NEI Inspection report - Padmore Primary School

Overall effectiveness of the school

The overall effectiveness of the Padmore Primary school is failing

Leadership and management are failing

The School‟s Management Team does not display a clear and realistic understanding of the school‟s needs. The Principal‟s vision of holistic development is good, but does not speak sufficiently to areas of academic improvement and excellence. There is no clear agenda for academic improvement, as a result; students‟ attainment and progress in key academic areas continue to decline. The Board offers little support to management and, in a very limited and informal way, it holds the Principal and teachers accountable for performance. Nevertheless, ongoing communication between the school and the parents has fostered a satisfactory relationship.

Teaching and learning is unsatisfactory

Teachers display satisfactory knowledge of the subjects they teach but many do not know how best to teach and how students learn. Poor teaching strategies negatively impact the teaching and learning process, resulting in most students underachieving and unable to apply concepts taught to real life situations.

Attainment in English is unsatisfactory and in mathematics it is failing

The school‟s performance is consistently well below national and Region 1 averages for extra small school in the Grade Four Literacy Test, Grade Four Numeracy Test and Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT).

Progress in English and mathematics is unsatisfactory

Across most grade levels students show little progress and content coverage is low. Many students show little understanding of concepts taught and most are unable to demonstrate understanding in a practical way.

Students’ personal and social development is satisfactory

Across all grade levels, most students display satisfactory behaviour and good spiritual practices. They understand how they are able to make positive contributions to the economy.
Human and material resources are satisfactory, but use of resources is unsatisfactory
Although human and material resources are of satisfactory quality and sufficiency, teachers make very little use of them in the teaching and learning process.

Curriculum and enhancement programmes are unsatisfactory

Despite being a multi-grade school, very little modification of the curriculum is done to cater to students‟ different ability levels and varying learning styles. The integrated approach to learning at Grades 1 to 3 is not practised.

Safety security and health are unsatisfactory, but well-being is satisfactory

Whilst students‟ well-being is satisfactorily catered to, policies to ensure and maintain safety are not in place, and some health and safety regulations are not adhered to.

Inspectors identified the following key strengths in the work of the school:

• Students display a high level of courtesy to visitors, teachers and peers.
• A high level of spirituality is demonstrated at devotion and throughout the day by students.
• Students‟ personal appearance is good; they are always very clean and neatly dressed
• Student/teacher relationships in and out of classes are good.
• Punctuality: Most students and teachers are on time for school.
• Student/teacher ratio is only 12:1