St Mary's Primary School

Overview

The inspection was significantly limited because teaching staff engaged in industrial action and refused to cooperate with inspectors. Consequently, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) states it is “unable to assure... of the quality of education being provided” and assigns no performance levels for learning outcomes, provision, or leadership.

Strengths

• Safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education”.
• Year 6 pupils reported they “feel safe in school” and know “who to talk to if they are concerned about their safety or well-being”.
• Children spoke positively about “caring and friendly working relationships” with one another.
• Capital works applications have been approved for a major refurbishment to improve disability access.

Areas to improve

• The school must “review and update the policy for relationships and sexual education (RSE) to reflect more fully the guidance from DE”.
• The school is designated a “high priority for future inspection with no further notice” due to the inability to evaluate educational quality.

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education”, though the ETI was “unable to evaluate fully the outworking of the arrangements” due to staff non-cooperation.