The Royal School Dungannon

Overview

The report states that the school is "demonstrating the capacity to identify and bring about improvement." However, owing to industrial action where "almost all of the teachers" refused to co-operate, the inspectors were unable to evaluate classroom practice. Consequently, the ETI is "unable to assure parents/carers... of the quality of education being provided for the pupils."

Strengths

• The school has "acted strategically in developing leadership capacity, at all levels," including through secondments and peer-to-peer building.
• Capacity-building has supported the "pupil independent learning agenda," including a new ‘dashboard’ system to inform progress.
• A new pupil leadership team has "enhanced the pupils’ confidence and negotiation skills" through policy reviews.
• Achievement in GCSEs is "in line with the Northern Ireland average," while A-level results are "consistently above" the average.
• The "gender gap in achievement has closed" since the previous inspection.

Areas to improve

• The report states the ETI was "unable to evaluate" the impact of the improvement agenda on classroom practice due to non-co-operation.
• The school must address the lack of assurance regarding the "quality of education being provided," which will be reflected in future inspections.

Safeguarding

The school provided evidence that arrangements for safeguarding "continue to reflect the guidance issued by the relevant Departments."