BASIC INFORMATION SHEET (BIS) - PRIMARY SCHOOLS

A. i. School: St Patrick’s Primary iii. Date of Inspection: W/B19/02/01
Saul

ii.School Reference Number: 403-1526 iv. Nature of Inspection: Focused

B.

School Year / 1996/97 / 1997/98 / 1998/99 / 1999/00 / 2000/01
Year 1 Intake / 12 / 16 / 29 / 20 / 15
Enrolments
Primary / 80 / 86 / 105 / 119 / 129
Reception / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Nursery Class/Classes / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
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):94%

Primary &NurserySpecial Reception Unit Unit

D. i.Number of Teachers
(including the principal and part-time teachers):7--
(Full-time equivalent = 25 teaching hours)

ii.PTR (Pupil/Teacher Ratio):18.4 NI PTR: 19.9

iii.Average Class Size:22

iv.Class Size (Range):15-25

v.Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours Per Week: i.Clerical support:8

ii. Official Making A Good10

Start Support:
iii. Making A Good Start fundingGood Start 21/2 hrs

additional hours and otherMedical 20 hrs

classroom assistant support:

vi.Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs:2

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

viii. Number of families in school:82

ix.Percentage of children entitled to free school meals:9%

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1StPatrick’s Primary School is situated outside the village of Saul, approximately four miles from Downpatrick. The school draws children from the surrounding countryside within a radius of five miles. The enrolment has increased over the last five years from 80 to the current level of 129. Approximately 9% of the children are entitled to free school meals.

1.2As part of the arrangements for the inspection of pastoral care the inspectors met separately with the Board of Governors and with a number of parents to take into account their views of the school. In addition, a majority of the parents completed and returned questionnaires which enabled them to comment on the work of the school. The comments from the governors and the vast majority of the parents were very positive and represented a strong endorsement of the work of the school. In particular, the parents felt that the teachers were hard-working and cared for the well-being of their children, the ethos of the school was good and the school was well regarded in the local community. Both the parents and the governors expressed major concerns about the limitations of the accommodation.

1.3During the inspection, the inspectors held discussions with two groups of children; the children’s responses indicated that they felt safe and enjoyed their experiences in school. The children knew to whom to turn for advice or help.

1.4The inspection focused on information and communications technology (ICT), mathematics, and the arrangements for pastoral care.

2.THE QUALITY OF THE PUPILS’ WORK

2.1The school has a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. There is a good team spirit among the staff and they are committed to the well-being of the children. The children are friendly, courteous to visitors and show respect for their teachers and for one another. Throughout the school, there is a caring ethos and relationships are good. Excellent use is made of merit schemes and other incentives to promote and encourage the children’s good behaviour and positive attitudes towards work. The children displayed exemplary standards of behaviour during the inspection.

2.2The quality of pastoral care is very good. There are policies to guide the school’s work on pastoral care, child protection, anti-bullying measures and the promotion of positive behaviour; the detail of the policies is communicated well to parents. The school’s procedures for Child Protection are in line with the guidance and requirements outlined in the Department of Education’s Circular1999/10.

2.3Good links are established with the parents and there is strong parental support. The parents meet annually with the class teachers to discuss their children’s progress; an annual report for parents is prepared at the end of the school year.

2.4The teachers have worked hard to develop their planning for mathematics and ICT and much of the their individual planning is good. The written planning would benefit from clearer statements of the specific opportunities which will be provided for mathematical investigations and for the children to use ICT.

2.5The quality of teaching and learning seen was always satisfactory; it was frequently good and was excellent in a majority of classes. The teachers work hard and have realistically high expectations. All of the teachers use a wide range of approaches which are appropriate to the task in hand, including practical activities, investigations and class discussion. The work is, in the main, matched well to the ability of the children. In a minority of the lessons seen there was an insufficient focus on the expected learning outcomes from lessons, both in the written planning and in the classroom practice.

2.6The children are attentive and settle well to their work. The attractive and colourful displays of the children’s work in the corridors and in most classrooms add a great deal to the pleasant atmosphere throughout the school. By the end of key stage2 (KS2), the large majority of children have a mature attitude to their work and make satisfactory to good progress in their learning. The use of a variety of ICT opportunities enhances the quality of the presentation of children’s work and adds interest to the classroom displays.

2.7The children’s work is marked regularly, often with supportive and helpful comments which lead towards improvement.

2.8ICT is a priority in the current school development plan and in the proposed programme of staff training. Over the past year, progress has been made in ICT, and the teachers have made a good start in developing the children’s use of ICT. An ICT policy is in place with a clear set of aims to use ICT as a means of enriching and enhancing both the teachers ICT competence and the children’s learning. A useful audit of the teachers’ ICT skills has just been completed. A line of progression for the children’s acquisition of ICT skills was identified subsequently, and the teachers have begun to monitor the development of these skills in the classrooms.

