St Cecilia’s RC High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Standards and achievement at St Cecilia's have improved in the last two years, particularly in English and mathematics. Pupils also achieve well in history and sports studies.

The progress made by disadvantaged pupils is good and is similar to other pupils in the school. Pupils benefit from good or better teaching in most lessons. Pupils behave well around the school and are keen to do well.

The school provides many opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and pupils engage enthusiastically in these. The new headteacher has provided renewed focus and energy to build on the improvements made in the last two years.... Senior leaders provide training for staff that is highly effective in developing the quality of their teaching.

Teachers are sharing good practice both within the school and collaborating with colleagues from other schools. Leaders ensure pupils are well cared for. The governing body knows the school very well.

It has played a considerable part in supporting the school to improve standards. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Pupils have not made enough progress in science, design technology, geography, information technology and modern languages. Teaching in some lessons does not challenge pupils to encourage them to do their best.

Some pupils do not follow up on their teachers' suggestions for improvement. The school's information about how pupils are achieving is not always used precisely enough in some subjects. This means that some work is not closely matched to their abilities.

Information about this school

Since the last inspection there have been two interim headteachers. The substantive headteacher was appointed in April 2015. The school is smaller than the average-sized secondary school.

The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, known to be eligible for support through the pupil premium, is average. (The pupil premium is additional government funding to support those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals and those children who are looked after by the local authority.) Almost all pupils are of White British heritage and few are at the early stages of learning English.

The school receives support from Lancashire local authority and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford. One student attends the Larches House School in Preston. The school meets the governments' floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics.