St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School, in Kirkley Cliff Road, Lowestoft, upgraded to good by Ofsted

A coastal town school has been upgraded to good by Ofsted following its latest inspection.

St Mary’s Roman Catholic Primary School, in Kirkley Cliff Road, Lowestoft, was visited by the education watchdog on April 30 and May 1.

Inspectors Stephen Cloke and Russell Ayling praised the school, which was previously graded as requiring improvement in September 2022, as being a place where students are ‘well cared for’.

Ewa Parker, head of school, said: “We are immensely proud and happy with our Ofsted grading and we would like to thank everybody in our school community who contributed to this success, and especially the children, who are our pride and joy and their parents who support our school.

“We believe that in our school everyone is special and unique and we are particularly pleased that Ofsted recognised our strengths in personal development and behaviour of our pupils.”

Ms Parker added St Mary’s pupils are enthusiastic about advocating for the environment and championing kindness and expressed her hope the school’s positive work would be recognised at the next inspection where they aim to achieve outstanding.

Mr Cloke and Mr Ayling’s report said staff at the school are ‘kind and supportive’, making pupils feel safe in their environment.

Leaders set high expectations of students’ behaviour which is reflected in their positive and respectful attitudes in and out of the classroom, the report said.

Inspectors said that St Mary’s pupils enjoy learning which is helped by the high ambitions staff have for them.

The report praised students’ participation in environmental projects, such as past work with a local environmentalist gathering plastics from the beach and school grounds and learning about their impacts.

Inspectors noted the school has been steered through a period of change and the swift actions of leaders has improved the curriculum, which is regarded as well planned and taught.

Good training means teachers are well versed to ensure younger students learn the sounds that letters make and learn to read as soon as they join reception, with daily checks on this.

The school ensures the personal development of students is promoted well and it carefully identifies how the needs of SEND pupils can be met.

There are occasions when older students have books that are not well matched to their reading abilities, with the report noting the reading curriculum in years 3 to 6 as less precise. The report advised the making the curriculum more precise about the key knowledge older pupils need to know and making sure books are matched to this.

Inspectors noted that in some subjects checks on pupils’ learning are not designed precisely enough to ensure they can recall exact key knowledge. They said this could be helped by robust checks on pupils’ key knowledge recall to meet curriculum aims.

Safeguarding arrangements are regarded as effective.

The school is part of St. John The Baptist Catholic Multi Academy Trust.