St Ignatius College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

St Ignatius College continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy school and value their education. Relationships between the pupils and the teachers are very positive. Pupils and staff see themselves as 'men and women for others', who treat all with the respect and care they deserve.

Pupils behave well in lessons. They value their education and show respect for their teachers. They present their work well and take pride in it.

Pupils move between lessons calmly. Leaders are always at hand to help maintain order. Pupils are clear that bullying is not accepted.

They are confident that staff deal effectively with any incidents....r/>
The school offers pupils an impressive range of activities in the early morning and afternoon. Some of these extra sessions help pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to complete their work and improve how much they learn.

Pupils also have the opportunity to join a wide range of clubs, including those for music and sport. These are well attended. Assemblies celebrate all achievements, including academic, music and sporting fixtures.

Leaders think that these additional activities are essential. They help pupils become confident and contributing members of society.

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

Leaders have high aspirations for all pupils.

The curriculum plans for most subjects include opportunities for pupils to revisit concepts that they have learned before. This helps pupils to apply this knowledge in new contexts.

Teachers adapt lessons successfully when they identify gaps in pupils' learning.

For example, the science teachers developed a new unit of work to help the Year 9 pupils understand electricity better.Languages and art are not consistently taught as well as most subjects. In Spanish and French, pupils practise vocabulary so they can remember and identify words.

However, not all teachers offer them enough opportunities to build these words into sentences and paragraphs. Leaders feel that this is one of the reasons holding the school back in its aspiration to increase entries for the English Baccalaureate (EBacc).

In art, pupils studying for GCSE struggle to use subject-specific knowledge when answering questions.

This is because they do not remember what they have learned before well enough.

Leaders and teachers insist on high standards of behaviour, good manners and respect from all pupils. They offer pupils opportunities to be 'Ignatian brothers' and to lead and mentor the younger ones.

During lessons, pupils can focus well on what is being taught. They are keen to complete challenging work. Yet, when the curriculum aims are not as ambitious as they should be, pupils lose interest and become restless.

In English, pupils use the words they learn with precision in their own work. This was exemplified in a Year 10 lesson when a pupil explained why he had described Mr Birling in 'An Inspector Calls' as a 'capitalist'. The pupil understood and remembered this concept.

Teachers have an excellent knowledge of their subject. They present information and ideas with clarity. Teachers use homework tasks to ensure that pupils remember important content.

Pupils are able to apply it to new learning. For instance, sixth-form mathematics students revisited the graphs they had learned at GCSE. This prepared them well for their lesson on polynomial graphs.

Pupils with SEND study a wide range of subjects. They mainly receive extra support outside lesson time. In subjects where teaching is well sequenced, they develop their knowledge and skills successfully.

They are able to recall knowledge from previous years and use it well. However, they struggle when the curriculum has not been adapted well enough to meet their needs. As a result, pupils with SEND sometimes struggle to understand their learning.

Staff speak positively about the support that they receive from senior leaders. Leaders consider the well-being and workload of staff when they make decisions. For example, they keep meetings to a minimum.

They also encourage collaboration and joint planning. This helps teachers who are not specialists in the subjects that they teach.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff are well trained and understand the procedures to follow to report their concerns. There are weekly safeguarding briefings. These offer teachers the opportunity to discuss a range of situations and to consider what actions to take.

Leaders work with the local authority and other agencies to make sure pupils get the help they need.

The e-safety assemblies and the healthy living days help pupils learn how to keep themselves safe. They say they feel comfortable to turn to staff and the headteacher if they have any concerns.

Pupils are confident that the school deals promptly with the issues they report.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

In some subjects, the school's curriculum is not yet sufficiently coherently planned and sequenced. However, leaders have taken actions to plan and bring about a more effective curriculum next year.

They are training staff in how to deliver it.In languages, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. Pupils' ability to write is not well developed.

Leaders should ensure that the curriculum for languages provides more opportunities for pupils to develop their writing skills. . In art, pupils do not use subject-specific vocabulary to explain their learning.

Leaders need to ensure that the art curriculum enables pupils to develop their knowledge effectively. . There are occasions when the curriculum has not been adapted well enough for pupils with SEND.

As a result, these pupils struggle to understand some concepts taught. Leaders should ensure that the curriculum for all subjects is adapted to meet the needs for this group of pupils.

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 school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, 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 convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in March 2016.

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