Great Walstead School Inspection Reports

  

Great Walstead has recently (Spring 2006) been inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate
and the Commission for Social Care (for the boarding facility).

Both reports were outstanding. The full reports can be downloaded from this page.

  
     

Overall Conclusions from the Independent Schools Inspectorate Report:

"Great Walstead is a purposeful school with many strengths, which successfully fulfils all its stated aims. In this, it is supported by the high quality of its governance and non-teaching departments, including boarding, and by the positive approval of its parents.

The school provides a happy environment within a Christian ethic, in which pupils succeed well over a wide range of activities. Pupils develop exceptional relationships between themselves and with their teachers.

The quality of teaching is good overall and sometimes outstanding. Teachers are well-qualified, and highly committed to valuing each pupil as an individual.

The management of the school is good, although work already begun to strengthen the monitoring and implementation of educational policy in key areas has yet to be concluded.

The location of the school, its grounds, buildings and facilities are of high quality, and contribute substantially to pupils' achievements and personal development."



  

download the full reports here:
Independent Schools Inspectorate Report -  view / download pdf document
CSCI Boarding report -  view / download pdf document

to read the above files you need Adobe Acrobat Reader

 




Letter from the headmaster summarising the reports:


Dear Prospective Parents

Inspection Reports

I am delighted to be able to make available a copy of our recent Independent Schools Council inspection report which, as you will see when you download it, wholeheartedly endorses what we are doing here at Great Walstead.

For those busy parents who do not have the time to read the full document, can I point you to the overall conclusions in Section 5 (page 15 - and set out above) and highlight some of the comments made in the body of the report:

  • the school’s curriculum is broad and generally well-balanced and makes a significant contribution to pupils’ well-rounded development (para 2.2)
  • throughout the school, pupils’ achievements are consistently good in relation to their ages and abilities in a wide variety of activities, both in and out of the class (para 2.8)
  • the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils is outstanding (para 2.15)
  • teachers have high expectations and provide challenges that are well matched to the ages and abilities of all pupils (para 2.22)
  • staff know their pupils well and relationships between them are mutually respectful and trusting (para 3.2)
  • the school’s links with its parents and the community are strong (para 3.9)
  • the school’s provision for boarding is excellent (para 3.16)
  • the high quality of the governors’ contribution is a strength of the school (para 4.1)
  • the quality of leadership and management is good (para 4.6)

Please also take time to download the Commission for Social Care Inspection of our boarding which ran in parallel to the ISC inspection. Again, it is a tremendously encouraging document and fully supports all that our boarding staff are doing to make boarding a positive experience for the children who board here on a weekly or flexi basis.


Hugh Lowries
Headmaster
June 2006