Quality Assurance and Inspection

The School has, as a priority, the recruitment of appropriately qualified and experienced staff. The report details how the school follows the highest standards for fair and safe recruitment to ensure the best quality staff are employed, both teaching and non-teaching.

Overall, the HR team which straddles both schools has an admirable dedication to safer recruitment. They are refreshingly reflective and consistently receptive to further improvements to an already punctilious and exemplary approach to recruiting the best candidates in the safest possible way.

The school provides a safe and supportive environment for all young people. The report states that students were genuinely shocked when asked if there was a bullying problem in the school, one student commenting, “This is the most unified school that I know of”.

One current parent commented, “My son has only been here two weeks and he already has a wide group of friends, everyone makes friends easily”.

The visiting inspector was impressed with how visible staff were around the school and how older students act as role models to the younger students, and have been given more responsibility around the site.

The school was commended for the meticulous planning that goes into its off-site activities and the detail of the paperwork and policies that support this.

The school provides all students with access to an environment that is conducive to learning, and that keeps them safe. The report found that the school has modern, light and airy classrooms, which provide excellent working spaces, equipped to the highest UK standards.

The School’s Governors work to support students and the work of the school. The way in which the school is governed, ensures that the safeguarding of all students is of the upmost importance, with all school governors being trained to the highest standard to ensure that the school is led by example from the top down.

All governors have received training in safeguarding... some governors have requested additional training on matters of their own interests so that they can help the school further.

The school has an evident British ethos and promotes internationalism. The report identified the schools numerous links with the local community, including charity work in support of the Women’s Refuge and other local initiatives such as the Nautilus Project and Clean Up The World Day. Parents felt that their children were growing up to be open-minded and in a discussion with students, the inspector found that they had a deeper understanding about the world than their peers in other countries and expressed this with maturity and clarity unusual for students of their age.

The school values are based firmly on its Catholic faith and represent the fundamental values that would be expected in a school in the UK. The school’s PSHE and assembly programme invites and also requires the students to look at the wider society beyond the school and to help others who may be less fortunate than themselves. The school has been involved in many charities such as Mary's Meals in which the students are asked to make sacrifices in order to help others. This again reflects the school’s values and ethos. Although a Catholic mass is held once a week, alternative arrangements are made for students of other religious groups.