Jordanstown Special School

Overview

This special inspection was conducted during industrial action, meaning most teachers did not cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the ETI states it is “unable to assure the quality of education” and could not fully evaluate outcomes, provision, or leadership. Despite these limitations, the report notes that pupils are happy, feel safe, and communicate their views with confidence.

Strengths

• Pupils “communicate their views well” and are “mature and very courteous” in their engagement.
• Parents and staff reported “good levels of satisfaction” with the school’s life and work.
• The school “monitor[s] appropriately the destinations of pupils” leaving for further education or employment.
• Leadership has developed a “strategic vision for the school that is suitably pupil-centred.”
• Pupils are “well informed about career pathways” through established links with careers services.

Areas to improve

• The school must review individual education plans to include “more specific and frequent targets, with regular monitoring and evaluation.”
• Subject teachers need to “rigorously analyse, monitor and evaluate individual pupil achievement and progress.”
• Governance requires development to “maintain a strategic overview of the progress and outcomes of all pupils” and ensure appropriate challenge to leadership.

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education” and pupils feel safe, but the ETI was “unable to evaluate fully the outworking of the arrangements” due to the industrial action.