St Olcan's Primary School

Overview

This inspection occurred during industrial action where teachers did not cooperate with the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI). Consequently, the ETI was unable to evaluate most aspects of the school’s performance, including outcomes for learners, quality of provision, and leadership. The report concludes that the inspectorate is “unable to assure parents/carers... of the quality of education being provided for the children.”

Strengths

• The school holds “Global Learning School status” and the “Rights Respecting School Level One Award.”
• There is a “longstanding shared education partnership” with a neighbouring controlled primary school.
• Children report that they “feel safe and cared for in the school.”
• Staff have taken “very good account of the children’s particular local environment” in the preventative curriculum, enabling children to explain “farm safety” and water safety confidently.

Areas to improve

• The employing authority, governors, and staff must “plan for, and manage, issues related to the sustainability of the school provision and school budget.”
• The school needs to “maintain its review schedule to ensure the policies reflect the Department of Education’s current requirements” regarding safeguarding.

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 the industrial action.