St Bernard’s Catholic High School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

St Bernard's Catholic High is an outstanding school that provides a high level of care and attention to the individual, outstanding teaching and a highly innovative curriculum, which is tailored to the changing needs of students. This outstanding provision leads to outstanding achievement. Students enter the school with average levels of attainment.

GCSE results are significantly above average and attainment is high. This represents outstanding progress. Achievement in English is consistently outstanding.

Results have risen in science and they are high. Attainment is also high in the visual arts specialism and in religious education. In mathematics, until recently, attainment has been average... and students made satisfactory progress.

As a result of improvements in teaching and the curriculum, learning in mathematics is now good. There is too much variation in the outcomes in design and technology and French, and attainment is below average owing to inconsistency in teaching. Well-planned actions and rigorous quality assurance are in place to rectify this.

Students are very proud of and committed to their school and they appreciate the close community that has been developed. The strong mutual trust between students and teachers and the high levels of cooperation make a strong contribution to learning. Students feel very safe and attendance is above average.

Students develop their work-related skills very well. A large number take on positions of extra responsibility. Their appreciation of cultural diversity is significantly enhanced by the arts specialism.

Their social development through diverse activities in and out of school is excellent. Most teaching is outstanding or good. In a few satisfactory lessons, activities are sometimes not sufficiently stimulating and challenging because too much teacher direction limits students' scope to work independently.

The curriculum has improved significantly since the previous inspection and makes an outstanding contribution to the school's outcomes. It is innovative and customised to students' needs. The centre for vocational learning, developed in collaboration with a neighbouring school, is excellent.

The specialisms in applied learning and the visual arts enrich subjects across the curriculum. Outstanding safeguarding is supported by excellent partnerships with other agencies. The headteacher and his senior leadership team demonstrate strong drive and ambition and they have sustained high levels of achievement, especially in English.

Since the prevous inspection, the quality of teaching has improved and students are much more involved in their own learning. Middle leaders have a much stronger role in initiating improvement, supported by a rigorous system of quality assurance. This has not yet had the impact of raising achievement to high enough levels in all subjects.

Self-evaluation is detailed, searching and accurate and well informed by the analysis of data. Performance management and professional development have been used very effectively to improve practice. The school has an outstanding capacity for further sustained improvement.

Information about the school

St Bernard's Catholic High School is a smaller-than-average-sized secondary school. The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals is a little below average. The proportion of students from minority-ethnic groups is below average.

The proportion of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities supported at school action is below average and the proportion supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. The school has specialisms in the arts and applied learning. It has gained the Artsmark gold, Healthy Schools status, Sportsmark awards, and the Warwick award for enterprise education.

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms