St Edmund Campion Catholic School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school School leaders, at all levels, know the school's strengths and weaknesses very well. They have acted effectively to address identified areas for improvements. The school's sixth form is outstanding.

Students make excellent progress from their different starting points and are extremely well prepared for their next steps. Leaders evaluate rigorously the quality of teaching and learning. This allows them to put targeted support in place, when needed, to continue their drive for excellence in teaching.

Governors are effective in holding leaders to account. They know the school's strengths and where it needs to improve further. Leaders' use o...f alternative provision is highly effective.

Pupils who had previously been disengaged from their education attend their placements regularly. As a result, pupils make good progress. Staff, pupils, parents and carers agree that the pastoral support pupils receive is a strength of the school.

Pupils feel safe and are confident that they know who to talk to if they need support. Behaviour in lessons and at social times has improved markedly. Pupils are polite, courteous and friendly.

Parents and pupils agree that behaviour is now good. The most able pupils' outcomes have been weak in the past. Leaders have recognised this and put well-focused plans in place to tackle the weakness.

Consequently, current most-able pupils now make strong progress. Leaders monitor effectively the improvement strategies they introduce. At times, this analysis lacks the necessary swiftness and succinctness for them to be able to share the findings easily with all stakeholders.

Disadvantaged pupils' outcomes are improving from low starting points. Although diminishing, there is still a difference in the performance of disadvantaged pupils compared to other pupils nationally. Leaders have put effective plans in place to tackle this underperformance.

Fixed-term exclusions remain above the national average. Leaders' rationale behind the sanction is clear and there is now evidence that the new behaviour policy is having a positive impact on these figures. Leaders have robust plans in place to reduce exclusions further.

Information about this school

The school is an average-size secondary school with an on-site sixth-form provision. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations set for pupils' attainment and progress. The proportions of disadvantaged pupils and pupils who speak English as an additional language are above average.

The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is average. The proportion of students who are from minority ethnic backgrounds is above average, the largest groups being of black or black British Caribbean and black or black British African heritage. Full-time off-site alternative provision is currently provided for 13 key stage 4 pupils at EBN2 Free School, St George's School, Black Water Academy, Imedia and Premier Training.