Click for a larger picture (courtesy of North West News)

Pupils and staff at The Firs School Chester are celebrating after receiving a glowing report from Independent School Inspectors. The inspection team described The Firs as having an environment where “The pupils’ attitudes to learning are exemplary and this contributes to their successful achievement.” The report praises the quality of teaching, the high standards achieved by pupils, their excellent personal development, the strong curricular provision, the excellent quality of learning support, the good variety of extra curricular activities and the outstanding pastoral care. The inspection report also says “The school fully meets its aims to give pupils the opportunity to discover their talents and achieve the highest standards consistent with their natural ability.” As the word “excellent” appears so many times in the report all the pupils from Kindergarten to Year 6 got together to spell the word.  To read the full report go to http://www.firsschool.net/100422_TheFirsInspection.pdf

Margaret Denton the Head said “We’re very proud of the report and I am delighted that it recognises the hard work and achievement of all the pupils and staff at The Firs and truly reflects our ethos “.

Pictures courtesy of Cheshire News.

Excellent Quotations from the report

1. “Learning support is of excellent quality, both in class and in separate lessons.”
2. “The personal development of the pupils is excellent.”
3. “Pupils’ cultural awareness and development is excellent; their love of music and art offers an insight into the cultural heritage of other countries.”
4. “The directors are highly committed to the success of the school and have an excellent insight; their responsibilities for welfare and health and safety are carried out extremely carefully.”
5. “Year 5 were very articulate in mathematics lessons, and made excellent use of subject vocabulary.”
6. “They (the pupils) apply themselves confidently and diligently to their work, and show excellent cooperation, concentration and perseverance.”
7. “Teaching benefits from a generous range of resources, including interactive whiteboards in every classroom, and ample computers, of which excellent use is being made.”
8. “In the best lessons observed, clear objectives, well chosen activities and enthusiastic focused teaching led to excellent learning and high levels of achievement.”
9. “Mathematics in the senior years is made interesting and engaging through investigation, a well-paced variety of activities, extensive subject knowledge and excellent use of perceptive questions.”
10. “They have excellent opportunities to explore their creativity and imagination through a broad range of visual, tactile and sensory experiences and the colourful displays around the school celebrate pupils’ wonder at the world around them.”
11. “Older pupils demonstrate a sense of responsibility to act as good role models for younger pupils at lunch, on the playground and around school, and their behaviour sets an excellent example.”
12. “Some excellent multi-faith work in RE adds to cultural awareness and pupils learn about other ways of life in geography as they explore the contrasting lifestyles of children in Kenya and
    Britain.”
13. “Pupils participate with enthusiasm in sport and games activities, including matches against other schools; good use is made of excellent local indoor and outdoor sports facilities to supplement those of the school.”
14. “The leadership and management of the school are excellent.” cooperation, concentration and perseverance.”

The Firs School is an independent school for boys and girls aged 3-11. It was inspected by The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) which 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. The ISI also inspects every school whose head is already a member of one of these associations.

The 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 that the school complies with relevant legal requirements. This framework has been agreed with the DCSF and they have recognised the ISI as the body responsible for the regular inspection of schools in England which are affiliated to the ISC.