Sacred Heart Catholic Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Most pupils are happy to be part of this very welcoming school community. Pupils from different backgrounds mix well with each other.

Staff care for pupils' well-being and safety. Pupils know who to speak to if they are worried or upset.

The school is ambitious for all pupils to succeed, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those who are disadvantaged.

Pupils, and students in the sixth form, benefit from the recent improvements that the school has made to the quality of education that it provides. However, pupils learn better in some lessons than in others. This is because the curriculum is not delivered consistently ...well.

As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they should.

The school has raised its expectations of how pupils should behave in school. Pupils behave well in lessons and as they move around the school during breaks and lunchtimes.

Pupils appreciate how behaviour incidents are dealt with consistently and fairly by staff. However, some pupils do not attend school regularly enough. These pupils do not benefit from the school's raised expectations.

An increasing number of pupils benefit from extra-curricular activities. The school asked pupils for suggestions about the sort of clubs they might wish to join. As a result, there are now more opportunities than before for pupils to participate in a wide variety of sports, musical and cultural activities.

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

The staff, governors and trustees at this school are united and effective in their desire to ensure that all pupils have access to a high-quality, broad and ambitious curriculum. The school, with the support of the trust, has begun to take effective action to address a legacy of an inadequate curriculum and poor teaching. As a result, outcomes for all pupils are now improving.

The school has considered carefully what pupils need to know and when this content should be taught. Each subject curriculum, including those taught in the sixth form, sets out clearly for staff the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn. Subject teachers have received training on how best to deliver that knowledge.

Consequently, the quality of education currently provided by the school is improving.

Teachers know their subjects well. In many lessons, they provide clear explanations and check regularly that pupils understand what is being taught.

However, in other lessons, there is variation in the way the curriculum is delivered. Sometimes, teachers do not choose the most appropriate methods to help pupils to understand key knowledge. On some occasions, teachers do not check carefully that pupils understand what they have learned before introducing new learning.

As a result, some pupils develop gaps in their learning. They struggle to recall what has been taught and learning is hindered.

The school identifies pupils with SEND accurately and meets their needs well.

Together with the trust, the school has provided teachers with suitable information and training on how to support pupils with SEND in the classroom. Consequently, staff are increasingly confident in helping these pupils to learn well. However, the achievement of pupils with SEND in key stage 4 is variable.

This is because they have experienced the same legacy of a weak curriculum and poor teaching as their peers.

The school has made reading a priority. It has developed effective systems to identify pupils who have gaps in their reading knowledge.

These systems enable staff to pinpoint and remedy the specific problems that individual pupils face with reading. Most pupils become more confident readers over time. This is making it easier for them to access the ambitious school curriculum.

Pupils benefit from positive relationships with staff and their peers. Typically, they behave well and enjoy learning and socialising together. They understand and follow routines.

Older pupils told inspectors that there is a stark contrast between pupils' current behaviour and that in times past.

The school has appropriate processes in place to understand and address the causes of pupils' absence. The school works thoughtfully with many pupils and their families to improve pupils' rates of attendance.

However, these strategies are not effective for a small group of pupils. These pupils do not attend school as often as they should and, consequently, do not achieve well.

The school shows a strong commitment to ensuring that pupils, and students in the sixth form, build the knowledge that they need to be well prepared for life beyond school.

The personal, social and health education programme has been recently reviewed. The changes ensure that pupils have time to discuss and reflect on more sensitive issues including relationships, sex and health matters. All pupils receive age-appropriate careers education, including independent advice about future careers and further and higher education opportunities.

The school is considerate of staff's workload and well-being. The trust has supported the school to strengthen its capacity for improvement. Members of the local governing body support and challenge school leaders effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Across all subjects, the renewed curriculum is in its early stages of implementation. As a result, in some lessons, teachers do not choose the most suitable techniques to help pupils to understand subject content.

This hinders how well pupils progress through the curriculum. The school should ensure that teachers are fully equipped to deliver curriculum content consistently well so that pupils know and remember important knowledge. ? Across all subjects, in some lessons teachers do not check pupils' understanding well enough.

This means that some pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged, develop gaps in their knowledge and misconceptions that go unchecked. The school should ensure that teachers are supported to identify and address gaps in pupils' knowledge. This is so that pupils can build on what they know when new learning is introduced.

• Some pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, do not attend school as regularly as they should. These pupils are not accessing the full curriculum and they miss out on important learning. The school should further develop its strategies to work constructively with parents and carers to overcome the barriers to attendance, which, at present, stop some pupils from making the most of their education.