ESTYN, the office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales, has given Monmouth School and The Grange the best inspection grades yet awarded to an independent school in Wales.

The recent Inspection of Monmouth School has proved to be an outstanding success.  Outstanding because in five of the seven Key Question areas, including Key Question one ‘How well do learners achieve’, ESTYN judged Monmouth School to be Grade 1, the highest grade possible, which equates to Good with Outstanding Features.

The Headmaster is particularly pleased by the Inspectors’ comments about how well pupils are cared for, guided and supported. The report produced by ESTYN stated ‘Pupils of all ages develop very good personal, learning and social skills. For example, pupils are very highly motivated, persevere with tasks and concentrate well for long periods. Pupils arrive punctually to each lesson, behave extremely well and are very polite. They maintain good relationships and show respect for each other and their teachers. Pupils are able to work well in pairs or small groups. They respond well to the many opportunities to show leadership and entrepreneurial skills.’ and ‘Another outstanding feature is the high quality personal support that form tutors in The Grange and house tutors in the senior school provide for all pupils. Staff know their pupils very well and give them very good and appropriate individual attention. Throughout the school, tutors’ high level of support and commitment contributes greatly to pupils’ outstanding levels of achievement.’ 

The Grange, Monmouth School’s preparatory department, was also awarded Grade 1 for English, mathematics, science, art, drama and physical education. ‘The experiences of pupils in key stage 2 provide an outstanding foundation for subsequent learning’ was just one of the many glowing comments in the report.

The Lead Inspector said that this is by far the best assessment profile awarded to date for any independent school in Wales and they were in no doubt that boys at Monmouth School and The Grange are achieving great things in an environment which is supporting and caring for their welfare in a first class manner.

Monmouth School Headmaster, Dr Steven Connors, said: “We are delighted that we are succeeding in providing our pupils with a first class standard of education. We always believed that this was the case, but it is good to have it acknowledged and corroborated by an outside agency.”

Read the full report here