consistently above national averages in many subjects, including for pupils with SEND.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Pupils are delighted when staff reward them for upholding the school's values. They make the most of the many meaningful opportunities to contribute to the school community and serve their peers as leaders. Prefects and student mentors wear their badges with pride. The wealth of positive experiences that the school offers helps pupils to develop into confident, articulate and independent young people, ready to take their place in society.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Most pupils behave well and treat each other with respect. They recognise that staff will keep them safe and act in their best interests when they report any problems or worries. The school deals with bullying effectively. However, this was not always the case in the past. Because of this, a minority of older pupils do not believe that the school will take their concerns seriously. This makes it difficult for staff to resolve some incidents of derogatory language.

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Next steps

• Leaders should reinforce their approaches to anti-bullying education, and the means for pupils to report incidents of derogatory language, in order to restore the confidence of some pupils in the school's actions. • Leaders should strengthen the mechanisms by which they analyse the impact of the school's personal development and pastoral care provision. This will better ensure that pupils who may need different approaches can benefit equally well.

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About this inspection

This school is a single academy trust in which the headteacher also fulfils the role of chief executive officer. The school is overseen by a board of governors, chaired by Steven Gregson. The governors of the school are also its trustees.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, senior leaders, members of the governing body, including the chair, and representatives from the local authority and the diocese during the inspection.

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Lead inspectors:

Michael Pennington, His Majesty's Inspector Ben Hill, His Majesty's Inspector

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Team inspectors:

Sally Kenyon, Ofsted Inspector Stephen Cox, Ofsted Inspector David Woolley, Ofsted Inspector Derek Yarwood, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England. The school meets the requirements of the provider access legislation, which requires schools to provide pupils in Years 8 to 13 with information and engagement about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships.

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What does this mean?

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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What does this mean?

This is an Church of England school within the Diocese of Blackburn. The school's most recent section 48 inspection, for schools of a religious character, took place in November 2025.

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What does this mean?

The school makes use of 3 registered and 1 unregistered alternative provisions for a small number of pupils.

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What does this mean?

Headteacher: Paul Cowley National average: 1,067

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils who can attend the school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school. National average: 13.4%

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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What does this mean?

Whether school has Resourced Provision or SEND unit (if applicable).

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English and maths GCSE

Percentage of pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Attainment 8

A measure of pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Progress 8

How much progress pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after.

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Disadvantaged pupils' performance gap

Disadvantaged pupils are those who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years and children looked after. The school disadvantage gap is the difference between the performance of the school's disadvantaged pupils compared to the performance of all non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.

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Disadvantaged pupils' English and maths GCSE grade 5 or above

Percentage of disadvantaged pupils who achieved grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSE.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Attainment 8

A measure of disadvantaged pupils' point scores across 8 subjects including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted if both language and literature are taken), 3 EBacc measures and 3 GCSE or technical measures.

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Disadvantaged pupils' Progress 8

How much progress disadvantaged pupils made between the end of primary school (key stage 2) and the end of secondary school (key stage 4), compared to pupils across England who got similar results at the end of key stage 2.

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Destinations after 16

Percentage of pupils staying in education or employment for at least 2 terms after the end of secondary school (key stage 4).

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Overall absence

The percentage of all possible mornings and afternoons missed due to absence from school (for whatever reason, whether authorised or unauthorised) across all pupils.

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Persistent absence

The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of their possible mornings and afternoons.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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