The Robert Napier School is immensely proud to be recognised as a ‘Good’ school in all categories, with an additional acknowledgement of the Outstanding provision for the Personal Development and Welfare of the students in its care.

 

It has been 16 years since the last overall Good inspection, and the first time in the school’s inspection history that the school has achieved a ‘Good’ in all categories, including for the Quality of Teaching and Learning.

The staff and students are delighted with the recognition of the significant amount of hard work that has gone into returning the school to one which the local community can be proud to send their children.

 

Inspectors recognised the school as “An exceptionally caring and inclusive environment”’ where there are “positive relationships between staff and pupils” and that “The school’s highly inclusive ethos ensures that these and all other pupils are safe and exceptionally well cared for.” They also praised the “well designed curriculum” and, for the first time in 20 years, have recognised that “leaders’ and teachers’ hard work has ensured that the quality of teaching is now good”.

 

The school, while immensely pleased with this recognition, is still determined to raise standards even further so that they can reach ‘Outstanding’ by the next inspection.

 

It has not been a journey without its challenges, with the 2014 HMI monitoring visit recognising that leaders were not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified in the previous inspection. A change in Headteacher and the majority of the leadership team has helped to drive up standards significantly, with the most recent inspection recognising that “Together with his dedicated senior and middle leaders, the Headteacher has successfully transformed the culture of the school.”