Inspection Reports

 Ofsted Inspection – December 2025

“Classrooms are abuzz with learning.”

As you will recall, we recently welcomed Ofsted into our school, and we are pleased to share the report. The inspectors praised all aspects of life at St John Fisher. The report reflects the significant progress        St John Fisher School has made. The inspectors rightly praised the many strengths that make us proud of our learning community. I am particularly pleased to see that our values really shine in the report.

We love the fact that the report says the “classrooms are abuzz with learning”. A phrase we feel perfectly captures the positive atmosphere, enthusiasm and purpose that characterise daily life at St John Fisher. The report highlights the strong Catholic values that underpin everything we do. Within our school the inspectors also found:

• “Ambitious and coherent curriculum” and “(which) builds character and prepares pupils for life beyond school.”
• “A highly inclusive culture”
• “Personal development offer is broad, purposeful and designed to raise aspirations, build character and prepare pupils for life beyond school.”
• “A culture where high expectations are the norm,” and “behaviour is highly positive”
• “This is a school where friendship and happiness shine through.”
• “A team of staff who share their (leaders’) high expectations and drive to continue the journey of improvement.”

For lots of reasons, this was an interesting and challenging process, especially as we were one of the first schools in the county to be inspected under the new evaluation and grading system.  One of the key things we discovered is that the evaluation system is much more rigid. For example, if a school’s is showing significant improvement and progress, and there is one aspect on the evaluation criteria that is not yet met, or the results are not at the national average, then this area is automatically judged as graded as ‘needs attention’ – irrespective of the improvements and the progress.

For St John Fisher, the inspectors highlighted 3 areas that ‘need attention’. These areas were known to us and as the report states, reflects past data, not current practice. These areas have improved remarkably over recent years, and inspectors recognised and praised the “swift and effective action”. These improvements take time to embed, so rightly, we continue to give these areas continued focus, action and attention. As you can see, and you will read in the report, the new Ofsted grading of needs attention is not the same as the old grading of requires improvement, and the two must not be confused.  

We remain absolutely committed to building on the school’s successes and continuing our journey of excellence. Thank you for helping us provide the very best education for every child.

You can read the full Ofsted report here.

Diocesan Inspection – March 2023

Please see our Diocesan Inspection Report here