The British School Kathmandu

Summary of review undertaken by David Clegg and Shirley Bullington

Wessex Education Ltd

April 2006

The purpose of the review was to provide evaluation of standards, teaching and learning and progress made since the last review in March 2004.

Standards and Achievement

Primary

Standards are generally high and are above UK averages. In English, while standards are good overall, reading is a much stronger area than writing.  Standards in mathematics are generally good and the focus on improving pupils� mental skills is having a positive impact. Science is a strong area, with the majority of pupils reaching higher levels in national tests at the end of Year 6.

Secondary

The Secondary department continues to be characterised by high standards. The results of tests at the end of year 9 and at IGCSE compare very favourably to the results attained in the UK. The relatively small size of the cohort that take the tests makes some comparisons unhelpful. However, in the most popular subjects such as Mathematics and Science, the results at the end of year 9 are particularly high.

This success is maintained to the end of year 11 where again results in those subjects with the largest entry do particularly well. This is evident in English, Mathematics and Science.

Teaching and learning

Good teaching is evident throughout the school. In both the Primary and Secondary departments, lessons are founded on constructive and worthwhile relationships. Pupils and adults get on very well together and have a great deal of confidence in each other. Lessons are generally well planned and they move on at a good pace because teachers are very confident in their own understanding of what students need to learn.

The Secondary department has responded very well to the recommendations in the last review. It was suggested that teachers should employ a wider range of teaching strategies to engage all students. This has been undertaken with some rigour. Teachers use some very successful teaching strategies that get students interested and actively involved in lessons right from the start.

Meeting the needs of more able pupils in the Primary department was a recommendation in the last review. While there are examples of good challenge in some lessons, including questions and activities pitched at different levels right from the start, there is still some work to do to in this area.  There is also scope for teachers to pay more attention to how students use Standard English when speaking in formal settings.

Since the last review, there has been progress in approaches to target setting. All pupils have targets, but these are not having as much impact as they might. In the primary department, pupils often know their targets but do not know what they need to do to achieve them. Students in the Secondary department feel that their targets are helpful and are very clear about how well they are doing. However, the use of National Curriculum levels in setting targets is inconsistent.

Leadership and management

There has been a significant degree of change in the leadership and management of the Secondary section. However, the new personnel are building successfully on the very firm foundation that has been established over the past several years.

There has been good progress in the Secondary department in developing better data with which to monitor students� progress but there is still some work to do to use the information in a more productive and efficient manner.

In the Primary department, there is good assessment data available for pupils from Year 2 onwards. This is being used to track attainment and to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in pupils� performance in different subjects. Very detailed information is given to teachers about specific areas on which to focus in order to further improve achievement.

Although accommodation creates some restrictions for teaching and learning in the primary school, resources for learning are generally at least adequate and in some areas, for example, in ICT, they are good.

Given that the Secondary department is fairly small, the school has done well to recruit staff that can offer a good range of subjects at IGCSE and now in the Sixth Form. Throughout the school, staff are generally well qualified for the areas that they teach and good use is made of their skills. There is good level of support staff in both the Secondary and Primary departments.

Summary

As stated before The British School is a very successful school that provides pupils with a good quality education. The school has had to work under some difficult constraints which are entirely outside its control. A great deal of the school�s success is down to the determination of the leadership and staff to maintain a high quality education despite the local difficulties.