/ Providing Inspection Services for
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
Education and Training Inspectorate
Report of a Focused Inspection
St Anne’s Primary School and Nursery Unit
Belfast
Inspected: May 2004

CONTENTS

SectionPage

STATISTICAL INFORMATION

1.INTRODUCTION1

2.THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK1

3.CONCLUSION5

4.THE NURSERY UNIT6

STATISTICAL INFORMATION (NURSERY UNIT)9

APPENDIX10

BASIC INFORMATION SHEET (BIS) - PRIMARY SCHOOLS

A. i. School: St Anne’s Primary iii. Date of Inspection: W/B 24.05.04
Kingsway

ii.School Reference Number: 103-0868 iv. Nature of Inspection: FI/Mathematics/

and ICT

B.

School Year / 1999/00 / 2000/01 / 2001/02 / 2002/03 / 2003/04
Year 1 Intake / 161 / 131 / 131 / 128 / 112
Enrolments
Primary / 1176 / 1134 / 1086 / 1016 / 953
Reception / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Nursery Class/Classes / 0 / 87 / 99 / 83 / 51
Special Unit / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0

The enrolment for the current year is the figure on the day of notification of inspection.
For previous years it is the figure in the annual return to the Department of Education.

The calculations at C and D should be based on the total of the primary and reception enrolments only.

C.Average Attendance for the Previous School Year
(expressed as a percentage):96.02%

Primary &NurserySpecial Reception Unit Unit

D. i.Number of Teachers
(including the principal and part-time teachers):412-
(Full-time equivalent = 25 teaching hours)

ii.PTR (Pupil/Teacher Ratio):23.2 NI PTR: 19.9

iii.Average Class Size:26.5

iv.Class Size (Range):24 to 30

v.Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours Per Week: i.Clerical support:88

ii. Official Making A Good74

Start Support:
iii. Making A Good Start funding23.5

additional hours and other

classroom assistant support:

vi.Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs:1

vii.Number of children who are not of statutory school age: -

viii.Percentage of children entitled to free school meals: 5.9%

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1St Anne’s Primary School is a large co-educational school situated on an extensive site at Kingsway, off the Lisburn Road in south Belfast. The school shares its access road with the adjacent grammar school and as a consequence there are high traffic flows around the school at the start and at the end of the school day. The children come from the local parish of St Anne’s and from further afield. Approximately 6% of the children are in receipt of free school meals.

1.2There have been adjustments to the boundaries of the parish and a new primary school has been built in a neighbouring parish. This has resulted in a net decrease in the enrolment in the school in recent years. At the time of the last focused inspection in 1995 it was 1,199. The present figure is 953.

1.3The inspection focused on mathematics, information and communication technology (ICT), and pastoral care.

1.4The arrangements for the inspection of pastoral care included the completion of questionnaires by the parents as well as the organisation of meetings with the governors, and children. The questionnaire returns, the comments from the governors and the written comments from the parents identified many strengths of the school. These include the positive and inclusive ethos, the caring, approachable staff and the high standards of behaviour and high levels of achievement of the children. The children commented that they feel safe in the school and appreciate the efforts made by the staff to ensure their safety and well-being. The findings of the inspection support fully these views. Other matters that were raised by the parents are dealt with in the body of the report or were discussed with the governors and the Principal.

2.THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK

2.1The tone of this large school is inclusive; the children are well settled, friendly and welcoming. Relationships are good or very good; the children show respect for adults and their peers. High standards of behaviour are expected and almost invariably achieved. The children move around the school in an orderly and mature way. They are co-operative in class and participate with dignity and good humour in events such as year group assemblies and presentations. A feature of the school is the strong commitment to learning shown by the overwhelming majority of the children.

2.2The school offers, with the help of the Parents’ Association, a good range of extra-curricular musical, cultural and sporting activities. The children’s learning and social development are also enhanced through regular visits to places of educational interest. In addition, the school has developed good links with the local community, with a number of controlled schools as part of its work in Education for Mutual Understanding (EMU), and with schools in Europe. The achievements of the children are celebrated in the many interesting displays in the corridors and most classrooms. The school is clean, tidy and well kept.

2.3The school enjoys the strong support of the governors who recognise the commitment to the school shown by the Principal, the teachers and support staff, and the efforts that they make on behalf of the children. They appreciate the high degree of interest and the level of material support that is provided by the parents, for example, through the work of the Parents’ Association.

