Education and Training Inspectorate
Report of a Focused Inspection
The Royal School
Armagh
Inspected: November 2004

CONTENTS

Section Page

1. INTRODUCTION (ETI) 1

2. THE QUALITY OF THE PUPILS’ WORK 2

3. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS 8

4. CONCLUSION (ETI) 9

5. QUALITY OF THE BOARDING PROVISION (H&SS RIU) 11

APPENDIX 1 20

APPENDIX 2 21

APPENDIX 3 23

1. INTRODUCTION

CONTEXT

1.1 The Royal School Armagh is a co-educational, voluntary grammar school situated on the outskirts of the city. Currently there are 666 pupils of whom 81 board on a full-time or weekly basis; approximately one-quarter of the boarders come from overseas. The school draws its day pupils from the city and also from a wide geographical area. Over the last three years, just under 46% of the school’s intake achieved grade A in the transfer procedure tests; around 70% of the pupils achieved grades A, B1 or B2. Almost 3% of the pupils are entitled to free school meals.

FOCUS

1.2 The inspection focused on two subjects, English and mathematics, and on the school’s provision for careers education. It also incorporated an evaluation of a number of whole-school matters, including: literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) across the curriculum, and the effectiveness of the school’s arrangements for pastoral care, including child protection. In addition, the school identified the planning and development work undertaken by heads of department as its own priority area for external evaluation.

1.3 The inspection team comprised inspectors from the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) and the Health and Social Services Registration and Inspection Unit (H&SS RIU). The joint inspection of the pastoral arrangements in the school and Boarding Department by ETI and the H&SS RIU of the Eastern Health and Social Services Board (EHSSB), acting on behalf of the four H&SS boards, is in line with Article176 of the Children Northern Ireland (NI) Order, 1995, which requires the regular inspection of schools with boarding provision in relation to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the pupils.

RESPONSES OF THE PARENTS AND GOVERNORS

1.4 Prior to the inspection, a random sample of the parents of day pupils and boarders received a confidential questionnaire seeking their views on the school. Of the 133 questionnaires issued to parents, 69 were returned and 31 of these contained additional written comments. Most of the responses in the questionnaires indicated a high level of satisfaction with the school; in particular, the parents valued the pastoral support provided by the staff, the improved self-esteem they perceived in their children and the high regard in which the school is held in the local community. A few matters of concern were identified by parents in the written responses and these were brought to the attention of the Headmaster and representatives of the Board of Governors (BoG). The parents of the boarders received a questionnaire to seek views on the Boarding Department; 25 of the questionnaires were returned, with almost all indicating a high level of satisfaction with the overall care provided for their children whilst boarding in the school.

1.5 Members of the inspection team also met with BoG and groups of pupils from several year groups. The BoG know the school well, are strongly committed to it and are very appreciative and supportive of the work of the Headmaster and the staff. They mentioned especially the strong ethos which pervades the school, and their admiration for the sensitive and caring manner by which the school dealt with recent pupil bereavements.


AFTER-SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

1.6 The school is rightly proud of the broad range of after-school activities provided for the pupils. These include a wide variety of sporting, drama, debating, cadet force, musical and other activities. Many of the pupils benefit greatly from these experiences and the uptake by them is high. Through participation in informal educational activities, the pupils gain in self-esteem and confidence. In addition, they also develop a good range of other transferable skills, including the ability to communicate effectively, to work in teams and to solve a diverse range of practical and other problems. The Royal School Armagh has gained a considerable reputation for excellence in several sports, and during the last academic year won the Schools’ Cup rugby and hockey competitions.

EXAMINATION RESULTS

1.7 Over the three years ending in June 2004, the proportion of pupils achieving grades A*-C at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level was within 5% of the average for selective schools in fourteen subjects; it was at least 5% above the average in three subjects and more than 5% below the average in three subjects.

1.8 Over the three years ending in June 2004, the proportion of pupils achieving grades A-C at General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced (A) level was within 5% of the average for selective schools in five subjects; it was at least 10% above the average in four subjects, and between 5% and 10% above the average in one subject. The proportion of pupils achieving grades A-C was more than 5% below the average for selective schools in five subjects. More details about the results for each subject, at GCSE and GCE A Level, can be found in Appendix 3.

2. THE QUALITY OF THE PUPILS’ WORK

ETHOS

2.1 The school has a well-established and distinctive ethos, which impacts positively on many aspects of its work and the experiences of the pupils. In all the lessons, relationships between the teachers and the pupils, and among the pupils themselves are very good. The pupils are attentive and co-operate well with their teachers; they are courteous to visitors and display a strong commitment to the school. Almost all of the pupils who met with members of the inspection team commented positively about their experiences as pupils in the school; they felt safe and secure and valued the breadth and quality of the after-school activities.

PASTORAL CARE AND CHILD PROTECTION

2.2 Pastoral care has a high priority in the school and the arrangements are well understood by staff and pupils. The members of the senior management team (SMT), which includes the two designated teachers, know the pupils well. Matters in relation to pastoral care and child protection are dealt with sensitively and effectively by the designated staff. The school achieves a high standard of discipline. The pupils’ behaviour is exemplary during lessons, in corridor and locker areas and in the playground.


