St Colm's High School Draperstown

Overview

St Colm’s High School is described as a community-centred institution where pupils and staff uphold the vision of ‘Believe and Achieve’. The report highlights exemplary pupil behaviour, strong community links, and effective teaching, though it notes significant challenges regarding long-term staff absences and leadership vacancies that require urgent resolution.

Strengths

• Pupils display ‘exemplary’ behaviour and are ‘very welcoming, friendly and respectful’.
• Lessons are generally ‘inclusive and well structured’, with ‘good teacher explanations’ and engaging activities.
• The school benefits from ‘well-established collaborative networks’ with community organisations and businesses.
• There is a ‘strong ethos of inclusion’, with all-ability classes ensuring equality of opportunity.
• Successes are widely celebrated, including achievements in sports, faith-based activities, and the ‘highly successful musical, ‘Beauty and the Beast’’.

Areas to improve

• Resolve ‘unacceptably long-term teacher absence’ and unfilled leadership posts with the support of the employing authority.
• Develop the capacity of postholders to carry out leadership and management roles in a ‘distributed manner’.
• Implement mitigations to ensure temporary teachers provide ‘good quality lessons consistently’ so no pupil falls behind.

Safeguarding

The report states that ‘arrangements for child and adult protection align to the current statutory guidance’ and that staff have a clear understanding of these procedures.