Her Majesty's Inspector cometh

Please say a prayer for St Luke's Sixth Form College in Sidcup. Last Friday, we were informed that we would have our OFSTED Inspection today and tomorrow. (OFSTED = Office for Standards in Education. The lead inspector is Laren Ovenden HMI (HMI = Her Majesty's Inspector.)

St Luke's is a Catholic College where the Rosary is said each morning before classes, Mass is often said at lunchtime (I'll be saying Mass there today and tomorrow) and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in a small oratory. They have had all night vigils, regular Penance services with lots of individual confessions and the "sex-ed" has included visits from the Good Counsel Network and Barbara McGuigan, a chastity speaker from Orange County in the US of A. One of my tasks today is to give a short sermon at the ceremony of crowning the statue of Our Lady. This will take place in the recently built refectory which is dedicated to St Josephine Bakhita.

OFSTED Inspections are generally fair but merciless. They look at the strengths and weakness of a school or college, observe some lessons, check up on all sorts of things, interview staff, students, me (as Chair of Governors) and probably some other Governors and then make a series of judgements about how effective the place is. This report is then published on the internet.

So a few Hail Marys would not go amiss - for the College and also for the Inspectors. Many thanks.

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