‘Qualities came shining through’ at inspection
Delight as independent school inspectors praise St Helen’s
THE £15,000 a year girls’ school has been praised by independent school inspectors for its pupil achievement and personal development.
St Helen’s School in Northwood has been given “excellent” ratings in an inspection.
The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) visited the school towards the end of last year and found pupils’ achievement and personal development were both “excellent”.
Pupils were found to have high standards in lessons, extra-curricular activities and external examinations.
Headmistress at the school in Eastbury Road, Mary Short, said: “We are delighted to receive such an outstanding report from the Independent Schools Inspectorate, which confirms the impressive progress we have made towards achieving our vision of becoming north London’s exceptional girls’ school.
“St Helen’s girls are confident, ambitious and happy – they achieve highly in everything they do, and it is wonderful that the inspectors saw these qualities shining through at every stage of the school when they visited us.”
St Helen’s has 1,155 students aged between three and 18 years old. Founded in 1899, the school has an academically selective intake and charges between £3,807 per term for nursery pupils, up to £5,326 per term for the senior school. The inspectors’ report said: “The quality of pupils’ achievements is excellent.
“Pupils achieve high standards in lessons, extra-curricular activities and external examinations so confirming that the school meets its aim to provide each and every pupil with the opportunity and means to achieve academic excellence.”
It added: “Pupils throughout the school demonstrate high levels of self-esteem. They understand their own strengths and weaknesses.
“A small minority, in the pupil questionnaires, said they would welcome more information about their progress and a few parents agreed, but the large majority of pupils said they were aware of their on-going progress.”