The head of an East Lancashire primary school said staff are “passionate about the journey” they are on to improvement following its latest Ofsted inspection.

St Leonard’s CE Primary School in Moor Lane, Padiham, was rated requires improvement overall when it was visited by inspectors on May 8 and 9.

The school was deemed to be good in some areas, including personal development and early years provision, but the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, and leadership and management need improving.

The report said that children were overall happy and safe at the school and they generally behave well, but the school “does not consistently uphold its expectations for pupils’ conduct.”

It also noted the school has a “broad and balanced curriculum” which has clarified what pupils are expected to learn in all subjects by the end of the year.

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Bev Holmes, headteacher at St Leonard’s CE Primary, said: “We are pleased that the report recognises children are happy and safe and references some of the amazing enrichment opportunities given to pupils.

“The inspectors identified the great strides made by the school in developing a broad and balanced curriculum for all pupils and we are passionate about the journey we had already identified to refine and embed assessment procedures, ensuring that pupils thrive academically, personally, and spiritually.

“Parents have been kept fully informed of the inspectors’ findings and the school would like to reassure them that we are fully committed to providing the best education possible for our pupils.”

Ofsted said pupils’ school experiences are enriched through a variety of initiatives, including ‘Fishing Fridays’ where older pupils learn to fish, and learning to play the ukulele during their music lessons.

The school also arranges clubs for pupils’ families to participate in such as ‘Pasta Club’, where families learn to cook together.

The report continued: “There is some variability in how consistently subject curriculums are delivered in practice. Some learning activities are not well designed to help pupils acquire important knowledge.

“At times, content is not delivered in a logical, coherent manner to help pupils build their knowledge securely. Consequently, pupils’ knowledge and understanding of key concepts in some subjects are superficial.

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“The school delivers the early years curriculum more effectively, and with greater consistency, than is the case elsewhere in the school. Staff design appropriate learning activities that help children to develop the fundamental knowledge and skills for future learning.”

The report said as with the last inspection, in which the school was rated good in 2023, that checks on what pupils know and remember are not robust and do not effectively identify errors.

Staff are said to be proud to work at the school, reporting that leaders take responsive actions to help them to manage their workload.