Summary of the latest Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) Report - March 2011

The Quality of Education

•    Pupils’ overall achievement is good, and the school is successful in ensuring that
they are thoroughly prepared for each stage of their education and transfer to their
next schools, in line with its aims.

•    Pupils are well educated and frequently achieve high standards for their ages and capabilities.

•    Older pupils are highly articulate and use group and class discussions to present critical and thoughtful ideas. They write fluently and imaginatively.

•    Appropriate attention is given to the pupils’ aesthetic, creative and physical development and pupils achieve high standards in these areas.

•    Pupils work hard and achieve high levels of success in a wide range of activities, including individual and team competitions. Pupils are highly motivated and cooperative.

•    They are keen to be involved, working with considerable concentration in lessons. They show immense enthusiasm and clearly enjoy their school.

•    Pupils benefit from a wide range of subjects enriched by the provision of Spanish, personal, social and health education (PSHE) and an excellent programme of extra-curricular activities.

•    Their linguistic and cultural experiences are broadened through interesting educational visits, visitors to the school, events and links with the local community.

•    Pupils make good and often rapid progress, frequently achieving high standards. This is supported by information from standardised test data and the results of senior school entrance and scholarship examinations.

•    The quality of teaching is good overall, and sometimes excellent. It is at its best when pupils use their collaborative, investigative and reasoning skills and where it is closely matched to the needs of pupils of differing abilities.

•    Full use is made of the school’s excellent facilities. Pupils benefit from excellent resources.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development of Pupils

•    The school promotes a strong sense of direction for the pupils, whose outstanding personal development reflects the school’s strong commitment to this aspect of their education.

•    Pupils have a high level of spiritual awareness. It is underpinned by the excellent quality of mutual support and respect for others, which promotes the sense of community.

•    Pupils exhibit considerable confidence and self-awareness.

•    The school successfully engenders a strong moral code, and the importance of self discipline, mutual respect and honesty is understood by pupils throughout the school.

•    Pupils’ appreciation of their own culture and those of others is strongly evident. The school is open and welcoming to people from all faiths and cultures and actively seeks to promote this diversity in its daily life.

The Quality of Pastoral Care

•    Pupils benefit considerably from the school’s high quality pastoral care. Pupils expressed their appreciation of the care and support they received.

Relationships Between Teachers and Pupils

•    Teachers have an excellent overview of pupils’ academic progress and personal development.

•    The focus on encouragement and positive reinforcement ensures that the quality of relationships between staff and pupils and amongst pupils themselves is excellent.  The school’s arrangements for promoting good behaviour are thorough and consistent. Pupils behave extremely well.

The Quality of Boarding Education

•    Boarding offers pupils a warm and welcoming environment and makes a strong contribution to their personal development. Pupils stated that they found boarding fun and felt well looked after by caring and helpful boarding staff.

The Quality of Links with Parents and the Community

•    The school has good relationships with parents and carers, as is evident from their involvement and support for the school. They are supplied with a comprehensive range of information about the school and reports about their children’s progress are clear and helpful.

•    The school responds carefully to any concerns raised.

The Effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage

•    Staff know the children well and recognise the unique qualities of each child.

•    Through careful observations and assessments, the key person identifies the steps needed to further a child’s learning, enabling appropriate progress.

•    Children show good levels of  independence in their learning and have high self-esteem.

•    Comprehensive development plans, along with selfevaluation, provide clear priorities for improvement, ensuring that the high standards of care and learning are maintained.

•    Strong relationships with parents help to involve them in their children’s care and education and create a very positive partnership. They are very supportive of the setting and appreciate the care provided by the staff.

•    Provision is good with some outstanding features.

•    Child-initiated activities are excellent, giving children the opportunity to develop their creative thinking.

•    The balance of adult-led activities with child-initiated activities is good.

•    The outdoor environment is excellent. Play is planned and purposeful both indoors and outdoors.

•    Children’s welfare needs are paramount.

To read the ful inspection please click on this link.

ISI Report March '11124.02 kB PDF Download