Chorley Ofsted reports: St Michael’s Church of England High School is rated good following academy conversion

St Michael’s Church of England High School was inspected on September 21-22 and in a report released on November 25, was rated ‘outstanding’ for behaviour and attitudes, and personal development, and ‘good’ for quality of education and leadership and management. The school became an academy in 2012, and prior to that, had been classed as ‘outstanding’ in 2009.

What did Ofsted say was particularly good about St Michael’s CE High School?

The report starts by stating “Pupils are proud to be part of this welcoming and supportive school community. They accept and value each other’s differences in a school which celebrates the uniqueness of each individual.”

Leaders and staff are said to be “dedicated in their commitment to ensure that pupils flourish, both personally and academically’, and in turn, all pupils (inlcuding SEND) achieve well across a range of subjects and their behaviour is “impeccable”.

In terms of the curriculum, it is designed “effectively”, staff have strong subject knowledge and pupils benefit from regular, well-thought-out careers information.

The school’s Curriculum Enrichment programme was also praised, with inspectors saying “‘Pupils experience an exceptional, expertly designed programme of personal development and Leaders’ promotion of pupils’ personal development is exemplary.’

Pupils were also said to “feel safe at school”, with staff dealing with “rare incidents of bullying swiftly” whilst “Leaders and Governors ensure a strong culture of safeguarding.”

What does St Michael’s CE High School need to improve on according to Ofsted?

Inspectors noted “in a minority of subjects, leaders’ organisation of the curriculum hampers pupils’ learning… because pupils do not cover the breadth of essential knowledge that they need or learn this knowledge as securely as they should.”

The report also said “on occasion, in a small number of subjects, some teachers do not use assessment strategies effectively to address pupils’ misunderstandings before introducing new knowledge”, again meaning some pupils do not learn as well as they should.

What does St Michael’s CE High School say about their rating?

Headteacher Jayne Jenks said: “St Michael’s is delighted that some of the excellent practice in school has been recognised in our recent Ofsted report. Inspectors visited the school in September just a few weeks in to the start of term. To achieve two outstanding grades is a real tribute to all of ‘Team St Michael’s’ and an acknowledgement of all that is special and wonderful about our school.

“Whilst, we are pleased with the comments made in the report there is no sense of complacency and pupils, staff, governors, with the support of parents/carers work tirelessly to ensure that we ‘pursue excellence’ in all areas of school life. The areas for development were integral features of our School improvement plan.

“The report was published at a similar time to the School Performance tables which showed that the GCSE results in 2022, with an Attainment 8 score of 61.8, were the highest in the school’s history. This was celebrated at our Awards Evening last week when we were delighted to welcome the Reverend Richard Coles as our guest of honour to present the awards and certificates to our amazing Year 11 leavers.”