2 weeks Ago
Standards are on the up at a Bolton secondary school with pupils experiencing a 'stronger quality of education than they did in the past'. Bolton St Catherine's Academy in Harwood has been in the Ofsted's 'requires improvement' since 2014 — and although Ofsted no longer gives an overall judgement, in its latest inspection the Government watchdog found all, but one area now to be good, marking a huge turnaround for the school. The inspection team reported: "The school has experienced a considerable period of instability in staffing and leadership during recent times.
Previous inconsistent leadership has contributed to the historic underachievement of pupils. This has now been rectified. The published data shows that the attainment and progress of Year 11 pupils has been significantly below the national average for a period of time.
In addition, the attainment of Year 6 pupils in reading for 2024 was below the national average. "New leadership of the school has brought about a significant period of improvement in a short period of time. The school has thought carefully about the important knowledge that pupils should learn from the early years to Year 11 so that the curriculum is now ambitious for all.
Pupils' behaviour and attendance has improved, and subject leadership has strengthened. This means that most pupils at the school are experiencing a stronger quality of education than they did in the past." But despite the turnaround, Ofsted said that the changes are having less impact on older pupils because "they have the biggest gaps in their learning" due to the considerable changes in staffing and the weaknesses in the previous curriculum, meaning the quality of education was still deemed in need of improvement.
Behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision was marked as good. Pupils were described by inspectors as 'kind and well-mannered' and proud to represent the school. The school was said to have high aspirations for pupils' achievement.
The school has a strong enrichment programme which pupils enjoy taking part in - including sports, chess and the arts as well as residential trips. READ MORE: Bolton St Catherine’s Academy school dinner lady retires Bolton St Catherine's Academy pupils become published authors Bolton St Catherine's Academy celebrates success on GCSE day The Ofsted team reported: " Pupils contribute well to the calm environment that exists here. They value the positive relationships that they have with staff, who care for them extremely well.
Children in the early years settle quickly because of the school’s strong induction programme. Pupils are happy." Most pupils move on to further education, apprenticeships or employment with training .
There has been a rapid reduction in the number of pupil suspensions Head of secondary , Ryan Mallett acknowledged that the quality of education was in need of improvement. He said: “We were fully aware that with the historic outcomes in the secondary phase as they were, the quality of education judgment could have only been judged as requiring improvement. We think that is fair.
Leaders and all staff, supported by our fantastic community, are working extremely hard to now ensure that pupils leave us with great outcomes, and Ofsted have acknowledged that our aspirations for our children are high.” The report comes only a couple of months after one of the other Bishop Fraser Trust schools, Canon Slade, reversed its requires improvement categories in all areas to good in all areas. Trust CEO Tuesday Humby stated: “The Trust has seen some significant developments over the past year and it’s fantastic to see these acknowledged through external validation.
It’s a real testament to how our local schools and community collaborate and support each other.”.
