St Gabriel's RC High School, a Voluntary Academy

Overview

The report describes St Gabriel’s RC High School as a place where “most pupils feel happy and safe” and benefit from “trusting relationships with staff.” Leaders have driven “considerable improvements to the quality of education,” resulting in a “well-designed curriculum” where pupils “achieve highly.” The school is judged as “Good” across all inspection categories, reflecting strong leadership and positive pupil attitudes.

Strengths

• Pupils enjoy a “welcoming place” where bullying is “dealt with well” and they feel confident raising concerns.
• Subject leaders have successfully organised curriculums so that “pupils’ learning builds over time” and key knowledge is securely retained.
• Staff are “experts in their subjects” who use effective assessment strategies to identify and address gaps in knowledge.
• Leaders have “robust systems” to identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), ensuring they receive appropriate support and ambitious expectations.
• The school offers a “comprehensive programme” for personal development, including relevant content on healthy relationships and careers.

Areas to improve

• Leaders’ approach to supporting pupils struggling to read is “underdeveloped, particularly in key stage 4,” hindering older pupils’ access to the curriculum.
• “Some groups of pupils do not attend school as often as they should,” causing them to miss important learning opportunities.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective,” with strengthened systems, appropriate staff training, and timely referrals to external agencies.