Fi St Colms Hs, Twinbrook
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1St Colm’s High School, Twinbrook is a co-educational non-selective post-primary school in the Twinbrook estate. More than 75% of the pupils are entitled to free school meals; the average attendance rate is 92%, which is slightly above the norm for similar schools in Northern Ireland. The school reports that 44% of the pupils require extra support in English.
1.2The focused inspection of the religious education (RE) department was carried out at the request of the Board of Governors of the school.
1.3There are three specialist teachers of RE, one of whom also teaches business studies. They are supported by three other non-specialist teachers. All of the pupils study RE and, as it is a core subject in the school, the pupils in years 11 and 12 have five periods of the subject each week. The planned observation of lessons took account of the age and ability range of the pupils in the school.
2.THE QUALITY OF THE PUPILS’ WORK
2.1Ethos
The relationships in most of the classes are very good. Generally, the teachers display a high level of commitment to the pupils and, in the best and most frequent practice observed, the teachers encourage the pupils to develop their own views within the context of the Catholic Church’s teaching. Many of the lessons are characterised by the appropriate use of good humour. The pupils work well together; most of them are willing to engage in open and group discussion, and respond in a mature manner. While there are significant strengths in individual classes, there is the need for the department to have a clear and agreed statement of the ethos that underpins its work, and the processes by which this ethos is to be promoted throughout the school.
2.2Planning
The planning for the taught programme of RE is thorough and appropriate. There is an extensive range of good quality materials to support the pupils’ learning, and individual teachers have worked assiduously to draw up helpful test and revision booklets for each unit of work. The teachers prepare well for their lessons and, in many instances, they adapt the materials appropriately to meet the pupils’ needs more effectively. The teaching methodology has been carefully considered and agreed by the department and there was evidence of this approach being implemented frequently. There is the need for a clearer focus on the intended learning outcomes for each lesson; the good teacher and pupil partnerships which exist in most of the classes could be developed further through the sharing of these intended outcomes with the pupils.
2.3Teaching
The quality of the teaching observed was always satisfactory, frequently it was good, and, in a minority of instances, it was excellent. In the best and most frequent practice, the teachers used a suitable range of approaches to meet the different needs of the pupils and to engage their interest. Some of the imaginative teaching styles gave the pupils the confidence to express and develop their own ideas, and to value the contribution of their peers in the many opportunities they had to work in pairs or in small groups. Through the use of skilful open-ended questions many of the teachers challenged the pupils’ thinking, and helped them to reach informed decisions about specific and important moral issues. On occasions, there was a need to link the learning experiences more effectively with the prior learning and understanding of the pupils. In the less successful practice, the teaching rarely extended beyond questioning which reinforced knowledge but did not extend the pupils’ understanding or relate it to their own life experiences. The use of information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance the teaching is under-developed; while there was good use of the over-head projector, video materials and, on one occasion, the appropriate use of a PowerPoint presentation to support the pupils’ learning, the integration of ICT into the teaching and learning processes is in need of further development.
2.4Learning
In a majority of the lessons observed, the pupils responded positively to the teachers and were able to articulate and refine their thinking well. The pupils were well-supported in their acquisition of knowledge, there were many opportunities for them to develop a broad range of skills associated with the subject and the majority of them developed an understanding of the basic concepts of their faith beliefs. There was variation in the quality of talking and listening; the outcomes for the pupils were most effective when the school’s agreed code of acceptable behaviour was implemented. Within this context, the pupils applied themselves well to the set tasks, there was a shared sense of success, and the pupils reflected carefully, and commented with maturity, on the concept under consideration. There is a need to create further opportunities for the pupils to transfer the good learning from talking and listening into their written responses. The standards of presentation and the quality of writing vary considerably across the department. There is evidence that the school’s literacy policy is being used effectively to support the pupils in the development of their reading and writing. The department has also had a suitable focus on developing strategies to help the pupils in key stage 4 (KS4) improve their writing; this is a timely development and should be applied across both key stages.
2.5Assessment
Homework is given and marked regularly; the teachers use the agreed marking procedures, as laid down in the school’s marking policy. There are inconsistencies in the rigour with which the marking policy is applied, and in the quality of work which is accepted. While there are examples of encouraging and supportive marking, there is insufficient emphasis on marking for improvement. As part of the strategy for improvement in examination performance at
KS4, the department is sharing the assessment processes more openly with the pupils; this development could be usefully extended across both key stages. Through end-of-unit assessments, the teachers help the pupils build up a detailed record of their progress and are beginning to involve them more in evaluating their own work. This good practice could also be adapted for use in other areas of assessment.
2.6Standards
In the past three years the results in the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) at A* - E have been more than 10% below the norm for schools of a similar type. There has been a slight increase in the number of pupils taking the examination and, in accordance with the school’s entry policy, the department will enter all its pupils for GCSE from next year. The department has worked successfully to reduce the number of pupils who do not receive a grade; it has set targets to improve the overall results, it has drawn up helpful support materials, and it has adopted agreed strategies to support the pupils in their preparation for the examination. Those KS4 pupils who are following the Christian Lifestyles programme at present, are gaining good knowledge and understanding of the Catholic Church’s teaching.
3.Management
3.1The head of department has overseen the development of planning and resources to support and improve the pupils’ learning; in this work he has been well supported by all the teachers in the department. In line with the school’s developmental work on improving results at KS4, the staff has appropriate strategies in place. The Diocesan Adviser for RE of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) has provided the RE department and the school with thorough and sound advice and support in all these areas of development.
3.2To build on the significant individual strengths that have been identified in this inspection report as features of the department, there is a need for the head of department to work in close collaboration with the staff to develop, implement and monitor a clear plan of support for the religious welfare and academic progress of the pupils. There is also a need to find a more appropriate balance between the taught programme of RE and the promotion of a broad range of practical experiences of faith development for all the pupils. The support and work of the school chaplains are integral to these developments.
4.Conclusion
The RE department has significant strengths which include: the thorough planning for the taught programme, the extensive range of good quality support materials provided for the pupils, the examples of good and, on occasions, excellent teaching which was observed in the majority of the lessons, and the frequent positive and mature responses of the pupils. The inspection has also identified important areas for improvement which include: the need for the head of department to work collaboratively with the teachers in the department to agree
and set out more clearly the ethos which underpins the work of the department, to utilise more fully the processes through which the good practice within the department can be encouraged and shared, and to draw up a development plan which addresses not only the different academic needs of the pupils but provides the pupils with a wider range of faith opportunities. These areas for improvement need to be addressed if the school is to meet, more consistently, the needs of all the pupils.
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