Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School

Ofsted has judged that Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School requires significant improvement. Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils are safe in an inclusive, welcoming school where relationships are warm and behaviour has improved. A new headteacher has brought much-needed stability after several years of leadership and staffing turbulence, and governors are increasingly effective in holding leaders to account. Pupils attend regularly, persistent absence is reducing, and leaders’ work on attendance and behaviour is a clear strength. Pupils benefit from a well-intentioned personal development offer, clubs and trips, and staff feel well supported with manageable workload. Current phonics attainment is improving rapidly, and the school’s inclusive vision and pastoral care are positive features. However, achievement remains too low. Published outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2, and historically in Year 1 phonics, are below national averages, with disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND particularly affected. The early years requires urgent improvement: the curriculum is poorly designed and taught, staff lack expertise, and children are not prepared well for Year 1. Across the wider curriculum, teaching and inclusion are inconsistent, pupils’ recall is uneven, and some staff do not identify or meet needs quickly enough. Leaders know what needs to change, but improvement is at an early stage.

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met, and pupils feel safe and trust adults to listen and help.
• Leaders prioritise attendance through a tiered, well-understood approach; pupils attend regularly and persistent absence is reducing.
• Behaviour has improved significantly, with a positive culture built on relationships and a reduction in behavioural incidents.
• Pupils follow routines calmly, listen carefully, settle to learning quickly, and know discrimination will not be tolerated.
• Pastoral care is strong, and trained staff help pupils build resilience and manage emotions.
• Pupils enjoy the inclusive, welcoming school and benefit from clubs, trips, residential visits and pupil leadership roles.
• The new headteacher has brought stability and direction after significant leadership turbulence.
• Governors have strengthened their expertise and are increasingly holding leaders to account effectively.
• Staff feel well supported, report improved workload and wellbeing, and value professional learning opportunities.
• Parents speak positively about the headteacher’s visibility, approachable staff and the school’s nurturing culture.
• The personal development programme is aligned to school values and includes cultural days, British values and age-appropriate relationships and sex education.
• PSHE is adapted through ‘bucket time’ to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
• Pupils develop character through charity fundraising and youth enterprise activities.
• Current pupils’ phonics attainment is improving rapidly, and most staff deliver the phonics programme with fidelity.
• Some pupils with SEND can recall and explain their learning clearly, for example using bar charts in mathematics.

Areas for Improvement

• The school requires significant improvement because pupils do not achieve well enough overall.
• Published outcomes in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 have been below national averages.
• Year 1 phonics screening outcomes have historically been below national averages.
• Many pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, leave school without the knowledge and skills needed for the next stage.
• Disadvantaged pupils’ attainment and progress gaps are very wide compared with non-disadvantaged pupils nationally.
• Early years provision is ineffective and requires urgent improvement.
• Early years curriculum is poorly designed and implemented, with disconnected activities and unclear learning expectations.
• Early years staff lack expertise in high-quality interactions and do not develop children’s language and vocabulary well enough.
• Early years children are not well prepared for Year 1, including in personal, social and emotional skills, focus and resilience.
• Teaching across the curriculum is inconsistent; some staff do not check understanding in a timely or responsive way.
• Adaptations for pupils with SEND are not implemented consistently, so some pupils’ needs are not met promptly.
• Pupils’ recall varies, and some struggle to make links in wider curriculum subjects such as history and art.
• Gaps in younger pupils’ pencil grip, handwriting, spelling and punctuation are not addressed quickly enough.
• SEND identification and assessment processes are still being embedded, with variability in identifying barriers to learning.
• Some vulnerable pupils do not have their needs met well enough because staff do not identify challenges consistently.
• Tracking of participation in extra-curricular activities is not strong enough, so disadvantaged pupils may not fully benefit.
• Some pupils struggle to recall the characteristics that make everyone unique and are protected by law.
• Past leadership turbulence and staffing changes contributed to a decline in standards and reduced capacity to improve.
• Leaders still have more to do to raise pupils’ achievement and sustain improvements in teaching.

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 Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School attended 94.0% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 15.8% 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, 3.6% of pupils at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic 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 Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School had 15.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 39.6% 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, 18.8% of pupils at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 2.2% 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 Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School received £8,911 and spent £9,161 for each of its 138 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £159,000 (-£1,153 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 Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in September 2026.

When was Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School was last inspected in September 2026.

How many pupils does Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School have?

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School has 138 pupils on roll.

What age range does Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School cover?

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School for pupils aged 4 to 11.

What are Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 27% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School?

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School is at Hanham Road, Kingswood, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School, Bristol, BS15 8PX.