The school achieved ‘good’ ratings across four criteria, and an ‘excellent’ grade in personal development and welfare.
‘It came a little earlier than expected and we did have a bit of staff illness, but everyone rose to the challenge and showed the inspectors what Notre Dame is like every day,’ she said.
‘I think the thing I’m most proud of is that the children are really proud of the school and they identified it as a special place to learn. That’s really important, that the children are happy and love being here.’
She noted that the school has a high proportion of pupils who speak an additional language, as well as many children with additional needs, and was pleased to see Ofsted’s acknowledgement of the school’s inclusion of children of all backgrounds and abilities.
‘I think it actually makes us really special,’ she said.
‘It’s an honour, really, to have such a multicultural school.
‘When we have children arriving from countries all around the world, we learn from them.’
She added that the school has a structured phonics programme for all students, that has successfully equipped all children – including those for whom English may be a second language – with the learning needed to advance further in the curriculum. According to the Ofsted report though, it was the school’s provision for personal development that was its greatest triumph.
‘I think that is ultimately what underpins everything we do here at Notre Dame,’ Mrs Robertshaw said.
‘Our golden values, our Catholic values, are how we live and breathe every day, so our children learn about respect, about caring for the environment, about how to talk nicely to each other.
‘But we also have a personal development programme where we’ve mapped out things we want the children to experience before they leave Notre Dame, so we’re giving them the skills they need to be really effective young citizens.’
Though all other areas of the Ofsted inspection yielded ‘good’ results, the report did note some gaps – or the potential for them – in pupils’ knowledge.
‘The areas that they identified for us to work on were not a surprise,’ said Mrs Robertshaw.
‘We’re working with staff in terms of developing and training, using the Guernsey high quality inclusive practice training. So this is something we’re fully in the process of working on anyway, and it didn’t come as a surprise to us at all.’
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