St Malachy's Primary School

Overview

St Malachy’s Primary School and Nursery Unit continues to demonstrate a “high level of capacity for sustained improvement” following a previous evaluation of “very good” effectiveness. The inspection confirmed that the school’s strategic leadership and comprehensive development planning effectively address the pastoral and curricular needs of the whole community.

Strengths

• The senior leadership team is described as “highly strategic, reflective” and successfully embodies the school’s vision of “Always learning. Learning all ways.”
• A review of the numeracy curriculum has established “clear progression” and a “balanced approach” to teaching measures, leading to improved outcomes and children using “appropriate mathematical language.”
• ICT is “well-embedded across all areas of the curriculum,” with children using it “confidently” to research, collaborate, and solve problems, earning the school the “Digital School of Distinction” award.
• Learning coordinators utilise “rigorous tracking and analysis” of internal assessment data and classroom observations to monitor the impact of their work on pupil outcomes.

Areas to improve

• The report identifies no significant areas for improvement.

Safeguarding

The school provided evidence that its safeguarding arrangements “reflect the guidance from the Department of Education.”