St Peter's Catholic High School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Further increase the progress made by boys by ensuring that:
  • teachers have consistently high expectations of what boys are capable of achieving
  • they are helped to take greater pride in their learning.
• Build on the improvements already made to diminish further the remaining differences in the progress made between disadvantaged pupils and other pupils nationally.
• Further develop the role of middle leaders so that they have the knowledge, skills and understanding to make further improvements to the curriculum and the effectiveness of teaching in their areas.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Good

• The headteacher has a clear and positive vision for the school. Leaders have developed a welcoming and inclusive community underpinned by Catholic values. They demonstrate a determination to provide the best possible education for pupils.
• The school has experienced a period of significant turbulence in leadership and staffing in recent years. This has had a detrimental impact on the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress. Determined actions have secured stability in staffing. Senior leaders have acted urgently to make sure that the quality of teaching and learning has improved. Current information indicates that pupils are making better progress than in the recent past. Outcomes are rapidly improving towards being good.
• Leaders identified the dip in outcomes was most significant for boys’ progress. Swift action has introduced a number of strategies to improve the progress of boys. All staff are involved in implementing these changes and there is consistency of approaches to meet the needs of boys. For example, leaders check with teachers that boys make the progress of which they are capable. They have also ensured that teachers undertake training on aspects of teaching that have improved the learning of these pupils, such as the effectiveness of teachers’ questioning. These initiatives are not fully embedded across years and subjects and the progress of boys, although improving, particularly in key stage 4, is not consistently good.
• Senior leaders regularly monitor teachers’ work through observations of lessons and scrutinise pupils’ work. Teaching in a range of subjects has improved as a result of this strong leadership.
• Staff morale is high. Staff are proud to work at the school and feel well supported by leaders. They spoke positively of the improvements being made in the school. Staff value the range of training and professional development opportunities that they receive. Improved middle leadership has played a key role in improving teaching.
• Middle leaders helped to keep the school running smoothly during the huge turnover of staff in recent years. They are clear about school priorities and are increasingly held to account. As a result of their actions, pupils throughout the school are making stronger progress than that seen in recent years. Some middle leaders are relatively new in post. Their roles are not fully developed and there has been limited time to make significant and widespread improvements to teaching and the curriculum in their areas.
• The curriculum is broad and provides many opportunities for pupils to develop their knowledge and understanding. Leaders have reviewed the curriculum to address the issues which arose from the GCSE results in 2017 and 2018. They have modified the curriculum to focus on the requirements of the GCSE requirements. Some changes already in place include a wider variety of vocational subjects in key stage 4. Leaders have changes planned for September 2019 onwards. These are designed to meet the needs of pupils more effectively and help them to make better progress. This includes more time being assigned for humanities in key stage 3.
• Staff offer an extensive range of extra-curricular opportunities, including sports, music and drama activities. Pupils take advantage of trips in Britain and abroad. They enjoy the challenges they face as part of their involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. These activities build pupils’ confidence and self-esteem.
• Pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding is developed very effectively. Pupils have a strong understanding of British values, such as democracy and tolerance. Leaders provide a range of opportunities for pupils to learn about different faiths and cultures through the curriculum. As a result, pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Leaders have a clear understanding of the barriers which face disadvantaged pupils. They have recently sharpened their strategy and to ensure that the pupil premium funding is used more effectively to improve the achievement of these pupils.
• The additional funding for pupils with SEND is used well to meet the needs of these pupils. The special educational needs coordinator liaises effectively with external agencies. Leaders ensure that pupils are appropriately supported. They check that their progress is good.
• Leaders make effective use of the additional funding they receive for pupils in Year 7 who enter the school with literacy and numeracy levels below those typical for their age. Pupils make strong progress in catching up with their peers.
• The overwhelming majority of parents and carers who completed Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, have very positive views of the school.
• Leaders welcome the support and challenge from the school’s improvement advisor. This is helping them to further improve the quality of education in the school.

