The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is the Government approved inspectorate responsible for the inspection of association independent schools. Schools in the Associations are ranked among the best in the world and educate more than half a million children in 1,200 schools. The ISI inspects and monitors the educational care and early years provision of association independent schools against standards set by the government through the ISI inspection framework. Reports are published on completion of inspections.
Focused Compliance and Educational Quality Inspection – March 2023
In March 2023 the Independent Schools Inspectorate spent several days at Braeside scrutinising all aspects of the education we provide. With less than a day’s notice, this type of inspection provides us with a useful evaluation of our provision as it reports on current practice without the ability to put in any special preparation. This means that we were inspected through a snapshot of the school as it normally is, as seen by a team of experienced professionals.
Please find the full report at the bottom of this page.
This was a Focused Compliance inspection, combined with an inspection of Educational Quality. The Focused Compliance part comments purely on our compliance with the Independent School Standards Regulations (ISSRs). There are more than 500 regulations with which the school must comply and there are eight categories examined by inspectors, which are:
- Quality of education provided
- Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
- Welfare, health and safety of pupils
- Suitability of staff, supply staff and proprietors
- Premises of and accommodation at schools
- Provision of information
- Manner in which complaints are handled
- Quality of leadership in and management of schools
These eight categories are graded as either ‘met’ or ‘not met’, and each of the individual regulations in each category must comply to receive an overall ‘met’ for that area. We are delighted to report that we were fully compliant and that every one of the regulations inspected was met. No further action is required as a result of this inspection.
As there are no judgments from the inspectors in Focused Compliance reports, in many ways this section of the report is a little dull! However, 100% compliance is unusual in our sector and this achievement represents a great deal of hard work and attention to detail by the whole of our team, and our thanks go to our hard working and excellent staff who clearly impressed these experienced inspectors.
The second half of the report focuses on the achievement and personal development of the pupils. We are delighted that the key findings are that:
- The quality of the pupils’ academic and other achievements is excellent.
- The quality of the pupils’ personal development is excellent.
We were pleased with the number of positive comments throughout, and that the inspectors found our pupils to be so confident and articulate. Some of the quotes that are particularly worth noting are as follows:
Our thanks go in particular to the fantastic pupils and staff we are so fortunate to have at Braeside. The report refers to the pride our pupils have in showing their school to outside parties, and this was clearly evident throughout the inspection. Thank you too for your extremely positive feedback in the questionnaires, which set the scene for the inspectors on the eve of their first day with us.
We continue to strive for the best education possible for our pupils and we have already started to use elements of this report when planning for the future and developing our provision.
Regulatory Compliance Inspection – September 2018
In September 2018 the Independent Schools Inspectorate spent several days visiting Braeside to inspect our compliance with the Independent School Standards Regulations. There are more than 460 regulations with which the school must comply, divided between 8 main categories, and the inspectors look at all of them.
This was a Regulatory Compliance Inspection, and the first inspection since Braeside was taken over by The Oak-Tree Group in September 2015. This type of school inspection scrutinises all aspects of the Department for Education’s legal requirements, including the incredibly complex laws relating to the employment of staff, the welfare and safety of pupils and the curriculum – evidenced through a wealth of supporting documentation.
With Regulatory Compliance inspections, each main category is graded as either ‘met’ or ‘not met’. Each of the individual regulations in each category must comply to receive an overall ‘met’ for that area. We are delighted to report that we were fully compliant and that every one of the 460 or so regulations was met. No further action is required as a result of this inspection.
With just over a day’s notice, this type of inspection provides us with a useful evaluation of our provision as it reports on current practice without the ability to put in any special preparation. This means that we were inspected through a snapshot of the school as it normally is, as seen by a team of independent and highly experienced professionals.
As there are no judgments from the inspectors in Regulatory Compliance reports, in many ways our report is a little dull! However, 100% compliance is unusual and this achievement represents a great deal of hard work and attention to detail by the whole of our team, and our thanks go to our hard working and excellent staff who clearly impressed these experienced inspectors and to the pupils themselves who demonstrated just how proud they are of their school.
