Liverpool Life Sciences UTC

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Strong leadership by the Principal, governors and business partners drives a clear vision across the university technical college (UTC). This ensures that pupils and learners flourish with high-quality experiences in science and health care.

Senior leaders who are relatively new in post have quickly established robust systems across the UTC to drive improvements and raise success for all pupils and learners. Pupils and learners are very well cared for and consequently make substantial gains in their knowledge. Teachers instil high aspirations and expectations by developing strong working relationships with pupils and learners.

The sixth-f...orm provision is good. The curriculum and study programmes are personalised and offer excellent opportunities for all learners. As a result, they develop good skills and attitudes that prepare them well to make well-informed choices about next steps in education, employment or training.

The UTC provides an exciting forward-thinking curriculum for science and health care. Strong connections with employers and industry experts provide sophisticated and well-balanced learning experiences. These provide pupils and learners with a springboard onto worthwhile destinations.

The behaviour of pupils and learners is outstanding. They are committed to learning and model strong communication and employability skills. The UTC promotes pupils' and learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development exceptionally well.

The work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding. The UTC is a haven for pupils; pastoral care is strong. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Although current progress is now good, too few pupils make more than expected progress in English and mathematics.

Learners aged 16 to 19 do not always make rapid progress. Recent systems to improve teaching and learning have not yet led to rapid improvements in pupils' and learners' outcomes. Opportunities to correct common errors and raise the importance of spelling, punctuation and grammar are sometimes missed by teachers.

Some pupils' use of technical vocabulary is not well established in their written work across the UTC. Some pupils lack well-developed independent study skills to boost their own learning. Full report

Information about this school

Liverpool Life Science UTC opened in 2013, has a specialised focus on Life Sciences and health care.

This is the first inspection carried out since it opened. The curriculum at the UTC also covers a range of academic subjects including English and mathematics. The UTC is much smaller than an average secondary school and has pupils in Years 10 to 13.

There is a higher proportion of girls at the UTC than boys. The majority of pupils are white British with just over a quarter from other ethnic heritages. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs or disability is average and the proportion with an education, health and care plan is well below average.

The proportion of pupils eligible for the government's pupil premium grant is much higher than the national average. The UTC does not use alternative providers. A wide range of employers and local businesses provide pupils in Key Stage 4 and learners in the sixth form with placements related to the school's specialisms.

The UTC is co-located with another school in the Northern Schools Trust: the STUDIO School, Liverpool. Some teaching is delivered by teachers from both schools. The UTC has a range of sponsors and business partners.

Lead sponsors are University of Liverpool; Royal Liverpool Hospital; North Liverpool Academy; 2Bio. A core part of the UTC's provision is delivered through the college's work with business partners: Redx Pharma; Thermo Fisher; Unilever; Pro-Lab Diagnostics; Novartis; Mast Group; Nutricia; Siemens; Terumo; Actavis; Croda; Liverpool Community Health; Liverpool Vision; GETRAG; PSS; Twilight Midwife; LGC; Red Ninja; Local Solutions; Skills for Health; U5. The school meets the government's floor standards, which are the minimum expectations of pupils' attainment and progress.

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