Inspection Summary Report - Sacred Heart Primary School, Dundrum

Sacred Heart Primary School, Dundrum

DE Ref No 403-6133

Inspection Summary Report – September 2025

The school’s inclusive ethos of “Striving for Greatness Together” is evident in the excellent relationships at all levels and a collective commitment to continuous improvement across the school community.
Leadership roles are being developed effectively through a restructured staff team and evolving responsibilities, ensuring the staff are well-positioned to respond to the increasing enrolment and the needs of the children.
Self-evaluation processes are progressing well, with the children’s voice and robust analysis of assessment information informing school improvement planning.
Governors are highly supportive, visible, and well-informed, taking great pride in the school’s achievements and its valued place within the community.
High-quality learning across the school is supported by clear learning intentions, effective differentiation, and active, collaborative approaches that promote the children’s independence, engagement, and deeper understanding. The staff have identified appropriately the need to review whole-school planning, including across the composite classes, to improve further progression.
The skilful staff provide strategic and discreet support to enable all children to make progress in their learning from their individual starting points.
A key strength of the curriculum is the thematic planning approach, rooted in the local context and enriched by community partnerships. This deepens the children’s understanding of their environment and heritage while promoting curiosity and exploration.
The staff prioritise the development of the children’s physical skills through a broad and engaging programme of sporting activities and outdoor learning, which supports their physical and emotional wellbeing.
Across the school, the children demonstrate consistently high expectations of themselves, evident in their pride in wearing the school uniform, their exemplary behaviour, their sustained attentiveness in lessons, and the quality of their work.
At the time of the inspection, the evidence provided by the school demonstrates that the arrangements for child protection align with the current statutory guidance.

Next steps

Sacred Heart Primary School reflects its vision of “Striving for Greatness Together” through an inclusive, collaborative culture built on strong relationships and partnerships, high expectations, and a shared drive for continuous improvement.

The children thrive in a learning environment where the staff make excellent use of the local context to promote the children’s love of learning and pride in their community.

The next steps for Sacred Heart Primary School are to take forward the area for action, which is:

to review whole-school planning for learning to improve progression, including across the composite classes, as identified through the school’s own self-evaluation processes.

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 aspect of highly effective practice from which others may learn. The aspect of practice which should be shared more widely is:

The contemporary and relevant World Around Us programme, rooted in the local context and enriched by extensive community links and partnerships.