Calvary Baptist Christian Academy made overall ‘Weak’ progress on recommendations from the Office of Education Standards, although inspectors noted the school had improved student attainment, teaching and its curriculum.
In January 2020, the private K-12 school was rated ‘Weak’ by inspectors, who made 5 key recommendations.
Inspectors conducted a Follow-Through Inspection 2-4 Feb., and found the school had made ‘Satisfactory’ progress on 3 recommendations and ‘Weak’ progress on 2 recommendations.
Here are the results of the Follow-Through Inspection:
- Raise attainment in English, Mathematics and Science: SATISFACTORY
- Improve teaching: SATISFACTORY
- Improve curriculum: SATISFACTORY
- Improve support and guidance for students: WEAK
- Improve self-evaluation and improvement planning: WEAK
According to the OES report, “Subsequent to the full inspection that was conducted in January 2020, the Acting Principal and the School Board had implemented a number of initiatives to raise students’ attainment in English, mathematics and science. Notably, at the start of the current school year, school leaders had introduced the Abeka curriculum in the high school and had begun a phased transition from the Accelerated Christian Curriculum (ACE) to the Abeka curriculum in the primary stage of the school.”
Also, “Overall, Inspectors noted that recent whole school professional development in teaching and learning was beginning to have a positive impact on classroom practice.”
However, “Established systems of support and guidance were not yet in place to meet the needs of all the students.”
Additionally, “[T]he Acting Principal and members of the School Board were not yet sufficiently aware of the requirements of the Successful Schools and Achieving Students 2 Framework. As a consequence, an accurate school self-evaluation was not yet developed.”
Established in 2017, Calvary Baptist has 64 students on roll, including 60 Caymanians.
Because the school was rated ‘Weak’, OES will conduct another Follow-Through Inspection within 6 months.