RE and Catholic Life Inspections (Section 48)

Every school in the Archdiocese of Birmingham is inspected under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005. These inspections evaluate the Catholic life of the school, the provision and quality of collective worship, as well as all areas of RE. This inspection process helps ensure that all Catholic schools continue to develop in order to fulfil their mission of making Christ know.

There are two types of School Inspection. Section 5 is the OFSTED whole school Inspection and Section 48 is the RE Inspection that is carried out in schools that have a religious character. OFSTED has no remit to inspect the RE provision in a school designated as having a religious character and do not pass judgement on this area of school life in their inspection process at Our Lady of Lourdes.

Catholic life is judged against the following grade descriptors:

• The Catholic Life of the school
• Collective Worship

Leadership of Catholic life and collective worship is judged against the following grade descriptors:

• Leadership of Catholic life and collective worship

Religious Education is judged against the following grade descriptors:

• Leadership of Religious Education
• How well pupils achieve and enjoy their learning in Religious Education
• The quality of teaching and how purposeful learning is in Religious Education
• The Curriculum in Religious Education and the “Catholic Curriculum”

RE and Catholic Life Inspections take place every 5 years with an interim monitoring visit on the third year to ensure that all previous judgements are still sound and to review progress.

Please read Our Lady of Lourdes most recent Section 48 Report here