St Michael’s Catholic College

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school The headteacher provides outstanding leadership.

She believes passionately that all students, whatever their backgrounds, are entitled to a high quality education. Staff and governors share this belief. Students respond exceptionally well to the challenge to achieve to the highest levels and make outstanding progress.

GCSE results are well above average. Progress and results in mathematics are exceptionally good. Senior leaders and governors work very hard to improve the college.

They check achievement and the quality of teaching rigorously and take swift action to deal with any issues. Outstanding teaching is a feature o...f all year groups and subjects. Teachers are creative and use their excellent subject knowledge to teach lessons which motivate students to want to learn.

Teachers mark work thoroughly and provide students with very good guidance on how to improve it, but sometimes students do not respond to this well enough. The support for disabled students and those with special educational needs is very carefully matched to their individual needs and they too make outstanding progress. Students have access to exceptional opportunities which strongly support both their academic and personal development.

Their behaviour in class and around the college is outstanding, as is their attendance. The college's catholic ethos underpins everything that it does. Students also learn about other beliefs and are strongly encouraged to show respect for the diversity of the local community and others.

The sixth form has flourished in a relatively short time. It is good and much of the teaching and progress are already outstanding.

Information about this school

St Michael's Catholic College is a smaller than average secondary school.

In November 2012, it became an academy managed by the St Michael's Academy Trust. When the predecessor school, which had the same name, was last inspected by Ofsted it was judged to be outstanding. The college opened a sixth form in September 2011 and the first students completed their A-level courses in 2013.

The proportions of disabled students and those with special educational needs supported at school action, school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, are broadly in line with the national average. The proportion of students known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional government funding for students entitled to free school meals, looked after children and the children of service families) is high. There are no children of service families in the college and very few looked after children.

Over 30 students are eligible for Year 7 catch-up funding which is for students who did not achieve the expected Level 4 in English or mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2. A very small number of students in Key Stage 4 attend off-site, alternative provision at 'The Vox'. One third of the students are White British.

The other students are from many different minority ethnic groups. The proportion who speak English as an additional language is above average but few are at an early stage of learning English. The college achieves the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for students' attainment and progress.