ISI Inspection Report - Flipbook - Page 35
Inspection of Educational Quality
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were able to scrutinise sources of evidence to explain how this could be used as war propaganda, and
in Year 10 English pupils were able to use their higher-level skills to justify and evaluate their
arguments and positions in response to different interpretations related to a scene from Othello. This
is because teacher guidance and targeted questioning encourages pupils to think critically and go
further to refine their arguments in response to feedback.
4.11 Beyond the formal curriculum, the achievements of pupils are excellent across a wide variety of
opportunities including music and sport. Success is both at an individual and team level and includes
successes in the East African Model United Nations (EAMUN), the UK mathematics challenge (UKMT)
and the World Scholars Cup. Pupils gain a number of scholarships to tertiary education. The school
has been champions in the Kenyan International Schools athletics and cross country for both genders,
and has had notable success in football, hockey, netball and rugby sevens. Additionally pupils are
successful in drama and music awards up to and including grade 8 in music. Pupils’ high levels of
participation and success in extracurricular provision is promoted by their enthusiasm to represent
their school together with the encouragement given by staff and leaders and the provision made
available by the governing board. Additionally, pupils in discussion were clear that the fully residential
nature of the school and the range of extra-curricular opportunities this allows raised their levels of
achievement both academically and in a sporting sense
4.12 Pupils’ attitudes to learning are excellent, they take pride in their work and show initiative and
independence, whilst being keen to work collaboratively. These attitudes are a significant factor in
pupils’ excellent attainment. This was evidenced in pupils’ workbooks and electronic devices. Pupils
showed the skills they had employed to tackle challenging homework, appropriate to their
competency levels, including a high-quality individual work such as producing original musical
compositions. The development of a Creatives Hub, with improved teaching spaces for art, music and
design and technology has resulted in improved performance and involvement of pupils in the creative
subject areas. In art, Year 12 pupils used excellent creative skills when using renaissance colours to
start a piece of original art work and in a Year 9 Spanish lesson pupils quickly picked up the correct
terminology when referring to family members. This is as a result of well-planned and suitably paced
lessons with appropriate support for different abilities and diverse teaching which promotes
commensurate learning. In a small number of lessons in which pupils of different abilities where not
suitably challenged the pace of learning was slower and the impact on pupils’ progress was reduced.
Pupils attitudes to learning is well illustrated in Year 11 in which pupils have developed a new forum
to allow them to evaluate, discuss and make suggestions for their learning, resulting in the production
of a Year 11 Learning Journal accessible to the whole year group. The security and stability of the
boarding experience enhances the pupils’ learning experience such that learning, and achievement is
not solely seen as the sole preserve of the classroom but extends beyond into the boarding houses.
Pupils shared experiences of group work and working in pairs was observed in many lessons and
particularly in business studies, history and sociology where pupils especially valued the opportunities
to collaborate and work with others to reinforce their learning.
The quality of the pupils’ personal development
4.13 The quality of the pupils’ personal development is excellent.
4.14 The school is successful in meeting its aim to ensure that every pupil has the opportunities to develop
the resilience, resourcefulness, initiative and integrity required to succeed. The pupils across all
schools respond positively to the high standards and expectations set by the leadership, including the
governors, and staff and there is a strong sense of the Turi values and shared focus. A minority of
pupils across the year groups in the questionnaire, held in October 2021, felt that the school had not
helped them settle in quickly in the early stages and that a small number of boarding staff do not fully
understand their individual needs and circumstances. The pastoral team were alerted to these
responses and revisited settling in procedures and strengthened the pastoral system relative to
monitoring pupils’ individual needs. During the visit in March 2022, pupils across all years groups
© Independent Schools Inspectorate 2022
St Andrew’s School – Turi – Kenya – March 2022
