ST. MALACHY’S
PRIMARY SCHOOL
& NURSERY UNIT
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
ANNUAL REPORT
2011 – 2012
SOUTH EASTERN EDUCATION AND LIBRARY BOARD
St Malachy’s Primary School & Nursery Unit
Principal: Clandeboye Road
Mr Stephen Rafferty Bangor
BT19 1AA
Acting Vice Principal: Co Down
Mrs Rosaleen Quinn
Telephone: 91270594/ 91450768
October 2012
Dear Parents
This report highlights the successes and achievements of your children and your school. St. Malachy’s continues to cater for a wide variety of needs by providing a broad and balanced curriculum within a supportive, caring and exciting environment.
The Governors wish to congratulate the Principal and all of his staff on the provision of a quality education for all and to thank all the parents for their help, support and encouragement.
Schools are not now required to have an Annual Parents’ Meeting to discuss the report. If parents require any further information about the school’s Annual Report or wish to raise issues about its content, they should discuss this in the first place with the Principal. If parents wish to raise a matter at Board of Governor level, they should do so following the agreed procedures.
Yours sincerely
Paddy Hanna
Mr P Hanna
Chairman, Board of Governors
ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT
The Board of Governors has overall responsibility for the effective management of the school. As well as nominees of the Trustees, the South Eastern Education and Library Board and the Department of Education its membership also included an elected parent governor and an elected teacher governor. The Principal completed this team, which represented all the main bodies concerned with the school. The present Board of Governors was formed in February 2006.
Trustees Representative
Father J Gunn
Sean Johnston (Secretary)
Anne Marie Foster
Colette Steed
DENI Representative
Mr Paddy Hanna (Chair)
Board Representatives
Mr Joe Edgar
Mr Stanley Smith
Parents Representative
Mrs Lynne Barker
Teacher Representative
Mrs Tracey Butler
The Principal
MrStephen Rafferty
The Board of Governors was responsible for the implementation of the curriculum, for making recommendations for the appointment and dismissal of staff, pupil admissions, discipline, school premises and finance. The Governors met regularly to discuss these matters with the Principal.
A School Management Team consisting of the Principal, Vice-Principal, and three senior members of staff provided a framework for the management of the school.
Subject and Key Stage Co-ordinators had specific responsibilities relating to curricular areas and ensured that the curriculum was delivered to your child in as meaningful a context as possible, while at the same time attending to pastoral, administrative and managerial duties. These responsibilities were continually reviewed in light of changing circumstances.
These organisational structures within the school strengthen the school’s ability to absorb the major changes arising from Government Policy and to respond appropriately to them.
THE CURRICULUM
The Principal and staff of St. Malachy’s aimed to put the child at the heart of the curriculum. The school provided a broad, balanced, challenging and relevant curriculum, which was methodically planned, professionally implemented and systematically evaluated.
Children had full access to the complete range of subjects prescribed in the Northern Ireland Common Curriculum. Various learning strategies and techniques were deployed in each classroom to ensure that all children developed appropriate skills.
Staff attended regular curriculum and management meetings to ensure the effective running of the school with a focus on identifying strategies to raise standards in literacy, numeracy, assessment for learning and the development of topic-based learning. At the heart of the curriculum lies an explicit emphasis on the development of skills and capabilities for lifelong learning and for operating effectively in society. Our Building Supervisor attended three days training, and along with Mrs Quinn attended one day Fire Safety Training. Three members of staff attended the HeartStart training programme.
All our teaching staff were trained in linguistic phonics, SIMS assessment, Pastoral Care and Foundation / KS1 Assessment.
Staff Training Successes –
All staff successfully completed PRSD
Miss McGrattan completed the Dissertation stage of her Masters Degree
Miss Mullan & Miss Coulter completed the Early Leadership Programme
Interactive whiteboards are now installed in every classroom in the school building, and are in daily use with staff building up resources from websites. Staff were re-trained on the implementation of the INCAS assessment and Sims programme.
Each pupil has a continuous assessment folder which travels with them from year group to year group. This tracks each pupil’s progress and identifies areas for improvement and development.
Each class had many opportunities to experience and enjoy many educational visits over the year. Importantly, children were given a chance to experience at first hand the world around them. Educational visits stimulated their natural curiosity and creativity in all curriculum areas.
The curriculum for the three stages at primary is set out in seven areas of learning comprising:-
Language and Literacy – including Talking and Listening, Reading and Writing.
Mathematics and Numeracy – including Number, Measures, Shape and Space, Sorting, Patterns and Relationships.
The Arts – including Art and Design, Drama and Music
The World Around Us – including Interdependence, Place, Movement and Energy and Change over Time.
Personal Development and Mutual Understanding – including Personal Development and health and Mutual Understanding in the local and wider community.
Physical Development and Movement – including athletics, dance, games and gymnastics.
Religious Education – including opportunities to learn about, discuss, evaluate and learn from religious beliefs, practices and values.
Children with learning difficulties were identified at an early stage and were supported by our Learning Support Teacher, Mrs Moore.
