St Wilfrid's RC College

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 8 April 2025

Pupils' experience at the school is mixed. Pupils know the 'St Wilfrid's Way'. Many strive to live up to the school's values of respect, responsibility and resilience. However, some pupils do not follow the school's rules and expectations. Pupils' learning is sometimes disrupted. Poor behaviour can also affect their social times. Pupils are safe at the school. Bullying is not common. However, pupils lack confidence in how well bullying or behaviour concerns are addressed. The school wants its pupils to succeed at a high standard. In many subjects, pupils achieve well in national tests. However, this is not consistently the case. Pupils' experience and learning in the classroom from Year 7 to Year 11 are too variable. In the sixth form, students enjoy learning and have positive relationships with staff. Overall, they achieve in line with their peers nationally. Students also progress from Year 13 to a range of interesting and ambitious destinations. Pupils enjoy a broad programme beyond the academic curriculum. For example, pupils can join the student council or volunteer in the local community. Pupils also access 'active lunch' clubs and raise money for local charities. Student leaders in the sixth form act as positive role models for younger pupils.

What the school should improve

• Revised policies and practice have not had time to embed, and recent positive changes have not yet been communicated successfully to some stakeholders. Many pupils, parents and staff have negative views about the school's work. The school should ensure that there is clear and effective communication with stakeholders as they implement their improvement strategies.
• Occasionally, some pupils disrupt the learning and experience of others due to poor behaviour. This impacts negatively on pupils' progress through the curriculum and their enjoyment of school. The school should ensure that staff implement the behaviour policies of the school consistently well, including following up on behaviour incidents and pupils' concerns.
• The strategies staff use to check pupils understanding in the classroom, and the assessment of learning over time, are underdeveloped. Staff do not have a consistently clear picture of what pupils know, remember and can do. The school should ensure there is an effective and shared approach to checking pupils' understanding so that gaps in knowledge can be addressed and learning deepens over time.
• Implementation of the curriculum does not consistently support pupils to extend their learning beyond the simple recall of information. Some pupils struggle to apply their learning in different contexts and to make connections between different aspects of knowledge they have learned. The school should ensure that curriculum implementation supports pupils to extend and explain their thinking, make connections in learning and develop increasing expertise and independence in their subjects.
• Staff do not have a developed enough understanding of how to support the learning of pupils with more complex needs in their classrooms. Some disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as their peers. The school should work with subject departments to identify barriers to learning specific to pupils' needs and ensure teaching supports these pupils well to close gaps in learning and achieve more ambitious outcomes.

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