St John’s Catholic School & Sixth Form College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St John's Catholic School & Sixth Form College continues to be a good school.

The headteacher of this school is Lisa Byron.

This school is part of Bishop Hogarth Catholic Education Trust, which means other people in the trust also have responsibility for running the school. The trust is run by the chief executive officer (CEO), Michael Shorten, and overseen by a board of trustees, chaired by Yvonne Coates.

What is it like to attend this school?

St John's Catholic School and Sixth Form College's clear vision is underpinned by its distinct Catholic ethos.

The school is committed to serving its pupils, to provide them with a high-quality and well-rounded education. T...his vision is lived out. Many pupils and parents told inspectors how grateful they are for the staff, who go 'above and beyond' to help them.

This is a school where pupils are safe and cared for well.

The school has high aspirations for pupils. It provides them with a wide range of exciting and worthwhile educational experiences.

These enrich learning and support pupils' personal development. For example, pupils attend clubs in a range of sports, sign language, debating, mindfulness, and diversity and equality. Pupils have benefited from the school's successful bid to the Turing Scheme.

This has provided pupils with unique opportunities for cultural visits this year to Canada, America and Europe.

The school has high expectations for behaviour. Most pupils meet these expectations.

The school is calm and orderly. Bullying sometimes happens. Incidents are dealt with effectively by the school.

Pupils tend to work hard in lessons and enjoy positive relationships with their teachers. Most pupils achieve well.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school offers pupils a broad curriculum.

Across all subjects, the school has identified the most important knowledge and skills it wants pupils to learn and remember. Teachers deliver the curriculum using strong subject knowledge. They explain concepts well and show pupils what high-quality work looks like in their subject.

For example, in English, pupils benefited from a clear explanation of the divine right of kings as pupils studied Shakespeare's Macbeth. In physical education (PE), pupils learned well from their teacher's explanation and modelling of how to throw a discus for maximum impact. In the most effective lessons, pupils learn new concepts step by step.

Teachers check pupils' understanding and, when they need to, adapt their teaching to help ensure pupils secure the intended knowledge. In some lessons, there are inconsistencies in the way the curriculum is implemented.

The school has recently developed a model for teaching.

This is referred to in school using the acronym 'ASPIRE'. Aspects of this model are well embedded. For example, lessons typically begin with recall tasks to help pupils remember what they have been taught before.

Other aspects of the model are new, such as the strategies, or scaffolds, to support pupils as they apply what they have learned in more challenging tasks. These aspects are being embedded to ensure that teaching has a greater impact on pupils' achievement.

St John's is an inclusive community where diversity is valued.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. 'Pupil passports' provide teachers with clear information about the ways to support individual pupils with SEND during lessons. These are reviewed regularly.

Leaders have recently created additional capacity in the school to develop the SEND provision. This is to ensure greater consistency in the support that pupils receive.

The school quickly identifies those pupils who need support with reading at the start of Year 7.

The school implements appropriate interventions. These include a phonics programme for those pupils at the earliest stages of reading. The school promotes reading for pleasure through dedicated reading lessons at key stage 3, author visits and attendance at local literary events, such as 'The Big Book Bash'.

Students in the sixth form study a wide range of subjects and qualifications. They are supported very well to meet the increased academic demands of sixth-form learning. Students study a programme that helps them to make informed decisions about their future learning, training and/or employment.

The school is calm and orderly. Lessons are productive and disruption to learning is rare. At social times, pupils mix well together.

Pupils are polite and courteous. Leaders monitor and implement a range of strategies to support attendance. Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough and some are persistently absent.

These pupils do not achieve as well as they could.

Pupils are supported with their personal development extremely well. The school's pastoral programme ensures that all pupils learn about a range of important topics in an age-appropriate way.

For example, pupils know how to stay safe online. Students in the sixth form learn about rental contracts and budgeting. Pupils have a secure understanding of the protected characteristics.

They are proud that everyone is equal and welcome in their school.

Staff are proud to work at the school. Leaders support them well with their workload and well-being.

The 'I heard a whisper' initiative has been well received by the staff. It recognises and celebrates the contributions that staff make to the school community. Governors and trustees are highly ambitious for the school.

They provide the school with regular support and challenge. They are clear about their responsibilities and fulfil their statutory duties well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some pupils do not attend school often enough. These pupils have significant gaps in their knowledge. For older pupils, this is hindering their ability to do well in public examinations.

The school should further develop its strategies to improve attendance for those pupils who are persistently absent from school. ? The school's ASPIRE model for teaching is implemented inconsistently in some lessons. This means, on occasion, teachers do not check pupils' understanding and/or adapt the curriculum to help pupils secure their understanding.

As a result, some pupils do not make the progress that they could. The school should embed its ASPIRE model fully.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in January 2019.