/ 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 Patrick’s Primary School
Maghera
Inspected: May 2003

BASIC INFORMATION SHEET (BIS) - PRIMARY SCHOOLS

A. i. School: St Patrick’s Primary iii. Date of Inspection: W/B19/05/03
Maghera

ii.School Reference Number: 303-6292 iv. Nature of Inspection: Focused

B.

School Year / 1998/99 / 1999/00 / 2000/01 / 2001/02 / 2002/03
Year 1 Intake / 17 / 16 / 20 / 30 / 23
Enrolments
Primary / 139 / 138 / 139 / 151 / 160
Reception / 6 / 4 / 4 / 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):96.91%

Primary &NurserySpecial Reception Unit Unit

D. i.Number of Teachers
(including the principal and part-time teachers):700
(Full-time equivalent = 25 teaching hours)

ii.PTR (Pupil/Teacher Ratio):22.8 NI PTR: 19.9

iii.Average Class Size:26.66

iv.Class Size (Range):21-31

v.Ancillary Support:
Number of Hours Per Week: i.Clerical support:18

ii. Official Making A Good0

Start Support:
iii. Making A Good Start funding40

additional hours and other

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. Percentage of children entitled to free school meals:11.25%

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1St Patrick’s Primary School, Maghera is situated at the foot of the Glenshane Pass and is one of three maintained primary schools in the local parish. The vast majority of the children are drawn from the rural townlands in the vicinity of the school. The enrolment has risen consistently over recent years to the current figure of 160. Just over 11% of the children are entitled to free school meals.

1.2As part of the inspection process, the views of the parents about the life and work of the school were sought by means of a confidential questionnaire. The inspection team also met with the parents, governors and children to hear their views at first-hand. The governors and parents who attended the meetings expressed their strong support for, and confidence in, the staff and the work of the school. The inspection confirms that their confidence in the work of the school is well placed. The only concern of the governors, which was reflected subsequently in the meeting with parents, related to aspects of the school’s accommodation. This matter is dealt with at paragraph 2.14 below and in the appendices of this report. The responses of those parents who completed the confidential questionnaire also indicated a high level of support for the school; the most common reservation, raised by a minority of the respondents, related to the size of classes. The inspection found that the size of classes in the school is not affecting adversely the quality of the children’s experiences. In discussions with members of the inspection team, the children expressed their entire satisfaction with the arrangements for their care, happiness and safety at school.

1.3The inspection focused on the work in English and information and communication technology (ICT), and pastoral care, including the arrangements for child protection.

2.THE QUALITY OF THE CHILDREN’S WORK

2.1A caring family and community ethos pervades the life and work of the school; relationships are very good at all levels. The staff are effective in promoting a climate of mutual respect and a strong work ethic. The children co-operate with, and encourage, each other readily; they are enthusiastic in their learning and their behaviour is exemplary.

2.2The teachers are conscientious and diligent in their work. They know the children well and their backgrounds; they use this knowledge effectively to enhance the children’s education. In almost all classrooms, there is a stimulating and imaginative learning environment that promotes successfully the children’s interest and enthusiasm and celebrates their work and achievements. The ancillary and support staff contribute significantly to the work of the school. The school building is cleaned and maintained to a high standard.

2.3The school enjoys the strong support of the parents and the governors. The governors are well informed of the work of the school. The parents have contributed to the school through, for example, the provision of significant ICT resources and participation in school performances. The parents are provided with regular information on the work of the school and with useful opportunities to gain insight into important aspects of their children’s learning. In addition, the school is a strong focal point for the local community; for example, evening classes are provided in the Irish language and computers, and a religious service, in which the children played a significant role, was organised in the school grounds at Easter.

2.4The children’s learning is enhanced by a notable range of creative, cultural and sporting activities; for example, the older children participate in creative writing for The Pushkin Prizes competition. In particular, excellent use is made of visitors to the school, school outings and links with other schools. The children’s work is often characterised by a keen sense of celebration of the locality and learning in meaningful and relevant contexts.

2.5The school has developed a range of comprehensive policies on pastoral care and child protection. The curricular provision for pastoral care is effective. The teachers are successful in their aim to encourage the children to express their ideas, experiences, opinions and feelings and to develop positive and supportive relationships with one another; the older children, for example, have composed interesting poetry in response to the theme of anti-bullying. The school is working effectively towards implementing in full the guidance outlined in the Department of Education’s Circular 1999/10, “Pastoral Care in Schools: Child Protection”; the management of the school is aware of the need to familiarise all parents with its anti-bullying policy.

2.6There is good quality whole-school planning in place for English and ICT. The teachers’ individual six-weekly planning is detailed and includes the anticipated learning outcomes for the children and the integration of ICT activities. The teachers prepare carefully for their lessons.

2.7The teaching is always sound, and often it is excellent. In the predominant excellent practice in the school, the teaching is often imaginative and innovative and the children respond with interest, confidence and enthusiasm to the learning experiences; they participate actively, with sustained levels of application, concentration, responsibility and independence. In a few lessons observed, the children, in one classroom, were not sufficiently challenged.

2.8Sessions of structured play are well planned and organised. The children settle quickly to, and participate with concentration in, their play. The teachers provide the children with an appropriate variety of activities, including interesting creative and ICT experiences. In addition, the children have good opportunities to discuss their work at the close of structured play sessions. The whole-school co-ordination of, and planning for, structured play is underdeveloped.

