'˜Model' pupil overallbut room to improve

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) concluded that the level of “achievements and standards” at the Model was ‘good.’

For example, the report states that “the school’s performance data shows that almost all of the children make progress in English and Mathematics at or above expectation.”

The inspectors also found the children to possess good levels of numeracy, literacy, talking and listening and ICT skills.

Equally, the inspectors found that “almost all of the teaching observed was good or better and the majority of lessons were very good.”

Despite these positives the inspectors deemed the school’s overall development plan to have been of ‘poor quality’ and its nursery provision in need of significant improvement.

“The leadership and management have important areas for improvement,” it says. “The current school development plan (SDP) is in its final year of the three-year cycle and is of a poor quality.”

“Although the senior management team members have begun to develop a new three-year SDP it lacks meaningful consultation with children, parents and governors to support the identification of appropriate priorities for improvement. The school’s current processes for self-evaluation and school development planning are underdeveloped,” it adds.

And in terms of the nursery unit, more work also needs to be done.

“The planning, assessment and effective implementation of the pre-school programme has significant areas for improvement in the nursery unit. The learning environment is not richly resourced and the quality of the staff’s interactions does not support effectively the children’s learning,” it says.

The inspectors also recommended a risk assessment on the fabric of the building on health and safety grounds.