St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, Preston receives first Ofsted as an academy- see what inspectors said
A Preston primary school has recently received a new Ofsted report- see what the watchdog praised and what it thinks needs improving below...
A primary school in Preston has received it’s first Ofsted report as an academy this month.
St Augustine's Catholic Primary School on St Austin's Place, Avenham, was inspected by the educational watchdog on March 24 2026.
This was the school’s first inspection since becoming an academy in 2022, as well as its first under the new Ofsted framework which you can read more about here.
Before becoming an academy, St Augustine's Catholic Primary School, currently home to 278 pupils, had been rated ‘good’ in every inspection it had since online records began in 2000.
How was St Augustine's graded this time around?
All categories at the school were given the third highest rating that can be given.
The Ofsted report grades are:
- Achievement: Expected standard (light green)
- Attendance and behaviour: Expected standard (light green)
- Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard (light green)
- Early years: Expected standard (light green)
- Inclusion*: Expected standard (light green)
- Leadership and governance: Expected standard (light green)
- Personal development and wellbeing: Expected standard (light green)
*Inclusion is a new category
What did Ofsted say was particularly good about St Augustine's?
Describing what it is like to be a pupil at the school, inspectors began by saying “Pupils benefit from a school culture that helps them to know that they belong. The school is a place of warmth and welcome for pupils and the local community. All pupils flourish because leaders deliberately focus on their wellbeing, and especially so for the most vulnerable pupils.”
Regarding achievement, inspectors wrote that “pupils progress well through the curriculum”, which in turn is described as “ambitious” and “well-taught”.
Special mention is given to the “tailored” support given to pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities who learn the curriculm as well as their peers.
Inclusion is further fostered at the school by the aforemtntioned support for their welfare and wellbeing, resulting in classrooms that are “caring places where pupils focus well on their learning”, say inspectors.
Pupil’s behaviour and attendance is then said to be good - “most” attending well whilst all “behave well and treat each other with care.”
The early years curriculum was praised for being “well-structured” and allowing children to “acquire the skills that they need to read, write and use numbers confidently”.
Praise was also given to the trustees and governors who “have an increasingly accurate view of the school”, and the personal development programme “that is designed with pupils' needs in mind”.
What does St Augustine's need to improve?
In the ‘next steps’ part of the report, inspectors highlighted two specific things for the school to focus on.
The first being that leaders should ensure that pupils have “sufficient opportunity to practise new learning, so that they can confidently use the new knowledge that they acquire”.
Secondly, that staff in the early years “plan learning which supports children to deepen their knowledge in all areas of the curriculum”.