St Genevieve's High School

Overview

This Sustaining Improvement Inspection was conducted during industrial action, meaning most teaching staff did not cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) states it is “unable to assure parents/carers... of the quality of education being provided for the pupils.” The evaluation relies solely on evidence available at the time, primarily regarding self-evaluation and historical data.

Strengths

• The proportion of pupils attaining five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C has remained “above the Northern Ireland (NI) average for similar schools” in two of the last three years.
• Attainment in GCSE English and mathematics has “improved significantly” and is “well above the NI average for similar schools.”
• A “well-conceived programme of teacher professional learning” is in place, underpinned by “robust self-evaluation.”
• Pupils report that they “feel safe and secure in school” and hold their teachers in “high esteem.”

Areas to improve

• The school recognises the need to “ensure consistency in the outcomes” at post-16 level, where attainment has fluctuated.
• The ETI was “unable to evaluate fully the outworking of the arrangements for safeguarding” due to the industrial action.

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education,” though a full evaluation was not possible due to the strike action.