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INSPECTION
REPORT ON | |
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Harrogate
Ladies’ College | |
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Full Name of the
School |
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DfES
Number |
815/6012 |
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Registered Charity
Number |
529579 |
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Address |
Clarence Drive,
Harrogate HG1 2QG. |
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Telephone
Number |
01423
504543 |
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Fax
Number |
01423
568893 |
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Email
Address |
enquire@hlc.org.uk |
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Headteacher |
Dr Margaret
Hustler |
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Chair of
Governors |
Mr Alan
Skidmore |
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2-18
years |
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Gender |
2-11 Mixed, 11-18
Girls |
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Inspection
Dates |
30th April
– 3rd May 2006 |
This inspection report follows the framework laid down by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI). The inspection was carried out under the arrangements of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) Associations for the maintenance and improvement of the quality of their membership. It was also carried out under Section 162A(1)(b) of the Education Act 2002, as amended by the Education Act 2005, under the provisions of which the Secretary of State for Education and Skills has accredited ISI as the body approved for the purpose of inspecting schools belonging to ISC Associations and reporting on compliance with the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2003.
The inspection was not carried out in conjunction with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the report does not contain specific judgements on the National Minimum Boarding Standards. The most recent statutory boarding inspection took place in March 2007 and the resulting report had not been issued by the time of this ISI inspection. This report evaluates the quality of the boarding experience and its contribution to pupils’ education and development in general. The inspection does not examine the financial viability of the school or investigate its accounting procedures. The inspectors check the school’s health and safety procedures and comment on any significant hazards they encounter: they do not carry out an exhaustive health and safety examination. Their inspection of the premises is from an educational perspective and does not include in-depth examination of the structural condition of the school, its services or other physical features.
1.1 Harrogate Ladies’ College was founded in 1893 as a girls’ boarding school for senior pupils and continues to provide education for girls aged 11 to 18. A pre-preparatory school, Bankfield, was opened in close proximity to the main school site in 1997 and this was followed by the opening of a preparatory school, Highfield, in the grounds of the senior school in 1999. Harrogate Ladies’ College now provides education for girls from 2 to 18 and for boys up to 11 years of age. Each of the component schools has its own head with the headmistress of the senior school having overall responsibility. Girl boarders are accepted from the age of 10 and are accommodated in four boarding houses. The College is in spacious grounds, with its own playing fields, yet not far from the town centre. It has dignified and well-founded buildings, including a chapel, and modern buildings that have been added over the years to meet changing educational needs. Since the last inspection in 2001, the technology area has been modernised to a very high standard, the numbers in Highfield have increased substantially and the current head of Highfield was appointed in 2005.
1.2 The school is a Christian foundation. Daily chapel attendance, and for boarders on Sunday, is compulsory but the school, while preparing Church of England members for confirmation, welcomes pupils of “all faiths or none”. The senior school prospectus states that the school values the kind of tradition which gives firm roots; sees education as more than just examination success; and seeks to foster pride in belonging to the school. It aims to educate professional women, through development of intellectual rigour and qualities which will bring lasting happiness and satisfaction to their lives and to those of others they touch. The aims of Highfield and Bankfield are similar to those of the senior school, though with focuses appropriate for the age groups and for boys as well as girls.
1.3 At the time of the inspection, College (senior school) had 300 girls, of whom 123 were in the sixth form and 158 were boarders. Highfield (preparatory school for pupils aged 7-11) had 224 pupils (154 girls and 70 boys). In Bankfield (pre-preparatory for children under the age of 5), where all pupils attend part-time, there were 90 pupils (39 girls and 51 boys).
1.4 Entry to the senior school is by selective examination and the results of nationally standardised tests indicate that pupils, as a whole, are of above average ability with some being well above average ability. If pupils perform according to their abilities, their overall results will be above the national average for girls in all maintained schools, with some achieving well above that national average. Although the pre-prep and prep schools do not enter pupils for the national curriculum tests, results of standardised tests administered internally indicate an ability profile similar to that of the senior school. Most day pupils come from the local area, with some travelling up to 20 miles or more from large cities and more rural areas in the region. About 26 per cent of pupils are of Chinese origin or come from other European countries and most of these come to the school to follow a sixth form course as boarders.
