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Thursday 21 March 2024

Ofsted grades boarding ‘outstanding’

Keswick School’s boarding provision (52 boarding places) was inspected by Ofsted under the social care common inspection framework from the 22^nd to 24^th January. The overall judgement, which covers the experiences and progress of children and young people, was graded as ‘outstanding’.

Two senior Ofsted inspectors visited the school and boarding house over a three-day inspection. They met with the entire boarding community, school staff and Governors, and gathered an enormous amount of evidence to judge the quality of the boarding provision. The social care common inspection framework is closely aligned with Ofsted’s school common inspection framework. This means a greater emphasis on the progress and outcomes of boarding students, in addition to the care and support they receive in boarding. The Ofsted report states that boarding is outstanding at Keswick School because:
‘The boarding school provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the school contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people.’
‘Children say that they enjoy boarding, and that it offers them chances to experience international friendships, progressive education, and access to leisure opportunities that they would not otherwise have.’

The inspection report conveys an exceptionally strong sense of community in the boarding house. This culture of care and support was highlighted repeatedly throughout the three-day inspection. The inspectors commented:
‘Staff know children exceptionally well. They use a confident, individual relationship-based approach to build trust that helps children to feel safe. One child said, ‘I saw that other children who went to staff with their problems were helped with kindness, and so I was more confident to tell staff about my worries. I would not have been able to talk to you so easily a year ago. Staff have helped me to find my confidence.’’

The exceptional school support was also highlighted for praise:
‘Staff understand children’s academic progress, but also measure children’s progress in their ability to enjoy life, gather experiences to support wider social and emotional learning, and make and sustain healthy friendships.’
‘Where children need support to make progress, leaders ensure that there is a comprehensive and shared whole-school response to identify and meet those needs. They listen to children about whether the support is working, and are flexible in their approach.’

Simon Jackson, the Head teacher, said:
‘We believe in the benefits of boarding alongside the opportunities we offer to our day pupils. Living away from home with outstanding study facilities and the character development that flows from opportunities outside the classroom help make boarding students both confident and successful. We are delighted to see that Ofsted recognise these benefits and our innovative approach to education and the well-being of young people in our care.’

Ofsted Boarding Report

GCSE Performance Results 2023

Recently, the Government issued data around GCSE results in Cumbria and, in particular, highlight the fantastic performance of Keswick School.

The government has today published the GCSE performance results for 2023 and Keswick school is delighted to, once again, feature at the top of those results for Cumberland Schools. Please see the link below:
https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/schools-by-type?step=default&table=schools&region=942&geographic=la&for=secondary

In analysing the information that has been published, it is clear that Keswick has the highest number of GCSE students achieving Grade 5 and above for Maths and English (61%) and also has the highest number of students in the county achieving the English Baccalaureate.

We are delighted with these results, which demonstrate the commitment, dedication and quality of teaching within Keswick School and we are extremely proud of our students who have worked so hard to excel in their GCSE exams.

Keswick School National Language Hub School

Keswick School announced by the DfE as a national Language Hub School

We are proud to announce that Keswick School has been selected as one of only 15 schools across the country to become a lead Language Hub School for the National Consortium for Languages Education (NCLE). Working in conjunction with Ulverston Victoria High School, we will be training a small number of partner schools in Cumbria to share best practice, discuss ideas and support quality language learning activities. At Keswick School, we know that the ability to speak other languages is an incredibly useful asset for pupils, both professionally and personally, and our language students invariably go on to become highly successful in their chosen career paths.

Simon Jackson, Headteacher, said:
“The importance of learning another language in modern Britain cannot be underestimated. It helps students see themselves as global citizens, understand cultural differences as well as appreciate shared values but, most importantly, it enables a rich discourse between people of different nations. The ability to speak another language is a gift that we should encourage all children to pursue. However, this can only happen with the support of expert teachers. It is for this reason that we are delighted to have been recognised as one of 15 national Language Hubs and we look forward to working with colleagues in partner schools to develop language teaching and encourage more students to take a language to GCSE and beyond.”

Sophia West, Head of French at Keswick School and NCLE Specialist Teacher, said:
“This is an outstanding achievement for our Modern Foreign Languages department and it is an exciting opportunity for us to showcase the high quality of our language teaching, which has now been recognised at a national level. Learning languages opens so many doors for our young people, and we are pleased to be given this additional support to further our vision”.

The NCLE is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and delivered by IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society (UCL IOE), in partnership with the British Council and the Goethe-Institut.

The key aims for the NCLE are to:

• encourage high quality language teaching in schools

• increase languages uptake at GCSE

• support levelling up opportunities for disadvantaged pupils

• address the performance of boys

• better recognise and support the rich diversity of languages in addition to English

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Ofsted grades boarding ‘outstanding’

GCSE Performance Results 2023

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