St Peter’s RC High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The vast majority of students make good progress and achieve well.

They are well prepared for future success. Students who are disabled or who have special educational needs achieve outstandingly well because of the excellence of the care, guidance and support that they receive. For the same reason, students who speak English as an additional language and those who join the school at other than normal times also make rapid progress and achieve well.

This shows the school's strong and highly effective promotion of equality of opportunity and tackling of discrimination. Teaching is usually good with some that is outstanding. A small amount... requires improvement.

Students generally behave well in lessons and around school. They develop more mature and positive attitudes to learning as they move up through the school. Students feel very safe in school and are proud to be members of its community.

Students' relationships with each other and with the adults working with them are strong and respectful. Leaders and managers, including the governing body, are highly committed to the success of the school and especially to students' personal development, well-being and welfare. Students' spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is outstanding.

It is underpinned by the school's strong respect for each student as an individual. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Although most students make at least the progress expected of them, not enough middle- or high-ability students make better progress than expected. Not enough teaching is outstanding and some requires improvement.

Leaders and managers are not always accurate in judging the quality and effectiveness of teaching.

Information about this school

St Peter's is similar in size to most secondary schools nationally. It is situated in an inner-city environment close to the centre of Manchester.

The school has resourced provision for 10 students who have specific learning impairment or autistic spectrum disorders. They are integrated into normal classroom teaching for most lessons. The proportion of students known to be eligible for the pupil premium is well above average.

(The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, children from service families and those children that are looked after by the local authority.) About 75 % of students are from a wide range of ethnic minority backgrounds. The proportion of students that speak English as an additional language is well above average.

The proportion of students supported through school action is broadly average. The proportion of students supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. Many more students than is typical join the school at other than normal times.

A significant number of these students join the school from abroad speaking little or no English. No students attend courses off-site at other establishments. The school meets the current government's floor standards that set minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress in English and mathematics.