Loreto High School Chorlton Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment further by:
  • systematically enhancing the literacy skills of pupils
  • providing more challenging activities in mathematics and science
  • making sure that teachers consistently support pupils, especially boys, to work more carefully.
• Improve pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare further by reducing the occasional instances of low-level disruption in lessons.
• Build on the good outcomes of pupils, especially for those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• Leaders have significantly improved the standard of education provided at the school since the last inspection. The responses of senior leaders to the weaknesses identified at that time have been well planned and are effective. As a result, the quality of teaching is now good, and pupils make good progress. Pupils attend school regularly and typically behave well.
• Senior leaders are ambitious for all pupils. They are not satisfied with the improvements that they have already led. Their self-evaluation of the school is accurate. They use this knowledge to recognise the school’s current strengths and to identify the areas which they wish to develop further. For example, they are currently focused on further developing pupils’ literacy, including that of the most able pupils. Leaders recognise their responsibility to maximise pupils’ life chances, including by helping them to attain the highest levels of speaking and writing. Leaders’ training and support are ensuring that all teachers accept their role of teaching literacy in their subjects.
• Senior leaders have a clear understanding of the pupils and community that it serves. As a result, staff are trained to recognise and support pupils in overcoming any barriers and challenges that they face. The most vulnerable pupils, including those with education, health and care (EHC) plans, are typically known, cared for and supported well.
• Senior leaders have prioritised actions to improve the quality of teaching since the last inspection. The training programme which leaders manage is well planned and implemented. It has resulted in stronger teaching from established staff, for example in English, where pupils are routinely taught to a high standard. It also supports newly qualified teachers effectively. As a result, pupils are now taught effectively and make good progress. Leaders, including subject leaders, are aware of where teaching is at its strongest and offer support when further help is required.
• Leaders have focused upon strengthening the curriculum since the last inspection. It is now effective. In both key stage 3 and key stage 4, pupils are provided with the range of courses and learning experiences they require to support their good academic development. In Year 7, the curriculum typically builds upon the pupils’ primary school experience. Leaders, including subject leaders, focus on providing pupils with opportunities to extend their knowledge and understanding, and applying this learning. This is especially well developed in art, English, languages and physical education. Occasionally, pupils’ opportunities to grapple with their learning requires further refinement, including in mathematics and science.
• Leaders plan a wide range of extra-curricular activities and clubs for pupils. These cater for pupils’ wider academic, cultural, artistic and sporting interests and are popular with pupils. These activities also include charity and fund-raising events, which pupils say open their eyes to the world in which they live and the difference that they can make in it. This aspect of the curriculum effectively promotes pupils’ awareness of wider issues and life in modern Britain.
• The careers guidance programme is effective. Pupils receive helpful information throughout key stages 3 and 4. This includes independent advice. As a result, almost all pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, move on to aspirational next steps in education or employment.
• Leaders have used the additional funds provided by the pupil premium appropriately. They have undertaken an external review of their effectiveness in this aspect since the last inspection, in order to understand how to strengthen its impact. This has been the case. Disadvantaged pupils now attend school far more regularly and are less likely to be excluded. The progress that these pupils make has rapidly improved and the legacy of underachievement is narrowing.
• The management of the support, and spending of the funding provided, for pupils with SEND is effective. Senior leaders commissioned an external review of the quality of education and support provided at the school for pupils with SEND recently and have acted upon the recommendations that were made. As a result, the leadership of SEND was strengthened. Current staff have received up-to-date training in the aspects required to support their well-being in school. Generally, the well-being and health of pupils with SEND, including those with an EHC plan, are catered for effectively. Such pupils usually make good academic progress because teachers respond to their requirements well. Occasionally, teachers do not support and challenge pupils with SEND and this restricts their progress.
• Clear systems are in place to manage pupils’ behaviour. Overall, leaders manage pupils’ conduct well. They set high expectations of pupils and take effective steps to ensure that staff know pupils well. As a result, staff are typically well equipped to prevent or de-escalate the rare instances of poor conduct. Occasionally, some pupils, especially boys, lose concentration in lessons and engage in low-level disruption. Pupils attend school regularly. Managers act to support the better attendance of pupils where attendance is weaker, including those who are disadvantaged or with SEND. These actions have had a positive impact for many of these pupils, who now have better and good attendance.

