Dear Parents and Carers,

Following on from the section 8 Ofsted inspection of our school on the 8^th and 9^th October, I am pleased to send you the final copy of the report.  As you would expect, the inspection was thorough and rigorous, covering the central aspects of school life.  I am happy to share with you that the inspection team found that “Sir Graham Balfour School has taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.”

We were one of the first schools in the country to be inspected since the decision was made to scrap headline grades in Ofsted reports.  The purpose of a section 8 inspection is to gauge whether or not a school has maintained the standards identified in the previous inspection.  When we were last inspected in 2019, we were found to be “good” and I am delighted to say that the inspectors found that we have maintained those standards.

The report recognises the ambitious vision and high expectations we have for the children who attend our school.  It is really positive about the experiences that pupils have in our school, from the teaching they receive in lessons, to their trips to sites of cultural significance, to the pastoral care they receive in order to improve behaviour and attendance, to the culture of mutual respect between staff and pupils, to the strength of our work to develop pupils’ character and how we help to prepare pupils for their next steps in education and the world of work.

The report identifies the early impact of the work we have started to further improve our support for pupils with special educational needs and for those who arrive with us at Balfour at an early stage of reading.  We have been set targets to help us develop our provision in these areas.  We welcome these targets for improvement and I am confident that they will help us to further improve standards in the school.

All of us working here at Balfour are determined that the school will continue to provide the opportunities and care for our students to enable them to leave us with the very best GCSE and A level grades possible.  We know that we cannot do this without your support and on behalf of all of us here at Balfour I would like to thank you for the great support that you provide to your children and to our school - it is much appreciated and hugely valued.

Yours faithfully

Mr Mason
Headteacher