/ Providing Inspection Services for
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
Education and Training Inspectorate
Report of a Focused Inspection
St Patrick’s Primary School
Glenariff
Inspected: June 2004
CONTENTS
Section Page
STATISTICAL INFORMATION
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK 1
3. CONCLUSION 4
BASIC INFORMATION SHEET (BIS) - PRIMARY SCHOOLS
A. i. School: St Patrick’s Primary, Glenariff iii. Date of Inspection: W/B 01.06.04
ii. School Reference Number: 303-6131 iv. Nature of Inspection: Focused
English & ICT
B.
School Year / 1999/00 / 2000/01 / 2001/02 / 2002/03 / 2003/04Year 1 Intake / 14 / 15 / 21 / 25 / 23
Enrolments
Primary / 106 / 99 / 105 / 117 / 130
Reception / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Nursery Class/Classes / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Special Unit / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
The enrolment for the current year is the figure on the day of notification of inspection.
For previous years it is the figure in the annual return to the Department of Education.
The calculations at C and D should be based on the total of the primary and reception enrolments only.
C. Average Attendance for the Previous School Year
(expressed as a percentage): 95.6%
Primary & Nursery Special Reception Unit Unit
D. i. Number of Teachers
(including the principal and part-time teachers): 5
(Full-time equivalent = 25 teaching hours)
ii. PTR (Pupil/Teacher Ratio): 26 NI PTR: 19.9
iii. Average Class Size: 19
iv. Class Size (Range): 22 to 32
v. Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours Per Week: i. Clerical support: 15
ii. Official Making A Good 15
Start Support:
iii. Making A Good Start funding 0
additional hours and other
classroom assistant support:
vi. Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs: 1
vii. Number of children who are not of statutory school age: 0
viii. Percentage of children entitled to free school meals: 12%
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 St Patrick’s Primary School, Glenariff is situated on the outskirts of the coastal village of Waterfoot. The children attending the school come from the village and the surrounding rural area. The enrolment has increased substantially over the last five years and currently stands at 130. About 12% of the children are entitled to free school meals.
1.2 The arrangements for the inspection of pastoral care and child protection included the completion of questionnaires by the parents, meetings with the Board of Governors (BoG) and a group of the children in year 6. Prior to the inspection, 73 confidential questionnaires were sent to the parents; 42% of the parents responded, with 23% of those who responded taking the opportunity to write additional comments. Nearly all of the responses from the parents were supportive or strongly supportive of the school; a small number of parents expressed concerns about the accommodation and matters relating to pastoral care. These issues are dealt with in the body of the report. The BoG expressed strong support for the work of the school. The children indicated that they feel safe and secure in the school.
1.3 The inspection focused on English, information and communication technology (ICT) and pastoral care, including child protection.
2. THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK
2.1 The children are courteous, well behaved and co-operative; they often show consideration for the feelings of others. There are good relationships between the staff and the children; their morale is high. The teachers have created a stimulating learning environment through the display of children’s work in the classrooms, corridors and the assembly hall.
2.2 The school has developed a suitable range of policies on pastoral care and child protection. The designated teachers have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities; they have attended appropriate training in child protection matters. Areas that the school needs to address include the provision of information on child protection procedures to the parents and training for the BoG on child protection matters. The school is moving towards implementation of the procedures outlined in the Department of Education Circular 1999/10, “Pastoral Care in Schools: Child Protection”.
2.3 The school has established good links with the parents and the local community, particularly through sport and the arts. The parents’ association provides strong support for the school.
2.4 The school has good written planning to guide teaching and learning. Useful schemes of work and four-weekly planners are available for all subjects. The planning for English, for example, identifies appropriately a line of progression in the children’s literacy skills. In some instances there is insufficient attention given to the intended learning outcomes of the lessons.
2.5 The teaching ranges from satisfactory to very good; in most cases it is good or better. In the best practice, the teachers use a wide range of effective approaches to promote the children’s learning; they conduct lessons at a brisk pace and their expectations of the children’s learning are realistically high. Generally, the work is well matched to the needs and abilities of the children. The vast majority of the children are interested in learning and well motivated in classes. They collaborate effectively in groups and are keen to give of their best. In a few lessons, where there is insufficient challenge in the tasks set, the children do not achieve standards commensurate with their abilities.
2.6 The school has prioritised the development of ICT across the curriculum. The co-ordinator provides excellent leadership and the teachers’ confidence and competence in using ICT is high. Carefully chosen ICT resources complement and enhance the children’s learning in all classes and in all subjects. The teachers make effective use of ICT to produce their planning documents and attractive workbooks and resources for the children.
2.7 The children’s ICT skills are outstanding. From the early years, the children, working with increasing independence use a range of software for a variety of purposes, for example, the year 3 children composed personal responses, using word-processing, to their field study on the local beach. The year 7 children used ICT to find information, to communicate with other children through E-mail and to handle and present data in a range of formats. The high standard of their work is reflected in the samples they have prepared for the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) IT Accreditation Scheme. The school is currently considering how to progressively develop the children’s skills in communication, information handling and modelling as they pass from year 1 to year 7; the inspection team endorses this decision.