1.5 In the prep and pre-prep schools, ten pupils are identified by the school as having learning needs, for which they receive support, and one has a statement of special needs issued by a local authority. In the senior school, 29 girls are identified by the school as having some learning need and nine of these receive special support. Overall, English is an additional language for 118 pupils and 76 of these are given special support. A significant number of these are sixth form entrants. A number of pupils leave the school after GCSE to take up places in local maintained schools and independent schools. Virtually all Year 13 students proceed to higher education.
1.6 The nomenclature of the National Curriculum (NC) is used throughout this report to refer to year groups in the school. The year group nomenclature used by the school and its national curriculum equivalence are shown in the following tables.
Pre-preparatory and Preparatory Schools
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School |
NC name |
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Nursery |
Nursery |
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Reception |
Reception |
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J1 |
Year 1 |
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J2 |
Year 2 |
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J3 |
Year 3 |
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J4 |
Year 4 |
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J5 |
Year 5 |
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J6 |
Year 6 |
Senior School
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School |
NC name |
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L111 |
Year 6 |
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UIII |
Year 7 |
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LIV |
Year 8 |
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UIV |
Year 9 |
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Year 10 |
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UV |
Year 11 |
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LVI |
Year 12 |
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UVI |
Year 13 |
The Educational Experience Provided
2.1 The educational provision is broad, varied and full of interest. It stimulates pupils’ academic and personal development and has continued to maintain, and improve upon, the generally high standard of educational experience reflected in the last ISI report. The three schools successfully fulfil their aims to provide a broad and balanced education in a secure, caring and stimulating environment
2.2 In all three schools, the educational provision contributes to the pupils’ progress in all areas of learning and has a suitable emphasis on literacy and numeracy at all levels. In Bankfield, the carefully planned early-years curriculum is broadly based and makes for secure progress towards the Early Learning Goals and the beginning of the NC in Highfield. Throughout Years 1-6, the NC subjects, supplemented by religious education (RE) and personal, social and health education (PSHE), provide a sound curricular base, with French, from the second year of the Foundation Stage, classics, in Years 5 and 6, and food technology in Years 4-6 adding to the breadth of the education offered. In College, pupils from Years 7-13 have access to an appropriately broad curriculum, with much emphasis given to pupil choice. Although this has generated some time-tabling complexities, they are resolved by teachers’ willingness to give after-school lessons.
2.3 The range of provision for the development of physical, creative and expressive skills is particularly good and is evident in many subject areas. Throughout the prep and senior schools, pupils are encouraged to enjoy expression of feeling and emotions in drama, and appreciation of poetry generates both an intellectual and personal response to aesthetic material. Vibrant display in the prep and pre-prep schools, and exhibition of an interesting range of work in art and textiles in the senior school, contribute to pupils’ learning and awareness of high quality. Pupils are encouraged to present their work using a variety of methods, such as the Year 5 pupils who produced effective electronic presentations in geography, stimulated by the challenge that the teaching provided. The many important skills that have resulted in good public examination results in nearly all subjects are strongly promoted in the senior school. At all levels, PSHE has been extended in support of the schools’ aims and to strengthen pupils’ personal development. As pupils progress through the schools, they benefit from a change of emphasis from primarily class teaching to an increase in specialist teaching and setting by ability for mathematics and English.
