About Us
2023
We are delighted to learn that St Richard’s has featured highly in the Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide 2023. This is an annual ranking of schools – both state and independent. The ranking was calculated using SATs results from 2019 and was updated in December 2022. Of all the primary schools with a Manchester postcode (including all schools in Manchester local authority but also some schools in neighbouring authorities such as Tameside and Oldham) St Richard’s was in joint 3rd place.
2020
In 2020, we were ranked joint 159th in the Times Newspaper’s league table of the top 250 state primary schools in England. There are 16, 769 primary schools in England so this puts us in the top 1%. The schools were ranked by their aggregated average scaled score achieved in Reading, Writing and Maths taken in 2019. Click here to view our 2019 KS2 Results
2019
St Richard’s took part in the ‘Be Seen in Green’ for Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital appeal and raised a massive £693.40. Thank you to all who took part. Some classes were visited by Humphrey (the mascot for the hospital).
2018
In September 2018, St Richard’s received some very exciting news, we were included in that 2018 Parliamentary Review for Primary Schools. We were chosen for our outstanding practice in many areas. The school’s profile was part of a reporting document that every school in the North West of England received. There was a forward by then Prime Minister, Theresa May and then Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds. Click here to view the Review of St Richard’s St Richard’s Review
Click here to view the Letter from Bishop John Arnold congratulating St Richard’s on the Parliamentary Review
Also in 2018 we received another ‘Outstanding’ judgement in our Section 48 (RE) Inspection Report 2018
2017
St. Richard’s was once again awarded the prestigious Naace ICT Mark. Schools accredited with the ICT Mark standard are demonstrating that they are committed to using technology to improve their overall effectiveness and efficiency. Computing provision and learning continue to expand and improve at St Richard’s, with plenty of new and exciting technology on its way.
St Richards RC Primary School Online Safety Mark Report 4 Oct 2017
2016
In 2016, St Richard’s participated in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. PIRLS wrote to us to say, ‘We would like to thank your school for participating in the PIRLS 2016 study on pupils’ reading comprehension. We appreciate the time and effort spent to make this happen, both by the teachers who contributed to the study and by the respective pupils in your school. Your contribution to this research is invaluable for our understanding of the reading comprehension of pupils in England to inform the international perspective. The participation of your school has contributed to a high response rate for England overall, meaning the data is more robust. Thank you for taking the time to assist and contribute by making your school available for this valuable research.’
The PIRLS results were released on 5 December 2017, showing that England has significantly improved its average reading performance compared to previous cycles. In addition, the results from 2016 marks England’s highest average performance across all four PIRLS cycles.
2016
In October 2016, St Richard’s took part in a DfE national programme of qualitative research on school performance and disadvantaged pupils. This was because our Pupil Premium children consistently perform as well as our non PP children. This was an outstanding achievement and acknowledges our school’s philosophy of high expectations for all.
In March 2016, the Secretary of State for Education launched a white paper ‘Education Excellence Everywhere.’ This set out the Department’s vision to deliver a world class education to every child wherever they lived and whatever their background, ability or needs. In light of this, our then Headteacher, Mrs Sesnan, was approached by the DFE requesting St Richard’s take part in a study comparing high achieving schools in London and outside of London. The research focused on the characteristics and cultures of high achieving schools such as St Richard’s. This was another great complement for our school.
2015
Friday 25th September/2nd October 2015 – Stoke Premiership Partnership. Mr Keyworth (our Deputy Head) led a 2-day course for Maths Leaders in our school, exploring high-impact cross-curricular maths. The course was entitled, ‘Mathematics in the Real World.’ We had a number of schools visit us from all over the country and we were able to share our outstanding practice.
2014
We were notified by he SSAT (an organisation that collates and analyses data from the DfE and OFSTED to publish the annual Educational Outcomes database) that our school had enabled children to achieve attainment in reading, writing and maths that was significantly higher than the national average at Key Stage 2, and included higher than average added value. This achievement put us in the top 10% of schools nationally and made us eligible for the 2014 Educational Outcomes Award for Exceptional Attainment.
2012
In June 2012 we received an ‘Outstanding’ judgement in our Section 48 Religious Inspection Report
Also in June 2012 we received an ‘Outstanding’ Judgement in our 2012 Ofsted Report
2010
At St Richard’s we have always been passionate about reading. In 2010, we were one of the twelve schools nationally selected by Ofsted to take part in the ‘Reading by Six Survey – How the best schools do it’. You can read the report here
Reading for pleasure remains at the heart of all our teaching of reading. Evidence supports what we have always believed – that reading for pleasure enables children to excel in all curriculum areas.