St Mary's Primary School (Glenview)

Overview

The June 2017 Sustaining Improvement Inspection was significantly hindered because staff engaged in industrial action and refused to cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) was unable to evaluate the quality of education, learning, or teaching, nor could it assure stakeholders of the school's capacity for improvement.

Strengths

• The report notes that a previous inspection in 2011 evaluated the school’s overall effectiveness as “very good”.
• During a follow-up visit in September 2017, the school provided evidence that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance issued by the Department of Education”.
• The school demonstrated it has “the necessary plans to ensure that the required safeguarding training for governors are kept up to date as a priority”.
• Pupils reported that they “feel safe in school” and know “what to do and who to talk to if they are concerned about their safety or well-being”.

Areas to improve

• The ETI was unable to evaluate “the lines of inquiry” or “the quality of learning and teaching within the classrooms” due to non-cooperation.
• The school was initially unable to provide evidence that “satisfactory arrangements are in place for safeguarding learners”.
• The ETI could not fully evaluate “the outworking of the arrangements for safeguarding” owing to ongoing industrial action.

Safeguarding

While initial evidence was lacking, a follow-up visit confirmed that satisfactory arrangements are now in place and that children feel safe, though the full implementation of these measures could not be fully evaluated.