Sacred Heart School rated outstanding

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Local high school given top marks by Ofsted inspectors

Sacred Heart High School, in Hammersmith, has been given Ofsted's top rating of "outstanding" for enabling students of all abilities to make good progress and achieve excellent exam results.

Inspectors who visited the school last month said "Sacred Heart High is an outstanding school. The culture is one of high expectations within a caring and supportive environment. Pupils make very good progress whatever their starting point, and their exam results are excellent. The school sets itself and its pupils challenging targets and meets them."

Last summer, the school achieved its best-ever GCSE results with 91% of students gaining five or more passes at grades A* to C.

Among the many strengths of Sacred Heart High praised in the Ofsted report were:

• "Assessment is excellent. Work is marked carefully and teachers use encouragement and praise well to motivate pupils."
• "Pupils are confident and mature and enjoy all aspects of school life. Their desire to learn is reflected by their excellent behaviour and their very high levels of attendance."
• "Very good support for pupils with learning difficulties or disabilities."
• "The very high quality of care, guidance and support is a key strength of the school."
• "Outside of school hours the excellent range of activities is very well attended."
• "Pupils are extremely well prepared for their future careers and economic well-being."
• "The headteacher has a very clear vision for the direction of the school."

Sacred Heart High is a specialist training, maths and computing (ICT) college, helping to train new teachers and staff at other stages of their careers, as well as sharing expertise and facilities in maths and ICT with other schools and the community.
The Ofsted report said: "With outstanding teaching and learning, the school provides excellent opportunities for teacher trainees and newly qualified teachers to observe and work with highly skilled teachers. Pupils, parents and the local community benefit from the school's specialist status."

Christine Carpenter, headteacher of Sacred Heart High, said "We are delighted with the report. I want to pay particular tribute to all those who contribute to the school's success and what we achieve for pupils. We have an amazing, hardworking and committed staff as well as a highly effective governing board. We are also very proud of all our pupils and grateful to parents for their support of us in all we do."

Cllr Melanie Smallman, cabinet member for education, said"Congratulations to everyone at the school. This extremely positive report confirms what we already knew - that Sacred Heart High is an exceptionally good school which sets high standards for students and staff. The school is going from strength to strength and achieved its best-ever GCSE results this summer. Its specialist training role means that teachers from other schools are benefiting from the expertise of staff at Sacred Heart High."

 

 

 

February 25, 2006