/ 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
Edenderry Primary School and Special Unit
Banbridge
Inspected: October 2003

CONTENTS

Section Page

STATISTICAL INFORMATION

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK 1

3. CONCLUSION 5

BASIC INFORMATION SHEET (BIS) - PRIMARY SCHOOLS

A. i. School: Edenderry Primary iii. Date of Inspection: W/B 6.10.03
Banbridge

ii. School Reference Number: 501-3019 iv. Nature of Inspection: Focused

B.

School Year / 1999/00 / 2000/01 / 2001/02 / 2002/03 / 2003/04
Year 1 Intake / 60 / 60 / 59 / 57 / 51
Enrolments
Primary / 409 / 404 / 396 / 406 / 396
Reception / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Nursery Class/Classes / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Special Unit / 31 / 31 / 34 / 32 / 32

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): 95.29%

Primary & Nursery Special Reception Unit Unit

D. i. Number of Teachers
(including the principal and part-time teachers): 17 - 3.6
(Full-time equivalent = 25 teaching hours)

ii. PTR (Pupil/Teacher Ratio): 23.29 NI PTR: 19.9

iii. Average Class Size: 28.2

iv. Class Size (Range): 24-30

v. Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours Per Week: i. Clerical support: 72

ii. Official Making A Good 30

Start Support:
iii. Making A Good Start funding 104.5

additional hours and other

classroom assistant support:

vi. Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs: 33

vii. Number of children who are not of statutory school age: 0

viii. Percentage of children entitled to free school meals: 10.7%

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Edenderry Primary School is situated close to the centre of Banbridge, CoDown. The school shares the same campus as the local nursery and grammar schools. The current enrolment is 428 pupils; the majority of the children come from the locality. Approximately 10% of the children are entitled to free school meals.

1.2 As part of the arrangements for the inspection of pastoral care, a sample of parents were invited to complete questionnaires; a few parents also requested copies of the questionnaire from the Department of Education (DE). A total of 83 completed questionnaires were returned to the DE. During the inspection, the inspectors also held a meeting with representatives of the Board of Governors (BoG) in order to hear their views about the work of the school. The vast majority of the comments from the governors and the parents were strongly supportive of the work of the school. The few concerns raised by parents have been discussed with the principal and chairperson of the BoG who have reported their commitment to addressing them. The principal and the chairperson of the BoG also completed a questionnaire relating to pastoral care and child protection matters.

1.3 The inspection team held discussions with small groups of children from year 6. The children indicated that they felt safe and secure in school and that they knew to whom to turn for advice and help.

1.4 The inspection focused on the work in mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT), and pastoral care, including the school’s arrangements for child protection.

1.5 The school has experienced significant changes in staffing in recent times. At the time of the inspection, three teachers had just completed their first month in the school, a further two were employed in a temporary capacity while two of the remaining permanent staff had just changed year group.

2. THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK

2.1 The atmosphere within the school is orderly, friendly and mutually respectful. The bright displays celebrate the children’s work and record their activities and achievements. The children are pleasant, courteous and well behaved. During the inspection, many of the children were open and keen to talk about their work; some were confident and initiated conversation readily.

2.2 The school enriches the children’s experiences through a good variety of after-school activities, day and residential visits, participation in sporting competitions, choral performance and visitors to the school. Many of the parents and children also take part in a weekly ‘Fun and Fitness’ class which helps to raise funds which are used to purchase additional resources for the Learning Support Centre (LSC).

2.3 Sound policies are in place for pastoral care and these have been shared with the parents and governors. In addition, the school has procedures in line with the guidance given in the DE Circular 1999/10 on Child Protection.

2.4 Communications between the school and home are frequent and clear. The school makes good efforts to keep the parents informed through the means of newsletters, curriculum booklets, annual reports and formal meetings which help them understand more about the school and its work, and how their children are progressing.

2.5 The ancillary staff make a valuable contribution to the running of the school; the standard of caretaking is high.

2.6 The teachers display a strong commitment to the children’s welfare and development. The teaching observed during the inspection was always satisfactory, much of it was very good, and at times, it was excellent. The wide range in children’s abilities within some classes creates additional demands on the teachers. In most classes, during the inspection, a good effort was made to provide suitable work for all of the children; however, in a few lessons the work was not sufficiently well matched to the ability levels of all of the children. The teachers, generally, share a concern to address this issue but some require further guidance and support in developing teaching strategies which would enable them to more effectively meet the needs of all the children in their classes. The existing good practice in matching work to the levels of ability of the children needs to be disseminated more widely among all the teachers.

2.7 Over the last two years, the school has focused on improving the quality of teaching and learning in mathematics. The principal reports that the development work undertaken in mathematics was ably led by the co-ordinator for mathematics; this teacher retired in June2003 and, at the time of the inspection, the principal had assumed responsibility for mathematics as an interim measure until the appointment of a suitable co-ordinator. The school has made effective use of support from the Curriculum and Advisory and Support Service (CASS) of the Southern Education and Library Board (SELB) in the ongoing review of approaches to the teaching of mathematics.

2.8 The teachers make detailed and conscientious planning for their work in mathematics. The planned programme is broad and identifies progression within number, shape and space, measurement and handling data. Additional resources acquired as part of the whole-school review of mathematics have been beneficial in extending the children’s experiences and helping their understanding, particularly of number.

