Cardinal Newman High earns top marks from inspectors

May 9 2008

A SECONDARY school in North Lanarkshire has received a five-star rating from education inspectors, confirming its position as one of the top schools in the country.

Cardinal Newman High in Bellshill – one of the first Schools of Ambition in Scotland – was inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) in January this year. It is one of the first to be assessed under HMIe’s new approach to inspection, which introduces a number of different quality indicators.

Cardinal Newman High more than stood up to the scrutiny of the new inspection regime, achieving five ‘excellent’ ratings (which describes areas that are “outstanding or sector leading”), eight ‘very good’ ratings (which describes areas where there are “major strengths”), and four ‘good’ ratings (which describes “important strengths with areas for improvement”).

The areas judged to be excellent by HMIe are developing people and partnerships; leadership of the head teacher; engagement of staff in the life and work of the school; success in involving parents, carers and families; and care, welfare and development.

Head teacher Isabelle Boyd said she was thrilled to see that the inspectors had featured in the report the way that pupils, staff and parents had worked together as a community to deliver a modern education that gives young people the best possible start in life .

She added: “This outstanding report simply confirms what we have known about our school all along. We are delighted that the environment for learning and leading and improving the school are the areas where we have excelled the most, which reflects the commitment and effort of every single person within Cardinal Newman High.

“And we are especially pleased that HMIe has recognised that our strong culture of care is underpinned by Catholic values.

“This report validates all that we are doing and confirms that we are raising achievement for all.”

The inspectors reported that “the school had an excellent climate of respect and mutual trust”, “relationships between teachers and pupils were exemplary”, “the quality of pupils’ learning experiences was very high” and “pupils, whatever their level of attainment, were highly motivated.”

Pupils from the school’s cluster primaries celebrated with the school last week.

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