BURY Grammar School Boys is celebrating after being given the highest possible grade by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI).

It was judged to be excellent in both academic achievement and personal development for both junior and senior schools in the report, which was carried out from November 22 to November 24 last year.

The grade, which is equivalent to OFSTED’s outstanding, is unprecedented for the school and follows recent record results in GCSE and A-levels and personal development of the new sports facilities.

The report in summary, said that “Pupils are hard-working and highly motivated and all abilities achieve high standards across the school. They demonstrate high-levels of self-confidence and self-esteem, show a genuine pride in their school and they show a caring and tolerant attitude to others in their diverse community.”

The only room for improvement of the report was to “ensure that pupils are given more opportunities to engage in debate and discussion within the classroom in order to enhance their high-order thinking skills”.

Richard Marshall, headmaster of Bury Grammar School Boys, said: “I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved who contributed to this fantastic grade: the boys, their parents and the staff have all developed a real community here and an environment for not just learning but also for social interactivity, behaviour and respect. I am very proud of our team and would also like to add that this report merely confirms that we are on the right track. We are committed to sustaining growth and development whist keeping to our core values.”

The previous full inspection of the school was an ISI interim inspection in November, 2010. The recommendations were to improve the quality of teaching by introducing strategies which provide more opportunities for pupils to be active participants and independent learners.

The inspection reports on the quality of the school’s work and focuses on two key areas: the achievement of the pupils, including their academic development, and the personal development of the pupils.

The headline judgements must include one of the ISI descriptors excellent, good, sound or unsatisfactory.