4 December 2015
Dear Parents,
I am writing to let you know about the results of the pupil survey we carried out at BGSG
two weeks ago.
The aims of the survey were twofold: to find out how pupils feel about school and to feed into
the development of the School’s strategic plan. A parental survey will follow in January.
The survey
All girls in Years 5 to 13 completed the anonymous survey on-line, which consisted of a list
of 18 statements with which pupils were invited to ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree’, ‘disagree’, or
‘strongly disagree’. These are the same statements used by our Inspectorate, ISI, when they
carry out whole school inspections.
Results
We are delighted with the results, which give an overall picture of happy pupils
and a successful school.
Almost all the girls strongly agreed or agreed with the following statements:
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I am making good progress in my work
I can join in a good range of activities (for example, clubs, music, drama, sport, ICT,
art)
My teachers help me to learn
I am encouraged to do things for myself and to work independently
I study an interesting range of subjects
The vast majority of pupils strongly agreed or agreed with the following statements:
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 I like being at this school
 I find the work I do interesting
My teachers give me individual help when I need it
I am given the chance to take on responsibility (for example, as a form captain,
librarian, monitor, prefect, school council representative)
A significant majority of pupils agreed or strongly agreed with the following:
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My homework helps me to learn
Teachers make sure that I have the right amount of work to do
Teachers show concern for me as a person
There is a member of staff or senior pupil I can turn to if I have a personal difficulty
Most of the pupils agreed that:
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Teachers are fair in the way that they give rewards
Teachers are fair in the way that they give sanctions
Most of the pupils agreed with the following statement, although 22% said they had no
view on this:
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The school deals quickly with any bullying that occurs
Just under half of the pupils agreed that:
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The school asks for my opinions and responds to them
Conclusions
We are delighted with the overall results, which show, as expected, that our pupils are
enjoying very positive experiences in school. I am thrilled that almost every girl, on the day
she completed the survey, felt she was making good progress in her work and that she is
well supported. It is wonderful to know that the vast majority of our pupils enjoy school, find
their work interesting, are aware that individual help will always be available and that they
are trusted with taking on responsibilities. As anticipated, these results reflect the
extremely positive teacher-pupil relationships we enjoy and the strong academic and
pastoral support girls receive.
I have spoken to all the girls in assemblies this week about the results and they are aware
that we would like to know more about how they approach their homework and balance
their studies with other commitments, and are interested in exploring further ways in which
senior pupils might support younger pupils, to the benefit of both. While most of the pupils
did agree that teachers are fair in the ways they give sanctions and rewards, the teaching
staff and I would like to work with both pupils and parents on producing new policies in
these areas. School Council will play a key role in this; we would also be delighted to hear
from any parents who might be interested in contributing ideas.
With regard to the issue of bullying, I think it is important to highlight that the School
would always take any incident of bullying extremely seriously and will not tolerate
behaviour of this kind. Pupils in any school may not always be aware of how such incidents
are dealt with, but girls should be reassured that any concerns would be acted upon
promptly.
Finally, this survey showed that some pupils feel the School does not necessarily listen to
their views. I hope this exercise shows that we do, and will continue to do so! Over the
coming months, we shall be looking at ways of developing School Council and other ideas for
pupil voice.
In all, we are thrilled with the very many positive areas highlighted in this report and will
look forward to building on these, developing provision still further, and aiming to make our
school even stronger and happier over the coming years.
If you would like to make any comment at all about this report, you would be very welcome
to contact me at School.
Yours sincerely
Mrs J Anderson
Headmistress