2.4In the sample of lessons seen the quality of the teaching ranged from satisfactory to excellent; typically it was good or very good. The teachers, including those employed in a temporary capacity, capitalise on the good relationships to set a purposeful and positive tone in the classroom. They know the children well and show evident concern for their welfare and progress. There is evidence that the teachers in the various year groups have worked well together in small teams to devise and implement a common format for their half-term planning. In addition, they have identified key topics in numeracy that they will work on as priorities for further development. In a small minority of lessons the teaching was less effective. In these lessons the extent and quality of the interactions between the teacher and the children were too low, or the planning for learning was insufficiently well developed and as a consequence the teaching was over-directed.

2.5The procedures for reporting on, and responding to, discipline matters are clear. The year 6 pupils who were interviewed believe that the system of ‘fair rules’ is appropriate and consistently applied. Year assemblies based on themes to promote and celebrate the children’s achievements are planned thoughtfully and help to create a strong sense of community within the school. A merit system, adapted for each class, has been developed to reward positive behaviour, and awards are presented to the children at appropriate intervals; there is a need, however, for greater consistency in the implementation of this system across both key stages.

2.6Since the re-establishment of the school’s leadership team, a major review of the pastoral dimension of the school has been undertaken with effective and enthusiastic commitment. A range of comprehensive pastoral policies has been developed to guide the work of the school. The school is working towards the implementation of the Department of Education (DE) Circular 1999/10 ‘Pastoral Care including Child Protection’. The designated teacher and teaching staff have received training; a helpful series of personal safety rules has been developed for the children and there is evidence that concerns are recorded and action is taken, when appropriate. Three matters need to be addressed in the shorter-term in order to improve the present arrangements: an appropriate line of referral needs to be communicated clearly to all staff including substitute teachers; training should be provided for ancillary staff; and summary guidance on the school’s policies for child protection and anti-bullying should be communicated clearlyto parents.

2.7The younger children benefit from well-resourced sessions of structured play during which they are well settled and work co-operatively with each other. They have many opportunities to play and to talk with their peers. Structured play sessions are based around curricular themes that promote the children’s use of language. The teachers and classroom assistants provide helpful and sensitive support for the children. It is appropriate that the school has identified the need to review the planning to ensure clear progression and challenge in the programme.

2.8The school has identified mathematics as a major area for development and has participated in the Northern Ireland Numeracy Strategy (NINS) training programme. A detailed policy has been drawn up and an updated scheme of work is in place to guide the teaching and learning across the school; there is an appropriate emphasis on the promotion of the children’s mental mathematics skills. In the best practice observed, the children demonstrated flexibility in their thinking and used a range of effective mental strategies to explain their work. It is appropriate that the teachers’ planning is being reviewed in order to take greater account of the progressive development of the children’s mental reasoning.

2.9The children’s mathematical understanding is developed systematically throughout the school. In the early years, an emphasis on practical and oral work provides valuable opportunities for the children to gain a firm understanding of number and basic number operations, simple measures and common shapes. Early recording activities include appropriate opportunities to present data pictorially. As they progress, the children’s mathematical knowledge and skills are developed further through a range of practical activities, games, written exercises and discussion sessions. By the end of key stage (KS) 2, most of the children demonstrate good mathematical competence; they understand place value, estimate, calculate and measure accurately, know the properties of a range of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D shapes, and present and interpret data in a variety of forms, occasionally through the use of ICT software. At times, the children’s learning is used effectively to support work in other areas of study. In year 7, for example, as part of a geography map-work activity, the children demonstrated a good understanding of scale and direction. The children attain good standards in their mathematics. However, too much of the work is routine for many of the children; it is sometimes over-directed by the teacher and does not address sufficiently the range of abilities within the class. The children would benefit from more opportunities to apply their learning to challenging problem-solving situations and investigations, and from teaching approaches which encourage them to think more for themselves.

2.10The provision for mathematics is co-ordinated effectively. A number of priorities has been identified, including the increased use of ICT to enhance the children’s learning in mathematics, the more effective use of test data to track individual and group progress, and the development of further strategies to monitor and evaluate the quality of the children’s mathematical experiences. These proposed developments are in line with the findings of the inspection.