2.9ICT is used effectively to support teaching and learning in both key stages and a good range of the children’s work in ICT is displayed throughout the school. The children have many purposeful experiences in using and applying ICT in a variety of contexts, and they show confidence in handling the range of equipment and programs available to them. During the inspection, good practice was observed with the children in key stage1 using a variety of programs to enhance work in English, history and mathematics. Through their use of the Roamer in KS1 the children have suitable opportunities to test hypotheses and to experiment with distance and direction; in KS2 they control light sequences. By the end of KS2, the children have accessed the Internet and used CD-ROMs to find information, used a digital camera to enhance presentation, and created videos using a camcorder. In KS2 the children’s skills in ICT are enhanced further through the ICT club available one afternoon each week. The school is well placed to sustain and build on the existing provision and to continue the steady progress which has been made.

2.10Structured play is an important part of the curriculum for the children in years 1-3. In the lessons seen it provided a sound contribution to their personal and social development, and to their early learning in ICT and mathematics. For example, during structured play they had many opportunities to co-operate and communicate with their peers. In the best practice, skilful intervention by the teacher ensured that appropriate opportunities to develop and promote key mathematical skills through talk, and written work, were exploited well. There is a need for a better progression in the children’s structured play experiences; accordingly, the written guidance for structured play needs to be improved, in particular to provide clearer guidelines on the programme to be covered in the various classes in years 1-3.

2.11Mathematics was the major school focus for development over the past two years. The inspection confirms the positive impact of the teachers’ recent work on the quality of experiences enjoyed by the children and the standards attained. The written planning for mathematics is good and reflects a wide view of the subject that is in line with the programmes of study for the subject.

2.12The school provides and uses a wide range of mathematical resources for the children’s use including structured apparatus, measuring equipment, calculators, suitable software, work-sheets and textbooks. In the lessons seen, the teachers used a good variety of resources effectively and imaginatively to introduce new ideas, to consolidate learning and to provide progressive practical experience in number, shape and space, measures and handling data.

2.13In both key stages, the children experience a rich, thoughtfully-planned mathematics programme which includes well-designed, purposeful consolidation tasks, alongside challenging activities which add appeal and relevance to their learning. ICT, local information and the children’s experiences of everyday life are all exploited well as contexts for mathematics. The children enjoy their mathematical work, and the large majority make steady progress in their understanding and use of key ideas and skills in each of the attainment targets. Increasingly, they demonstrate the ability to think for themselves when tackling unfamiliar tasks. Throughout the school, there is an appropriately strong emphasis on mental mathematics, for example, in relation to the consolidation of basic number work. Mathematical games are used well to help the children develop confidence in simple mental calculations. A minority of the children experience difficulty with their work and make slow progress; in the lessons seen, it was often their inability to read and comprehend the written text in the commercial schemes or work-sheets that inhibited their mathematical progress. Accordingly, the school should consider how to improve these children’s literacy skills so that the standards which they achieve generally can be raised.

2.14In KS1, the large majority of the children have a secure grasp of number and the operations of addition and subtraction; structured materials are used well to assist the children’s understanding of number. The large majority of the KS1 children were articulate and confident as they discussed and speculated during open-ended and investigative work. For example, they talked knowledgeably about their ideas on measuring and estimating lengths using metric measures in a year3 class, and they completed successfully a challenging investigation on number in a year 2/3 class. In KS2, the children’s response in mathematics is characterised by enjoyment and success; the large majority became confident in explaining tasks and methods. In the lessons seen, there was evidence of the older children exploring and investigating within mathematics itself and they had many opportunities to collaborate and learn from each other, as well as from the wider exchange and comparison of ideas within whole-class activities. For example, the year7 children had time to pursue their individual trains of thought and, when appropriate, solved problems on their own as they used locally obtained holiday brochures to research and calculate the price of holidays. As a result, they gained confidence and independence in tackling unfamiliar tasks. By the end of KS2, the large majority of the children reach standards that range from satisfactory to very good in all aspects of their mathematical work.

2.15The principal has been in post for three years. She provides thoughtful, effective leadership and administers the school well. She works hard at creating and maintaining a caring ethos for all within the school. The recently appointed vice-principal supports the principal well.

2.16The school has benefited from external support in mathematics and ICT. The school is considering a closer definition of the curricular roles and responsibilities of the various staff; this is appropriate.

2.17The school has made a sound start to monitoring the children’s work. These arrangements need to be developed further in order to use the evidence gained from monitoring to inform more effectively the teaching and to improve learning.

2.18There are deficiencies in accommodation, which place significant restrictions on the teaching and administrative staff. Only one class is in a permanent classroom, another class occupies the staffroom, whilst the remainder of the classes are in mobile classrooms. In spite of these deficiencies, the ancillary staff make every effort to keep the premises tidy and well-maintained.

2.19The school has many strengths which include the caring ethos, the hard-working teachers, the commitment of the staff to improvement, the well-behaved and friendly children, the excellent teaching in the majority of the classes, the wide range of experiences in mathematics and the increasing range of experiences in ICT.

2.20The quality of education provided in this school for the areas under focus is good. The needs of the children are being well met.

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