Portstewart Primary School

Overview

Portstewart Primary School is described as a "welcoming, inclusive and friendly school" where children thrive in a "high quality, inclusive learning environment." The report highlights that the school’s vision of "Inspiring success, while caring for all" is deeply embedded, with staff, parents, and children wholly invested in its values.

Strengths

• Children demonstrate "extremely positive dispositions to learning," describing their experience with words like "love", "enjoy", "fun" and "exciting".
• Teachers provide "thoughtful and creative lessons" that foster problem-solving and investigation of real-life issues.
• Learning support staff are identified as a "strength of the school’s provision," skilfully responding proactively to children’s needs.
• "Aspects of outdoor learning are highly effective," particularly in the nursery unit, boosting confidence and collaboration.
• The school maintains "very good communication with families" and "extremely effective links with the wider community."

Areas to improve

• The report notes that self-evaluation practices are leading to improvements in "enhanced monitoring and evaluation of the children’s learning."
• Senior leaders are developing curriculum teams to build staff capacity and confidence in "using and refining effective monitoring practices."

Safeguarding

The evidence provided demonstrates that "the arrangements for child protection align to the current statutory guidance."