Governance of the school

• Governors are ambitious for pupils and highly committed to the ethos of the school. They have a clear view of the school’s strengths and priorities for further development. Governors actively seek training to ensure that they continue to fulfil their duties effectively.
• Governors provide a good balance of support and challenge to senior and middle leaders. A review of governors’ meetings indicate that they ask probing questions of leaders about the progress being made by groups of pupils, including disadvantaged pupils. This has contributed to current pupils making better progress than in 2018.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. Leaders ensure that all appropriate checks on adults are made before they start to work at the school. Records are detailed. Safeguarding training for all staff is up to date. Staff have a good awareness of safeguarding issues and know what to do if they have any concerns about a pupils’ safety. Referrals are made in a timely manner and any concerns are followed up effectively with external agencies and parents.
• Pupils feel safe. They told inspectors that teachers help to resolve quickly any concerns that they have. The vast majority of parents and staff who responded to the Parent View survey believe that their children are safe and cared for effectively.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good

• Inspection evidence shows that teaching overall is good. Teaching is improving across a wide range of subjects, particularly in key stage 4. This is because senior leaders now monitor the work of teachers effectively and provide regular training based on the needs they identify.
• Teachers have strong subject knowledge. They use questioning successfully to target pupils of different abilities and develop their ideas in greater depth.
• Relationships between teachers and pupils are positive. Teachers have established clear routines in class so that pupils are ready to learn in lessons.
• Most teachers use assessment information well to plan learning which builds on what pupils can already do. However, some teachers’ expectations of boys are not high enough. This hinders their progress.
• Leaders ensure the accuracy of assessments, by internal moderation and consultation with other schools.
• The teaching of science is improving. Teachers use subject-specific vocabulary appropriately. They provide a wide range of activities for pupils to develop and apply their practical skills.
• There is an increased focus on developing pupils’ literacy skills. Leaders promote reading in English lessons and other activities well. Pupils have opportunities to write at length across the curriculum. This helps them to develop their vocabulary and writing skills.
• In mathematics, teachers are helping pupils to develop their problem-solving and reasoning skills successfully.
• Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Current pupils make good progress from their starting points.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good.
• Pupils are polite and friendly. They wear their uniform with pride and respect their environment. Pupils appreciate the help and support that they receive. They are respectful to each other and to staff.
• Leaders have developed a comprehensive personal, social, health and education programme called ‘curriculum for life’. This develops pupils’ understanding of diversity, health and welfare and sex and relationships.
• Pupils generally show positive attitudes to learning, although there is some variation in the quality of presentation and the degree of pride that some boys take in their work.
• Leaders give pupils many opportunities to develop their leadership skills. Pupils enjoy taking on responsibilities, such as representatives in the ‘youth parliament’ and prefects. Members of the school council have opportunities to express their views about the school. Pupils are involved in raising money for charities. This helps them to develop their social responsibilities.
• Pupils feel safe in school and are taught how to stay safe, including when using social media. They are aware of the different types of bullying. Pupils reported that incidents of bullying are rare. School records confirms this. They are confident that teachers deal with bullying effectively should it occur.
• The small number of pupils who attend alternative provision attend regularly. Leaders work closely with alternative provision staff to ensure that these pupils follow appropriate qualifications and are kept safe.
• Pupils benefit from high-quality careers information, advice and guidance. This ensures that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good.
• The school is calm and orderly. Pupils move sensibly around the building and socialise well together during break and lunchtime.
• Pupils are punctual to lessons and bring the correct books and equipment. Most pupils behave very well during lessons. Boys are often less engaged than other pupils in lessons and they sometimes lose interest in their learning.
• Fixed-term exclusions were above the national average in 2017/18. This is because leaders have used them to re-establish their high standards of behaviour. Records show that rate of fixed term exclusions have declined this year.
• Most pupils say that they enjoy coming to school. This is reflected in pupils’ attendance, which is above the national average and improving. The attendance of disadvantaged pupils was lower than national over the last two years. Leaders track attendance carefully. They have employed an additional member of staff to increase the capacity of the attendance team. The impact of this is that the attendance of disadvantaged pupils is improving rapidly.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• The proportion of pupils attaining a standard pass and above in both English and mathematics GCSE examinations was above average over the last three years.
• Outcomes require improvement because pupils have not made consistently strong progress across the curriculum in recent years. This was partly due to changes in staffing and a legacy of previous weaker teaching. National data in 2018 indicated that pupils’ progress from their starting points was below average, particularly for boys. In 2017 and 2018, pupils’ progress was below average in science and humanities.
• School information, pupils’ work and lesson observations, show that progress for current pupils across a range of subjects including humanities and science is improving and are moving rapidly towards being good. This is because leaders have made improvements to teaching and changes to the way the curriculum is implemented to strengthen outcomes across all subjects. Leaders are also taking action to ensure that current pupils are entered for the correct level of examination.
• Pupils continue to make strong progress in key stage 4 across a range of subjects including: art, electronics, music and vocational courses. They make increasingly strong progress across the curriculum, as they move through from Years 7 to 9.
• In 2018, middle-attaining and high-attaining boys underachieved in a number of subjects. Leaders’ current assessment information and work in books, indicates that boys are now making stronger progress. However, there are still differences in the progress boys and girls make from their starting points.
• In 2017, disadvantaged pupils’ progress was below that of other pupils nationally. Published results also indicate that the small number of disadvantaged pupils did not achieve well in some subjects in 2018. Staff are providing more focused support to help reduce the weaker aspects in these pupils’ learning. Inspection evidence indicates that the progress of the current, relatively small, group of disadvantaged pupils has begun to improve. However, it continues to lag behind that of others in the school and nationally.
• The progress of the most able pupils was below the average compared to other pupils nationally in 2018. Current assessment information and pupils’ work shows that the progress of these pupils is improving as a result of focused questioning and increased challenge from teachers.
• Pupils with SEND are supported very well. As a result, they make progress good progress over time from their different starting points.
• Year 7 pupils, who joined the school with low starting points in English and/or mathematics, catch up with their peers.
• Pupils are well prepared for their next stage of education. The vast majority of pupils go on to further education, training or employment when they leave the school.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 106537 Wigan 10090526 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Secondary comprehensive School category Voluntary aided Age range of pupils Gender of pupils 11 to 16 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 981 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Headteacher Telephone number Website Email address Caroline Chivers Andy McGlown 01942 747693 www.saintpetershigh.wigan.sch.uk enquiries@admin.saintpetershigh.wigan.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 18–19 September 2007

