Cardinal Allen Catholic High School, Fleetwood

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Cardinal Allen Catholic High School, Fleetwood continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy to attend this kind and welcoming school.

Pupils achieve well. This is because leaders set high expectations for all pupils, including those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils wear their uniforms with pride.

They typically behave well in lessons and around school. Inappropriate language is rare. Pupils feel safe and attend school regularly.

Pupils are confident that adults will help them to resolve any concerns or worries. They said that the few instances of bul...lying that occur are dealt with effectively.

Pupils benefit from a vast range of enrichment activities including sports, music and games clubs.

Pupils can choose to join the Cardi singers or the Bravo Drama Club. Pupils are proud to contribute to their local community through a number of programmes including The Duke of Edinburgh's Award and the John Muir Award, which involves work to protect the environment.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Leaders have considered carefully what they want pupils to learn.

The curriculums are ambitious and meet the breadth of the national curriculum. Leaders have ensured that the content of the curriculum in many subjects is set out in a logical order. This enables pupils to gain the key pieces of information that they need to build their knowledge and to remember it effectively.

However, in a few subjects, staff do not teach the curriculum in the intended order. As a result, some pupils do not learn some aspects of the curriculum as well as they might.

Pupils, including those with SEND and disadvantaged pupils, become confident readers.

Pupils who find reading difficult are well supported to catch up. Pupils enjoy reading a class novel with their form teacher. They can also choose to take part in group reading with the librarian or to read a book of their choice independently.

These activities help pupils to develop and broaden their vocabulary so that they become accurate and fluent readers. Pupils' extensive vocabularies and secure comprehension skills enable them to achieve well in many subjects across the curriculum. Pupils take advantage of the ample opportunities to read for pleasure in order to find out about different cultures, lives and experiences.

The systems for assessing pupils' learning are effective. Teachers use several methods to check that pupils remember what they have learned. Assessment information is used well by teachers to adapt the curriculum when pupils have not understood what they have been taught.

Most pupils behave well and are proud ambassadors for the school. Behaviour in lessons is respectful and positive. Pupils said that the behaviour system works well.

A small minority of pupils struggled to adjust back into the routines following their return to school after the COVID-19 restrictions eased. Leaders have taken decisive actions, such as staggering breaktimes and lunchtime, in order to maintain high standards of behaviour.

Leaders provide a broad range of experiences outside the academic curriculum to promote pupils' personal development.

Pupils are helped to understand the importance of tolerance and respect for others. They gain a keen sense of their community and their role within it as positive citizens. Pupils benefit from useful careers advice and guidance.

Pupils, including those with SEND, said that they particularly enjoy birdwatching in the school's outdoor wildlife corridor.

Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND effectively. Leaders support these pupils in various ways, such as by providing key workers to help them.

Leaders ensure that pupils with SEND access the curriculum and learn well.

Leaders at all levels are mindful of teachers' workload. Staff feel well-supported and say that they work collaboratively at times of high pressure to make workloads manageable.

Members of the governing body understand the school well. They provide an effective balance of support and challenge.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All adults in the school are well trained to spot the signs of abuse and neglect. Records show that staff report any safeguarding concerns about pupils in a timely manner. Leaders respond quickly.

They readily engage with a range of services outside school to provide help for pupils and their families when they need it.

Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe, for example, when using the internet for work or leisure.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the order in which pupils learn the curriculum content does not follow the order intended by leaders.

Consequently, some pupils do not build their knowledge as securely as they could. Leaders must ensure that teachers implement the intended curriculum effectively across all subjects so that pupils remember what they have learned.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in May 2015.

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