St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School

St Anne’s CofE (Aided) Primary School is a caring, inclusive school where pupils are happy, safe and behave well. Inspectors found strong relationships between staff and pupils, effective safeguarding, good personal development and a well-developed early years provision, with children becoming confident readers and developing language and mathematics well. Pupils benefit from a wide range of visits, clubs and pupil parliament opportunities, and pupils with SEND are identified accurately and supported effectively. However, the quality of education and leadership require improvement. The curriculum is still being developed and is not yet consistently delivered well across subjects; too many pupils leave without the reading and mathematics skills they need. In some subjects, staff do not check pupils’ understanding carefully enough before moving on, gaps in knowledge are not addressed, and teachers do not always have the subject knowledge or choose tasks that help pupils learn the intended curriculum. In early years, some resources and activities do not help children deepen their learning sufficiently. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and inspectors took the pandemic’s impact into account. Governors know what needs to improve but do not have a realistic view of current standards, and leaders and governors have not acted urgently enough over time. Staff well-being is a priority and staff are proud to work at the school.

Strengths

• Pupils behave well and treat each other with respect and kindness.
• Effective support helps pupils with SEND, including language and communication.
• Strong phonics teaching in early years helps children become confident readers.
• Pupils who struggle with reading receive effective catch-up support.
• Personal development is well developed, including mental health, online safety and healthy relationships.
• Pupils enjoy a broad range of visits, clubs and pupil parliament opportunities.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.
• Positive relationships between staff and pupils are a golden thread.
• Pupils attend regularly overall.
• Early years staff build positive relationships and develop children’s language and mathematical understanding.
• Staff are proud to work at the school and committed to the community.

Areas for Improvement

• The curriculum is not yet consistently ambitious or delivered well across all subjects.
• Too many pupils leave without the reading and mathematics skills needed for future learning.
• Staff do not routinely check that pupils have understood important learning before introducing new content.
• Gaps in pupils’ knowledge across subjects are not addressed.
• Some staff lack the secure subject knowledge needed to teach parts of the curriculum effectively.
• Some activities chosen do not support pupils to learn the intended curriculum well enough.
• In early years, some resources and activities do not help children deepen their learning sufficiently.
• Governors do not have a realistic view of current standards.
• Leaders and governors have not taken urgent enough action over time to improve education.
• Where the curriculum is less developed, this negatively affects all pupils, including those with SEND.

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 St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School attended 94.7% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 12.6% 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, 0.7% of pupils at St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary 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 St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School had 28.9 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 35.1% 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, 16.6% of pupils at St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 4.1% 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 St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School received £6,972 and spent £6,918 for each of its 278 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £31,000 (£113 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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• Secondary Schools

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What is St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School is Requires Improvement, from an inspection in April 2025.

When was St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School was last inspected in April 2025.

How many pupils does St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School have?

St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School has 290 pupils on roll.

What age range does St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School cover?

St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 63% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School?

St Anne's CofE (Aided) Primary School is at Ormerod Avenue, Royton, St Anne's Primary School, Oldham, Lancashire, OL2 5DH.