BASIC INFORMATION SHEET (BIS) - PRIMARY SCHOOLS
A. i. School: Carr’s Glen Primary iii. Date of Inspection: W/B29/05/00
Belfast
ii.School Reference Number: 101-0282 iv. Nature of Inspection: General
B.
School Year / 1995/96 / 1996/97 / 1997/98 / 1998/99 / 1999/2000Year 1 Intake / 60 / 71 / 66 / 55 / 67
Enrolments
Primary / 494 / 499 / 494 / 487 / 482
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):93.4%
Primary &NurserySpecial Reception Unit Unit
D. i.Number of Teachers
(including the principal and part-time teachers):22--
(Full-time equivalent = 25 teaching hours)
ii.PTR (Pupil/Teacher Ratio):21.3 NI PTR: 19.9
iii.Average Class Size:28.35
iv.Class Size (Range):19-34
v.Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours Per Week: i.Clerical support:59
ii. Official Making A Good40
Start Support:
iii. Making A Good Start funding30
additional hours and other
classroom assistant support:
vi.Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs:5
vii.Number of children who are not of statutory school age:0
viii. Number of families in school:362
ix.Percentage of children entitled to free school meals:25%
1
1.Introduction
1.1Carr’s Glen Primary School is situated on the Oldpark Road in North Belfast. The children come mainly from the areas of public and private housing near to the school; a few travel from outside the area. Twenty-five per cent of the children are entitled to free school meals.
1.2The arrangements for the inspection of pastoral care included the completion of questionnaires by the parents as well as meetings with governors, parents and children; members of the inspection team met with four members of the Board of Governors and groups of children from years 4 and 6; eight parents attended the pre-arranged meeting with two members of the inspection team. The governors report that they are involved fully in the management of the school; they are very pleased with the school’s administration and achievements. The majority of parents who completed the questionnaire are satisfied with the school and feel that their children are making progress; the issues raised in the written comments and at the parents’ meeting indicated that a small minority of parents are not content with the size of many of the classes, the consequences of the honours system for years 6 and 7 and the disciplinary procedures; these areas are dealt with in the body of the report.
2.Summary of Main Findings
2.1The vast majority of the children are settled in their classes and work steadily; they conform willingly to the school rules and are courteous and welcoming to visitors. The majority of children achieve standards which are commensurate with their ability; in some aspects of English, mathematics, music and science and technology attainments are high for many of the children.
2.2The teachers are generally hard-working and diligent; in many classes the relationships with the children are good. The quality of teaching ranges from unsatisfactory, in one instance, to good; members of senior management need to monitor and evaluate more closely the quality of teaching and disseminate the examples of good teaching more consistently throughout the school.
2.3The children in years 6 and 7 who fulfil set criteria are awarded honours status in the school. The children who have received this award often gain increased confidence and self-esteem. The school needs to monitor critically, however, the nature of the current system in order to make it more accessible to all of the children; at present the arrangements serve to alienate a minority of the children who, for a variety of reasons, do not achieve this status.
2.4A small number of children find it difficult to conform to school rules and are placed on the school discipline programme, many for an extended period of time; there is a need to review the length of time many of these children remain on the sanctions programme. The school procedures need to reflect more realistically the needs, values, aspirations and strengths of all the children and place more emphasis on praise rather than censure.
2.5The school provides appropriate opportunities for the parents to meet the class teachers formally and informally throughout the school year. The parents are informed of school events and aspects of organisation through a detailed weekly newsletter; the school needs to consider the level of detail required and the accessibility of this information for parents.
2.6The school procedures for Pastoral Care and Child Protection are outlined clearly in the school policy document and reflect appropriately the contents of the Department of Education Circular 1999/10. The parents have been informed of the procedures. The staff, both teaching and ancillary, have received appropriate training and are aware of the procedures they must follow if they have a concern.
2.7The recently introduced teaching strategies to develop the children’s ability to read and write independently are having a favourable influence on the work in English. By year 7 the majority of children achieve standards commensurate with their ability; the majority read fluently and with understanding, write in a range of forms and for a variety of contexts and can explain appropriately what they are doing.
