St Colm's High School

Overview

The inspection was conducted during industrial action, meaning the ETI was “unable to assure... of the quality of education” and could not fully evaluate teaching, learning, or leadership. Despite this limitation, the report highlights strong community support, positive pupil attitudes, and good GCSE outcomes relative to the school’s demographic context.

Strengths

• Parents and staff expressed “high levels of satisfaction” with the school, praising the “care provided for the pupils” and staff professionalism.
• Pupils were described as “confident, friendly and forthright” with “positive dispositions to their learning”.
• GCSE results for five or more grades A*–C were “in line with, or above, the corresponding Northern Ireland averages”, representing a “significant achievement” given the pupils’ low entry baseline.
• The shared education programme was praised by pupils for fostering friendships and “significant attitudinal changes”.
• Leadership and governance were evaluated positively, with a “culture of care and encouragement” and “effective oversight” by governors.

Areas to improve

• Post-16 examination outcomes “require improvement”, with a notable decrease in the percentage of pupils attaining A*–C grades in A levels.
• The post-16 level 2 provision is “not meeting well enough the needs of the small group of pupils following this pathway” and needs review.
• Cross-subject thematic units at Key Stage 3 “should be developed further” to enhance thinking skills.

Safeguarding

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