2.9Almost all of the teachers are effective in promoting the children’s listening skills and oral responses. The children develop extensive vocabularies, which they use with confidence. They have frequent opportunities to work in pairs and groups and to present orally the findings of their work to their peers. On occasions, the oral contributions of the children are outstanding, such as in the presentations of their creative and non-fictional writing in year 4. The children’s reading skills are developed systematically from year 1, and the teachers have in place a variety of strategies, including guided, silent, accelerated and group reading, to develop and encourage the children as readers. The children demonstrate keen interest in reading activities and, by year 7, they read competently and with much fluency. A sound emphasis on personal writing from year 1 enables the children to develop independence in their writing skills. The composition of poetry and the use of legends, drama and song to promote the children’s language skills and develop their creativity, empathy and personal expression are particular features of the children’s writing experiences. The research and writing skills of the older children are extended successfully through interesting project work. The children experience a varied programme of writing activities that are well integrated throughout the curriculum in almost all classes; in one classroom, there is an over-emphasis on non-challenging transcription writing in history, for example. The teachers encourage the children to write purposefully for different audiences; in a number of classes, the children value the experience of creating, with the assistance of ICT, their own stories and books for younger readers in the school. The children, by the end of both key stages, write with notable expression and flair.

2.10The quality and variety of the children’s learning experiences using ICT is an outstanding feature of the work of the school. From their early years, the children have frequent opportunities to use a variety of ICT applications and resources, across the curriculum, which are developed progressively as the children move through the school. They acquire good to excellent ICT skills. Word-processing is used appropriately to support the children’s writing, and the older children make good use of desktop publishing packages. The children use spreadsheets, databases and drawing software in imaginative and relevant contexts. The digital camera and microscope provide a valuable stimulus for the children’s learning, for example, in science. The digital video camera is used to record school trips and work, which forms an ongoing resource to extend further the benefits of these experiences; for example, the videoing of their enactment of a hiring fair by the year 7 children has consolidated effectively their empathy with this topic. The children make good use of the Internet and e-mail; the older children maintain frequent e-mail contact with children in schools in Australia, Germany, Spain, and the United States of America. They have ready and appropriate access to the computers before and after school and at break and lunch times. All classes in the school use the ICT resources purposefully. The teachers have benefited from recent in-service training (INSET) through the government’s new opportunities fund (NOF) initiative. This training, together with the enhanced facilities and resources for ICT, has been effective in providing a progressive and continuous high quality experience for the children.

2.11The school has identified 30 children as in need of additional assistance with their learning. Where appropriate, the special needs co-ordinator and the classroom teachers maintain well-focused individual education plans to address the children’s needs in English and mathematics. The plans include useful short-term targets for the children and are reviewed on a regular basis. There is evidence that the children who receive help are making progress in their learning. At the time of the inspection, a temporary part-time teacher provided useful assistance, mostly through in-class support, for those children in need.

2.12The teachers mark the children’s work sensitively and supportively, often with good guidance as to how the children can improve aspects of their writing. The parents are provided with detailed annual reports on their child’s progress and the school maintains a useful summative portfolio of achievement, containing examples of a wide range of non-academic and academic records, for each child.

2.13The Principal is in his third year in post. He provides excellent leadership for the school and combines high quality teaching with effective management. He is assisted ably by the co-ordinator for English. The Principal has been instrumental in developing detailed whole-school planning for improvement and introducing a range of useful strategies to monitor and review the quality of the children’s experiences; these strategies have effected progression and improvement in the children’s skills in ICT, in particular. Further use of such strategies is needed to address the inconsistency in the quality of teaching and learning in the school as identified in this report.

2.14The school is situated in spacious and attractive grounds and the accommodation is generally adequate to meet the needs of the children; a small number of accommodation and health and safety matters is outlined in appendices to this report.

2.15This is a school with many significant strengths including: the caring, family and community ethos; the excellent behaviour of the children; the stimulating learning environment; the support of the parents and the governors; the conscientious teachers; the planning for teaching and learning; the often excellent quality of the teaching and the learning; the good standards being attained by the children in English; the outstanding experiences of the children in ICT; and the strong, effective leadership provided by the Principal.

2.16Overall, the quality of education provided in this school is good. The needs of the children are being well met. The school is well positioned to address the small number of matters for improvement identified in the report.

APPENDIX 1

ACCOMMODATION

1.The use of the central library as a base for the teaching of Reading Recovery and for the provision of additional learning support unduly restricts the access of the children to additional literacy resources and experiences.

2.The car parking facilities for staff are inadequate.

APPENDIX 2

HEALTH AND SAFETY

1.A window is required for the doors of: the library; the staff room; and the main school office.

2.Congestion occurs in one of the main corridors in the school as a result of the position of a suite of computers.

1

 CROWN COPYRIGHT 2003

This report may be reproduced in whole or in part, except for commercial purposes or in connection with a prospectus or advertisement, provided that the source and date thereof are stated.

Copies of this report may be obtained from the Inspection Services Branch, Department of Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, Co Down BT19 7PR. A copy is also available on the DE website:

VP/WATSON/1 - 06.06.03