Dalriada School

Overview

The inspection was significantly limited by industrial action, with teachers refusing to cooperate, meaning the ETI could not fully evaluate teaching quality or pupil outcomes. Consequently, the report states it is “unable to assure” stakeholders of the quality of education, though it notes that senior leadership and governors did cooperate.

Strengths

• Pupils are described as “articulate, mature and confident,” with “high levels of pupil participation” in sporting and cultural activities.
• Examination results at GCSE and A-level have been “consistently in line with, or above the NI average” for schools in the same free school meal band.
• The student council is “proactive,” contributing to policy development and allowing pupils to have a “say in matters affecting them.”
• Governors are “well-informed” and apply professional skills effectively, with the ETI expressing confidence in the aspects of governance evaluated.
• Pupils report “positive and mutually respectful relationships” and feel safe within the school community.

Areas to improve

• The school should address the “gender differential” in high-level GCSE outcomes, which the report identifies as an “appropriate target for improvement.”
• Action plans across the school show “variability in the quality,” with some requiring “more specific and quantifiably measureable targets.”
• An urgent health and safety matter relating to the fire alarm system is being progressed.

Safeguarding

The report states that safeguarding arrangements “reflect broadly the guidance from the Department of Education,” and while full evaluation was impossible due to industrial action, pupils report that they “feel safe in the school.”