2.4
Throughout the schools, pupils’
experience is enriched by the provision of a wide selection of extra-curricular
activities that cater for a variety of interests, including sport and music but
offering much beyond. In Highfield,
for example, the range includes a cycling club, Chinese and philosophy and, in
College, amateur radio, cookery and aerobics. The pupils say they enjoy these
activities and high participation rates confirm their enthusiasm. Residential courses are programmed from
Year 3, where pupils spend one night in the boarding houses, and extend to
visits abroad for Year 6. A
significant number of educational visits take place in College, where a Latin
visit to
2.5 All pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education and movement between each educational phase is well managed, with the aim of securing pupil confidence, progress and continuity. Careers education and advice is very thorough, is available to all in the senior school, and is formally introduced in Year 9 with a careers project. A well planned programme includes outside speakers, work experience, careers fairs and visits to higher education, and is effective in helping to prepare, inform and support pupils as they consider future choices. Advice concerning application to university is well coordinated by a knowledgeable team of sixth form tutors and the head of the sixth form. All pupils felt they had been well prepared for these choices. Pupil monitors play an important part in the careers department, particularly in the choice and organisation of gap year activities.
2.6 Curriculum planning is very thorough and effective in Bankfield and Highfield and involves a range of teachers with responsibilities for monitoring the implementation and impact of particular curriculum decisions. It ensures that all pupils have equal access to the curriculum and equal opportunity to benefit from the extensive range of activities and interests provided. In College, curricular planning at departmental level is good and mostly ensures equality of access and opportunity for all pupils. Nevertheless, the separate departments do not benefit from a genuine overview of curriculum planning, analysis of data and feedback on the quality of provision, to enable a more dynamic approach to curriculum development.
2.7 Provision for those with learning difficulties and disabilities and the gifted and talented are good in the prep and pre-prep schools. Where concern arises, effective procedures ensure that pupils are identified at an early stage, planning to meet their needs is appropriate and all staff are made aware of individual difficulties. All pupils are fluent in English but the teaching of grammar provides a focus for those for whom English is an additional language. In College, curriculum requirements for those with English as an additional language and with learning difficulties and disabilities are appropriately met.
2.8 The school meets the regulatory requirements for the curriculum [Standard 1].
Pupils’ Learning and Achievements
2.9 The standard of pupils’ learning is high across the ability range in each of the three schools. The quality of pupils’ application and attitudes fully meet the aims associated with the development of flexibility, intellectual rigour and performance that goes beyond examination success.
2.10 There are no significant differences between the achievement of local and overseas pupils in the senior school and between boys and girls in the junior schools. The class sizes enable very good attention to the individual, including those with learning difficulties or disabilities and those for whom English is an additional language. In lessons and activities, pupils are enthusiastic, focussed and sustain concentration well. They ask good questions and their knowledge and skills develop effectively.
2.11 Pupils’ attainment in GCSE and A-level examinations is good in relation to their abilities. In both examinations the school’s results over the past three years have been well above the national average for girls in all maintained secondary schools. English, mathematics, art and sports studies have been particularly strong at GCSE level and pupil performance is reflected in the large number of A*/A grades achieved. At A level, where significant numbers of pupils are entered for mathematics, further mathematics, and the three sciences, achievement has been high. As a consequence of A-level success, almost all the Year 13 pupils are enabled to go on to their first choice at higher education, including Oxford and Cambridge. In the prep school, pupils are successful in gaining entry to the senior schools of their choice, with a number of 11+ scholarships being won each year.
2.12
There are notable and suitably
varied achievements across the range of school life. Music features strongly and four times
in recent years the choir has won entry in the National Choral Competition. The choir sings Evensong in York Minster
and Durham Cathedral and is a regular choir for
2.13 Pupils of all ages have an admirable attitude to work and study. At every stage, in relation to their age and abilities, they are very good listeners and can engage in astute dialogue, expressing themselves clearly. From the beginning in the pre-prep school, pupils’ appreciation of literature is fostered through effective story telling. Thereafter, they read intelligently and write fluently for a variety of purposes, reflecting the high expectations of their teachers. Highly articulate pupils in Year 4 asked and answered questions, and listened carefully to their teacher and others, to develop good understanding of, and empathy with, different people living in Victorian times. By Year 11, pupils demonstrated effective reading and writing skills, using appropriate vocabulary to analyse writers’ work in ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘Lord of the Flies’, and being able to probe the language of advertising.
