Gold star as Fulwood school is praised by OFSTED for driving up standards

Pupils at Corpus Christi Catholic High School in Fulwood are celebrating being a Good School

Life at Corpus Christ Catholic High in Fulwood has received a glowing report after it was put under the microscope by a team from the Office for Standards in Education.

The St Vincent’s Road school was deemed to be a school with serious weaknesses in 2013 and then given a "requires improvement" rating by inspectors in 2014 and 2016.

However, following a two-day inspection the school has now been officially graded Good in all five key areas of inspection.

The team spoke to pupils and staff and sat in on lessons, as well as listening to parents and governors.

School leaders and governors were praised for their tenacity to turn the school around and said outcomes for pupils have improved considerably in all areas, especially the most disadvantaged and the high fliers. Those who need extra help get it.

Staff were described as enthusiastic and training is “ carefully crafted” to focus where iti s needed.

Relationships between school and parents has improved dramatically which has had a knock on affect on pupils, who were applauded for their behaviour and attitude to school and learning.

The report said: “Teachers have high expectations and they expect the best from pupils. As a result, pupils have positive attitudes to learning. They want to do well.”

Attendance is improving and the inspectors said staff had created a “strong and supportive community.”

However, the inspectors said the school needed to further improve the number of pupils who are regularly absent and continue to drive up standards.

The report also recognised that GCSE results for the last two years demonstrate a strong improvement.

Headteacher David Hubbard was singled out for praise for his strong leadership skills and said: “We are delighted that Ofsted has judged our school to be good in all areas.

“The report is overwhelmingly positive and strongly demonstrates how much we have changed our school together as a team over the last few years, particularly since our last inspection.”