St Brendan's Sixth Form College

Overview

The report describes St Brendan’s Sixth Form College as a provider where students enjoy a “positive learning environment” and feel “welcomed and valued.” Leaders have developed inclusive curriculums that support social mobility, with most students progressing to their chosen destinations. The college is judged as “Good” across all inspection categories, including the quality of education, behaviour, and leadership.

Strengths

• Teachers create a supportive atmosphere where students become “more confident and proud of their learning” through high expectations and effective participation.
• Curriculums are sequenced effectively, allowing students to build knowledge logically and link topics, resulting in “consistently good quality” work.
• Staff use assessment well to identify learning gaps and provide “clear and informative feedback” that students act upon to improve.
• Governors provide “effective scrutiny” to help leaders make improvements, while safeguarding arrangements are deemed “effective.”

Areas to improve

• Increase stakeholder involvement in curriculum design to better prepare students for local skills needs and future employment.
• Ensure more students, particularly those with high needs, access work experience and receive timely, effective careers guidance.
• Improve students’ understanding of the dangers of radicalisation and extremism, as current knowledge is not sufficiently revisited or retained.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective, with a culture that encourages students to report concerns to trusted adults who ensure they are “listened to and followed up.”