St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a warm and friendly school that welcomes all pupils into its caring community.

Pupils like coming to school and attend regularly. Typically, they feel happy and safe.

Covid restrictions had a negative impact on the school, particularly on staffing.

Many pupils join at different points of the school year. The school recently moved from a split site to its new single site. Despite these challenges, the school is committed to an ambitious education for its pupils.

However, this ambition is not being achieved. The behaviour of pupils is variable. Some pupils demonstrate negative attitudes to their learning.

Too often, pupils are late to ...school and to lessons.

The quality of education that pupils in Years 7 to 11 receive is not as strong as it should be. Pupils do not remember enough of what they learn.

Outcomes in public examinations are low. The provision for students in the sixth form is stronger.

Pupils benefit from a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities.

Pupils in Year 9 recently visited the trenches in Belgium to learn about World War One. All pupils greatly enjoyed the school's 'culture day'. Pupils have many opportunities to undertake positions of leadership or responsibility.

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

Pupils receive a broad and ambitious curriculum that meets national expectations. The school has thought carefully about what pupils should learn and the order in which they should learn it. For example, in science pupils study introductory units in forensics, medicine and engineering.

This supports them with future careers choices. In physical education, pupils learn about team leadership and communication alongside different sports. All pupils study Latin throughout the school.

Students in the sixth form follow a mixture of vocational and academic qualifications. These students enjoy studying here.

In the sixth form and in some subjects such as mathematics and science, teaching typically uses activities that enable pupils to recall prior knowledge and then build on it step by step.

In these subjects, teachers give clear instructions, model examples well and correct misconceptions in a timely manner. The quality of teaching is not consistent across all subjects in Years 7 to 11.

In many subjects, teaching does not focus on the key knowledge that pupils must learn routinely well.

The presentation of subject content does not consistently ensure that pupils are helped to grasp ideas correctly. As a result, pupils do not build their understanding of more complex ideas over time. The school has not thought enough about how to check what pupils know and understand as they progress through the curriculum.

Teachers' checks do not identify the gaps or misconceptions in pupils' understanding as they arise. As a result, teachers cannot build on the next steps for pupils' learning effectively. This means that pupils do not achieve well, including in public examinations.

The school identifies the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities quickly and effectively. These pupils receive extra support. Teachers adapt resources well to meet the needs of individual pupils.

Pupils at an early stage of reading receive the support that they need to become accurate and fluent readers.

Too many pupils do not behave well in classrooms and around the school site. This resulted in a high number of suspensions last year.

The school has clear systems for managing pupils' behaviour, but staff's expectations are not consistently high. This means that disruption to learning during lessons is too common. Pupils' behaviour across the school site is not routinely calm and orderly particularly during unstructured times.

The school's approach to pupils being late and truant during the school day has not had a positive impact. Leaders rightly recognise that improving pupils' behaviour is a key priority. The school closely tracks pupils' attendance and takes effective action to address any emerging weaknesses.

The school is passionate about pupils' personal development. The school's well-structured personal development provision ensures that pupils are well-prepared for life in modern Britain. They learn about democracy and how to be a good citizen.

Effective careers advice and guidance help pupils, especially those in the sixth form, make informed choices about their next steps. All pupils in Year 10 and Year 12 learn about the world of work through work experience placements.

Leaders at all levels are deeply committed to the school.

Staff appreciate the opportunities for professional development and leaders' concern for their well-being. However, leaders are sometimes too positive about the impact of their work. This limits the effective use of strategies to improve key areas of the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In many subjects in Years 7 to 11, teaching does not deliver the school's curriculum to a high standard. As a result, pupils do not develop their knowledge and understanding securely over time.

The school's published outcomes remain low. The school should ensure a consistent delivery of the curriculum that has a positive impact on pupils' understanding over time, including in published outcomes. ? In many lessons, teachers do not check what pupils know and can do.

They do not identify the knowledge gaps and misconceptions that pupils have. As a result, too many pupils develop a disjointed understanding of learning and the misconceptions they have persist over time. The school should ensure that teachers are able to use strategies to check what pupils know and address any gaps in knowledge so that pupils develop a secure understanding before learning new content.

• The school does not consistently apply robust procedures to tackle lateness and internal truancy. As a result, a significant minority of pupils are routinely late to lessons and some pupils truant lessons during the school day. This results in a disrupted start to many lessons and some pupils develop gaps in their knowledge from the lessons they do not attend.

The school should ensure that its policies and procedures to address poor punctuality and internal truancy lead to a sustained improvement over time. ? Staff do not consistently apply the school's behaviour policy. Some staff do not challenge pupils who break the school rules.

The poor behaviour of some pupils has a detrimental impact on their own and other pupils' learning. The number of suspensions has been high. The school should ensure that staff are supported to enforce the behaviour policy routinely and consistently.