An Archway school has been commended for its “happy, confident and polite” students in its latest Ofsted report.

St Aloysius RC College received a ‘good’ rating in all five inspection categories in the Ofsted report published on July 21.

The school improved from its previous 'requires improvement' rating given after an Ofsted inspection in 2018.

The latest report states: “St Aloysius pupils are happy, confident and polite. They share the school’s value of respect, learning, community and justice.

“Leaders have created a school where pupils are safe and have someone to turn to when the need arises.”

The Ofsted inspector commended the ambitious curriculum, provisions for pupils with special educational needs or disabilities, and the good subject knowledge of teachers.

During the inspection on June 7 and 8 the Ofsted inspector found: “Staff have high expectations of pupils. They want them to succeed and develop into caring and considerate young adults. Pupils reach these expectations. They rise to the challenge teachers provide for them.”

Points of improvement, according to the report, include considering new ways of teaching to allow students a broader understanding of some subjects and planning more systematically for pupils with special needs.

The school had witnessed a large-scale student protest in April 2019 about the administration, lack of staff and strict new rules.

Dozens of pupils had gathered outside the school in response to what they argued were incidents of mistreatment of staff and students following the departure of long-standing head Tom Mannion the year before.

In the Ofsted report from 2018 the inspector found the school was lacking in its quality of teaching and failing to provide students with the necessary tools to excel.

It stated: “Some teachers’ expectations of what pupils, especially the most able, can achieve are too low.

“Pupils’ outcomes have declined in the past two years. Progress is now average overall, and varies between subjects.”

St Aloysius RC College is a secondary Catholic boy's school for children aged 11 to 19. The sixth-form takes girls and there are a total of 624 students enrolled in the school.

The current headteacher Paula Whyte has been in post since September 2020.