SIAMS stands for the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools. All Church of England dioceses and the Methodist Church use the National Society's framework as a process for evaluating the extent to which church schools are "distinctively and recognisably Christian institutions".

We are pleased to share with you the results of our latest SIAM‘s inspection, following our inspection in November 2019. As a Church of England school, we are inspected regularly by both the OFSTED and the SIAM’s teams and both inspections are extremely rigorous. In September 2019, a new criteria for SIAMs Inspections was implemented and it is extremely challenging for schools. The old ‘outstanding’ grade has merged with ‘good’ and a new grade of excellent has been introduced with a higher threshold. It is only awarded to exceptional schools.

St John’s was previously judged as ‘good’ in 2015 so we are delighted to announce that we have been rated as ‘EXCELLENT’ across all areas of the SIAMs schedule.

The staff and governors are delighted with this grading and are pleased that the inspector recognises how special our school is. It is a fantastic achievement for our small school and recognises all of the hard work of everyone involved.

Here are some of the areas the inspector particularly liked, and we are particularly proud of:

• Pupils live well together, are accepted for who they are and really believe that ‘everyone shines’.
• Staff are exemplary role models.
• The innovative values-based curriculum is personalised to meet the needs of all.
• Academic attainment and wellbeing are equally valued
• Family partnerships are strong.
• The values are just as relevant outside school.
• Relationships, underpinned by the Christian vision, ensure all are treated with dignity and respect.
• Exemplary pupil leadership opportunities contribute positively to the social and moral conscience of all.

It really is a glowing report so please do take the time to read all about our strengths. As I’m sure you can sense, we are so incredibly proud of our school: the amazing staff who work tirelessly, the children, who shine in all they do, and our skilled Governors, who continue to be the guiding light for our school improvement. As a well as it being very gratifying to have such wonderful things written about the school, it was also incredibly rewarding to see the responses of so many members of our school community in wanting to speak and write in praise of all that we do to the inspector. St John’s is truly a very special place where all children really do shine!

Mrs Stevenson