Governance of the school

• Governance has improved considerably since the last inspection. It is now a strength of the school. The governors who have been appointed since the last inspection and the recently elected chair of governors have added expertise and capacity to those already in post. Governors have a sharp insight of the school’s current strengths and a clear rationale for the next aspects that they wish to develop.
• Governors promote the school’s values. They send the clear message to staff, pupils, parents and carers that pupils deserve an outstanding and broad education, and that it is the school’s purpose to provide this. This underpins the actions that are taken by leaders and staff at the school.
• Governors take their responsibilities seriously. Their areas of expertise and the training in governance which they have had ensure that they are confident and capable when supporting and challenging senior leaders. Governors’ experience of financial management is used effectively to support senior leaders’ plans to further strengthen the quality of education that the school provides.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Checks made by inspectors found that staff, including non-teaching staff, are trained in identifying potential risks to pupils. This includes risks of child sexual exploitation, drug- and gang-related crime, and radicalisation. Staff know pupils well and give great attention to their safety and well-being.
• Leaders maintain good-quality safeguarding records. They have systematic procedures for checking the backgrounds of staff when they are appointed.
• Leaders’ work with external agencies and parents is effective. They provided inspectors with examples of where they have acted swiftly when required to secure pupils’ safety and well-being. Referrals are made to external agencies as appropriate.
• Pupils have a clear understanding of the risks which might affect them and how to keep safe, including when online. They know to whom they should report concerns and how to do this.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• The quality of teaching is good across a broad range of subjects and year groups. Senior leaders have tackled the weaknesses seen in teaching at the time of the last inspection tenaciously, wisely and effectively. This has resulted in pupils’ good progress.
• Teaching is especially strong in English, art, French, Spanish and physical education. Teachers use their good subject knowledge to engage pupils in challenging and interesting activities. As a result, pupils learn with high levels of enthusiasm in these areas. Teaching in mathematics and science is good and the weaker aspects seen in the previous inspection have been reduced. However, there are times when teachers set tasks which do not challenge and inspire pupils.
• Disadvantaged pupils are taught far more effectively than was the case previously because of staff training. Teachers use a range of strategies to strengthen and support learning for disadvantaged pupils. These pupils now make good progress.
• Additional training has also improved the teaching of pupils with SEND. Pupils with an EHC plan typically learn well, because staff know them well and meet their needs. Teachers typically plan to support and challenge pupils with SEND. However, occasionally, teachers do not use the information provided about these pupils effectively. When this happens, pupils’ progress is restricted.
• Teachers use the assessment information available about pupils’ learning well, to set work which matches their needs. As a result, pupils of all abilities make good progress. Training has improved the attention teachers give to those who start school with low starting points. Teachers now demand more of these pupils and this has had a strong impact on their learning. Teachers challenge the most able pupils in some subjects, particularly English. They provide these pupils with opportunities to grapple with complex ideas, think deeply and respond with detail and fluency. Teachers do not always provide this quality of experience in mathematics and science.
• Teachers have high expectation of pupils’ attitudes to learning. In response, pupils take pride in their work. They take care to complete the activities that they are set and do so with care and precision. This supports their good progress. Occasionally, teachers have lower expectations, especially for boys, sometimes resulting in lack of attention to detail. In these cases, pupil’s work is untidy and lacks accuracy.
• The focus of leaders on improving the teaching of literacy has been effective. All teachers now recognise the need to support pupils’ literacy skills in all subjects. As a result, pupils are further developing their speaking and writing skills across a range of subjects. Teachers address pupils’ misconceptions in spelling, punctuation and grammar. As a result, pupils speak and write with growing accuracy, confidence and fluency. A few pockets remain where pupils’ weaker literacy is not fully resolved and plans to sharpen this are in place.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Inspectors were impressed by pupils’ positive interactions with one another and adults. This was especially notable at breaktimes and lunchtimes. Pupils confidently mix, play and pursue their own interests. Pupils clearly enjoy their social interaction, often smiling and laughing. School leaders and other staff pride themselves on the good relationships that they build and care that they have with pupils. Most pupils and parents echo this. A typical response to Parent View, Ofsted’s survey for parents, was that the school is ‘… a welcoming, caring and passionate school that really does know every child.’
• Discussions with pupils and responses from parents identify that bullying is rare, and that staff deal with it effectively. Checks of bullying records made by inspectors showed that incidents of bullying are followed up and resolved effectively. Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe from the risks of exploitation, including when using social media.
• Pupils said that staff are approachable and considerate of pupils’ mental and physical well-being. Leaders keep these aspects in a sharp focus. They seek pupils’ involvement to ensure that the support services which they provide meet pupils’ requirements. For example, guidance is provided for pupils in Year 11 to support their mental well-being during preparation for examinations. Pupils work closely with school and catering managers to develop the range of healthy dining options provided at breaktime and lunchtime.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective in securing pupils’ mature approach to relationships and their appreciation of the rights of all. The pupils who responded to the pupils’ survey at the time of the inspection said that they understand and value people’s differences and other faiths and cultures. Pupils said that they are confident to be who they want to be. The school council, which involves pupils from all year groups, has had its positive impact in the school recognised in its success in city-wide awards that it was entered for. The council is effective in involving all pupils in the democratic process and strengthening their understanding of fundamental British values.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• Pupils typically behave well in lessons. Pupils are keen to attain high academic standards and most take pride in their work. As a result, they learn well. There are rare occasions when pupils, usually boys, lose concentration or there is low-level disruption. In these cases, learning is less effective, and this hampers pupils’ progress.
• Pupils’ conduct around the school is good. They move around the school in an orderly manner at breaktime, lunchtime and at the change of lessons. They arrive punctually at lessons. They typically treat the school environment with respect and most do not leave litter lying around.
• Most pupils enjoy and value school. As a result, they attend regularly. Pupils’ attendance broadly matches that of others nationally.
• The improved behaviour of pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, has led to rates of exclusion falling.
• Leaders carefully check on the attendance, behaviour and safeguarding of pupils who attend alternative provision.

