Loughries Integrated Primary School

Overview

The report states that the inspection was unable to fully evaluate the school’s capacity for improvement or the quality of learning and teaching due to staff participation in industrial action. Consequently, the ETI is “unable to assure parents/carers, the wider school community and stakeholders of the quality of education being provided for the children.” This limitation will be reflected in future inspection activity.

Strengths

• The chair of the board of governors reported that governors are “actively involved in, and well-informed about, all aspects of the life and work of the school.”
• Governors “exercise their challenge function in relation to the school’s development plan and children’s attainment.”
• The school provided evidence that safeguarding arrangements “reflects broadly the guidance from the Department of Education.”
• A group of year 6 children reported that they “feel safe and happy in school” and know who to contact regarding safety concerns.

Areas to improve

• The report states it is important that the employing authority, governors, and staff “plan for, and manage, issues related to the sustainability of the school provision and school budget.”
• These plans must address “the current and future needs of the children and the staff.”

Safeguarding

The report notes that while safeguarding arrangements broadly reflect Department of Education guidance and children feel safe, the ETI was “unable to evaluate fully the outworking of the arrangements for safeguarding in the school” due to the industrial action.