1.1 King’s College Murcia forms part of a Polaris World S. L residential and golf course development and is owned by the same company. The owners have an agreement with the King’s Educational group to organise and oversee the educational provision.

1.2 The school first opened in September 2007 with pupils in the Foundation and primary stages. Since then, it has expanded to cover pre-nursery to Year 10 and intends to introduce Years 11 to 13 in the next three years.

1.3 By September 2008 all the buildings necessary for this expansion had been completed and sections are now being occupied according to need as the school grows. Currently there are 256 pupils on roll but there is capacity for approximately three times this number.

1.4 The school was last inspected in November 2008, receiving at that time full authorisation for the Foundation Stage and primary and temporary authorisation for the first three years of secondary. The current inspection is for the renewal of this authorisation and the consideration of further authorisation for the new year groups about to be introduced.

1.5 There has been a change of head since the last inspection, the current head having joined the school in mid September of this academic year.

2.1 The accommodation consists of an attractive main building on three floors, only two of which are currently in use. A separate ground floor building houses the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Classrooms are well furnished and all are equipped with interactive boards to aid teaching. The rooms have plenty of natural light, which helps to create an attractive environment, but at the same time they lack suitable shade to ensure that pupils can see projected images on the boards.

2.2 Pupils have access to all the necessary specialist rooms required by the curriculum. Currently, one fully equipped science laboratory is in use but two more are available. The laboratory has a separate prep room and suitable safe storage. Well equipped rooms are available for information and communications technology (ICT), music and art, although the art room is not large enough to be able to accommodate effectively the full size of the groups expected in the future.

2.3 The school has excellent sports facilities including a large gymnasium, an outdoor artificial grass pitch and tennis courts. The space available for recreation is also very good and includes the outdoor pitch. Other essential facilities such as dining room, toilets, assembly areas and staff facilities are also of a good standard and adequate for both present and future needs.

2.4 The separate Foundation stage section also enjoys attractive facilities. Classrooms have direct access to well equipped outdoor activity areas and to toilet facilities.

2.5 The school is well resourced throughout the different stages with a good range of materials for practical work and good electronic resources. There is plenty of suitable equipment for music and sports, and the foundation stage resources ensure that both indoor and outdoor curricular requirements are well covered. Only the library and reading resources need improvement. Although there has been significant progress, this remains a weakness identified in the last inspection. The school recognises this need in its development planning and has made a significant budgetary commitment to rectify it in the near future.

3.1 The school premises provide a safe environment for children and take into account specific needs such as protective flooring for the foundation play areas and access arrangements for the disabled.

3.2 Well written health and safety policy documents include clear practical instructions for dealing with emergencies and these, along with evacuation procedures, are displayed clearly around the school. Regular fire drills are carried out to ensure that all members of the school community are familiar with the procedures.

3.3 The school has a full time nurse who, apart from dealing with medical emergencies, contributes to a health education programme. Child protection issues are supervised by members of staff who have been specifically assigned this responsibility.

4.1 The teachers are appropriately qualified to teach the National Curriculum and collectively provide a good mix of the highly experienced and those who are more recently trained. They are assigned, according to their qualifications or experience, to appropriate subjects or age groups. The small secondary section includes specialists for the majority of subjects, an exception being geography, currently taught by an art specialist. As this section grows, the school intends to recruit a suitable specialist.

4.2 Staff-pupil ratios are very good and this allows the formation of small groups to improve differentiation. Extra support is also provided by a full time teacher for those pupils whose first language is not English. The post of special educational needs (SEN) coordinator has also been recently created to further improve the monitoring and support of particular learning needs.

4.3 Sufficient access to professional development is provided. This is either via the Council of British International Schools (COBIS) whose workshops are hosted by the King’s group, or by use of online courses which are made available to staff.

4.4 The staff is motivated and enthusiastic, but, contradictory as it seems, the school suffers from a very high turnover. Almost half of the current teachers are in their first year at the school and some staff changes have already taken place since September. The school attributes this largely to its geographical location which is unattractive to teachers from overseas. Strategies need to be found to improve continuity before it affects the development and consolidation of the school, particularly when the staff changes are at a middle or senior management level.

5.1 The school offers a balanced and stimulating curriculum which covers all areas of the National Curriculum with suitable time allocation for each subject or area of learning. The range of options available in Key Stage 4 is good, considering pupil numbers.

5.2 A creative curriculum, which develops particular cross-curricular themes is being introduced in collaboration with other schools in the King’s group. When fully in place, this will provide very valuable enrichment to the school’s current programme of education.

5.3 The delivery of the curriculum is guided by well developed schemes of work, which clearly set out long and medium term objectives and in many cases include good planning for differentiation.

6.1 Teaching throughout the school is of a good, or sometimes excellent, standard. Full advantage is taken of the current opportunity to work with relatively small groups and teachers very successfully meet individual needs in the classroom. Well planned lessons are delivered effectively, with good use of practical and electronic resources and good interpersonal relationships between teachers and pupils.

6.2 Pupils respond well to this teaching. They are confident about making contributions in class and they ask relevant questions. They are aware of the learning objectives in each lesson and try hard to achieve them. Their level of knowledge and skills is fully in line with the expectations of the National Curriculum for their age.

6.3 The pupils’ written work is generally well organised and of an appropriate standard. Teachers often provide constructive comments to help children to improve, although this type of marking is not consistent across the entire teaching team.

6.4 Effective monitoring procedures are in place. Assessment files include records of pupils’ progress set against National Curriculum levels, identifying clearly those pupils who are outside of the normal range. Specific targets are set and recorded for those needing more support. Lesson plans often include teaching towards different targets and in practice, work is well matched to the range of abilities in each class.

6.5 In the majority of classrooms the quality of displays is outstanding and this creates a very attractive and stimulating working environment for the children.

7.1 The management structure reflects good British practice and the school has already made provision for future development by establishing, for example, a coordinator for Key Stage 4. The head shows a very good awareness of the needs and expectations of all stakeholders, this being commendable considering the relatively short time that has passed since his appointment. This awareness, combined with a direct management style, contributes very positively to the working atmosphere of the school and the quality of the educational provision.

7.2 A complete audit of all aspects of the functioning of the school has recently been carried out, the findings of which have led to a very detailed development plan which sets out targets and a time frame for future school improvement.

7.3 Essential policy documents and handbooks covering all aspects of school organisation are well developed and serve to ensure awareness of expectations and consistency of practice among staff.

7.4 Internal and external communication work effectively. The school makes use of modern information systems. Parents have access to detailed calendars of events, newsletters and individual progress reports.

The school has improved its provision of subject specialist teachers.

Library resources and the range of reading material for primary pupils still require further development.

The school has maintained many strengths identified in the last inspection, such as the quality of the teaching and management, planning, and monitoring of pupils’ progress.

The good quality of the displays of work has been even further improved.

King’s College Murcia is providing education that fulfils the expectations of British schools in terms of curriculum, resources and learning environment. The school is suitably staffed and well managed, and its pupils benefit from a good quality learning experience in a safe and attractive environment.

Full authorisation should be awarded for all year groups from pre-nursery to Year 10.

Temporary authorisation for 2 years should be given for Years 11, 12 and 13 to allow the school to complete its expansion.

The school has a capacity for up to 782 pupils.

Specific recommendations.

The school should:

10.1 attempt to find effective strategies for improving staff continuity.

10.2 complete existing plans to invest in library and reading resources.

10.3 ensure that shading is provided so that pupils can see the interactive whiteboards properly.

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