2.14 Mathematical skills are very well developed and the ability to apply them across the curriculum is good at all ages. The youngest children like to count the days and know the sequence of the days of the week. The confident use of graphs and pie charts is well developed in many areas of the prep school and the application of necessary mathematical skills underpins Year 5 pupils’ understanding of scale on maps. In the senior school, mathematical skills are highly developed and pupils apply them with great dexterity and enjoyment for a wide range of purposes.
2.15 Pupils’ skills associated with information and communication technology (ICT) are being developed effectively and the increased use of ICT across the curriculum shows significant improvement since the last inspection. Year 4 pupils, for example, used ICT and mosaic patterns to understand symmetry and the relationship of mathematical patterns. The internet is well and correctly used in the senior school for research purposes and A-level pupils had created outstandingly detailed websites, including beautifully crafted video presentations to a professional standard.
2.16 The level of presentation at all ages is good. Work is well ordered and neatly presented and, from early practice of re-drafting, pupils’ ability to take notes independently develops appropriately as they move up the schools. Pupils are often asked to reason and think for themselves. Year 2 pupils were confident and articulate in relating information, based on their own experimental work in science, when explaining how different surfaces cause different amounts of friction. In a history lesson on religion and medical ethics, Year 10 pupils used a range of strategies to consider and develop their own coherent response to the moral dimension associated with the topic.
2.17 A feature of the schools is the seriousness with which pupils of all ages settle to work quickly and smoothly at the beginning of lessons and maintain concentration throughout. They gradually become effective scholars, who clearly enjoy their learning and are happy to discuss it. From the earliest years, pupils have good experience of working as individuals, in pairs and in groups and move easily from one type of activity to another.
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development of Pupils
2.18 Pupils throughout the school demonstrate well-developed spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness that is fostered by the quality of relationships within the school and its open and supportive ethos.
2.19 Pupils’ spiritual development is strong and is nurtured through their daily experience of the chapel, the presence of the chaplain, and occasions when visitors come in to talk to the pupils about a range of issues that stimulate thinking about personal responses to important issues. The calm atmosphere and pleasant surroundings appeal to the senses of all those within the school and a quiet room in College offers a place of tranquillity where pupils and staff can go. Through assemblies, RE and lessons in other subjects pupils maturely considered and explored a range of spiritual issues, and benefited from opportunities for inner reflection through well targeted prayers. Bankfield children thinking carefully about ‘How do we feel?’ and ‘What makes us happy’, Highfield assemblies considering the mysteries of the Resurrection and the subject of people who bring light and colour into dark places, and a Year 9 discussion on life after death, all demonstrated pupils’ ability to contemplate and grow in self- knowledge as they considered their personal beliefs. All pupils feel valued and grow in self-esteem and self-confidence.
2.20
Pupils have a clear moral sense
and understand the difference between right and wrong. They are well grounded in the concepts
of trust and respect. The
atmosphere in the school is one of a morally aware environment where everybody
matters and there is mutual support and respect for doing the right things. This is extended to the boarding houses,
where pupils develop a strong moral sense of responsibility to others as a
result of the caring family atmosphere.
Pupils respond well to the schools’ PSHE programmes and the significant
contributions from other curriculum areas.
A Year 10 drama group, for example, developed an understanding of slavery
in the anniversary year of its abolition, by watching a performance of ‘African Snow’ in
2.21 Pupils develop very well socially, learning to reflect on their own behaviour and its effect on others. They understand what is fair and appropriate. Older pupils show care and concern for younger ones and, within the boarding houses, strong social and moral training for life is emphasised. People relate to each other confidently and courteously. One Year 7 pupil said of the code of behaviour, “we know what’s expected, and we just do it.” In Highfield and College, pupils develop a sense of responsibility through representation of their form on the school council, which, in College, is run by the head girl and prefects. In Year 6 in Highfield, pupils all become prefects and receive a written job description of their role. The willingness to act independently, while considering the well being of others, is carefully nurtured in the boarding house for Year 13