Acorn Integrated Primary School

Overview

This Sustaining Improvement Inspection was conducted in June 2017, following a previous evaluation of the school as “good”. The inspection focused on the school’s capacity for improvement through self-evaluation and the quality of mathematics teaching. However, because teachers engaged in “action short of strike” and refused to cooperate with inspectors, the ETI could not fully evaluate the quality of education provided.

Strengths

• Displays and discussions with pupils indicate an “increased promotion and awareness of how mathematics is integrated into every day, real life contexts”.
• The school development plan is “compliant with the Department of Education regulations” and clearly identifies strengths and areas for improvement.
• Staff “share practice and are allocated time and training to develop their roles”.
• Children reported feeling safe and described their enjoyment of school, including involvement in a “‘buddy’ system to support the younger children”.

Areas to improve

• The report states the school should “improve the quality of learning and teaching in mathematics”.
• The school is expected to “develop the rigorous approaches to self-evaluation”.

Safeguarding

The school provided evidence that safeguarding arrangements “broadly reflect the guidance issued by the relevant Departments”, though the ETI was unable to fully evaluate their implementation due to the industrial action.