Private School News

King’s Bruton passes Boarding Inspection with Flying Colours.

King’s Bruton has received the report from its Ofsted Boarding Inspection and, pleasingly, the school was rated ‘Outstanding’ in four of the six categories. Overall, King’s was rated ‘Good’ with several outstanding aspects. The school was also commended for having made significant improvements on their provision for boarding since the previous inspection three years ago. The school received particular praise, amongst others, for the quality of the school food, provision of extra-curricular activities, and the impressively effective way the school deals with what are a relatively small number of incidents of bullying (encouragingly, the pupils – through their confidential questionnaires and interviews – reported few incidents of bullying, with the majority saying they had not experienced any form of bullying at King’s).

Headmaster, Nigel Lashbrook stated “I am obviously pleased with the outcome of the inspection. There is always room for improvement, and our aim must be to try and achieve more than four ‘Outstanding’ grades next time, even though receiving four such plaudits is apparently quite rare for a boarding school. The inspectors were particularly impressed by the friendliness, warmth and great sense of collegiality that exits at King’s – that sounds like a familiar story!”

Inspectors praise sixth-form college in Cambridge

Students, teachers and parents at Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies (CCSS), one of the UK’s leading independent colleges, are celebrating the overwhelmingly positive results of the ISI inspection conducted at the college in February this year. Inspectors said that “CCSS provides a high quality educational experience”, achieving its aim of providing an individual approach to every student. They also rated teaching as “high quality” and pastoral care as “outstanding”.

Inspectors commended the high standards of students’ achievement, as well as the college’s substantial enrichment opportunities, particularly for gifted and talented students. Parents interviewed by the Independent Schools Inspectorate were particularly pleased about the range of subjects on offer and the help provided for students to make progress. Students commented that teachers are “always there for them”.

Inspectors went on to say that the individual approach and respect for every student promoted by the college, builds self-confidence in young people. “Students are attentive, fluent and read intelligently. They are morally aware, respect rules and enjoy their work”, inspectors said. They also praised the “strong” leadership in the college and described support for students as “exceptional”.

Inspectors commented that lessons are well-planned and that teachers know their subjects well. Teachers are well-qualified, dedicated and experienced, inspectors found.

“We are delighted with the inspectors’ findings, said Neil Roskilly, the Principal of the college. Parents and students have always praised our approach, but it is particularly pleasing when this is officially recognised”.

Stonar School delighted with 2008 Inspection Report

“The educational experience for pupils at Stonar School is of high quality” and offers each individual child excellent academic provision, a diverse extra-curricular programme and an excellent quality of pastoral care throughout the school, according to Independent School Inspectors in their recently published report.

The report goes on to praise the wide curriculum and diversity of experience provided by the school; the strength of pupils’ moral and social development across all ages; the excellent partnership developed with the school’s parents and local community, and the very important contribution made by the quality of boarding to the girls’ progress and personal development. The high quality of leadership and management throughout the school is credited with promoting a very strong and clear sense of purpose and educational direction, whilst helping Stonar to adapt to a period of rapid and significant change.

“The Inspectors were very pleased with all that they saw and it is clear from the report that our staff are doing a wonderful job by providing children with an excellent all-round education”, said Headmistress Mrs Shirley Shayler, who was delighted with the findings.

The report recognised that more able pupils are frequently provided with opportunities and challenges to extend their learning. It also emphasised the strength of learning support at Stonar and the fact that those receiving it achieve good standards in relation to their ability.

“As with any inspection, there are issues for the school to attend to and I am pleased to say that these are already being addressed“, said Mrs Shayler “but it was wonderful to see highlighted what fantastic pupils we have here at Stonar” referring to the report’s conclusion that “Pupils mature into thoughtful, courteous individuals who are a credit to themselves and to the school”.

A copy of the report can be found at www.stonarschool.com

Stonar School delighted with 2008 Inspection Report