St James's Primary School and Nursery, Newtownabbey

Overview

This sustaining improvement inspection was significantly limited by industrial action, as teachers refused to cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) could not fully evaluate the quality of learning and teaching or assure stakeholders of the education provided.

Strengths

• Year six pupils report they “enjoy learning in school” and take pride in leadership roles such as ‘playground buddies’ and the School Council.
• Year seven children demonstrated they were “accurate in their mathematical calculations” and “confident in their knowledge and understanding” of the curriculum.
• The school has invested in “additional practical materials to support mathematical learning” and developed guidance to ensure consistency.
• School development planning is “underpinned by consultation with staff, children and parents” and uses partnerships to build staff capacity.

Areas to improve

• Teachers’ planning for “effective questioning to develop the children’s thinking skills needs to be more fully embedded” into mathematical work.
• The school must address the inability of the ETI to evaluate the quality of education due to non-cooperation, which will be reflected in future inspections.

Safeguarding

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