2.8 The children of years 1 to 3 benefit from well-organised sessions of structured play. The teachers identify the intended learning outcomes for the children, and their individual needs and interests are used as a focus for the development and the promotion of their learning. The teachers and classroom assistants ask suitable questions which stimulate the children’s thinking and develop their ability to express their ideas and views in their own language. The children engage in a variety of purposeful activities which contribute to the development of their understanding and skills in most areas of the curriculum. The school is reviewing appropriately its policy on play to provide the children with greater opportunities to select independently their play activities and to extend the teachers’ methods of assessing the children’s learning and development; this is an appropriate area for development.
2.9 The school has identified, through the appropriate use of diagnostic tests and teacher observation, 16 children who are in need of additional support in English and mathematics. There is regular and effective liaison between the class teachers and the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO), in the compilation of relevant education plans and in the monitoring of the children’s progress. Most teachers use suitable materials, practical activities and discussion to support the children with learning difficulties. In addition, one child receives additional peripatetic support. The teacher responsible the Reading Recovery programme plans effectively for the sessions and provides an excellent level of support for the children. There is evidence that the children make suitable progress.
2.10 The literacy co-ordinator and the staff have worked collaboratively to construct a helpful English policy and scheme of work. The school places a strong emphasis on the development of the children’s oral language skills. In most classes, the children’s talking and listening skills are promoted effectively through class discussions, paired work and group work. The children in key stage (KS)1 benefit from opportunities to listen and to respond to stories; through the teachers’ skilful questioning they display an understanding of the feelings and the thoughts of many of the characters linked to the stories read during the shared reading sessions. At KS2 the children discuss many topical issues that provide opportunities to make sustained responses and to handle different opinions. In contrast, in a few of the lessons observed, the children’s opportunities to infer meaning and extend their thinking skills were restricted by structured questions that required only short factual answers.
2.11 The children are encouraged to develop their interest in, and enjoyment of, books. Reading is promoted throughout the school; the libraries contain a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books and there are relevant displays of books relating to the class topics in the classrooms. The children make good use of their libraries; they read a variety of texts for information and pleasure. They are keen to talk about their favourite authors and some of the responses, particularly from the older children, indicate an understanding of the characters and plot in the novels and a genuine enthusiasm for reading. The children in KS1 benefit from a structured approach to the teaching of reading: they learn at a suitable pace and they are introduced to a range of appropriate strategies to assist them in the recognition of unfamiliar text. The children in KS2 study a suitable range of novels that integrate with other areas of the curriculum. By year 7 most of the children read fluently with expression and understanding.
2.12 In the early years the children’s writing is based on their personal experiences and interests. Most of the children make the successful transition to independent writing in KS1. The children’s writing, particularly in the senior classes, arises from activities linked with other areas of the curriculum and their novels. There is evidence of the children writing collaboratively, in pairs and larger groups. The children write in a variety of different forms for many audiences. The quality of much of the children’s work is good. They re-draft effectively their work and have many opportunities to write independently in other areas of the curriculum. In a small number of the lessons observed, there was an over-emphasis on isolated textbook exercises and tasks which result in a narrow range of written responses. The school needs to consider ways of disseminating the good practice that exists in most classes. The majority of the children are attaining standards in writing that are commensurate with their ability.
2.13 The teachers mark the children’s written work regularly. In most, but not all, classes the teachers provide the children with useful feedback in the form of written comments, which encourage effort and make suggestions for improvement.
2.14 The Principal, who is in her third year in post, is hard-working and committed to the best interests of the children and the staff. She gives clear direction to the work of the school and builds on the strengths of the staff. Under her leadership the school has made significant progress in areas such as ICT and literacy. She has begun the process of evaluating the work of the school, for example, the teachers have recently collaborated on reviewing progression in the children’s learning. This is a useful step in embedding a culture of self-evaluation within the school. The detailed School Development Plan (SDP) needs to be prioritised and amended in the light of the inspection.
2.15 The accommodation for teaching and learning is dated and in need of modernisation. Many classrooms are too small; there are no offices for the Principal and school secretary. Storage is inadequate and there is no space for withdrawal teaching or music tuition. The standard of caretaking is high.
3. CONCLUSION
3.1 The strengths of the school include:
· the caring ethos and the pastoral care of the children;
· the friendly, well behaved and co-operative children;
· the good relationships between the teachers and the children;
· the industrious and committed teachers;
· the high quality of much of the teaching;
· the children’s ICT skills;
· the links between the school and the local community;
· the children’s interest in and enjoyment of literature.
3.2 The areas for improvement include:
· the need to foster a climate of self-evaluation where monitoring and evaluation is used to bring about further improvement in standards;
· the need to focus more clearly on intended learning outcomes in individual lessons.
3.3 The school has strengths in many aspects of its educational and pastoral provision; the areas for improvement need to be addressed if the school is to meet as fully as possible the needs of all the children.
4
ã CROWN COPYRIGHT 2004
This report may be reproduced in whole or in part, except for commercial purposes or in connection with a prospectus or advertisement, provided that the source and date thereof are stated.
Copies of this report may be obtained from the Inspection Services Branch, Department of Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, Co Down BT19 7PR. A copy is also available on the DE website: www.deni.gov.uk