Notre Dame RC School

Notre Dame RC School is a Roman Catholic secondary school for girls in Years 7 to 11, with boys admitted to the sixth form. It is part of Plymouth CAST and was inspected after a complaint-led focused monitoring visit escalated into a full inspection. The school requires special measures. Safeguarding standards are not met: leaders have not created an open and positive safeguarding culture, allegations against adults are not handled quickly or consistently, records are weak, and many pupils say they would not report concerns because they fear not being believed. Leadership and governance are graded urgent improvement, with governance judged to have failed its statutory safeguarding duty. HMCI also recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers. Across the remaining areas, the school is mostly graded needs attention. Pupils do not achieve consistently well, and gaps in knowledge are widespread, particularly for pupils with SEND, disadvantaged pupils and sixth-form students. Attendance remains persistently below the national average, with high persistent absence. Teaching quality is variable, adaptations for pupils with SEND are inconsistent, progress reviews can be irregular, and the impact of training is uneven. Personal development has gaps, including pupils' knowledge of fundamental British values and healthy relationships. Post-16 attainment is below national averages and curriculum implementation is variable. There are positive foundations. Leaders understand the curriculum and have extended key stage 3, curriculum content is ambitious and logically ordered, teachers generally have subject expertise, and professional learning is aligned to priorities. Staff wellbeing is supported. The specially resourced SEND provision helps pupils develop life skills, disadvantaged pupils' attainment shows early improvement, and pupils benefit from careers guidance, trips, clubs and pastoral support. However, the serious safeguarding and leadership weaknesses mean the school is not providing an acceptable standard of education and lacks the capacity to secure necessary improvement without urgent action.

Strengths

• Leaders have extended key stage 3 so pupils study a broader range of subjects for longer.
• Curriculum content is suitably ambitious and logically sequenced across subjects.
• Teachers generally have sufficient subject expertise.
• The professional learning plan is aligned to priorities leaders have identified.
• Staff wellbeing is supported and the impact of decisions on workload is considered and mitigated.
• The school has clear systems for identifying pupils' needs, including how needs may change over time.
• Appropriate pastoral support is provided during long waits for external assessments.
• The specially resourced SEND provision supports pupils to develop life skills for adulthood.
• Alternative provision is selected in pupils' best interests and suitability checks take place.
• Disadvantaged pupils' attainment shows early signs of improvement.
• Careers guidance includes Future Friday, university visits and prioritises disadvantaged pupils.
• Pupils access trips, clubs and activities that develop talents and cultural appreciation.
• The sixth form has a suitable 16-19 programme, enrichment, leadership opportunities and next-step guidance.
• The recently strengthened behaviour policy is mostly applied; the school is calm and orderly, and suspensions are reducing.
• Staff make appropriate adjustments for pupils with SEND when required.
• Safer recruitment processes are followed and referrals to other agencies are made when there are welfare concerns.

Areas for Improvement

• Safeguarding standards are not met; there is not an open and positive culture of safeguarding.
• Allegations against adults are not acted on quickly enough and appropriate processes are not followed consistently.
• Safeguarding record-keeping is weak and often fails to record actions taken to keep pupils safe.
• Leaders do not track the type and frequency of safeguarding concerns, so patterns and trends go unidentified.
• Many pupils would not report concerns to an adult in school for fear of not being believed or insufficient action.
• The school requires special measures because it is failing to provide an acceptable standard of education.
• Leadership and governance are graded urgent improvement, and governance has failed its statutory safeguarding duty.
• Leaders have not identified the scale of safeguarding concerns or learned sufficiently from mistakes.
• Pupils do not achieve consistently well, with widespread knowledge gaps especially for SEND and disadvantaged pupils and sixth-form students.
• Strategies to close pupils' gaps in knowledge are not working quickly enough.
• Attendance is persistently below the national average, and persistent absence is high, especially for SEND and disadvantaged pupils.
• Some bullying incidents are not managed quickly or effectively enough, and some pupils lack confidence in staff action.
• Low-level disruption occurs, most often when lessons are led by staff pupils do not know well.
• Teaching quality is variable; weaker assessment and explanations lead to misconceptions and persistent gaps.
• Teachers do not consistently use pupils' starting points when designing what to teach next.
• Adaptations for pupils with SEND are inconsistent, sometimes poorly matched and can isolate pupils from peers.
• Progress reviews for pupils with SEND are irregular, so timely changes to support sometimes do not happen.
• Training to meet pupils' needs does not have consistently positive impact because of high supply staff and inconsistent practice.
• The personal development curriculum has gaps; pupils are not clearly signposted to mental health support and recall is not checked effectively.
• Many pupils have significant gaps in knowledge of fundamental British values and healthy relationships, so are not well prepared for life in modern Britain.
• Sixth-form students do not achieve well enough, with several published measures below national averages.
• Post-16 curriculum implementation is variable and assessment information is not used well enough to remedy gaps.
• Leaders do not track sixth-form enrichment participation precisely enough to assure all students benefit fully.
• HMCI strongly recommends that the school does not seek to appoint early career teachers.
• Governance holds leaders to account on resources and attendance but has not ensured safeguarding standards are met.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Notre Dame RC School attended 89.2% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 31.3% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 5.6% of pupils at Notre Dame RC School were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). 2 pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Notre Dame RC School had 14.2 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 7.7% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 21.6% of pupils at Notre Dame RC School were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 3.4% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Notre Dame RC School received £13,551 and spent £9,452 for each of its 732 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £1,243,000 (£1,699 per pupil).

Across all 34 schools of Plymouth Cast, income was £8,158 and spending £8,000 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Plymouth · Plymouth local authority: places and applications

Notre Dame RC School is part of Plymouth Cast, which runs 34 schools. The nearest others:

• St Boniface's RC College Plymouth
• St Peter's RC Primary School Plymouth
• St Paul's Roman Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• Keyham Barton Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• Holy Cross Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• The Cathedral School of St Mary Plymouth
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Plymouth
• St Mary's Catholic Primary School, Buckfast Buckfastleigh
• St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Newton Abbot
• St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Primary School, Dartmouth Dartmouth

What is Notre Dame RC School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Notre Dame RC School is Urgent improvement, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Notre Dame RC School last inspected by Ofsted?

Notre Dame RC School was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Notre Dame RC School have?

Notre Dame RC School has 764 pupils on roll.

What age range does Notre Dame RC School cover?

Notre Dame RC School for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Notre Dame RC School's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 44.6, and 39% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Notre Dame RC School?

Notre Dame RC School is at Looseleigh Lane, Derriford, Plymouth, Devon, PL6 5HN.