The four Educational Themes, viz Education for Mutual Understanding, Health Education, Information Technology and Cultural Heritage were taught as an integral part of the curriculum. The use of our CAPS programme (Character Approach to Problem Solving) enabled these areas to be developed more fully and led towards the promotion of citizenship.
The full development of each child was enriched through the provision of extra curricular activities. Many of these activities, which ran outside of the statutory school hours under the guidance of our staff and specialist coaches, were considered an important and integral element of school life.
The following policies may, on request, be inspected at the school:
WholeSchool Curriculum PolicyPhysical Education Policy
Numeracy PolicyDrug Education Policy
Literacy PolicyLibrary Policy
Science PolicyHistory Policy
Special Needs PolicyI.T. Policy
Admissions PolicyMusic Policy
Promoting Positive BehaviourPastoral Care Policy
Fire Drill ProceduresSupervision Procedures
Homework PolicyMarking Policy
Smoking PolicyStaff Development Policy
Sex Education PolicyChild Protection Policy
Anti-bullying PolicyEducational & Recreational
Charging and Remissions Visits Policy
and Use of Premises PolicyInset Policy
Teaching & Learning PolicyCrisis Management Policy
Geography PolicyMonitoring and Evaluating Policy
Data Protection PolicyFreedom of Information Policy
Art & Design Policy
POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR
Our school continued with our well established Merit Award System.
HEALTH EDUCATION
Throughout the year, the school continued to successfully promote Health and Well Being and once again achieved a Bronze Award in the Health Action Competition run by Action Cancer.
The school held another successful Health Education month in January 2012 where children focused on various aspects of health including diet, exercise and dental hygiene. We had visits from a variety of Health Promoting agencies including The Belfast Giants and the Dental Hygienist.
The school continued with the ‘Cool in School’ Programme, encouraging children to drink water during the course of each day. Water fountains are provided in class ‘areas’ for the children’s use.
The school also continued with healthy eating breaks for the majority of the children. These breaks consisted of a variety of breads, sandwiches, fruit and vegetables. The Breakfast Club proved to be very successful once again, with over 80 breakfasts being provided on a weekly basis.
The SchoolGarden
The SchoolGarden continued to flourish this year under the management of Mrs Hill and Mrs Cunningham.
They ran a very successful Gardening Club with Key Stage II children, teaching them to plant and look after a variety of vegetables including potatoes, beetroot, leeks, cabbages, rhubarb, herbs and strawberries.
All of the elements work well to create a sensory rich environment for the children of the school to enjoy.
APPOINTMENTS RETIREMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS
During the course of the year we had the following appointments, retirements and resignations.
- Mr Stephen Rafferty took up the position of School Principal on1st September 2011.
- Mrs Anne Ennis (School Secretary) retired wef 1st October 2011.
- Mrs Joan Harpur took up the position of School Secretary from 1stOctober 2011.
LIST OF CLASS TEACHERS 2011/2012
PrincipalMr Stephen Rafferty
Vice PrincipalMrs Rosaleen Quinn
Nursery: Mrs Orla Mulhern-Caddell
Playgroup: Miss Donna McArdle / Mrs Pauline Keenan
Miss Sarah McAuley / Mrs Yvonne Laird
Y1Mrs Julie Barklie
Y1Mrs Tracey Butler
Y2Miss Bronagh Mullan (Miss Fionnuala Donaghy)
Y2/Y3Miss Gemma Roddy
Y3Mrs Eithne McGoran
Y4Miss Grainne Coulter
Y4Mrs Rosaleen Quinn
Y5Miss Michelle Devine
Y6Mrs Diane Bradley
Y6 Miss Laura McGrattan
Y7Mrs Julie Spence
Y7Miss Claire McAlorum
SENCOMrs Geraldine Moore
OUR ANCILLARY AND AUXILLARY
STAFF OF 31 COMPLETES THIS TEAM
SecretaryMrs Joan Harpur
Assistant SecretaryMrs Karen Hughes
BuildingSupervisorMr Gerry Coy
Classroom AssistantsMrs Sandra Jackson,Miss Andrea Hill,Miss Leah Coulter,Mrs Julie Cunningham,
Mrs Jenny Hall,Mrs Karen McAllister
Nursery AssistantMiss Joanne McCormick
Nursery Lunchtime
SupervisorsMrs Janice McVeigh Mrs Jill Church
Supervisory AssistantsMrs Sandra JacksonMrs Julie Cunningham
Mrs Anne Adair,Mrs Jenny Hall, Miss Leah Coulter
Mrs Karen McAllister
Cleaning staffMrs Cathy SterrettMrs Martha Fitzpatrick
Mr Kevin AdairMrs Roberta Drayner
School Crossing
PatrolsMr John WalshMr George Shannon
Meals StaffMrs Martha Larmour
Mrs Elizabeth Crooks
Mrs Cathy Sterrett
ENROLMENT AND ADMISSIONS
The enrolment figure for 2011/2012 reached 339 children
A total of 46 children transferred to secondary level education.
