The St Marylebone CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Staff are highly dedicated and passionate. Pupils and their families value their care and commitment.

Exceptionally high expectations are set for pupils academically and for their personal development. Pupils' academic success is reflected in the consistently above average published outcomes. The school is inclusive.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) learn and progress very well. Everyone plays an active role in the school.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes towards learning are exemplary.

They live and display the 'Marylebone five' attitudes of curious, responsive, compassionate, imaginative and courageous in all they do.... Pupils rightly feel safe in the school. They share any concerns with trusted adults.

There is extensive support for pupils with their mental health and well-being. Bullying is not tolerated in the school and if it does happen staff address it quickly.

Pupils thrive, developing their interests and talents excellently.

The arts are at the heart of the school. There is an impressive range of extra-curricular activities and a considerable number of these are led by pupils. Students in the sixth form act as excellent role models and inspire younger pupils to lead.

At lunchtimes, the buzz of pupils singing, walking, or running to the local park, playing sports and dancing is vibrant. This reflects the strong community who thrive on learning and performing together.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school have designed a very ambitious curriculum, including in the sixth form, which is highly successful.

The curriculum is structured thoughtfully. Important knowledge and skills that pupils need to learn are revisited regularly over time. This supports pupils to recall their knowledge exceptionally well.

They then apply this when tackling more complex challenges successfully. For instance, during geography field work in year 7 pupils learn specialist data collecting skills. Pupils use these skills later to tackle more challenging activities.

Teachers have extremely strong subject knowledge. They explain and model using subject specific language clearly and very effectively. The high expectations are set for pupils to explain their ideas using specialist language with skill.

Pupils excel at this. Through their responses and discussions pupils show their deep insights. For example, in English, pupils debate and understand the motivation for characters' behaviour in the 'Merchant of Venice'.

They then use this language to develop their written analysis skills with great ability. Equally in mathematics the expectation for pupils to explain their concepts is part of a strong planned approach.

Pupils' learning is checked consistently through questioning and assessment.

Teachers address any misconceptions quickly, and gap in pupils' learning. Pupils think for themselves exceptionally well. They exemplify being curious learners.

For example, in art they demonstrate their adept research skills when exploring different artists. Pupils with SEND learn very successfully, alongside their peers. They benefit from the highly consistent approach to teaching across the school.

Teachers adapt the curriculum skilfully to meet the needs of pupils precisely. This supports pupils to become increasingly independent. The sixth form is similarly very inclusive and students with SEND achieve very well here too.

Reading is a priority. The library is a hive of activity, where pupils enjoy a range of diverse books. Pupils with weaker reading skills are identified quickly.

Appropriate, targeted interventions are put in place to help them become confident and fluent readers without delay. Teachers track pupils' reading extremely closely to ensure they make the rapid progress the school expects.

Relationships between pupils and staff are very strong.

Pupils are very polite and courteous. Pupils receive excellent pastoral support. They show their care for others through their extensive charity work.

Pupils gain a strong spiritual awareness through their weekly whole school assemblies and daily thought for the day in which pupils regularly participate.

Pupils' wider personal development is extensively promoted. The curriculum is enriched with a wide range of exciting activities and visits.

These include history and music tours to Germany, trips to Paris and Greece. The school makes the most of being in the centre of London. Their links with significant landmarks give pupils inspiring experiences.

There are many opportunities in every year group for pupil leadership including in the sixth form. For example, pupils relish acting as reading mentors, ambassadors or laboratory technicians. Younger pupils take on roles such as anti-bullying, mental health and diversity ambassadors.

Pupils, including students in the sixth form and those with SEND, benefit from a highly effective careers programme. The schools "Careers and Inspiration Fair", with 50 different organisations, is just one example. There is highly personalised support for pupils to make informed choices.

Pupils are very well prepared for the next stage of their education, employment, or training.

There is a strong focus on attendance and punctuality. As a result, attendance is high.

The school has strong systems for following up any absences. They work with external agencies diligently to gain appropriate further support on the rare occasions this is needed.

Leaders and governors work very effectively together.

Their strong leadership creates the ethos of continuous improvement where all can succeed. This has sustained the school's high performance. Staff retention is exceptionally high.

Their commitment to the school reflects their sense of care. There is a great deal of trust across the school community. Staff value highly the extensive support for professional development.

Equally, they appreciate the careful consideration of their workload. They are rightly immensely proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.