St Brigid's Primary School

Overview

The report concludes that St Brigid’s Primary School “now demonstrates the capacity to identify and bring about improvement in the interest of all the children.” Following previous inspections, the school has benefited from external support, resulting in “good” strategic leadership and consistent high attainment in literacy.

Strengths

• Strategic leadership is “good,” with a “more consistent approach to action-planning” and robust use of performance data.
• All observed lessons were “good or very good,” characterised by “excellent working relationships,” “good pace,” and “appropriate levels of challenge.”
• Children’s attainment in literacy is “consistently high,” with all pupils achieving “at or above the expected levels.”
• In numeracy, consistent planning helps teachers match tasks to individual needs, making children “increasingly confident” in using mathematical language.
• Governors play an “active and informed role” in monitoring outcomes, providing both “support and challenge.”

Areas to improve

• The school needs to “develop further the use of first-hand evidence about learning and teaching,” particularly including consultation with all stakeholders.
• Teachers must implement the “marking for improvement policy and strategies” more consistently across year groups, as current practice is “not fully in line with the school policy.”
• The quality of presentation in children’s books, including handwriting, is “too variable.”

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements “continue to reflect the guidance issued by the Department of Education” and that children “feel safe in school” and know how to raise concerns.