St.Columbanus’ College / 29Our Lady & St. Patrick’s / 4
Bangor Grammar / 2
Sullivan / 2
Glenlola Collegiate / 4
BangorAcademy / 3
Strangford Integrated College / 2
Congratulations to all our Year Sevens who have transferred to their new schools. We wish them well in their new schools. The number of pupils admitted to Year 1 in September 2011 was54, an increase from 52 the previous year. Details of the Admissions Policy were available from the Principal.
LEARNING SUPPORT
Provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs was ongoing in2011/12. Pupils with special requirements were identified, assessed and a programme to remediate their particular needs was devised. Teachers along with the SENCo developed Individual Education Plans for each child. Three IEP’s for each child were written up over the school year and evaluated.
A total of 57children were on the learning support register. Three of these children held a Statement for Special Educational Needs, one of whom left for Post-Primary in June 2012. Fourteen children held a record of concern. Three childrenwere waiting for Stage 3 assessment by the Educational psychologist, one of whom was seen during the school year. As a result of this assessment this child reachedthe criteria for referral to the Boards Outreach Support Service and is now on the waiting list. Four children were still on the waiting list for support for pupils with Emotional and Behavioural difficulties (all of these children transferred to Post-Primary in June 2012). Two children received outreach support (school based) over the school year, one of whom was offered a full-time placement at Cottown Reading Cente beginning September 2012. Two names were forwarded to the Educational Psychologist for consideration for screening regarding support for children with Specific Learning Difficulties. Both were successful and reached the criteria required. Their names have now been referred to the Support Service for pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties.
The ASCET team provided two programmes running for 4-6 weeks for Y2/Y3 classes over the school year. These programmes were designed to improve listening, attention, concentration and gross and fine motor skill.
Children were recorded on The European Framework of Reference which was set up by a member of the Inclusion and Diversity team. This is a template which record each EAL (English as an Additional Language) child’s progress as they gain confidence in developing their fluency with English and master the intricacies of the English language. It will follow each child throughout their primary school years, and will be updated regularly.
Contact was maintained throughout the year with outside agencies who offered support and advice on children with particular Special Educational Needs.
Our Learning Support Policy reflected the Code of Practice and procedures for the identification, assessment and remediation of pupils experiencing difficulties and was in line with Code of Practice recommendations. Children with learning difficulties also benefited from the support of our learning support classroom assistants.
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
Alongside structured lessons, a rich variety of musical drama performance was on tap throughout the year to satisfy all tastes. The end of year production in June was as always, a success of music and drama, with the children excelling themselves again.
During Christmas the music department was very busy with children throughout the school performing at liturgical events and making visits into the community to sing with the school choir (Bloomfield Shopping Centre). The two Year 1 classes gave a great performance at their Christmas Assembly to the children in the school, and later to their excited parents and family members, and Years 2 & 3 raised the roof with their evening show to a full house of parents.
The choir had a busy and rewarding year, which included accompanying Primary five’s performance of the Passion Play in the school at Easter; singing at the EMU carol service; singing at Bloomfield shopping centre (carol service) and performing at various other liturgical events throughout the year.
Our thanks to Ms Mullan (Music co-ordinator) and during Ms Mullan’s maternity leave, to Miss Donaghy, fortheir hard work and encouragement to all the pupils throughout the year and to Miss Devine for leading, coaching and conducting the choir on so many occasions.
Annual Culture Day
Again Culture Day was a big success at the school, enjoyed by both staff and pupils. Every child in the school was on stage at some point during the day performing in song, dance or instrument.
SPORTING AND OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
St. Malachy’s once again has continued to provide excellent sporting and competitive opportunities for all year groups. Once again an extensive after school/extended school programme ran smoothly for the year. We continued to provide a comprehensive, well organised and resourced program of events with experienced coaches.
Football
Our football team had a ‘stop-start’ season due to the INTO Industrial action. We trained on a Wednesday when possible, and had some notable successes in matches against local schools. It is hoped that for Year 2012/13 we have the opportunity once again to compete at the highest level.
Netball
As with our football team, our netball team also had a ‘stop-start’ season due to the INTO Industrial action. They still however managed to gain runners up medals in the North Down Netball Cup, well done girls!Once again we extend a huge ‘thank you’ to Mrs Hall for her time, tutelage and encouragement, and also to all our parents who supported us throughout the year.
Athletics
Our indoor athletics programme continued to be a huge success with a large number of children enjoying this club. Mrs Hall continued to run this with vigour and enthusiasm, and our thanks to her for that.
Swimming
Children from Y5 – Y7 continued weekly swimming lessons at Bangor Leisure Centre. All children completed their swimming badges with some pupils swimming the impressive distance of one mile! All children participated readily in this activity and excellent progress has been made with all children receiving an award – Well Done!
Y1 – Y4 had tutelage from a Fundamental Movement Skills coach throughout the school year.
Extra Curricular Activities: