Holy Cross College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings

This is a good provider Governors and leaders have rectified successfully most of the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection. The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is now good in most subject areas.

Leaders and managers have created successfully a culture of high expectations. Staff and students strive for excellence, which aligns with leaders' and managers' ambition for the college. Rigorous assessment and monitoring by leaders and managers of students' progress from their starting points have led to improvements in the proportion of students that achieve their qualifications in most subject areas.

Governors have a detailed understanding of students' progress a...nd they challenge senior leaders effectively to bring about more rapid improvements. Study programmes are skilfully designed to provide students with a range of opportunities to develop their personal, social, ethical and moral understanding of the world in which they live, reflecting the values and ethos of the college. Teachers' assessment of students' progress is highly effective.

It enables teachers to intervene swiftly so that students make rapid improvements towards reaching their target grades. A high proportion of students progress to prestigious universities, dance and drama academies, conservatoires, and higher-education provision in the college. A small minority of students do not achieve their qualifications at the grades expected of them.

In a few subjects, a small minority of students drop out before the end of the course, which results in lower retention rates in these subjects.

Information about the provider

Holy Cross College is a Roman Catholic sixth form college located in Bury, Greater Manchester. The college provides 16 to 19 study programmes mainly through A-level programmes with a small but increasing amount of vocational provision.

A small minority of students are enrolled on a blended programme of academic and vocational subjects. Currently, 2,022 students are enrolled at the college, all of whom are following 16 to 19 study programmes: 1,952 students are on programmes at level 3 and 70 are on programmes at level 2. Twelve students are identified as having high needs.