St Benedict's Catholic High School

Overview

St Benedict’s Catholic High School has “taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.” The report describes a school where pupils are “polite and happy” and display “positive attitudes to their learning.” Current students benefit from a strengthened curriculum and secure knowledge, although past examination results do yet reflect recent improvements.

Strengths

• Pupils are “attentive, engaged and keen to participate in lessons” and produce “high quality work that shows their deep understanding.”
• The school offers a “well-thought-out programme” for careers, including ‘world of work’ days, and a wide range of clubs and trips that nurture talents.
• Staff effectively support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), quickly identifying additional needs and adapting learning.
• Reading is “prioritised across the curriculum,” with well-trained staff helping struggling readers catch up and a library described as a “hive of activity.”
• The governing body provides a “high level of challenge” while remaining supportive, and staff appreciate efforts to reduce workload and an “open culture.”

Areas to improve

• Some staff do not choose “suitable learning activities” to help pupils secure and remember knowledge over time, limiting achievement.
• In a minority of subjects, the adapted curriculum for some pupils with SEND is “not as ambitious as it could be,” preventing them from achieving as well as they should.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”