2.11The school is well resourced in terms of ICT hardware; there is one dedicated ICT room and each classroom has access to modern ICT equipment. In both key stages there are opportunities for the children to access and work on the computers individually or in small groups and all children have some experiences within each of the strands of ICT. In the best practice this work is matched to the children’s ability, is related to the ongoing class work and has sufficient supervision to provide helpful support for the children when required.

2.12In KS1, commercial programs are utilised to reinforce skills in English, mathematics and structured play. From the early years, the children word-process and print some of their work for displays. Computers are supplemented by schools’ educational broadcasts and other audio-visual aids which support learning and teaching across the curriculum. By the end of KS2 the majority of the children can compose, save, edit, redraft and print text; they are confident in incorporating clip-art features, and enhancing their presentation in other ways.

2.13Teachers are beginning to investigate suitable ways of assessing and recording the children’s progress. However, the teachers’ planning does not yet facilitate the progressive development of ICT across the whole school, resulting in considerable variation across year groups and key stages in the extent to which ICT is used to support learning. The inspection endorses the school’s decision to focus on drawing up a programme to provide a coherent and progressive framework for the development of individual children’s ICT skills.

2.14The school has identified just under 11% of the children as requiring additional help, mainly in literacy; no specific additional help is offered in numeracy. Two teachers who work with the special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) provide the special educational needs (SEN) programme but responding to the needs of the children who require additional help is considered to be largely the responsibility of the mainstream teachers. Most of the additional support provided is through withdrawal sessions from class, and, for a few year 2 children, through a programme of Reading Recovery. In addition, the school has good links with several external support agencies.

2.15The school’s planning for SEN highlights appropriately the importance of early identification of those children requiring support, and parental involvement. A strong and appropriate emphasis is given to the use of standardised screening tests to determine, record and monitor the children’s progress.

2.16The work of the teachers responsible for the withdrawal groups and the Reading Recovery programme is highly effective. They bring much commitment and expertise to their work, and the children are benefiting considerably; almost all are making steady or better progress. Greater opportunity should be taken in the group sessions to develop the children’s competence in writing through the use of curriculum material reflecting the work undertaken in the mainstream classes.

2.17The mainstream teachers are conscious of the needs of the children who require additional help and provide general support in class. However, the needs of these children should be highlighted more explicitly in year group and in individual planning, and should be met more directly in mainstream classroom practice. In addition to those children who need additional assistance with their learning, there is also a significant number of very able children who would benefit from more challenging teaching and learning opportunities. The school has not yet identified clearly the particular requirements of these children and should develop a policy and programme to meet their needs.

2.18The school uses standardised tests in mathematics and English to help assess the attainment of the children. Profiles on all the children are being developed which allow the teachers to track their attainment as they progress through the school. There is scope to make further use of the data, in particular, to assist in the evaluation of the children’s learning at class, year group, key stage and whole-school levels. The parents are provided with information on their children’s progress through annual parent-teacher meetings and a written report. The reports convey useful and pertinent information across the full curriculum and, in the best practice seen, offer guidance to the parents as to how they can support their child with particular problems they might be facing. The work of the children is marked regularly and supportive and helpful comments are often included.

2.19There have been significant changes in staffing in recent years. The Principal took up his post two years ago and the Vice-principal was appointed last year; a number of long serving teachers have retired from the school. The Principal and Vice-principal work well together; they have shown vision and energy, and a commitment to develop further the work of the school. A new leadership team is now in place and, following an audit by the teachers key areas for development have been identified and included in the school development plan (SDP). It will be important now that the areas identified for development are prioritised and that clear strategies for step-by-step implementation are developed, agreed and worked through. There is a high degree of congruence between these areas for improvement and the findings of this inspection.

2.20The teachers have a good record of attendance at in-service training (INSET) courses in recent years with most of these being provided on site. The programme of INSET has had a positive impact on several areas of the curriculum, for example, mathematics, ICT, SEN and the work in pastoral care. It will be important that the future programme of INSET is targeted directly to meet the identified needs of the school.

2.21The accommodation is generally adequate to meet the needs of the present enrolment but the Principal reports a number of deficiencies. The most significant of these, observed during the inspection, are included in an appendix to the report. The standard of caretaking is very good.