A Blackburn secondary school has said its “strategy is improving” despite being rated as ‘requires improvement’ for the fourth inspection running by Ofsted.

Our Lady and St John Catholic College, in North Road, received the ‘requires improvement’ grading in all areas following an inspection on May 16 and 17.

It is the same rating the school received at its previous full inspection in October 2019, however in 2019 it had been rated good in three areas - leadership, behaviour, and personal development.

The school has been rated requires improvement since 2015, its previous rating before that had been inadequate.

Despite the outcome of this latest inspection, the school and the Ofsted report did note improvements have been made to education qualit,y and the ambitious curriculum gives better preparation to students for their futures.

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A statement from headteacher Peter Tite said: “This report recognises the improvements we have made to the quality of education.

"It notes pupils in Key Stage 3 are achieving better than in the past and our curriculum is now ambitious, preparing pupils well for their next steps.

“Like in all schools, some of our pupils have found it harder to attend school and to behave in the way we expect since the pandemic.

"The report recognises our strategy is improving this and we have seen further improvements since the inspection.”

The report says expectations of pupils’ behaviour have started to rise and most behave well, though this is spoilt by a small minority.

It also praised the “ambitious” leaders and carefully designed curriculums.

The report said: “Most pupils enjoy attending Our Lady and St John Catholic College. Teachers build positive relationships with pupils.

"Leaders work closely with local primary schools so younger pupils are well supported during their transition to secondary school. This helps Year 7 pupils to settle in and feel welcome.

“Leaders are ambitious for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

"Leaders have carefully designed curriculums to enable pupils to build their knowledge over time. In some subjects, this work is still quite new, so some older pupils have gaps in their learning from previous years.

“Leaders have started to raise their expectations of pupils’ behaviour. Most pupils behave well. However, the poor behaviour of a small minority of pupils spoils the learning experiences of their classmates. Other pupils choose not to attend all of their lessons. Instead, some of these pupils disrupt the lessons taking place around the school.”

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The report added improvements have been made to the quality of education and, particularly in Key Stage 4, the breadth of subjects has been increased so pupils can study subjects that better prepare them for their next steps.

Despite these changes though, pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 are not achieving as they should, because there are too many with gaps in their learning from the weaker curriculum in the past.

To improve, the report said: “In some subjects, teachers do not use assessment strategies as effectively as they should to identify and address pupils’ misconceptions. Some pupils develop gaps in their knowledge as a result.

“Leaders should ensure that in these subjects, teachers use assessment strategies well to check that pupils’ knowledge is secure before moving onto new learning.”