2.9 During the inspection, the mathematics lessons observed were planned carefully and the response of the children was good. Most lessons were marked by effective whole-class teaching, clear explanation by the teachers, suitable support of practical materials and activities that provided opportunities for the children to use and apply their mathematical skills in varied contexts. The oral and mental mathematics sessions that started most lessons were lively and quickly involved the children in activities which they found interesting and enjoyable. The oral responses of the children were, in most instances, accurate but across the school some children were hesitant or had a limited vocabulary to explain their mathematical thinking, and some were not as sufficiently confident in talking about their mathematical learning as they might have been. Mathematical games and activities relating to real life situations were used well to engage the children in meaningful activities. Some particularly good practice in integrating mathematical learning with other areas of the curriculum was noted in structured play and in science; the children gained much from these experiences.

2.10 The children enjoy their work in mathematics and the majority show good levels of concentration and work confidently at the tasks which are set. A few children, at various stages in the school, are not as secure in some basic mathematical concepts as they need to be to enable them to move on with confidence. A system of monitoring the children’s progress in key areas of mathematics has been put in place; there is a need for the school to review the outcomes of the assessments more closely to ensure that standards are being maintained and that all children are making the progress of which they are capable. Increasingly, ICT is being used to complement work in mathematics and the teachers are gaining confidence in selecting appropriate computer programmes and technological equipment to extend or consolidate the children’s learning.

2.11 The school has appropriately identified the need to continue with the review of mathematics and to ensure that the recent changes to the programme are consolidated. The teachers have gained much from the review and they are enthusiastic about the variety of approaches which are being incorporated into their teaching. It will be important for the senior management to build on the good practice which is evident and to continue to monitor, more closely, the standards which the children are achieving.

2.12 The school has made a significant investment in special educational needs (SEN), both in terms of teaching time and resources. The school uses screening tests and the teachers’ own knowledge of the children, to identify, from an early stage, the children who require additional help with their learning. Over forty children are withdrawn from their classes for individual or small group support in literacy and/or numeracy; this support is provided by one full-time literacy teacher and two part-time mathematic teachers. In the work observed during the inspection, the support teachers used a good range of teaching approaches which stimulated and motivated the children. The support teachers also provide in-class help for these children and others who have been identified as experiencing difficulty with their work. Two other part-time teachers provide additional in-class support for children in years 2, 3 and 4; a few children also receive help from the Outreach Services of the SELB. The Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO), who is a full-time teacher in the LSC, has been allocated time each week to liaise with the SEN teachers and the class teachers. In addition, time is provided at the start of each term for the various teachers involved in the support programme to meet, to review progress and to plan their work. Given that some of the children receive additional support from more than one teacher, it is important that the monitoring of the SEN provision focuses clearly on determining the impact that these intervention strategies are having on the children’s learning and on the overall management of their mainstream classes.

2.13 Structured play is an integral part of the programme for children in the early years; the activities are based appropriately on topics which the teachers have agreed and are supported by the provision of a good range of resources which are used effectively to promote the children’s learning across the curriculum. The children enjoy the range of activities that are provided; they play co-operatively together and are keen to talk about their activities. The interventions of the adults are purposeful and help to foster the children’s learning and social skills. There is a strong link between the work in structured play and early learning in mathematics.

2.14 The development of ICT is a main priority for the school. With the installation of Classroom 2000 (C2K), the school has acquired a number of new computers which are dispersed throughout the classrooms and a computer suite for whole class use has been established. All the teachers have completed ICT training, organised under the auspices of the New Opportunities Fund (NOF). The teachers are growing in confidence and competence in the use of ICT and are familiarising themselves gradually with the new software associated with C2K to support the curriculum.

2.15 Planning for ICT consists of a comprehensive policy on the use of ICT, which includes information for parents, and guidance on the acceptable use of the Internet. A detailed action plan has also been drawn up by the school to guide future developments in ICT; this plan appropriately identifies the need for the children to have more systematic experiences in all four strands of ICT across the seven years. In addition, the school recognises, that over time, there is a need for ICT to support, more fully, teaching and learning across the curriculum. The senior management team (SMT) is committed to sharing and disseminating good practice in the use of ICT amongst the whole staff.

2.16 The children have regular opportunities to word-process their work, including composing and editing their writing on screen. The children are making preliminary use of the Internet to research information and they engage in information handling exercises using databases. The children enjoy their work on the computers and demonstrate good motivation and perseverance. A school computer club is organised at lunchtime on a weekly basis with the purpose of providing greater access to ICT for the older children. The year 7 children are participating in the Scheme of information technology (IT) Accreditation at key stage (KS) 2 organised by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA); in other classes, the school is appropriately planning to assess internally the progressive development of the children’s experiences, skills and competences in ICT.

2.17 The teachers and classroom assistants in the three classes in the LSC provide a secure and caring environment. The children are at ease with the staff and turn to them confidently to meet their diverse needs, and for reassurance and support. The teachers and classroom assistants are hard-working and their work is well organised. During the inspection, the quality of much of the teaching observed within the LSC was good and, at times, it was excellent. The children, in turn, are interested and involved and there is an orderly and constructive atmosphere in the classrooms.