School Self Evaluation | St Enda's Primary School

Summary School Self-Evaluation Report

Introduction

Our school has its own context. St. Enda’s is a DEIS Band 1 school situated in Dublin’s south inner city. It is a co-educational, vertical primary school under the patronage of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and the trusteeship of the Order of Carmelites. There are 13 teachers and 134 pupils in the school. We have a number of programmes operating in the school including DEIS, Reading Recovery™, HSCL, SICCDA after-school programmes, parent’s courses, Fighting Words, WOW, TAP, College Awareness initiatives, and Lift-Off To Literacy™. Our attendance levels are excellent. Our pupils’ behaviour is excellent. In latter years we have placed a very high emphasis on literacy and language in our school. We believe that it is imperative that every child is a reader/writer and is able to express themselves confidently and competently. To that end, we have prioritised literacy and oral language in our school improvement plan. For more information on how we intend to improve our pupils’ learning, please see our School Improvement Plan which is available on this website.

The focus of the evaluation

We undertook a school self-evaluation of teaching and learning during the year. We evaluated Literacy and Oral Language. We chose this because we felt that our pupils could improve their learning outcomes in these areas. This report summarises the strengths that were identified and the areas that have been prioritised for improvement.

Summary of school self-evaluation findings

We collected information from pupils and teachers in preparing this report. We looked at how well our pupils were doing in standardised testing. We also examined teachers’ informal observations and evaluations.

School Strengths

Significant improvements in individual pupil achievement in literacy have been made in the last 4 years.
A school-wide increase in literacy standards is evident in standardised and other testing.
First Steps Reading and Writing are now used across the school.

Areas for Development

The number of children under the 16^th PR and in the 17^th to 50^th PR in the Micra T remains too high.
Over 50% of non EAL JI are well below their chronological age in both the Comprehension and Expressive Scales of the RDLS III.
Informal teacher observation gave rise to substantial concerns about oral language levels in all classes. Subsequently, WSE 2013 concurred with teachers’ observations and identified “a significant range of Oral Language needs” throughout the school.
Due to personnel on career break, there is no First Steps Speaking and Listening Co-Ordinator in the school making it quite difficult to use all 3 components of First Steps together.

We have decided to prioritise these areas because our long-term vision for St. Enda’s is to become a school where every child is a reader and writer and has the ability to verbally express themselves confidently and competently.

Appendix to Primary School Self-Evaluation Report:

legislative and regulatory checklist – reporting to the school community

Rules and regulations for schools are set out in a number of Education Acts, and in Circulars issued to schools from time to time by the Department of Education and Skills. The list below deals with important areas of school life and tells you what rules and regulations apply to them. You will find the Acts and Circulars mentioned on the Department’s website, www.education.ie

Which area of school life is involved, and what are the regulations?

Is the school following the regulations fully?

The school calendar and the school timetable

Circular 11/95 sets down the length of the school year – minimum of 183 days

Circular 11/95 sets down the length of the school day

4 hours 40 minutes (infants);

5 hours 40 minutes (1^st-6^th classes)

√ Yes No

Parent/ teacher meetings and staff meetings

Circular 14/04 sets out the arrangements for these meetings

√ Yes No

Implementation of agreement regarding additional time in school for teachers

Circular 0008/2011 requires teachers to do an additional 36 hours of out-of-class work each year, so as not to reduce teaching time

√ Yes No

Standardisation of school year

Circular 034/2011 gives the dates for school holidays

√ Yes No

Valid enrolment of pupils

Sections of the Education Act 1998 and the Education (Welfare) Act 2000, and the Rules for National Schools set out the conditions for pupils to be validly enrolled in a school

√ Yes No

Pupils repeating a year

The circumstances in which pupils may repeat a year are set out in Rules for National Schools, and circulars 11/01 and 32/03

√ Yes No

Development of school plan

Section 21, Education Act 1998 requires all schools to have a school plan

√ Yes No

Engagement with SSE process

Circular 39/2012 outlines the school self-evaluation process and what it requires of schools

√ Yes No

Time for literacy and numeracy – assessing and reporting literacy and numeracy achievement

Circular 56/2011 sets out initial actions required in the implementation of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy

√ Yes No

Exemption from Irish

Circular 12/96 sets out the circumstances in which children are exempt from studying Irish

√ Yes No

Implementation of child protection procedures

Circular 0065/2011 and the Child Protection Guidelines oblige schools to ensure that: liaison persons have been appointed; the procedures have been communicated to the whole school community; and the procedures are being followed

√ Yes No

Implementation of complaints procedure as appropriate

Section 28 Education Act 1998 provides for procedures to address complaints about a school.

√ Yes No

Complaints have been resolved or are being resolved

N/A

Appeals in the case of refusal to enrol students, suspension and expulsion (permanent exclusion)

Section 29 Education Act 1998 provides for appeals procedures in these cases, which are dealt with first of all by the school. Where cases are not resolved at school level, an external appeals committee hears the appeal and makes a decision.

√ Yes No

Appeals have been dealt with or are being dealt with

N/A

Appendix to Primary School Self-Evaluation Report:

Policy Checklist – reporting to the school community

Schools are required to have certain policies in place as part of their permanent school plan. It is good practice for schools to consult with the school community in forming and reviewing many of these policies. The school board of management has to approve and ratify policies, and should ensure that they are reviewed on a regular basis.

What area of school life does the policy deal with and what is the aim of the policy?

Has policy been approved by the board of management?

Enrolment policy

Section (15)(2)(d) Education Act 1998 obliges schools to have and publish an enrolment policy that respects the principles of equality and parental choice

√ Yes No

Code of behaviour

Section 23, Education (Welfare) Act 2000, and the 2008 National Educational Welfare Board Guidelines set out regulations and good practice for schools to follow in drawing up and implementing a code of behaviour

√ Yes No

Anti-bullying policy

Anti-bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-primary Schools, 2013 sets out regulations and good practice for schools to follow in drawing up and implementing an anti-bullying policy

√ Yes No

Attendance and participation strategy

Section 22 Education Welfare Act 2000 requires schools to develop a strategy to support high levels of pupil attendance and participation in school life

√ Yes No

Health and safety statement

All schools should have a health and safety statement that is regularly reviewed (see Section 20 Health and Safety Act 2005)

√ Yes No

Data protection

School procedures relating to gathering, storing and sharing data on pupils should comply with data protection legislation – Data Protection Act 1988

Data Protection (Amendment Act) 2003

□ Yes √ No

Internet acceptable use policy

Schools should have and implement a policy to instruct pupils on safe and responsible use of the internet. See www.webwise.ie for guidelines

√ Yes No

Special education needs policy

Various pieces of equality and education legislation, especially the Education for Persons with Special Education Needs Act (EPSEN) 2004, require schools to be inclusive of pupils with special educational needs and to provide for them appropriately using the resources available

√ Yes No

Relationships and sexuality education (RSE) policy

Schools are required to have an RSE policy and to implement it in line with Relationships and Sexuality Education: Policy Guidelines (1997)

□ Yes √ No

Substance use policy

The National Drugs Strategy and Department Guidelines require schools to develop and implement a policy on substance use, in partnership with parents and other agencies

√ Yes No

Child protection policy

Circular 0065/2011 sets out requirements (see above for details of policy and implementation)

√ Yes No

Parents as partners

Circular 24/91 requests schools to set up a parents’ association, and promotes partnership between home and school

√ Yes No

Deployment of special needs assistants

Circular 71/11 allows for SNAs to be deployed flexibly to respond to the needs of the school

√ Yes No

Other