The Governors of St Gerard’s would like to express our delight at the recent ‘Outstanding’ RE Inspection topping what has been a very rewarding and exciting period for the School. We were already impressed by the OFSTED feedback that had taken place in July of this year.
This earlier Report had celebrated a number of outstanding features within the School including the pupils’ ‘spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through the care, guidance and support given by an inspirational teaching team’. OFSTED highlighted the extensive range of opportunities that the children have to develop their creative learning and drew attention to the Gold Arts Mark which we had recently achieved. Emphasis was given to the School’s commitment to exposing the children to a diverse range of affirming activities. The Inspectorate was impressed for example how music plays an intrinsic part of every child’s life at St Gerard’s demonstrated by the fact that the School is constantly invited to participate in festivals. A powerful commitment to raising health awareness was noted within the School evidenced by the Gold Healthy School and Activemark award. Community collaboration and cohesion was also highlighted with children engaging in the wider issues such as the environment through our ‘eco-schools’ project along with local concerns voiced through ‘community kids’ project.
The RE Inspection positively confirmed all these sentiments further and noted clearly that the School’s commitment to driving a distinctive Catholic ethos has been pivotal in this. The RE Inspector was particularly impressed by the behaviour of our pupils and how the teaching team have shaped the children’s sense of worth and value by instilling God’s loving presence in their lives. The commitment of our previous parish priests Fr John Paul Leonard and then Fr Gerard Robinson have also been instrumental in this too and have helped develop a spiritual culture that is so inspirationally entrenched in St Gerard’s. Fr Simon Broughton has already picked up the gauntlet and this is a perfect opportunity for the Governors to officially welcome him to the School team. Sorry, Fr Simon there is no going back now!
The Catholic life highlighted by the Reports would not be what it is today without the wonderful devotion and many years of service given by the late Mrs Pat Rutherford, a Governor and Chaplain at our School. Pat’s own testimony and commitment will resonate throughout the corridors of St Gerard’s for a very long time.
Clearly all this positive feedback would not be possible without the dynamic teaching team led by Mrs Eileen Shovlin. St Gerard’s is fortunate to have a very talented, dedicated and inspiring group of teachers who work extremely hard to challenge and motivate the children. They are assisted further by an incredibly creative and resourceful group of teaching assistants. Indeed the hard work and tenacity of all the teaching team speaks for itself with children going through a remarkable academic transformation at St Gerard’s. Perhaps even more inspiringly the pupils also leave with a developed sense of aspiration for themselves and with a powerful set of Christian values. So well done to both the teaching team and children and long may this success continue.
The Governors of St Gerard's