St Christophers Academy

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 4 February 2025

The school's core values of ambition, community, respect and responsibility are threaded through all aspects of life at St Christophers Academy. Pupils are friendly, polite and welcoming. Typically, pupils behave sensibly around the school and focus well on their learning. They are happy and sociable at break and lunchtimes. There is a culture of aspiration for pupils' academic and wider development. Pupils rise to adults' high expectations and learn well, particularly in the core subjects of reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils develop a sense of responsibility and strength of character through leadership opportunities. Eco councillors look after the school environment, saving energy and litter-picking. School councillors suggest improvements to school life. Members of the junior leadership team are excellent ambassadors for the school. They are positive role models for their peers. Pupils celebrate the differences between them in a richly diverse school community. They learn about other cultures through special events or themed days such as Chinese New Year, Diwali and 'French Day'. Pupils relish the trips they go on to enhance their learning. These include museums, the zoo or a science, technology, engineering and mathematics discovery centre. External visitors inspire pupils to consider the options for their future careers.

What the school should improve

• Sometimes, the resources or activities staff give to pupils are not well matched to pupils' needs, including pupils with SEND. This hinders pupils' access to the curriculum, or their progress through it. The school and trust should support staff to adapt the curriculum and design learning activities effectively that support all pupils to achieve well.
• The school's approach to assessment is not as well developed in foundation subjects as it is in English and mathematics. As a result, the school does not have the information it needs about how well pupils learn the curriculum and therefore, what is going well and where improvements can be made. The school and trust should strengthen assessment in foundation subjects so that areas for improvement can be identified and acted upon.
• The school's revised approach to managing behaviour is not consistently applied by staff or fully understood by pupils. Some pupils' learning is disrupted by the behaviour of their peers. The school and trust should ensure that staff and pupils fully understand the expectations of behaviour and the school's new approach to behaviour management.

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