St Josephs Catholic High School, Workington

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 28 November 2023

Pupils are happy at this school. They benefit from a suitable range of enrichment opportunities, both in school and in the wider community. For example, pupils enjoy becoming school councillors. They take part in acts of kindness, such as by raising money for charity. Pupils have high levels of trust in their teachers. They are happy to talk to them about any worries that they might have. Pupils learn that bullying is not acceptable. They explained that staff are vigilant to any incidents of bullying around the site. Pupils have confidence that any incidents of bullying will be dealt with effectively. Pupils access a number of experiences throughout their time at the school to develop their interests in a range of careers. For example, they have had visitors to school from different employment sectors. Pupils have also enjoyed visiting various colleges and post-16 providers. This helps pupils to make informed choices for their next steps in education, employment or training. The school is raising its expectations of what pupils can and should achieve. However, in some subjects, these aspirations are not realised in pupils' day-to-day learning. This is because some teachers do not design learning activities that fully meet pupils' needs. Pupils, including some with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), struggle to access learning in some subjects. Furthermore, some pupils do not behave consistently well, disrupting the learning of their peers.

What the school should improve

• The trust, and those responsible for governance, do not have a secure enough understanding of the quality of education that pupils receive. Neither do they have sufficient oversight of some administrative aspects of the school's safeguarding arrangements. This means that trustees and governors are unable to hold leaders fully to account. The trust should ensure that there are robust systems in place to gather an accurate and up-to-date understanding of the quality of education that pupils receive. They should improve the administration of safeguarding arrangements.
• Some staff do not deliver the curriculum as intended, nor do they design learning activities that fully meet pupils' needs. This includes pupils with SEND and some pupils who are disadvantaged. This hinders how well these pupils learn and achieve. The school should provide suitable training for staff to ensure that they deliver the curriculum as intended. The school should also train staff to design activities that enable pupils to learn new topics and concepts successfully.
• Some pupils do not attend school regularly enough, particularly those pupils with SEND or those who are disadvantaged. These pupils miss out on important learning. The school should remove any barriers which prevent pupils from attending school each day.
• A minority of pupils do not behave appropriately enough. This disrupts the learning of their peers. The school should ensure that these pupils are supported to behave well in lessons and around the school site.
• Pupils do not experience a consistently well-designed programme of personal development. This hinders how well some pupils are prepared for life in modern Britain. The school should identify the key knowledge that it wants pupils to learn in the personal development programme and support staff to deliver this information consistently well.

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