Ballyhenry Primary School

Overview

Ballyhenry Primary School continues to demonstrate a “high level of capacity for sustained improvement” following a previous evaluation of “very good” overall effectiveness. The inspection focused on the school’s ability to drive improvement through self-evaluation, specifically examining developments in literacy and play-based learning. The report concludes that the school remains capable of sustaining improvement in the interest of all learners.

Strengths

• Children’s standards in literacy are described as “very good,” supported by staff who “use effectively a range of data” to inform developments for individual children and year groups.
• The provision for play is of a “good quality,” featuring “sufficiently detailed schemes of work” that reflect a thematic approach.
• Staff have implemented an “effective computer based system” to record progress and observations related to each child’s development in the foundation stage.
• Appropriate priorities are clearly outlined in the school development plan and subsequent action plans for literacy.

Areas to improve

• A small number of targets within the literacy action plans require “further detail regarding the measurement and timescales for improvement.”
• The “outdoor play provision” is identified as an area for continued development by the foundation stage staff.
• The school must complete work on “secure access arrangements for the newly fitted emergency doors” and provide “updated child protection training for the chairperson of the board of governors.”

Safeguarding

The school provided evidence that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance issued by the relevant Departments,” though specific updates regarding door security and governor training are still required.