2.3 The school maintains a range of appropriate policy documents to guide staff on issues such as anti-bullying, drugs education, pastoral care and child protection. Several of these policies are currently under review, including appropriately, the role of the class tutor. The pastoral team has embarked on a useful longitudinal study, which involves collecting and analysing the views of pupils and parents on a range of aspects of the life and work of the school. Whilst this work is ongoing, the questionnaire returns have been mostly positive and the school is responsive to any issues raised. The school’s arrangements for child protection are in line with the guidance provided in the Department of Education’s (DE) Circular 1999/10.

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL EDUCATION (PSE)

2.4 The school assists the pupils to develop personal qualities and social skills through the formal curriculum provision and an extensive informal, or after-school, curriculum. The personal and social education (PSE) programme is led by an enthusiastic and committed co-ordinator who manages effectively a core team of specialist staff. The programme is taught at key stage (KS) 3 in a weekly timetabled period and at KS4 as a modular programme. At KS3, the content of the programme is appropriate and covers a wide range of topics that are relevant to the pupil’s personal development, including relationships, drugs education and study skills. In addition, there are many opportunities for the pupils to develop and apply employability skills through a good range of decision-making, target-setting and teamwork activities. At KS4, the extent of coverage of relevant topics is constrained by the limited time available. The PSE provision for post-16 pupils is inadequate. The PSE co-ordinator makes appropriate use of external agencies to support and enhance the pupils’ learning experiences, and has begun to implement strategies to review and monitor the quality of the provision. There is a need for increased collaboration between the PSE, careers education and guidance and citizenship teams to ensure a more coherent programme is developed across the school to prepare the pupils for adult and working life.

QUALITY OF TEACHING

2.5 In the majority of lessons, the quality of teaching was good; on a few occasions it was excellent. In a minority of the lessons observed, the weaknesses in teaching outweighed the strengths. Where the teaching was good, the teachers: explained clearly at the outset the purpose of the lesson, used a variety of suitable teaching approaches, challenged the pupils appropriately through the tasks they set, used oral work well to engage the pupils’ interest and to promote their understanding, and monitored effectively the pupils while on task, challenging and supporting them as appropriate. Where the teaching was less effective, it tended to be overly-directed by the teacher, limiting the opportunities for the pupils to be engaged actively in their learning. In addition, it did not cater well for the wide range of abilities of the pupils, and there was little consolidation of learning at the conclusion of lessons.

QUALITY OF LEARNING

2.6 Almost all the pupils are highly motivated; they respond well in class and carry out the tasks they are set conscientiously and with high levels of perseverance. When they are given the opportunity, they work co-operatively in shared and group tasks and are able to report on group discussions. On occasions, when they are presented with challenging tasks such as making presentations or justifying their views to others, they do so very effectively and competently. Their interest and motivation decline when they are presented with low-level tasks such as copying notes from the board or from textbooks.


LITERACY

2.7 The school had been involved in the Northern Ireland Literacy Strategy (NILS) some years ago but it is only relatively recently that genuine development work in this area has been undertaken. The recently appointed literacy co-ordinator has led a whole-school audit of literacy provision involving helpfully the expertise of staff with ICT experience. The result has provided a comprehensive information base on literacy provision throughout the school. The plans for further development are at an early stage and involve the creation of a small group of key subject personnel to drive the initiative forward. It will be important that the group identifies, from the information already gathered, the key areas for development and the means by which they will be addressed, to ensure that the necessary improvements in teaching and learning are effected.

2.8 Current developments in literacy include the provision of subject word banks for the pupils and the promotion of aspects of literacy during weekly registration classes. Both developments have some merit in that they raise the teachers’ and the pupils’ awareness of the importance of literacy in all aspects of their work. To ensure both developments produce the improvements in teaching and learning for which they are designed, there is a need for further staff development, focused on promoting the effective processes involved in improving the pupils’ specified skills in literacy.

NUMERACY

2.9 In 2001, the school identified numeracy as a priority and entered the Northern Ireland Numeracy Strategy (NINS). The recently appointed head of mathematics, who is also the numeracy co-ordinator, has devised an appropriate three-year development plan to raise the profile of numeracy across the curriculum. With support from the Curriculum Advisory and Support Service (CASS) of the Southern Education and Library Board (SELB), he has begun to work with other departments to implement a whole-school strategy for numeracy; this work is progressing but at an early stage. The recently developed numeracy policy sets out a suitable range of procedures to ensure consistency in the promotion of numeracy throughout the school. An online numeracy audit is being conducted to establish and build on links between the subjects; the home economics department, for example, has made a useful start in identifying and agreeing areas where working with the mathematics department will be mutually beneficial for the pupils. The staff in the mathematics department are working hard to develop the pupils’ mental mathematics capabilities and they recognise the need to integrate further the use of ICT to consolidate and enhance the pupils’ numeracy skills.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

2.10 The school has identified ICT as a whole-school priority area for development. Senior management is committed to the further embedding of ICT to enrich and extend learning. The development of ICT is well managed, and underpinned by a coherent vision and associated action plans. A comprehensive, evaluative audit of most aspects of ICT development has been completed. It is appropriate that the school has identified the need for the further development of the ICT competence of staff in using ICT in the classroom. The effective use of ICT as an aid to learning varies across the subject departments; the pupils benefit from an appropriate range of ICT experiences in around one-half of them. In several departments, for example, biology, business studies, religious studies and home economics they develop and apply ICT skills to good effect in appropriate subject contexts.