Bury Grammar School Girls gets glowing inspection report

The school, in Bridge Road, was visited by inspectors in March and teachers, pupils and management were praised in helping pupils to succeed and meet their potential.

As an independent grammar school, it is judged by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) instead of Ofsted.

In comparison to Ofsted, the ISI does not give an overall rating, but different ratings for different aspects of school life, using the gradings of ‘excellent’, ‘good’, ‘sound’ or ‘unsatisfactory’.

Bury Grammar School Girls achieved ‘excellent’ in seven of eight areas, including pupils’ achievements, standard of teaching, and the quality of leadership and management, and the only higher accolade they could have gained was under the achievement aspect, where the term ‘exceptional’ can be used.

They were rated as ‘good’ for the quality of governance at the school.

The report stated: “The school is highly successful in achieving its aims. Throughout the school, including in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and in the sixth form, pupils’ achievements are excellent.

“At all ages, pupils’ attitudes to their work and activities are outstanding. In the EYFS, even the youngest children display a love of learning and a thirst for knowledge, and are keen to explore and experiment.

“Teaching throughout the school is successful in promoting pupils’ learning and progress and in effectively supporting the school’s aims.”

The effectiveness of the governance, leadership and management of the school was judged as “good”, after the report said policies and procedures in the past “have not always been sufficiently rigorous to identify the few shortcomings in staff pre-appointment checks being carried out sufficiently promptly”.

The report added: “The quality of leadership and management of the school, including links with parents, carers and guardians, is excellent.

“Strong and clear leadership is evident at all levels of responsibility and fully supports the school’s aims and ethos.”

Headmistress Bobby Georghiou said she was delighted with the school’s report.

She said: “Our outstanding inspection report is a wonderful endorsement of all that we aim to achieve at Bury Grammar School Girls.

“It reflects the exceptional qualities of our pupils and of the staff who teach them and nurture them.

“As a headteacher, I could not be prouder of our pupils’ achievements and consider it an honour to be part of the excellent team supporting them.”

The report also stated areas that the school could improve on, including to “raise the standard of the small amount of less successful teaching so that it more closely resembles the high quality of the best”.