Notre Dame RC School, Plymouth

Ofsted's report card from its 25 February 2026 inspection grades Notre Dame RC School on 7 areas: 6 needs attention and 1 urgent improvement. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Needs attention. "Pupils do not achieve consistently well."

Attendance and behaviour - Needs attention. "Pupils' overall attendance rates remain persistently below the national average."

Curriculum and teaching - Needs attention. "The effectiveness of classroom teaching is highly variable."

Inclusion - Needs attention. "Although the school has clear systems for identifying pupils' needs, including how these might change over time, there is inconsistency in how regularly pupils' progress is reviewed."

Personal development and wellbeing - Needs attention. "Leaders ensure that there is a suitable curriculum for pupils' personal development that covers important strands such as health and wellbeing, online safety and living in the wider world."

Post 16 provision - Needs attention. "Overall, students in the sixth form do not achieve well enough."

Leadership and governance - Urgent improvement. "Leaders, and those responsible for governance, have not identified the scale of concerns around safeguarding practice at the school."

Safeguarding standards were NOT met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders and those responsible for governance must implement clear and effective processes to review safeguarding practices and reflect on incidents, so that leaders are able to learn and swiftly strengthen practices where required, thus ensuring that pupils are safe"; "Leaders must urgently take steps to reassure pupils that all concerns that they raise to adults are listened to and appropriate action is taken, so that pupils feel safe"; "Leaders and those responsible for governance must urgently review their policies and practices about responding to allegations against adults. This is required so that all staff are clear of their responsibilities and act according to policy. Leaders should also ensure that their response to allegations, including when working with other appropriate authorities, is timely, comprehensive and prioritises the safety of pupils"; "Leaders should ensure that the gaps in pupils' knowledge and understanding are consistently identified so that the curriculum can be well matched to their starting points and pupils are able to achieve highly"; "Leaders should ensure that pupils understand and remember the important content within the personal development curriculum, so that pupils are well prepared for adult life in modern Britain"; "Leaders should strengthen their monitoring of the impact of their work to improve the educational experiences of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are disadvantaged or have other barriers to learning"; "Leaders should carefully analyse and evaluate the impact that their attendance strategy is having on reducing the absence of pupils. They should take swift action to adjust strategies where needed to raise the attendance of pupils"; "Leaders should ensure that the actions taken to improve the quality of the post-16 provision are embedded to swiftly and effectively raise the attainment of pupils".

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include netball, tennis, athletics, basketball, badminton, cross-country, yoga, dance, drama and choir.

In 2026, pupils at Notre Dame RC School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 44.6, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 47.3 in Plymouth and 47 across England.

39% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 49% in Plymouth and 47% in England.

That is up from 43.3 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was -0.27: pupils made below average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 33.7, against 47.8 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 14.1 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Religious Studies, Combined Science and Geography.

For September 2026 entry, 76 families put Notre Dame RC School as their first choice and 182 named it as one of their preferences, for 93 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. Every family who put it first was offered a place there for 2026 entry.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Notre Dame RC School are Sir John Hunt Community Sports College (0.8 miles); Sir John Hunt Community Sports College (0.8 miles, Good, Attainment 8 43.1); St Boniface's RC College (1.2 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 37.8); and Tor Bridge High (1.4 miles, Good, Attainment 8 45.8).

Notre Dame RC School's 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 3 schools.

Notre Dame RC School is one of 34 schools run by Plymouth Cast, an academy trust.

116 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Notre Dame RC School (as of April 2026): 71% would recommend the school, 72% say their child is happy there and 44% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child is happy at the school (72%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (44%).

Of the 134 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 84% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 46% to a further education college, 9% to an apprenticeship and 2% into work.

Of the 52 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 35% went on to university or other higher education, 14% to apprenticeships and 33% into work. 10% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

11.3% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (73%) and other ethnic groups (5%).

In 2026, 165 pupils (21.6%) received SEN support and 26 (3.4%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

Notre Dame RC School had 62 teachers in 2026, one for every 12 pupils: more teachers per pupil than a typical secondary school, at about one for every 17.

The nearest railway station is St Budeaux Ferry Road Rail Station, about 3 miles away in a straight line.

16 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Notre Dame School Grounds (ne-bound), 80 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Notre Dame RC School stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In 2024/25, Notre Dame RC School issued 68 suspensions, 9.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and 2 permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Notre Dame RC School are Beechwood Primary Academy (0.5 miles), Oakwood Primary Academy (0.6 miles), Whitleigh Community Primary School (0.7 miles) and Widewell Primary Academy (0.9 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.