St Colman's (Bann) Primary School

Overview

This sustaining improvement inspection was conducted while most teachers were engaged in industrial action, limiting the evidence available for evaluation. The report notes that the Education and Training Inspectorate was “unable to evaluate fully the quality of learning and teaching within the classrooms” and consequently could not assure stakeholders of the overall quality of education.

Strengths

• The mathematics co-ordinator and principal maintain a “planned and sustained focus on problem solving,” with children demonstrating “flexible thinking” and confidence in explaining their strategies.
• Staff use data to identify underachievement, implementing interventions that have improved children’s skills in “talking and listening, literacy, numeracy, and self-confidence.”
• Children report “very good opportunities to develop their leadership capabilities” through roles in the School and Eco-Councils.
• Pupils enjoy after-school club activities, particularly sporting ones, and appreciate the additional reading materials in the school library.

Areas to improve

• The report does not list specific areas for improvement, as the inspection’s primary limitation was the inability to fully evaluate teaching quality due to industrial action.

Safeguarding

The school provided evidence that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education,” and children reported knowing who to talk to about safety concerns, though the inspector could not fully evaluate the outworking of these arrangements.