Saint Paul's Catholic High School

Overview

Saint Paul’s Catholic High School is described as a “welcoming and supportive community” where leaders maintain “high expectations for all pupils.” The report notes that pupils “achieve well,” feel safe, and benefit from a curriculum adapted to address learning missed during the pandemic. Overall, the school provides a calm and orderly environment where most pupils behave well and take pride in their work.

Strengths

• Leaders have ensured the curriculum is “designed and delivered well,” with subject leaders adapting content to help pupils “catch up on any missed or forgotten learning.”
• Staff use “highly effective strategies” to support reading development, ensuring most pupils become “fluent and confident readers.”
• Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified accurately and receive “effective support,” mostly accessing the same “ambitious curriculum” as their peers.
• The school offers a “comprehensive personal development curriculum,” including careers education, preparing pupils well for “the next steps beyond school.”
• Pupils enjoy leadership experiences, such as the school and diversity councils, helping them become “active citizens.”

Areas to improve

• Leaders should increase the breadth of enrichment activities so that more pupils, including disadvantaged ones, engage in opportunities that promote their “wider development.”
• Leaders must support teachers in a “small number of subjects” to deliver the curriculum as intended, ensuring pupils gain the intended subject knowledge.
• Leaders should improve teachers’ knowledge of SEND to ensure staff better meet the “individual needs” of these pupils across the curriculum.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective,” with leaders alert to risks and staff trained on concerns including online safety and county lines.