St John Lloyd Catholic Comprehensive School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

The school's caring and inclusive ethos and firm commitment to keeping everyone safe are underpinned by the Gospel values which permeate all aspects of the school's work.

There is a calm, co-operative and friendly atmosphere both in lessons and around the school. All members of the school community are valued, supported and respected. The headteacher and senior leaders provide supportive and compassionate leadership which has helped to develop a strong sense of teamwork amongst staff.

Leaders have ensured high levels of well-being and care, but they have not had enough impact on making the improvements required to important aspects of the school's work, including the development of teaching and assessment and provision for... pupils' skills. Although leaders gather lots of information about the school's work, evaluation and improvement processes are not precise enough to drive the improvements needed in teaching. The curriculum is a strong feature of the school and is tailored appropriately to provide suitable learning experiences for the full range of pupils.

A comprehensive programme of enrichment activities enhances further the provision, making effective use of a range of partners. Pupils enjoy developing their Welsh language skills. Staff show high levels of care and compassion towards pupils and help them develop a secure understanding of how to be safe.

The pastoral team creates an environment where it is accepted that pupils make mistakes but supports these pupils to learn from them and develop their moral, social, and cultural awareness. The school works successfully with a wide variety of outside agencies to support every child and their families. Transition arrangements are strong and ensure that pupils have the best possible start in the school.

The majority of pupils make appropriate progress in lessons but there is too much inconsistency in how effectively teachers plan to promote strong progress. Overall, teachers' written feedback does not have enough impact on improving pupils' work. Professional learning has contributed to strong care, support and guidance, but it has not focused closely enough on developing classroom practice.

Recommendations R1 Ensure that senior leadership roles and responsibilities are balanced suitably and that leaders at all levels have the capacity to secure improvement R2 Strengthen self-evaluation processes so that leaders have an accurate view of the school's areas for development and they plan for improvement precisely R3 Improve the effectiveness of teaching and assessment R4 Strengthen the leadership of, and provision for, the progressive development of pupils' skills R5 Ensure that professional learning focuses on improving classroom practice What happens next In accordance with the Education Act 2005, HMCI is of the opinion that this school is in need of significant improvement. The school will draw up an action plan that shows how it is going to address the recommendations. Estyn will monitor the school's progress about 12 months after the publication of this report.

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