Inspection Summary Report - Ballylifford Primary School

Ballylifford Primary School

DE Ref No 503-2208

Inspection Summary Report - December 2025

• The shared understanding of, and commitment to, the school’s vison of Nurturing Potential, Achieving Together creates a strong sense of loyalty and belonging to a welcoming, supportive and inclusive school community where staff, parents and governors work together to support the holistic development of the children.
• The children are welcoming, friendly and respectful to their peers, staff and visitors; they are supported in living out the school’s core values, so that they can contribute meaningfully to making their school a happy, safe place where they celebrate success for all.
• The school development plan, informed by extensive consultation and robust self‑evaluation, sets out a clear and evaluative baseline and priorities for development, which support the school in achieving its vision; appropriately, the school has identified the need to develop further the provision for play.
• The staff plan for and manage skilfully the composite classes, tailoring the learning to the needs and abilities of the children; effective questioning is used consistently across the school, giving the children time to think, develop and extend their responses and express their views.
• The children are well-motivated and happy learners who work well in pairs, help and praise one another readily, and use digital technology competently and confidently; the school’s data shows that almost all of the children achieve in line with or above their ability.
• The children who experience barriers to learning benefit from dedicated care and bespoke interventions; professional learning for all staff is impacting positively on these children’s experience of school and the progress they make.
• The children carry out a range of important and meaningful roles and responsibilities maturely, which develops their wider skills and enables them to contribute to aspects of decision making and school improvement.
• The strategic and creative approaches to learning with and from others, including through shared education and the Loughshore Learning Partnership, are impacting positively on the learning experiences and outcomes for the children, and are helping the school achieve its vison.
• The school values the support from the parents/carers and wider community; the Friends of Ballylifford have raised significant funds to enhance the children’s learning, through the provision of resources, including digital devices.
• At the time of the inspection, the evidence provided by the school demonstrates that the arrangements for child protection align to the current statutory guidance.

Next steps

The children of Ballylifford Primary School are experiencing success and achieving very well across the curriculum.  They learn and grow in a nurturing and inclusive environment, where the vision and values are lived out by all. 

As reflected in the school development plan, the next step for the school is to take forward the area for action, which is to develop further the provision for play.  The district inspector will monitor the school’s progress in addressing the area for action, as part of ETI’s normal monitoring processes.

Inspectors identified an area of highly effective practice from which others may learn, namely:

• the school’s strategic and creative collaboration with others, including within the Loughshore Learning Partnership, to support professional learning and enhance the provision.