Good Shepherd RC School

Good Shepherd RC School is a Roman Catholic primary school inspected in January 2025 in its first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic; it was previously judged Good. Pupils are happy and safe, staff are caring, and personal development is good, with effective safeguarding and a range of experiences that help pupils understand values, faiths and their community. However, the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, leadership and management, and early years provision all require improvement. The school has introduced ambitious new curriculum content, but staff do not understand it consistently well and teaching does not always build on pupils’ prior knowledge. Assessment is not used sharply enough in foundation subjects, early years planning leaves too much to chance in some areas, and pupils’ achievement is mixed, with some aspects of mathematics well below national averages. Behaviour expectations are not routinely consistent, some pupils lose focus and do not complete important work, and too many disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are absent too often. Support for pupils with SEND is well identified but can lack focus when teaching is not precise. Notable strengths include effective safeguarding, good personal development, a positive reading culture, effective identification of SEND, and recent checks in mathematics and phonics that are helping the school address some gaps. The main priorities are to ensure teaching helps pupils learn and remember knowledge across the whole curriculum, use assessment to identify misconceptions, define essential early years knowledge, and promote consistently high expectations for learning behaviour.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy and safe, and staff are kind and caring.
• Pupils are typically courteous and kind and treat one another with respect.
• Personal development is good, including PSHE, British values and safety education.
• The school provides a good range of experiences, including visits and sports clubs.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• The school identifies the needs of pupils with SEND effectively.
• Teachers regularly discuss books with pupils, encouraging interest in reading.
• Phonics teaching helps pupils use sounds to read unfamiliar words.
• Recent checks in mathematics and phonics help identify where pupils need extra support.
• Most pupils attend school regularly.

Areas for Improvement

• The quality of education requires improvement.
• New curriculum content is ambitious but staff do not understand it consistently well.
• Teaching does not routinely adapt to pupils’ prior knowledge or build knowledge over time.
• Pupils struggle to recall key knowledge across several subjects.
• Assessment is not used effectively to check understanding and address misconceptions, especially in foundation subjects.
• Early years planning does not identify precise knowledge in some areas, leaving too much to chance.
• Some pupils, including in early years, have large gaps in phonics knowledge.
• Some phonics teaching does not build well on what pupils already know.
• Behaviour expectations are not routinely consistent, so some pupils lose focus and do not complete work.
• Support for pupils with SEND lacks focus when teaching is not precise.
• Too many disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND are absent too often.
• The school has not evaluated how well its attendance approaches work.
• Leadership evaluation methods do not always give a clear understanding of strengths and weaknesses.
• Some aspects of mathematics achievement are well below national averages.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Good Shepherd RC School attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 19.1% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 0.9% of pupils at Good Shepherd RC School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Good Shepherd RC School had 25.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 19.6% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 27.4% of pupils at Good Shepherd RC School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.5% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Good Shepherd RC School received £10,370 and spent £10,207 for each of its 196 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £378,000 (£1,928 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Good Shepherd RC School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Good Shepherd RC School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in March 2025.

When was Good Shepherd RC School last inspected by Ofsted?

Good Shepherd RC School was last inspected in March 2025.

How many pupils does Good Shepherd RC School have?

Good Shepherd RC School has 201 pupils on roll.

What age range does Good Shepherd RC School cover?

Good Shepherd RC School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Good Shepherd RC School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 67% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Good Shepherd RC School?

Good Shepherd RC School is at Moorside Road, Downham, Bromley, Kent, BR1 5EP.