St Benedict's College

Overview

The inspection was conducted during industrial action, meaning the ETI was “unable to assure... the quality of education” and could not fully evaluate teaching, learning, or leadership. Despite these limitations, the report notes that pupils are “articulate and confident” and that questionnaire responses from parents and staff were largely positive regarding the school’s “inclusive, welcoming and caring ethos.”

Strengths

• Pupils are “very proud of their school” and value opportunities for sporting, cultural, and shared education activities.
• GCSE attainment for pupils entitled to free school meals is “broadly in line with or above the NI average” in recent years.
• The curriculum at Key Stage 4 has been reviewed to better meet individual pupil needs, with good progress noted.
• Governors are “highly supportive” and work proactively in finance, staffing, and shared education programmes.
• Staff professional development is afforded a “high priority” and is aligning with school improvement priorities.

Areas to improve

• The school must “monitor more effectively the individual standards and progress” for pupils requiring additional learning support.
• Greater rigour is needed in applying “ineligibility criteria” for exam entries to ensure comprehensive documentation.
• Governors need to be presented with a “wider range of first-hand evidence” to promote greater accountability.

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the DE,” though the ETI was unable to fully evaluate their outworking due to the industrial action.