St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and proud to attend this school. They embrace the school's values of aspiration, belief and compassion.

For example, pupils spoke about an increase in kindness towards one another. They are becoming proactively involved in the school community. For instance, the eco-team has installed recycling bins in the canteen to reduce plastic waste.

Based on mutual respect, pupils forge strong relationships with staff. They are confident that staff want the best for them. Pupils' self-belief in what they can achieve is rising.

This is helped by the embedding of a no-excuse culture. Staff have the highest expectations of pupils' academic outcomes. Pupils...' achievement across the curriculum has improved and is now strong overall In lessons, pupils follow the school's firmly embedded routines.

They behave well. Pupils appreciate that the school's rules allow them to learn undisrupted. The 'ABC' cards encourage pupils to behave well.

At social times, behaviour is calm.Pupils enjoy the array of sporting clubs that are on offer. The weekly darts match draws in a number of excited spectators and also helps pupils to practise their numeracy skills.

The student leaders, democratically chosen, take up the mantle of responsibility with honour. Pupils are keen to serve their peers as form representatives, mental-health and anti-bullying ambassadors.

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

The school's broad and ambitious curriculum is well-ordered to help pupils build knowledge over time.

The number of pupils opting for the English Baccalaureate suite of subjects is rising. This is because the school has strengthened the modern foreign languages curriculum and more pupils are choosing to study this subject.Teachers use their strong subject knowledge to explain ideas clearly.

Across the school, teachers deliver the curriculum well. They design activities that help pupils to practise and to consolidate their learning. Teachers support pupils to connect new ideas with prior knowledge.

In most subjects, pupils can explain their learning clearly.Teachers use effective strategies to check what pupils know. They are adept at spotting gaps in knowledge.

Teachers swiftly identify and remedy misconceptions. They give pupils plenty of opportunities to repeat and recall learning. This helps pupils to secure what they know.

The 2023 published key stage 4 outcomes do not reflect the improved quality of education in the school and how well pupils are now learning. Those outcomes are a legacy of a weaker curriculum and poorer behaviour. Currently, the work in pupils' books shows that pupils are successfully building learning over time.

Pupils take pride in their work. They appreciate how teachers do not move on to new learning until they have checked everyone understands.Inspection report: St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy 3 and 4 December 2024 Typically, the school identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) quickly and accurately.

That said, some of the information given to staff does not help them to give these pupils the support that they need. For instance, some learning is not adapted well enough to meet the needs of some pupils with SEND. This limits their access to the curriculum.

Reading is front and centre of all that the school does. The school and trust view reading as the gateway to pupils' success. Pupils with gaps in their reading knowledge, including those at the early stages of learning to read, receive effective support that helps them to catch up with their peers.

The school encourages regular habits of reading.The school has employed effective strategies to improve pupils' attendance rates. As a result, absence rates have decreased.

Furthermore, the school has created a climate where most pupils want to learn. Staff apply the school's behaviour policy consistently. Nevertheless, there is a small group of pupils who do not behave appropriately.

They fail to meet the school's high expectations for behaviour. This results in a negative impact on the achievement of these pupils.The school's programme for pupils' personal development is carefully designed to help prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.

Pupils can readily recall the protected characteristics and why discrimination is wrong. They understand how to keep themselves safe in different situations. For example, on-line, around water or in relationships.

Pupils' understanding around different faiths and cultures helps them to empathise with others.Trustees and members of the local governing board challenge the school appropriately to continue to raise standards. Staff support the school's ambitious vision.

They make use of the plentiful opportunities for professional development. Staff spoke readily about how the school supports their well-being and how much the school has changed for the better.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority) • The information given to staff about pupils with SEND is sometimes too generic and does not help staff to tailor teaching and the curriculum to meet the needs of those pupils as effectively as they could. This means that some pupils with SEND do not learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that the information is personalised and that staff are supported with the knowledge and expertise to use this information to support pupils with SEND to achieve well.

• There is a small minority of pupils who do not behave well. This has a negative impact on their achievement. The school should ensure that it reviews its strategies for Inspection report: St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Academy 3 and 4 December 2024 supporting these pupils to help them learn how to behave appropriately so that they can achieve well.