Spa Primary School

Overview

This sustaining improvement inspection was conducted while staff were participating in industrial action, resulting in non-cooperation with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) was unable to fully evaluate the quality of education or assure stakeholders of its standard. The report concludes that the school is a “high priority for future inspection with no further notice.”

Strengths

• Children’s leadership skills and sense of identity are supported by meaningful roles as ‘digital leaders’ and members of School- and Eco-councils.
• The principal cooperated with the inspection team regarding her leadership and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Year 6 pupils reported that they “feel happy and safe in school” and know who to contact if concerned about their safety or well-being.
• Evidence provided indicated that safeguarding arrangements reflect “broadly the guidance from the Department of Education.”

Areas to improve

• The report states the ETI was unable to evaluate the quality of learning and teaching within classrooms due to staff non-cooperation.
• The inspection could not assess the school’s capacity to effect improvement through self-evaluation and effective school planning.
• The ETI could not fully evaluate the outworking of safeguarding arrangements owing to the industrial action.

Safeguarding

The report notes that while arrangements broadly reflect Department of Education guidance and pupils feel safe, the ETI was unable to fully evaluate the outworking of these arrangements due to the industrial action.