INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS INSPECTORATE - Radley College

Radley College 8
The Quality of Teaching (Including Assessment)
2.29 The teaching is highly effective. A large proportion of the lessons observed were
outstanding, with none being less than satisfactory. The clear attainment of the college’s aim
that boys should exceed their academic expectations is demonstrated by the excellent results
in public examinations, given the relatively wide range of ability as reflected by performance
in nationally standardised tests.
2.30 The level of learning support is exceptional and the close monitoring of pupils, both on entry
and during their progression through the college, enables boys of all abilities to make
excellent progress and to grow in confidence. The use of the e-grey book, the college’s ICT
management system, ensures that the dons have full access to all relevant information
concerning LDDs, and this is clearly used in the preparation of most lessons to ensure that
teaching is pitched at an appropriate level.
2.31 The dons show outstanding care and concern for the academic progress made by the pupils.
This is highly appreciated by both the boys and their parents. When asked what was best at
Radley, the most frequent response from the pupils was the quality of the teaching, whilst the
parental pre-inspection questionnaire produced comments about the inspirational,
encouraging and committed teachers. Many departments have society meetings in the late
evening and these are well attended by both pupils and dons, as was observed at a lively
meeting of the mathematics society.
2.32 At its best, the teaching demonstrates the huge enthusiasm of the dons for their subjects and
this fosters real interest from the pupils and a thirst for knowledge. Much of the teaching in
modern foreign languages was clearly inspirational. A pupil in Year 13 had been moved to
read Proust in French in his spare time, as a result of the highly stimulating teaching that he
has received. In many areas, particularly in the creative subjects, boys are encouraged to
undertake independent work, in line with the college’s desire that they should be encouraged
to think and research for themselves. Good practice in this area was seen in ICT, chemistry,
geography, art and DT. However, elsewhere the style of teaching is occasionally didactic
and, where this is the case, pupils are not greatly involved in the learning process.
2.33 Lessons are well planned and, at their best, utilise an appropriate variety of activities.
However, some teachers are rather limited in their approach and, although the end result of
excellent examination performances might be forthcoming, the wider aims of education are
not always addressed by the teaching methods employed. Whilst definite progress has been
made in this area since the last inspection, particularly through the implementation of the
extremely thorough appraisal system and encouragement of mutual lesson observation, it is
clear that gaps remain. Some excellent examples of team teaching were witnessed in
biology, DT and drama. All dons demonstrate extremely high standards of professionalism
and this encourages the outstanding discipline and work ethic of the boys that are apparent
across all age and curriculum groups.
2.34 The level of knowledge and understanding of their subject shown by the vast majority of the
dons is considerable and this allows for some exceptional teaching. This knowledge is
complemented by the outstanding resources which are evident in all academic areas of the
college, and much excellent use of appropriate technology was observed, for example the use
of tablet PCs in mathematics, webcam demonstrations in chemistry and computer sequencer
programmes in music. Best practice makes use of all the teaching resources available
through web links and the intranet.