Ofsted inspectors praise 'rich and relevant curriculum' created at this Leeds primary school

Leaders at a primary school in Leeds have been praised for creating a “rich and relevant curriculum.”

St Paul's Catholic Primary School, located on Buckstone Crescent, Alwoodley, received a ‘Strong Standard’ rating in five of the seven inspected areas - achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing.

Visiting the school on March 3, 2026, inspectors also scored the school as achieving an ‘Expected Standard’ rating in the areas of early years and inclusion.

St Paul’s was previously rated as Good, under Ofsted’s old grading system, during a 2021 inspection.

“Leaders have created a rich and relevant curriculum built around high-quality texts that capture pupils’ imaginations,” inspectors said. “Leaders think carefully about the vocabulary which pupils need to learn, building complexity over time and across subjects.

“They have a deep and accurate knowledge of the school. They lead with integrity and humility. Everything they do is for the benefit of pupils. The leadership team is well established, knows the community well and has highly effective working relationships with parents and carers.”

The school provides an ambitious and comprehensive programme for pupils’ personal development, rooted in its values, according to the report. Pupils leave St Paul’s as “respectful, tolerant, thoughtful and generous individuals.” They move on to secondary school as mature young people.

Pupils’ work across subjects is of high quality. They retain and recall knowledge well. Through revisiting earlier learning and undertaking quizzes, pupils can explain how their skills and knowledge develop over time.

They achieve well and their attainment in national tests is above national averages for reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2. Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment is higher than that of other disadvantaged pupils nationally and continues to improve.

Behaviour is a “significant strength” at St Paul’s. Pupils are respectful and classrooms are busy, purposeful places where pupils and staff work happily together.

Focusing on areas for future improvement, the report said: “Leaders should ensure that individual targets for disadvantaged pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are precise so that teachers can evaluate the impact of support and respond promptly to any emerging needs.

“Leaders should build on recent early years improvements to ensure a greater proportion of pupils leave Reception well prepared for Year 1.”

Attendance is a “notable strength” for St Paul’s, according to the report. Leaders are very successful in promoting the importance of high attendance to pupils and their families. Pupils enjoy coming to school. They feel part of the community and attend regularly.

Leaders have an accurate and realistic understanding of the quality of education in early years. More children now arrive with greater levels of need and leaders have adapted the curriculum and teaching so all children feel they belong and can succeed.

Staff are overwhelmingly positive about working at the school. They appreciate leaders’ consideration of workload and wellbeing. They appreciate the well-planned professional learning linked to school priorities and tailored to staff needs.