ISI Inspection Report The Quality of Care and Relationships

The Quality of Care and Relationships

The Quality of Pastoral Care, and the Welfare, Health and Safety of Pupils

The quality of pastoral care was judged to be excellent at the last inspection and it has remained so. The school aims to offer a caring Christian environment and it does this extremely well. The staff provide very effective support and guidance for all pupils and care for their welfare, health and safety is also outstanding. Two recommendations from the last inspection – to ‘make health and safety issues an agenda item for staff meetings’, and ‘carry out the first fire practice of the academic year in the first week of term’ – have both been carried out.

The school’s pastoral, tutorial and other support systems make an extremely positive and highly effective contribution to the academic standards and personal growth achieved by the pupils. Form tutors and key stage co-ordinators have a detailed knowledge of the pupils in their care, and the staff responsible for extra-curricular activities make an important contribution. Documentation is very thorough, with academic monitoring and pastoral support systems being carefully interwoven. Departmental meeting agendas include reference to any pupils giving cause for concern.
Relationships between staff and pupils are excellent. Teachers not only know their pupils very well, but make every effort to support and encourage them inside and outside the classroom. The pupils all praised their teachers for their hard work in helping them to achieve. They also commented that the discipline of activities such as the CCF or choir, spilled over into the rest of school life. So, too, do the leadership skills acquired through these activities. Numbers of senior pupils hold posts of responsibility; an informal sense of responsibility for others is clearly evident, for instance at lunchtime when older pupils sit and chat with younger ones.

Measures to promote good discipline, including an anti-bullying policy, are very successful. Much more important in the promotion of good discipline are the high expectations of teachers and the development of self-discipline among the pupils. Norms of courtesy and consideration for others are so deeply ingrained that it is rare for recourse to be made to formal disciplinary measures.

Child protection policies are in place and are fully complied with. The headmistress is the designated child protection officer and training in child protection is given to all staff at the recommended intervals.

All measures necessary to reduce risk from fire and other hazards have been taken. The recording of fire drills is punctilious and a fire safety risk assessment is regularly reviewed by the head of maintenance. The school’s health and safety policy is comprehensive and very well managed. Each department has a risk assessment procedure which is regularly reviewed by the bursar and head of maintenance. The school has adopted an amended version of the local authority’s trips policy, and risk assessments are scrupulously compiled.

The school’s concern for the health of the pupils is exemplary. The school matron is available to pupils all day and six staff have completed an advanced first aid training course. The school’s approach to nutrition is a shining example of good practice. School lunches are varied, healthy and delicious; although pupils in Year 9 and above may bring packed lunches, very few choose to do so. Those who bring packed lunches eat in the dining room with the rest of the school, and a check is made daily to ensure that all pupils do eat lunch. Pupils of different ages, and teachers, sit and chat informally over their meal. The school’s nutrition action group works with the home economics department and the school caterer on the nutritional content of the food, so that a particularly delicious chocolate and coconut flapjack has had its fat and sugar content reduced without losing its flavour. Fresh fruit, salads and a variety of cooked vegetables are always available. Chips are a fortnightly treat. A ‘green’ vending machine sells only healthy products, some of them organic.

The school meets the regulatory requirements for the welfare, health and safety of pupils [Standard 3].

The Quality of Links with Parents and the Community

The school aims to listen to and respond to parents and for the last two years has carried out a parental questionnaire. It encourages communication at all levels and parents are happy that they have opportunities to be involved in the life of the school and that their concerns are dealt with properly. The school has a very effective partnership with parents and very good links with the wider community, as was the case at the last inspection.
In reply to the parents’ questionnaire completed for the inspection almost all parents were satisfied or very satisfied with the education and support their daughters receive – ‘a privilege to attend such a school’ was the comment of one parent. A small minority thought too much homework was set but this was counterbalanced by the number who said that not enough homework was expected.

Parents are encouraged to become involved in school activities. The parents’ association arranges occasions such as a welcome evening for new parents and staff, and fund raising occasions like quiz nights. The money raised buys extra equipment for the school. Parents also volunteer to run the second-hand clothing store. They have good opportunities to become involved with pupils’ education through help with sport, drama productions, and adventure training. Parents who help on a voluntary basis are checked through the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

The school has an open door policy and parents are welcome to talk to the headmistress or other members of staff if they have concerns about the work or progress of their daughters. Contact books (in the senior school) and message books (in the junior department) provide a simple and effective means of communication between home and school.
Parents are provided with good regular information about the school. Very detailed and informative handbooks are sent to new parents and these contain all the statutory information along with much more. Options booklets are issued to pupils in Years 9 and 11. The school’s website and newsletter give notice of coming events. Parents also receive plenty of information about their daughters’ work and progress. The junior department issues a very useful ‘curriculum focus’ which explains clearly the topics to be covered in the year ahead. Parents’ information evenings are held as required and the school organises talks on subjects of concern for parents, such as drugs. Open evenings are held regularly.

Concerns raised by parents are dealt with informally if possible. However, the school has a formal complaints procedure which meets the statutory requirements and details are in the parents’ handbook. Detailed records are kept of complaints.

Detailed and thorough reports are made to parents, and attainment grades are standardised across the school. Reports are complemented by comments on ability and targets for improvement, which show how well the staff know the pupils. Interim assessments give parents a snapshot of achievement and effort between reports.

The school promotes very positive links with the wider community. Locally, the school has partnership links with a nearby primary school, St Sidwell’s. St Margaret’s teams play matches against local schools and take part in the Ten Tors expedition. Visits take place within Exeter to places as varied as the Cathedral and Sainsbury’s. Further afield, foreign language exchanges, trips to First World War battlefields, and cultural visits are all well supported. The school has developed strong links with Europe through the Comenius Project, which links schools from Belgium, Denmark, Poland and the United Kingdom. For many years the school has supported the Goodwill Village in India, both by fundraising and also by making it the focus of the biennial Duke of Edinburgh’s gold award expedition.

The school meets the regulatory requirements for the provision of information and the manner in which complaints are to be handled [Standards 6 and 7].