St Peter’s celebrates Good Ofsted rating
Congratulations to St Peter’s Catholic College in South Bank for their rating of Good in all areas by Ofsted.
The secondary school described by its Head Teacher as “the rock” of its Teesside community is celebrating its new Ofsted rating after having previously been told it still required improvement in 2019 after previously being judged to be Inadequate. The school is part of the Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT).
New Leadership
A new leadership team led by Head Teacher Stephanie Garthwaite brought in sweeping changes, and a £1m investment from NPCAT, allowing the 547-pupil school to bounce back in style. NPCAT was formed in September 2018 and now includes 37 Catholic schools across Teesside and North Yorkshire, including the city of York.
One of its five secondary schools, St Francis Xavier in Richmond, is rated Outstanding by Ofsted. Three others – St Patrick’s Catholic College in Thornaby, Sacred Heart Catholic Secondary in Redcar and now St Peter’s – have been upgraded to Good in the last 15 months.
The report says:
“St Peter’s is an inclusive school and leaders are proud to serve the pupils who attend. Leaders are ambitious that all pupils should access an aspirational curriculum. There is a vision, shared by all staff, to provide a high-quality curriculum for all pupils. This vision is being realised. It is making a positive difference to pupils’ education.”
Famous Alumni
Mrs Garthwaite, who took over the reins in September 2020, said everyone at the school is determined to continue improving. She said:
“Working here is not just a job for our fantastic staff, it’s a vocation, and they go above and beyond every day. They work in St Peter’s because they genuinely want to make a difference to our children’s life chances. St Peter’s is the rock of the South Bank community and for generations it has made a positive contribution to the local area. Our pupils know all about our famous alumni and many of their parents and grandparents came here and are extremely passionate about the school.”
Past pupils include Boro and England star Wilf Mannion, Formula One icon Rob Smedley and folk music legend Vin Garbutt, while many more recent alumni have achieved great things, including local entrepreneur Bradley Johnson, who is competing in the current series of The Apprentice.
The inspectors said:
“Teachers demonstrate strong subject knowledge. Staff are committed to helping pupils access experiences beyond the taught curriculum. Relationships between staff and pupils are strong. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about enjoying working at St Peter’s.”
Ofsted also praised the quality of careers provision at St Peter’s, which celebrated its 80th birthday last year with a series of special events. They stated:
“Leaders have made strong links with a range of providers and employers, including in industry and the NHS, as well as apprenticeship providers.”
Mrs Garthwaite said there have also been significant changes in staffing across all areas, with many joining from Good and Outstanding schools. She added:
“Every aspect of the school has changed. We’ve realigned the curriculum to make sure it’s ambitious and challenging, but also accessible for all our pupils. We make sure we support our staff with high-quality continuing professional development, with support from the trust and from the Diocese of Middlesbrough. We have put in place systems to raise standards of teaching and learning and ensure that assessments are robust, consistent and quality assured. As a Catholic school, pastoral support and relationships are at the heart of everything we do, and we’ve gone from having teaching to non-teaching heads of year. We rolled out a new behaviour policy in 2020 and have implemented a new attendance policy. We now have pupil-engagement officers for every year group, a first-day caller, an attendance manager and a safeguarding officer, and we’ve added value to our pastoral structure to make sure we can support every pupil. We’ve also received fantastic support from the trust and its senior standards officers and directors of specific subject areas.”
Recognising and supporting students
St Peter’s has introduced a raft of new rewards initiatives to celebrate pupils’ achievements and there is a new mission statement – “One faith, one family, one future”.
The trust has significantly improved the building with an investment of just under £1m, including new fitness facilities, PE changing rooms, an exhibition centre and a superb VR suite, as well as a comprehensive programme of cosmetic improvements. Mrs Garthwaite said:
“It’s all about instilling a culture of high standards and high expectations. Our 80-year-old building is beautiful and has its own character, but we now have a building that also reflects the high expectations we have for our pupils in their uniform, planners and equipment, and the pride they have in their work. We’ve worked hard to improve subject knowledge and lessons have our own in-house style, with consistent routines and recall activities so pupils can learn more and remember more. We hold weekly progress meetings to look at how every one of our Year 11 pupils is performing, what barriers to learning we can remove and what additional interventions we can put in place to help, such as additional homework, access arrangements or a careers appointment. We also have a weekly vulnerable learners’ meeting to make sure our most vulnerable pupils are spoken about on a weekly basis and the interventions in place are reviewed and new interventions assigned if required.”
NPCAT CEO Hugh Hegarty said Ofsted’s judgement marked a significant milestone for the trust. He said:
“Only a few years ago NPCAT had no secondary schools judged to be Good by Ofsted. Today, three of our schools are Good and one is Outstanding, and in March another Outstanding secondary school will join us, All Saints Secondary School in York. We continue to invest in developing our committed staff, who are doing a fabulous job in raising aspirations, improving outcomes and supporting the pastoral needs of our pupils. Mrs Garthwaite and her team are determined to ensure the very best for every pupil and I want to congratulate her on the manner in which she has led the school, both as head of school and headteacher. Chair of governors Mark Ryan and all the governors, past and present, have supported St Peter’s on its journey out of special measures, and we offer our gratitude for the manner and quality of their input.
He continued:
“The staff at St Peter’s are magnificent advocates for this old and cherished school, and their tireless work has now been rewarded. The work of our curriculum directors and standards officers led by Angela White has had a huge impact over the last four years. I know the current school leadership are also conscious of the role played by Michael Burns, one of the trust’s executive headteachers, as the college transitioned from Requiring Improvement to Good. My congratulations to them all. This judgement reflects both their professionalism and their genuine care for every child.”
St Peter’s annual intake has increased from 105 to 120 pupils, but there still aren’t enough places for all the children who want to attend. Mrs Garthwaite added:
“We receive hundreds of applications every year because people align with our Catholic mission and with what we’re trying to do here to change lives. We have termly normal visits from NPCAT’s standards officer and are confident that what we have put in place is having an impact and making a difference. But to have this validation is so important for our pupils and also for the community, having a Good school on their doorstep and knowing what we are doing is having an impact. I’d like to thank staff and pupils, parents and carers, our local parish and also the trust, for believing in St Peter’s and giving their unwavering support.”
Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust is a Schools North East Partner Trust. If you’d like to find out more about our Partner School Programme click here.
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