Lancashire secondary school and college told it requires improvement by Ofsted for second time in a row

Our Lady's Catholic College on Morecambe Road in Lancaster was inspected by Ofsted between March 26-March 27 and was rated ‘Requires Improvement’ in a report published on May 20.

The college, which has 1031 pupils on its roll, including 146 in its sixth form, was told its ‘quality of education’ was classed as requires improvement, whilst its ‘behaviour and attitudes’, ‘personal development’, ‘leadership and management’ and sixth-form provision were classed as good.

Our Lady's Catholic College was also rated ‘Requires Improvement’ in its last full inspection in 2021, following a ‘Good’ rating in 2012.

If a school requires improvement it means it is not yet good but overall provides an acceptable standard of education, and it will receive a graded inspection again within a period of 2.5 years.

If a school has been judged as requires improvement at two successive inspections, as Our Lady's Catholic College has, it will also be subject to monitoring from inspectors to check its progress.

What the school does well

The report starts by stating: “Pupils value the sense of community and friendship that they find at Our Lady’s Catholic College. They enjoy the calm and purposeful atmosphere that permeates the school site. Pupils and staff recognise the considerable improvements to the school that have taken place over the last few years.”

Regarding student behaviour, inspectors noted that pupils “understand the high expectations” staff have on them and they “fully engage in learning, and they display positive attitudes towards their education.”

Academically, inspectors said that the curriculum was “ambitious” and “clearly defines the specific knowledge and skills that pupils should learn” with the school having “carefully identified the order in which this content should be taught.”

Inspectors added that “students in the sixth form achieve well and go on to a range of appropriately ambitious destinations” whilst SEND pupils are effectively identified and supported.

The school was also praised for offering a “wide range of experiences” to develop pupil’s understanding of equality and diversity, and for encouraging pupil’s to “aspire not to have more but to be more” - a philsophy they live out this philosophy by participating in “a variety of activities to raise money for local, national and international charities.”

What the school needs to improve

Inspectors said: “Some teachers do not select the most appropriate activities to help pupils to develop their subject knowledge. This hinders some pupils, including pupils with SEND, from deepening and applying their knowledge in different contexts. It also makes it more difficult for teachers to identify pupils’ misconceptions.”

They also noted that “the revised curriculum is not as effective as it could be” in key stage 4 as teachers “do not support pupils to gain a deep enough knowledge of their current learning”.

The report explained: “In some subjects the school has not ensured that pupils in key stage 4 are benefiting sufficiently well from the new curriculum. This is hindering these pupils from developing long-term understanding and retaining the knowledge necessary for subsequent learning.”

As a final point, inspectors wrote that “the strategies that the school uses to help foster pupils’ enjoyment of reading are not as effective as they could be” meaning “some pupils do not enjoy reading and they do not read widely or often.”

Ofsted recommended that Our Lady’s Catholic College “hould ensure that effective strategies are in place to help promote a love of reading across all key stages.”

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What has the school said about its Ofsted report?

Headteacher Helen Seddon said: “We are very pleased that the inspectors report that our pupils are happy at school and that they value the sense of community and friendship they find at Our Lady’s. They describe our calm and purposeful school and were impressed with the high standards of behaviour. The Ofsted inspectors also highlighted the dedication and commitment of our staff in providing an ambitious curriculum for all our pupils.

“We are delighted that the inspectors recognised PSHE as a strength, both the PSHE curriculum and our comprehensive approach to careers guidance. The Sixth Form was judged to be Good again, and they commented that students benefit from staff expertise and enthusiasm.

“As is usual during an inspection, they have given us areas to work on, and we have already planned how we will do this. As they recognised and praised the strong leadership, we know they are confident we can be successful in the next stage in our journey of development.”