2.8There are some good examples of promoting secure understanding of concepts or of questioning which promotes well the children’s skills in mathematical reasoning. There are a number of examples of the children applying their mathematical skills and knowledge in work across the curriculum; in general, however, they have insufficient access to tasks which demonstrate the use and application of mathematics. By year 7 satisfactory standards are being reached in number by most children; there is a small minority of very able children in the school who achieve high standards. The school, however, has a significant number of children who experience difficulty in mathematics and whose progress is much slower.
2.9There is much good work in the science and technology area of study; there is a generally good balance between practical and theoretical work and there are appropriate opportunities for learning in technology and design. Most of the children have good observational skills and appropriate science vocabularies. In general, the work in science and technology adds to the children’s learning in important aspects of health education and has raised their awareness of and concern for the environment.
2.10A significant minority of children require additional support with learning. The support for the children who require support in English is well organised and thoroughly documented; the parents are informed fully of the programme.
2.11The principal has served in the area for many years; he knows the children and their families well and is considerate of their welfare; the school is administered efficiently. The Board of Governors is very supportive of the work of the school.
2.12Some aspects of staff deployment, such as the organisational arrangements for use of the leisure centre for physical education in year 7 and the grouping of the least able children from years 5, 6 and 7 for mathematics, are not working in the best interests of the children and should be reviewed. Class sizes range from 19 to 34, with six classes containing an excess of 30 children. The current provision of accommodation prevents the school from establishing more equitable and smaller classes.
2.13Teachers are conscientious in their marking of the children’s work; in the best practice observed the work was annotated with detailed, personalised and usually positive comments. The teachers put a great deal of time and effort into assessing and recording the children’s achievements in most areas of the curriculum; priority should be given to using the information gained about the children’s progress, (through assessment) to support learning and teaching and reducing the excessive amount of assessment and recording that the teachers have to do.
2.14This school has strengths which include the good behaviour of the vast majority of the children, the high standards achieved in aspects of their work in mathematics, English and science and technology, the hard-work of the principal and teachers and the examples of good practice. The inspection has identified issues such as the need to review the balance between praise and censure in the discipline procedures and the length of time some children spend in the discipline programme, the need to make the current ‘honours’ system more accessible to all children and the development of systematic and more rigorous monitoring and evaluation by members of senior management to disseminate further the examples of good practice. These issues need to be addressed if the school is to meet, more consistently, the needs of the children.
3.Ethos
3.1The vast majority of the children are settled in their classes and conform willingly to the school rules; they are courteous and welcoming to visitors. The children talk enthusiastically about their work and explain what they are doing; they try hard to please their teachers and most take a pride in producing their best work.
3.2Certificates and rewards are awarded appropriately to those children who achieve or conform in aspects of school life such as swimming, attendance and wearing school uniform. The children in years 6 and 7 who achieve certain standards set out in the school criteria become ‘Honours Pupils’ and are recognised in a major award ceremony; the receiving of this award carries with it privileges within the school. The children who have received this award often gain increased confidence and self-esteem; many of them spoke enthusiastically about their duties which they carry out diligently. The school needs to monitor critically, however, the nature of the current system in order to make it more accessible to all of the children; the present arrangements serve to alienate a minority of the children who, for a variety of reasons, do not achieve this status.
3.3A small number of the children find it difficult to conform to the school rules; these children are often placed on daily report or on the school’s programme of sanctions. Being placed on the discipline programme means that the children do not have appropriate access to educational trips or some of the events within the school; many of these children are placed on disciplinary procedures early in their school career and remain on the programme for an extended period of time. The school needs to review the length of time many of these children remain on the sanctions programme and place more emphasis on praise rather than censure.
3.4The teachers generally work well as a team, especially within year groups; many speak highly of the support they gain from colleagues. They work hard and care for the welfare and safety of the children. The children respond well to them and often turn to them for help and support. Many of the teachers give up a substantial amount of their time to provide a range of out of school activities.
3.5The parents reported that they find the weekly newsletter, issued by the school, provides useful information about school events and aspects of the organisation. Some of the information and procedures outlined in the newsletter are overly detailed. The parents are invited to school concerts which are held on several occasions each year and to the special assemblies when honours awards are presented. The principal reports that these occasions are attended well; in the discussions which the Inspectors had with parents they praised the high quality of the music and drama at the concerts. There are formal opportunities, twice each year, for parents to meet their child’s teacher and discuss progress and achievement; the parents reported that they are able to meet their child’s teacher on other occasions, should the need arise.