Information about this school

• This is a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided school.
• The school was inspected under section 48 of the Education Act 2005 in July 2017.
• The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average.
• The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is well below the national average.
• The proportion of pupils with SEND is below the national average. The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is broadly average.
• The school uses alternative provision for a small number of pupils at the following providers: Fir Tree, Fix-It, One Vision Media, and Wigan and Leigh College.

Information about this inspection

• Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, other senior leaders, middle leaders, a group of staff and six governors, including the chair. Inspectors also spoke by telephone with representatives of alternative providers and the school’s improvement partner.
• Inspectors observed teaching, learning and assessment across a wide range of subjects in different age groups. Several observations were conducted jointly with senior leaders.
• Inspectors scrutinised pupils’ work in lessons and looked at a sample of pupils’ books to evaluate their learning over time in different subjects.
• Inspectors met with pupils, both formally and informally, to gather their views on a variety of issues, including safeguarding, bullying, behaviour, teaching and the curriculum.
• Inspectors observed pupils at breaks, lunchtimes, in registration periods, assemblies and in lessons.
• The inspection team scrutinised a wide range of documentation, including: records relating to pupils’ behaviour and attendance, safeguarding information, minutes of governing-body meetings, information on the progress made by pupils, training arrangements for teachers, checks on the quality of teaching, the school’s self-evaluation and the school improvement plan.
• Inspectors considered the views expressed by parents in the 182 responses to Ofsted’s online survey (Parent View).

Inspection team

Ahmed Marikar, lead inspector Jane Eccleston Dean Logan Timothy Gartside Philip Wood Will Smith Her Majesty’s Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Ofsted Inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector