Follow-up Inspection City of Armagh High School, Co Armagh

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 Follow-up Inspection

City of Armagh High School

Co Armagh

January 2015

The Education and Training Inspectorate -

Promoting Improvement

FOLLOW-UP TO THE STANDARD INSPECTION OF CITY OF ARMAGH HIGH SCHOOL,

ARMAGH, BT61 7JH (521-0121)

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) carried out an inspection

of City of Armagh High

School in October 2012, when the quality of education was evaluated as satisfactory. The report

highlighted a range of strengths in the curriculum provided at key stage (KS) 3 and KS4 in a range

of subjects including mathematics, careers education, information, advice and guidance, and with

the provision for special educational needs, including the learning support centre.

The areas for improvement included the need to address shortcomings in leadership and

management, including in school development planning, self-evaluation and governance; to

improve the quality of learning and teaching; to raise the levels of achievement at GCSE level,

particularly in English; and to review urgently the viability of the school sixth form.

ETI carried out interim follow-up visits (IFUV) in January and in October 2014, with a follow-up

inspection (FUI) in January 2015. The school’s action plan took appropriate account of the areas

for improvement and the school has received effective support from a range of external services,

including the Curriculum Advisory and Support Service of the Southern Education and Library

Board.

Since the original inspection, the context of the school has changed considerably:

• subsequent to the retirement of the principal and vice-principal, a new principal, and

vice-principal have been appointed;

• the ability of the year 8 intake attaining at the expected level at KS 2 has fallen by 10

and 20 percentage points in English and mathematics respectively;

• the proportion of pupils identified as having special educational needs has increased

from one in five to more than one in three;

• 44 pupils have statements of educational need, which is an increase from 17;

• the proportion of newcomers has increased by 50%; and

• the proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals has almost doubled to two fifths of

the enrolment.

There have been a number of important improvements since the last inspection. The

improvements are reflected in very high levels of satisfaction in the returns from pre-inspection

parent and staff questionnaires.

• Under the leadership of the new principal, who has been in post since September

2013, the senior leadership team (SLT) has been restructured and members have

been given clearly-defined roles and responsibilities.

• The special educational needs coordinator and the head of the learning support

centres have joined the SLT, and are leading teams in developing a more collegial,

collaborative approach to the planning and provision for the growing proportion of

pupils with special educational needs.

See standard inspection report at http://www.etini.gov.uk/index/inspection-reports/inspection-reports-post-

primary/inspection-reports-post-primary-2013/standard-inspection-city-of-armagh-high-school.pdf

• The SLT are working with well-organised groups of teachers to take forward effective

action planning which addresses appropriately all of the issues raised in the original

inspection report.

• The school development plan which was, at the time of the original inspection not

compliant with statutory regulations, has now been replaced and is fully compliant.

• Management information systems have been introduced to record the pupils’

assessment outcomes, and their behaviour and attendance; the data is used effectively

to inform target setting, monitoring of progress and the use of intervention strategies,

including pupil mentoring.

• The teachers, especially those who are the only teacher of their subject, are sharing

their practice for the purpose of improvement.

• Some significant curriculum developments ensure that the curriculum at KS4 now

meets more appropriately the needs, interests and abilities of pupils.

• There are significant improvements in the quality of the provision for English, including

a focus on talking, listening and extended writing across the school.

In the lessons observed, the quality of the learning and teaching ranged from satisfactory to very

good, with just over four fifths of lessons good and very good. In the more effective practice, the

pupils were motivated and engaged; there was a range of appropriate active learning strategies

used; and the pupils who required additional support with aspects of their learning were supported

well by the staff and by their peers. On a few occasions, the lessons were over-directed, lacked

pace in learning and expectations were too low.

The percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSE examinations (or equivalents) including

English and mathematics has increased from 17% at the time of the original inspection to 30%; this

a movement from significantly below, to almost in line with the standard for schools in the same

free school meals category. The standards in GCSE English language at grades A*-C have

improved from a low in 2012 of 17.5% to 51.2% in 2014, which is in line with the standard for

similar schools.

Overall, there have been a number of improvements since the time of the original inspection, and

important aspects of leadership and management which were inadequate, are now satisfactory.

The quality of care, guidance and support, which was originally satisfactory, is now good. The

provision for English remains satisfactory, with a need to continue to raise further the improving

standards.

The quality of education provided by the school remains satisfactory; the strengths outweigh sthe

areas for improvement in the provision. The FUI has identified the need:

• to continue to raise further the improving standards attained by the pupils;

• for the school to improve further the effectiveness of self-evaluation; and

• for the employing authority, governors and the staff to plan for, and manage, issues

related to the sustainability of the sixth-form provision, which remains unviable, in order

to address more effectively the current and future needs of the pupils and the staff.

The Education and Training Inspectorate will carry out a further follow-up inspection within the next

12-18 months and a report will be published.