St Julie’s Catholic High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Social justice is the principle that has guided this school's rapid improvement over the past two years. Governors and the headteacher accepted that some aspects of education being provided for pupils were not good enough and set about to improve these quickly.

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the heart of all the school's work. Now, pupils are being well educated and their personal development is of the highest quality. The headteacher and governors have very skilfully managed the school's improvement.

They identified talented staff and promoted them to key positions in the school. Leaders and governors enc...ouraged professional debate about how best to teach St Julie's pupils. They trusted their staff.

Teachers and teaching assistants committed to improving teaching and quickly grasped new ways of working. Reflecting the school's ethos, pupils show great respect for each other and school staff. They are clearly happy, feel secure and enthusiastically grasp the extensive range of opportunities available to them.

In most classes, pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning. Leaders and governors have maintained a very good and balanced curriculum, providing opportunities for pupils to pursue their interests while establishing a very sound foundation in a broad range of subjects. Students who continue their education in the sixth form are also well served by the school.

Good achievement, excellent care, guidance and support, and excellent personal development help these students to gain access to high-quality courses and training on leaving the school. The school has very successfully and quickly addressed most areas identified as requiring improvement in recent inspections, including raising pupils' achievement. Leaders and governors recognise that there is still work to be done to ensure that achievement in science is as good as it is in other subjects.

Although improving quickly, the progress made by the most able pupils is not as strong as the progress made by other pupils. Despite the quality of teaching improving rapidly, some teachers are not doing enough to help pupils develop their basic skills in spelling and using grammar accurately.

Information about this school

St Julie's Catholic High School is an average-sized secondary school for girls.

It includes a sixth form. St Julie's is a foundation school in the trusteeship of the Sisters of Notre Dame. The school moved into newly built premises in September 2017.

Since the last inspection, there has been a restructuring at senior leadership level. In addition, there has been a temporary appointment of a deputy headteacher to replace the substantive deputy headteacher who is currently seconded to Savio Salesian College in Bootle, Liverpool. The school uses three providers of alternative education for a very small number of pupils.

They are Everton Free School, Alder Centre for Education and Childwall Study Support Centre. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' performance at the end of key stage 4. The school is not considered as coasting by the DfE's definition.