Mount St Michael's Primary School

Overview

This sustaining improvement inspection was conducted during industrial action, with most teachers refusing to cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) was unable to evaluate classroom teaching or fully assess safeguarding arrangements. The report concludes that the ETI is “unable to assure parents/carers... of the quality of education being provided for the children.”

Strengths

• The school development plan has “prioritised appropriately the improvements in the standards of the mathematics provision.”
• Planning shows teachers use “a variety of differentiated learning and teaching strategies” and are “highly evaluative and reflective.”
• Internal data indicates that, by the end of key stage 2, “most of the children make progress commensurate with their ability.”
• Most able year 7 children can “articulate the strategies they use during problem-solving tasks.”

Areas to improve

• There is “variation in their use to inform the learning in future lessons” regarding reflective planning.
• The children’s use of “specific mathematical vocabulary, during their explanations, requires further development.”

Safeguarding

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