Inspection Reports on Hasmonean High School

Ofsted Report (January 2008)

Summary quotes from the report:

"Hasmonean is a good school with many outstanding features. [...] Very strong leadership has ensured that academic standards are exceptionally high at GCSE level and consistently well above average at GCE advanced level. [...] Students ... come to school ready to learn and are eager to contribute to lessons. Their exemplary behaviour means that lessons are not disrupted and can be conducted at a good pace and in a positive climate."

"There are other factors which, when added to the good teaching, means that students' achievement is excellent. The school, students and external consultants all identify the benefits for other subjects that derive from the Jewish studies programme. "

"Care, guidance and support are outstanding. Consequently, students feel very safe and very much enjoy school. This is shown by their excellent attendance and the very high numbers who continue into the sixth form."

"Students' ... spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. [...] Students have a very clear understanding of right and wrong and relationships in the school are harmonious. An outstanding feature is the way older students support younger ones. ... They are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage in their lives."

"The school's specialism fits well with the entrepreneurial spirit that it aims to foster and nurture. [...] [Its] capacity to improve further is excellent."

"Many students make excellent progress and so A level results are well above average overall ... The academic curriculum is broad and meets the needs of the students well. Progression rates to University are impressive."

 

The report was accompanied by a letter from Barry Jones, the Ofsted Lead Inspector, to Hasmonean students, summarising some of the things the Inspectors liked best about the school:

• "You make excellent progress in your work in Years 7 to 11 and attain exceptionally high standards in the GCSE examinations.
• "There is a very strong religious ethos that permeates everything the school does.
• "The sixth form is a thriving community and A level results are well above average.
• "Your behaviour is excellent.
• "You develop into very mature, considerate young people.
• "You have good teachers who look after you very well.
• "The school is very well led.
• "The school is seeking to build on its specialist status to provide more vocational courses to widen your choice."

 

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Pikuach Report (January 2008)

Summary quotes from the report:

"The overall effectiveness of the Kodesh provision is outstanding because of exemplary vision, initiative and outstanding impact. [...]

"Its main strengths lie in:

• "the strong ethos of the school
• "the competence and dynamism of its present leadership team
• "a core teaching and pastoral staff of considerable experience, many of a high level of professional competence, with an impressive mastery of the knowledge and study skills they seek to pass on to their students
• "the advantage of having a majority of pupils who are very well motivated and success orientated and are prepared to work to achieve
• "the above-average results the school achieves in public examinations,
• "a highly supportive governing body."

[...] "The school's recent record of performance in public examinations is generally outstanding, with excellent results at GCSE, AS and A2 in Biblical Hebrew and Religious Studies. More than 90% of girls and boys go on to seminaries and Yeshivot during their "gap year". This is indicative of the love for Jewish learning and the desire to continue learning that the school instils in its pupils."

 

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