Ballysally Primary School

Overview

This sustaining improvement inspection was conducted while teachers were engaged in industrial action and refused to cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) was unable to fully evaluate the quality of learning and teaching or provide assurance on the overall quality of education.

Strengths

• Senior leadership is described as “very capable” and continues to inspire an “effective culture of supporting the professional development, capacity and well-being of staff.”
• Improvements have been made to the science provision, resulting in “good quality and lucid planning” and a coherent curriculum across all key stages.
• Children spoke positively about their experiences, commending the “broad variety of offer” in extra-curricular activities and opportunities to develop leadership roles.
• The school maintains “very good links with the community,” including significant contributions to local nurturing projects and well-attended careers events.

Areas to improve

• The ETI was unable to fully evaluate the quality of learning and teaching within classrooms due to staff non-cooperation.
• The inspection could not fully assess the arrangements for safeguarding owing to the industrial action.

Safeguarding

The school provided evidence that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education,” and children stated they feel safe, though the ETI was unable to fully evaluate these arrangements.