St Patrick's Primary School

Overview

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

Strengths

• The school demonstrated "well-embedded processes for self-evaluation" which systematically inform whole-school improvement priorities.
• Staff professional development has successfully focused on integrating strategies in ICT, writing, and mental mathematics to enhance children’s problem-solving skills.
• Year 6 pupils spoke positively about their learning, valuing the "shared education learning opportunities" and extra-curricular activities.
• Children reported that the wider range of approaches in reading and mathematics is "motivating them," particularly when facing additional challenges.

Areas to improve

• Update the Anti-bullying policy to reflect the most recent guidance.
• Ensure that risk assessments are kept under regular review.

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements "reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education" and children feel safe, but the ETI was unable to evaluate the practical outworking of these arrangements due to the industrial action.