St Matthew’s RC High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school has been transformed since the last inspection.

Pupils and staff said there has been a tangible change in culture across all areas of school life. Pupils feel safe and happy here. They are proud of their school.

The school has ambitious expectations for behaviour and achievement, and pupils endeavour to meet these expectations. Pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), follow a broad and ambitious curriculum. They benefit from the positive changes the school has made to the quality of education it provides.

As a result of these improvements, pupils are achieving increasingly well across a range of subjects....

Pupils' behaviour in the school is calm and focused. They learn the importance of making positive choices in their behaviour and learning.

This is reflected in pupils' positive conduct. If pupils fall short of the schools' expectations, staff follow a rigorous and consistent approach to address any incidents of misbehaviour effectively.

Pupils enjoy a range of extra-curricular activities.

Pupils are keen to represent the school in sporting events. They enthusiastically take on an increasing number of leadership responsibilities such as reading buddies and pupil librarians.

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

The school, with the support of the trust, has considerably raised the level of ambition in, and the quality of, the curriculum.

Alongside this, the school has strengthened staffing and provided appropriate training for teachers. This is contributing considerably to pupils achieving better than they did in the past. A growing number of pupils gain qualifications in the English Baccalaureate suite of subjects.

The school has set out the core knowledge pupils should learn and when this content should be taught. Teachers have secure subject knowledge, and they explain concepts well. Typically, teachers design activities that help pupils to learn successfully.

However, in a small number of subjects, there is an inconsistency in how teachers deliver learning. In a few subjects, some of the activities chosen do not help pupils to learn new content well. This means that some pupils do not learn as deeply as they could.

In the majority of subjects, teachers ensure pupils' learning carefully builds on the knowledge and skills they have learned previously. Here, pupils' progress is evident, and they achieve well. However, there are times when teachers' checks on pupils' learning are not as effective.

Some pupils have gaps or misconceptions that are not addressed before teachers introduce new learning.

While the impact of the improved curriculum is evident in current pupils' learning, this is not reflected in the 2023 published outcomes. This is because the legacy of weaker curriculums, destabilised staffing and pupils' previous poor attendance rates led to gaps in some older pupils' knowledge.

The school has an effective system in place for pinpointing the support needed by those pupils who are not confident, fluent readers. Extra reading sessions are tailored to enable them to become better readers. As a result, they make greater progress in other subjects.

The school actively fosters a love of reading. Pupils enjoy reading class novels from different genres.

The school identifies pupils' additional needs accurately.

Staff are provided with the information they need to make appropriate adaptations to the delivery of the curriculum. This helps staff to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. In the main, pupils with SEND achieve well.

The school has raised its expectations of pupils' behaviour. Systems are applied consistently by staff and are understood by pupils. Most pupils behave in line with the school's expectations.

On those occasions when pupils fail to meet this standard, they are supported to reflect and improve. The school's successful work with families has secured improvements in attendance for many pupils. The rate of attendance has risen and is now above the national average.

The number of pupils who are late to school has decreased, although too many pupils are not punctual to school each day. The school is working to improve this so that valuable learning time is not lost for these pupils.

The school has ensured that the personal, social and health education programme is well considered.

Over time, pupils develop an understanding of key topics such as the importance of healthy relationships. Pupils revisit important themes, each time adding more complexity. The school has a comprehensive careers programme in place which supports pupils to make well-informed decisions about their next steps in education or training.

Trustees and governors provide valuable support and constructive challenge, contributing to the school's continuous growth. Pupils, parents, carers and staff value the transparent communication about decisions made about the school. This has fostered increasing trust and support from the community.

Leaders are also alert to staff pressures, implementing considered changes to policies and practices to reduce workload and enhance staff well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, the school does not check in enough detail how well the curriculum is being implemented.

This means that some pupils are not making the progress in these subjects they could. The school should check more carefully that the curriculum is being delivered as intended so pupils know and remember more in these subjects. In some subjects, the school's assessment strategies are at an early stage of development.

In these subjects, teachers do not check how well pupils have learned important curriculum knowledge. This limits how well teachers support pupils to catch up on missed or forgotten knowledge. The school should ensure that teachers have the knowledge and skills they need to identify and remedy gaps in pupils' learning.