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Monkton school has been rated as ‘excellent’ in the latest inspection report issued today by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (9th February 2017).

The senior school in Monkton Combe near Bath was closely scrutinised in December 2016 by a team of five highly experienced inspectors over four days. As well as being judged fully compliant against all D of E regulations, the Educational Quality Inspection defined both pupils’ academic achievement and their personal development as ‘excellent’, the highest achievable grade.

The report highlights the academic ability of Monkton pupils for being consistently above the national average at GCSE, with pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding across a wide range of subjects also being excellent. This reinforces the outstanding GCSE results of recent years with Monkton comfortably in the top 100 schools in 2017.

Inspectors were full of praise for Monkton students with the report stating that pupils ‘are lively, hardworking and self-aware, responding enthusiastically to the academic and non-academic challenges available to them’.

The school’s leadership team and teaching staff were also highlighted with the report noting that, ‘Pupils thrive as a result of high-quality leadership and management which ensure that the school is highly successful in fulfilling its aim to provide a high-quality education in a distinctive boarding school environment’.

The inspection also praised the school’s extra-curricular activities saying ‘high levels of success are achieved, most particularly in sport, drama and music. Initiatives such as the ‘Team Monkton’ elite extension activities programme ensure that the best athletes are continually encouraged to reach for greater success’.

Monkton’s Principal, Chris Wheeler, commented, “We are delighted to receive such a positive report from the Independent Schools Inspectorate. It is a real pleasure to see that the inspectors have recognised the many strengths that Monkton has. Whilst exam results have placed us in the top 20 co-ed boarding schools in the country and Oxbridge offers make us highly competitive with other Rugby group schools, none of those statistics really speak to what a special place Monkton is; only our pupils can do that.”

“This report confirms that our pupils are not only highly successful academically where their ‘achievement is boosted by consistently strong focus on learning skills’, but also confirms that ‘boarding and day pupils are fully integrated’, and pupils, ‘have extremely well developed personalities for their age’.”