PREVIOUS REPORT: September 2011

St. Gerard's School's previous inspection was September 2011. The full version of the Ofsted report can be downloaded from the pdf link at the bottom of the page. 

MAIN FINDINGS...

St Gerard’s is a good school because its leaders have been successful in bringing about improvements. The most significant developments have been in the quality of teaching. Because they are now taught well, pupils are making good progress and their attainment is rising, particularly in English. Leaders have an accurate view of what the school does well and where more improvement is needed. 

Because they have taken care to identify what pupils find particularly difficult, a more structured approach to teaching writing has been introduced. Pupils like this very much and it is improving the quality of their work. More time is needed for this new method to become embedded and have its full impact. Attainment in mathematics is rising more slowly because pupils have gaps in their learning to make up, due to previous inconsistencies in teaching. Pupils’ personal development has been strengthened to such an extent that when combined with their good achievement, it results in overall outcomes that are outstanding. 

Within the school, there is a clear sense of purpose and shared goals that underline its good capacity to continue to move forward. It provides outstanding value for money.

A number of aspects of the school’s work are outstanding. Doing all it can to care for, guide and support its pupils is at the heart of St Gerard’s. As a result, pupils feel entirely safe and understand, for example, that ‘rules are there to protect us’. In turn, they are highly supportive of each other and behave extremely well. They put into practice the outcomes of their exceptionally strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, such as an ability to empathise with friends who have left family members behind in another country. The list of responsibilities that pupils are willing and able to accept is very long and goes towards ensuring that they make an outstanding contribution to the school and community. Pupils remark that ‘playground leaders encourage us to do sports’ and the healthy tuck shop is run by Year 6 pupils. Pupils’ responses to the school’s considerable efforts to promote healthy lifestyles are exceptional and begin in the Early Years Foundation Stage where children organise their snack time and tuck into fruit and milk with gusto.

The school continues to provide outstandingly well for children in the Reception Year. Consequently, they make exceptional progress in developing the skills needed in Key Stage 1. The warm and welcoming learning environment exactly matches these children’s needs and means that they settle in very quickly and start learning at once.