St Mary’s RC Primary School in Wrexham is celebrating following its recent Estyn inspection.
Inspectors visited the school in September 2025. The report, published this week, notes that: “At St Mary’s RC Primary School, the headteacher, senior leaders and governors provide purposeful and effective leadership. This provides a clear, strategic direction and fosters a strong sense of community.
“Leaders set high expectations and model professional values that inspire collaboration and trust among staff. This results in a dedicated and cohesive team who work together to create a nurturing and safe environment where pupils feel valued and respected.”
The report also says: “The school’s provision to promote pupils’ social, moral, spiritual, and cultural development is particularly strong. Adults and pupils from many cultures and backgrounds work and play together well.
“As a result, everyone feels known, cared for, and valued. Carefully planned experiences nurture pupils’ empathy and sense of responsibility, resulting in a caring and inclusive community.”
Inspectors praised teaching and learning: “Lessons are lively, well planned, and engaging. Most pupils behave well, and nearly all show enthusiasm for their learning. There are warm and respectful relationships between pupils and staff.
“This creates a happy, motivated, diverse community where everyone is valued and able to succeed.”
A particular strength highlighted was language development: “A majority of pupils speak English as an additional language and start at the school with a limited vocabulary. Through patient, systematic teaching and rich exposure to high-quality children’s literature, pupils become confident speakers, readers and writers by Year 6.”
There were two positive ‘spotlights’ highlighted from the visit:
- Using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support pupils to develop creative writing, and;
- Using professional enquiry to build a learning community through innovative professional development.
The reports concludes with the following: “Overall, the school provides a vibrant, nurturing, and inclusive learning environment where pupils thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
“High-quality teaching, a rich curriculum, and compassionate leadership enables the school to support nearly all pupils to make very strong progress, and develop the confidence, curiosity, and respect that prepares them well for the future.”
Headteacher Rachel Acton said: “I am exceptionally proud of the children, staff, governors, and our wider school family who have all contributed to the continued development of our wonderful school.
“Everyone works tirelessly to provide the very best opportunities for all our learners and their families, and I am delighted that inspectors recognised the exemplary behaviour of our children, the high-quality teaching of our dedicated staff, and that ‘everyone feels known, cared for, and valued.’
“This reflects our shared commitment to providing an inclusive, nurturing learning environment where every child can thrive. I would like to thank all our children, staff, governors, and parents for their unwavering support and dedication to our school.”
Esther Bennington, Chair of Governors added: “As Chair of Governors, I am immensely proud that our recent Estyn inspection recognised the outstanding teaching, compassionate leadership and caring community ethos of our school.
“This achievement reflects the dedication of our staff and the spirit of our whole school community.”
Inspectors made one recommendation following the visit:
- Ensure that teaching across the school encourages all pupils, particularly the more able, to achieve as well as they could.
