Inspection Summary Report - St Conor's College

St Conor’s College

DE Ref No 323-0318

Inspection Summary Report - October 2025

The school’s vision, “Living, learning, excelling together,” is embedded clearly in the life of the school where Gospel values are modelled actively by staff and reflected in the faith and actions of pupils.
The whole staff have fostered successfully a unified and collegial school community across two school sites where pupils and staff work and learn together.
The pupils play an important role in creating a culture of inclusion; they are welcoming and friendly, show respect for the staff, the school environment and their peers. They respond sensitively and maturely to the needs of others.
The pupils’ health and well-being are central to the warm and welcoming environment on both school sites where relationships at all levels are constructive and interactions are respectful, understanding and kind.
The current school development plan (SDP), entitled ‘Every Child Known, Every Child Challenged’, is informed appropriately by wide-ranging consultation with all stakeholders: its outworkings are evident in the staff’s high expectations of the pupils and of themselves.
Most aspects of learning and teaching are effective and underpinned by sound planning, well-structured lessons and meaningful, supportive assessment.
The flexible, responsive curriculum across the key stages, including the well-structured preventative curriculum, enables all the pupils to experience success, achieve well and progress to the next stage of their education, training or employment.
A well-structured careers programme, including work-related experiences at key stage (KS) 4 and post-16, is embedded firmly across the school, supporting effectively the pupils in making informed decisions and in developing the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to explore future pathways.
The school has implemented a range of effective strategies which have improved the pupils’ attendance, notably through participation in the Education Authority’s (EA) Attendance Pilot clinics.
The robust systems in place to support the pupils, including the targeted numeracy and literacy interventions across KS 3 and the well-planned and structured mentoring programme for year 12 pupils, lead to demonstrable improvement in the pupils’ outcomes.
The pupils at KS 4 and post-16 achieve well in public examinations, and in line with or above school targets.
The pupils’ academic, creative, sporting and personal achievements are celebrated within and beyond the school, promoting high levels of motivation and a strong sense of belonging.
Staff professional learning is well planned within school and extended significantly through shared training with other schools in the Magherafelt Rural Learning Partnership (MRLP).
The strategic partnerships, including meaningful collaboration with local businesses, charities and other schools in MRLP, enhance the curriculum and enrich the pupils’ learning experiences.
At the time of the inspection, the evidence provided by the school demonstrates that the arrangements for child and adult protection align to the current statutory guidance.

Next steps

The school’s vision, ‘Living, learning, excelling together’ is integral to the school culture and lived out daily by pupils and staff. As set out in the school’s current development plan, the next step for St Conor’s College is to take forward the area for action, which is: to ensure consistently high-quality learning experiences for the pupils.

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 effective amalgamation of two discrete staff groups into one coherent community of learning with a strong sense of belonging and identity.