| News update At Ardingly College “Pupils enjoy learning, strive to achieve academic success and develop their individual talents through involvement in an excellent range of activities.” “They grow into confident, polite, enthusiastic young people, presenting themselves as ambassadors for the school.” The report also praises the academic standards of the College. “Pupils make good progress in their studies, attaining well above average standards at GCSE, above average standards at A level and well above the world averages for the IB.” The Sixth Form comes in for particular praise. “The large number of popular courses available at A level, and within the IB, makes outstanding provision for the Sixth Form.” The reports followed the inspection of both Pre-Prep, Preparatory and the Senior School, last term, by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). The full text of both reports on the Pre-Prep, Prep and Senior School can be accessed on the Ardingly website and also from the ISI website: www.isi.net . The inspectors noted the strong ethos of the College. “The school’s feeling of community and strong Christian ethos is valued and supports all aspects of pupils’ personal development.” The “pupils’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development is very good and has outstanding features. This is central to meeting the aims of the school and contributes to its very special atmosphere.” The Headmaster, Mr Peter Green, was delighted with the reports of the Senior and Pre-Prep and Prep School. “I am delighted the inspectors have highlighted the many strengths of the school. It is always rewarding to have a fresh pair of eyes looking at the College and for that to be done by an experienced team of professionals was most valuable. The reports have also been very helpful in contributing to our own development audit and helping us to prioritise areas for further improvement. We have already introduced greater monitoring of our quality of education; plans are well under way to provide further support for the SMT. We intend to introduce a new reporting system to make greater use of external assessment data to inform pupil progress and to set more challenging targets. All the regulatory requirements will be met by the beginning of next academic term and the statutory requirement for appointment procedures has already been completed.” Ardingly Pre-Prep and Preparatory School were inspected at the same time as the Senior School, but by a separate team of inspectors. They concluded “all pupils enjoy a rich educational experience; significantly enhanced by the extra-curriculum programme” while at the same time “they (the pupils) make a significant contribution to the life of the school through the excellent relationships they have with each other and their teachers”. The Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development of Pupils was described as “outstanding” and where “pupils show a high degree of social awareness, largely as a result of the value the school places on community life.” The Pre-Prep Headmistress, Ms Jeanne Adkins, commented “I am thrilled that our report highlights areas which are central to the strong Christian ethos of our school.” The quality of teaching has been commended and the statement “The pupils throughout are well educated, polite and are clearly proud of their schools” acknowledges our success in developing pupil’s talents in a happy and safe environment. The Preparatory School Headmaster, Chris Calvey, stated “This is a terrific report and I am incredibly proud of the children and the staff. To receive comments in the report such as “Pastoral care is excellent and pupils achieve high standards” is praise indeed. Of course we are not a school that will accept the status quo and the report will now form a strong basis on which we are going to build. We had lessons graded as “outstanding” and it is this high standard of teaching that I want to be a hallmark of Ardingly Prep School.” Explanatory note on the ISI Inspection System The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) arranges and carries out the inspection of any school which wishes to be accredited by the Independent Schools Council (ISC), thus enabling its Head to become a member of one of the ISC’s affiliated associations of schools. In the case of Ardingly College this is the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference (HMC). In the case of Ardingly Preparatory and Pre-preparatory School this is the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS). The ISI also inspects every school whose Head is already a member of one of these associations. ISI inspects schools according to a standard framework for inspection which it has laid down for the purposes of ensuring that standards are maintained and the school complies with all relevant legal requirements. This framework has been agreed with the DCSF and they have recognised the ISI as a body responsible for the regular inspection of schools in England which are affiliated to the ISC. Full details of the reports on both the Pre-preparatory School, Preparatory School and Senior School can be obtained via a link on the 'Information Page' on this website or from the ISI website www.isi.net. |