3.6In many of the classrooms and the corridors samples of the children’s work are used appropriately to enhance the learning environment. There is a progressive programme for re-decoration underway and some of the main corridors have been carpeted; some areas of the school, such as the assembly hall, remain in need of refurbishment.
4.Quality of Teaching and Learning
4.1The teachers work closely in year groups to develop the bi-monthly planning for each year group; this planning is conscientious, detailed and reflects appropriately the whole-school programmes. The teachers are making good progress at identifying intended learning outcomes for the planned activities. The quality of the teachers’ interpretation of the year group guidance into short term planning for individual classes is variable; this variation in planning leads, on occasions, to inconsistencies in the children’s experiences.
4.2The children have access to all the subjects within the Northern Ireland Curriculum (NIC); in some classes there is an imbalance between subjects, for example some children spend too long on some subject areas such as music at the expense of other subjects such as art and design.
4.3The school uses a range of school-produced workbooks to support the children’s work in many subject areas; a minority of teachers make effective use of these materials by adapting them to meet more adequately the needs of the children; on many occasions, however, the content of these sheets is too restricted and requires only a limited response from the children. The reading demands of some are too much for a small number of the children.
4.4The majority of teachers are hard-working and diligent; in many classes the relationships with the children are good. The quality of teaching ranges from unsatisfactory, in one instance, to good; in the main it is satisfactory; on a few occasions the lessons are of ahigh quality. In the best practice observed during the inspection, the teachers had taken account of the wide range of abilities within the classes and employed teaching strategies which motivated the children and encouraged them to do their best; there is a need for the examples of good practice to be disseminated more consistently throughout the school.
4.5The children settle quickly to their set tasks and work steadily; when given the opportunity they co-operate well in small groups and are able to talk confidently about their work and their learning; the majority take pride in presenting their work well. In some of the lessons, when the children are stimulated and encouraged to join in discussions about the tasks, they are enthusiastic and produce work which is of a high standard; on other occasions they have to listen to the teacher for too long a period or complete tasks which do not promote appropriate learning or engage them fully. The majority of children achieve standards which are commensurate with their ability; for many of the children, in some aspects of English, mathematics, music and science and technology, attainments are high.
4.6The sessions of structured play are planned appropriately using class themes and topics. A wide range of activities promote the children’s learning in areas such as mathematics and science and technology and they have opportunities to be creative using a variety of materials. The children co-operate well, share materials and make appropriate choices; the children in year 2, for example, maintain efficiently and conscientiously their own records of what they have completed. The teachers and classroom assistants are involved fully in the play to promote the children’s language and understanding.
4.7The school procedures for Pastoral Care and Child Protection are outlined clearly in the school policy document and reflect appropriately the Department of Education Circular 1999/10. The parents have been informed of the procedures. The staff, both teaching and ancillary, have received appropriate training and are aware of the procedures they must follow if they have a concern. A feature of the school is that a member of the Board of Governors, with training in this area, has been appointed as the designated governor to work with the school on any matters related to pastoral care. Class lessons on keeping safe alert the children appropriately to possible dangers and to ways in which they might ensure their personal safety.
4.8The school is making progress in planning for the integration of aspects of the educational themes into learning and teaching. Planning for health education is well advanced; there is a strong commitment to promoting a healthy lifestyle and the children are often engaged in campaigns or activities that raise awareness of health hazards and encourage healthy eating. The school policy for information and communication technology (ICT) is being reviewed and updated by a team of teachers; this policy is now in place. Although all of the teachers have been involved in relevant in-service training (INSET) this development
has yet to influence the use of ICT in teaching and learning. The stock of computers has been increased, and though there are still some difficulties regarding the compatibility of software, the school is well placed to take this work forward. Only occasional use was made of ICT by the children during the inspection, but there is evidence of usage at other times for word processing and for data handling. There is some promotion of aspects of our cultural heritage through work in various subject areas but, in general, the conjoined objectives of education for mutual understanding and cultural heritage require further development.