Outcomes for pupils Good

• Pupils make good progress. Leaders’ actions to improve teaching since the last inspection have led to better examination results. In 2018, pupils attained GCSE grades which matched those of others nationally from similar starting points across a wide range of subjects, including in English and mathematics.
• Evidence in pupils’ books and school’s current assessment information identify that most pupils make good progress. This is the case across all year groups, including Year 11, and across a wide range of subjects. Pupils’ progress is particularly strong in English, art, modern foreign languages and physical education. In mathematics, and especially in science, there has been a more varied picture of improvement in recent years. Current leadership has strengthened teaching in these subjects. Pupils now make good progress, although fewer pupils reach the higher standards typically seen in English.
• Improved use of assessment has ensured that teachers give close attention to pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils from different starting points make good progress. Overall, the progress of the most able pupils is good across different subjects. At times, in science and mathematics, tasks are less challenging for these pupils and this limits their progress.
• The actions of leaders to secure stronger progress for disadvantaged pupils have been effective. As a result, many more of these pupils make stronger progress than was the case previously. The examination results of disadvantaged pupils in 2018 were half a grade higher than those of the previous year, from similar starting points. The picture for current pupils continues to improve, although a legacy of previous weaker teaching means that some underachievement is not fully resolved.
• Pupils with SEND make good progress. Leaders are sharply focused on ensuring good teaching and support for these pupils. The strategies implemented from an external review of SEND provision, which leaders commissioned to refine their effectiveness, are having a positive impact on improving progress. As a result, pupils with an EHC plan typically make good progress. Teachers know them well and they support and challenge these pupils effectively. Overall, pupils with SEND are making better progress than previously. However, occasionally, the progress of these pupils slips when teachers do not use the information provided about them effectively.
• Leaders monitor effectively the quality of education for pupils who attend alternative provision. These pupils benefit from appropriate curriculums that focus on preparing them for the next stage of their education.
• Most pupils move on to aspirational courses once they leave the school. Pupils’ good examination results, including in English and mathematics, have extended their opportunities to follow courses at the level of which they are capable. More than two-thirds of the pupils who left the school in 2018 attained a standard pass in English and mathematics.

School details

Unique reference number 105574 Local authority Manchester Inspection number 10057918 This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. Type of school Secondary comprehensive School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils 11 to 16 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 735 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Dr Martin Hanbury Headteacher Catherine Hughes Telephone number 01618 819448 Website http://loretochorlton.org/

Email address welcome@loretochorlton.manchester.sch.uk

Date of previous inspection 27–28 September 2016

Information about this school

• This is a Roman Catholic, voluntary-aided school.
• The proportion of disadvantaged students is well above the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND and those with an EHC plan is broadly in line with the national average.
• The school uses alternative provision for a small number of pupils at Broadstones Specialist School, Manchester Hospital School, Manchester Secondary Pupil Referral Unit, Manchester Vocational Learning Academy and St Peter’s High School.

Information about this inspection

• Meetings took place with school leaders, teachers, governors and a representative of the local authority.
• Discussions were held with pupils to gather their views on a variety of issues, including safeguarding, bullying, behaviour, teaching and the curriculum.
• Inspectors examined a range of the school’s documentation, such as the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plan, assessment information, special educational needs information, the pupil premium plan, attendance and behaviour records and safeguarding information.
• Inspectors took account of the 63 staff survey responses, the 275 pupil survey responses, the 41 responses to the Ofsted online questionnaire, Parent View, and the 27 written responses from parents to Ofsted’s free-text facility.
• Inspectors observed teaching and learning across the school and scrutinised pupils’ work in a range of subjects and year groups. They were accompanied by school leaders on some of these observations.

Inspection team

Stephen Ruddy, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Fiona Burke-Jackson Ofsted Inspector Deborah Bailey Ofsted Inspector Tuesday Humby Ofsted Inspector