Sacred Heart Catholic Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 15 October 2024

Most pupils are happy to be part of this very welcoming school community. Pupils from different backgrounds mix well with each other. Staff care for pupils' well-being and safety. Pupils know who to speak to if they are worried or upset. The school is ambitious for all pupils to succeed, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those who are disadvantaged. Pupils, and students in the sixth form, benefit from the recent improvements that the school has made to the quality of education that it provides. However, pupils learn better in some lessons than in others. This is because the curriculum is not delivered consistently well. As a result, pupils do not achieve as well as they should. The school has raised its expectations of how pupils should behave in school. Pupils behave well in lessons and as they move around the school during breaks and lunchtimes. Pupils appreciate how behaviour incidents are dealt with consistently and fairly by staff. However, some pupils do not attend school regularly enough. These pupils do not benefit from the school's raised expectations. An increasing number of pupils benefit from extra-curricular activities. The school asked pupils for suggestions about the sort of clubs they might wish to join. As a result, there are now more opportunities than before for pupils to participate in a wide variety of sports, musical and cultural activities.

What the school should improve

• Across all subjects, the renewed curriculum is in its early stages of implementation. As a result, in some lessons, teachers do not choose the most suitable techniques to help pupils to understand subject content. This hinders how well pupils progress through the curriculum. The school should ensure that teachers are fully equipped to deliver curriculum content consistently well so that pupils know and remember important knowledge.
• Across all subjects, in some lessons teachers do not check pupils' understanding well enough. This means that some pupils, particularly those who are disadvantaged, develop gaps in their knowledge and misconceptions that go unchecked. The school should ensure that teachers are supported to identify and address gaps in pupils' knowledge. This is so that pupils can build on what they know when new learning is introduced.
• Some pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, do not attend school as regularly as they should. These pupils are not accessing the full curriculum and they miss out on important learning. The school should further develop its strategies to work constructively with parents and carers to overcome the barriers to attendance, which, at present, stop some pupils from making the most of their education.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)