It is a pleasure to warmly welcome you to Bishopston School. We pride ourselves in developing:

‘An outstanding, nurturing learning community founded upon mutual respect; empowering all to be lifelong learners and the best that they can be!’

We continue to be one of the highest achieving schools in Wales and have been asked to share excellent practice by numerous external bodies. This is a huge compliment to our whole school community of staff, pupils, parents/carers and Governors who work together in partnership to continue to improve standards in so many aspects of life in our school. We are delighted to highlight the findings of the ESTYN Inspection Report, published in Jan 2018. We were the first comprehensive school in Wales to achieve “Excellent” in all 6 of the inspection areas. We continue to strive for further improvement in all aspects of academic, personal, moral and social development for each pupil as part of their lifelong learning process.  

The outstanding external examination results achieved by our pupils are the result of high expectations, a very strong work ethic and the existence of a positive climate for learning where respect, humility, trust and commitment provide the basis for success. We are committed to promoting and enabling pupil wellbeing, equity and inclusion. We firmly believe that every child deserves an excellent education in a happy, safe and nurturing learning environment.

Pupils thrive in our caring and friendly learning environment, where the safeguarding and wellbeing of the pupils is paramount. Pupils experience and enjoy a wide range of opportunities through a wide and diverse curriculum, providing a breadth and balance that offers an appropriate pathway for each individual.   This includes both academic and vocational courses to suit the aspirations of every pupil so that they become ambitious, capable learners ready to learn throughout their lives. Across the curriculum we place a significant emphasis on the core and wider skills including literacy, numeracy and digital competency. 

Pupils are encouraged to participate in and give of their best in all aspects of school life. ESTYN also highlighted the significant impact the input of the pupils has on school improvement in the published report and commends ‘pupil voice’ as an outstanding feature at Bishopston.  Central to the work of the school is the vast range of extracurricular activities on offer. We encourage all pupils to take advantage of these opportunities to enhance their development as healthy, confident individuals, ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society. 

We are fortunate to have an outstanding and well-equipped community sports centre which was includes a large multi gym, dance studio as well as refurbished school and community changing facilities. Our 4G and 2G facilities are used to facilitate lessons as well as many extra curricular opportunities.  

With an ever-increasing use of our superb sports facilities on the site, there is a continuing drive to maintain our community focus where the school plays a significant role in the life of people in the local area. This, combined with the well-established links between ourselves, our partner primary schools and the post 16 educational establishments ensures that we are creating a lifelong learning experience with the school playing an important part in the pupils’ development. If you would like to book our 4G and 2G facilities, please contact the sports hall on 235040. These pitches are available for community use after 4.30 p.m. 

We are also delighted to report that the Band B development scheme in conjunction with the LA and Welsh Government has resulted in a fully refurbished school. This multi-million-pound investment has significantly improved the school for both the staff and pupils. As part of the original investment, a new double school block housing nine new classrooms was constructed which included new Science laboratories, a Drama Studio, two Art rooms and another ICT suite and additional classroom. 

We have now completed all of the phases of the overall project which has also given us a totally renovated and modern entrance to the school, additional offices and a Conference room. All classrooms throughout the whole school have been being totally refurbished during this project.  This includes new carpets, chairs, tables and a state of the art C-Touch screen in every classroom.

We hope our prospectus offers you an interesting insight into life at Bishopston. Further information is available on our school website (www.bishopstonschool.com).   

The Estyn report, published in January 2018 is available on the ESTYN website: www.estyn.gov.uk

Mrs A. R. Sykes

Headteacher