Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College

Overview

The inspection report states that the college is rated ‘Outstanding’ across all categories, including overall effectiveness, the quality of education, and leadership. It describes a provider where students ‘thrive in a culture of high expectation and ambition’ within a ‘welcoming, inclusive and diverse community’. Leaders have developed a ‘broad and coherent curriculum’ that effectively prepares students for higher education, employment, and life in modern Britain.

Strengths

• Students demonstrate ‘exceptional behaviour’ and ‘exemplary’ attendance, with ‘highly positive and mature attitudes to their studies’.
• The curriculum is ‘thoughtfully’ sequenced, with teachers using ‘highly effective teaching methods’ such as spaced retrieval to ensure students are ‘very well prepared for assessments’.
• Leaders engage ‘very effectively’ with employers and universities to design courses that meet local skills needs, including successful T level placements in health and digital sectors.
• The college provides an ‘inclusive curriculum’ that ‘very effectively meets the needs of students with high needs and students with SEND’, enabling them to make ‘excellent progress’.
• Staff support students’ personal development through the ‘innovative Stella Maris Leadership Award’, fostering attributes like ‘respect, perseverance, responsibility and capacity to make effective decisions’.

Areas to improve

• The report identifies no significant areas for improvement.

Safeguarding

The report states that ‘the arrangements for safeguarding are effective’, noting that students ‘feel safe’ and value measures such as controlled access and tutorial sessions that raise awareness of local risks.