St Gerard’s School is a co-educational independent day school for pupils from age three to eighteen years, situated in the city of Bangor, Gwynedd. The school was founded in 1917 by the Sisters of Mercy and, although it has a Catholic foundation, it has a long tradition of welcoming pupils of all faiths and none. It became a lay charitable trust in 1990. There are currently 182 pupils on roll. These include 54 in the junior school for pupils from the age of three to eleven years, and 128 in the senior school, of whom 23 are in the sixth form. There is little difference in the total number of boys and girls, although the balance varies in year groups across the school. The school has a wide catchment area that covers the Llŷn Peninsula, Snowdonia and the counties of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy and Denbighshire. About 16% of pupils come from minority ethnic groups. Almost all pupils speak English fluently and about 4% speak Welsh as a first language at home. A very few pupils speak English as an additional language. Lessons are taught in English and the school does not aim to make pupils bilingual in English and Welsh. The school offers additional learning support for a few pupils, mainly to support literacy development for learning English as an additional language. A very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs. New pupils may join the school at any stage, depending on the availability of places. There is no pre-entry assessment of pupils for the junior school and most pupils transfer from the junior school to the senior school at the end of Year 6. New pupils who wish to join the senior school from Year 7 onwards take assessments in literacy and numeracy to help ensure that the school can meet their needs. The school requires pupils wishing to join the sixth form to have five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C. The last inspection of the school was in 2008. The current headteacher and most of the senior leadership team were in post at this time, although a new head of the junior school and business manager have been appointed since this time. The school describes its ethos and aim in the following way: “We seek the all-round development – academic, social and spiritual – of all pupils in our care, aiming for the highest standards each can attain, equipping them as fully as possible for their life beyond school. We wish to help pupils develop as happy, confident people whose contribution to society as adults will be responsible, positive, disciplined and unselfish.” 1 A report on St Gerard’s School Trust November 2014 Summary The school’s current performance The school’s prospects for improvement Good Adequate Current performance The current performance of St Gerard’s School is good because:  by the time pupils leave school at the end of Year 11 or the sixth form, overall, they achieve very high standards;  in many lessons pupils make consistently good progress developing their knowledge, understanding and a range of skills;  pupils of all ages are well-motivated, enthusiastic learners;  attendance rates have been consistently high for the past three years;  the quality of teaching in many lessons across the school is good, with outstanding work in a few classes;  the school’s supportive environment, where pupils feel confident to seek help and know that their concerns will be addressed, promotes a strong sense of trust between pupils and staff that impacts positively on pupils’ thirst for knowledge and independence in learning; and  the school is an inclusive community with an ethos based on mutual respect for others. Prospects for improvement The school’s prospects for improvement are judged as adequate because:  the headteacher provides committed leadership and has been particularly successful in establishing a close-knit family community;  senior managers promote clear values, principles and behaviours that underpin all aspects of the school’s work, contributing effectively to a common sense of purpose, well-motivated staff and the particularly positive learning environment;  the school’s well-established approach for planning for improvement has had a positive impact on aspects of the school’s outcomes and provision; and  the school manages its resources carefully to address strategic priorities. However, there are important areas for improvement because:  arrangements to monitor the quality of teachers’ work are not always applied rigorously;  collaboration between the senior and junior sections of the school is not strong enough;  the school’s self-evaluation activities do not draw well enough on the first hand evidence of teaching and learning and, in the senior school, the views of pupils and parents; and  since the last inspection, senior managers have not had enough impact in addressing the recommendations to raise standards in the junior school and improve the provision for pupils with additional learning needs.