Report of a Primary Inspection - Bleary Primary School, Lurgan
DE Ref No. 501-1602
June 2026
1. Introduction
A. Background information
Bleary Primary School is a co-educational, controlled primary school situated in the village of Bleary, near Lurgan, County Armagh. The children who attend the school come from the surrounding area. The Department of Education normalised the school’s admission and enrolment number from 21 to 25, and 145 to 163 respectively, in March 2024; there are currently 172 children enrolled, and a vice‑principal post was created in September 2024. The proportion of children with free school meal entitlement is 13% (23) and the proportion of children identified as having special educational needs (SEN) is 23% (40), seven of whom have a statement of SEN. There are a small number of newcomer children in the school.
The school accommodation was designed for five classes with two resource spaces; however, since 2021, both resource spaces have been repurposed as classrooms to accommodate the seven classes. An application for Minor Capital Works is currently at the business case stage under the normalisation pilot process.
The school achieved the Eco-School Green Flag Award in May 2026 and is not currently participating in a shared education partnership.
B. Views of children, parents and staff
The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) issued online confidential questionnaires to the children in year 7, parents and staff in advance of the inspection.
The responses to the questionnaires are referenced, where relevant, within the main body of the report. A high-level summary of the questionnaire responses, including any concerns raised, was shared with the principal and two representatives of the board of governors.
C. The process of inspection
ETI worked alongside Bleary Primary School to consider how well the school:
- has identified and articulates its vision;
- prioritises actions to achieve the vision;
- overcomes the main challenges it faces;
- monitors and reviews progression to define, celebrate and embed success; and
- grows and develops an inclusive community of learning.
2. Main report
A. Setting the vision
The school’s vision, ethos and values were reviewed and updated in June 2025 and included purposeful consultation with the children, parents, staff and governors. The vision articulates an aspiration to develop the whole child in an environment that is cheerful, nurturing, inclusive, stimulating and challenging. It is underpinned by renewed school values which draw on research relating to positive learning dispositions. Through the active encouragement and support of staff, the children are supported to live out the Bleary Primary School motto, ‘Believe, Persevere, Succeed’, and to recognise and celebrate success in its many forms. All the staff who responded to our questionnaire said that they are clear about the school’s vision.
The priorities for development in the one-year transitional plan are appropriate and have been informed by a range of qualitative and quantitative information. The key priorities, which include the embedding of the new vision, values and ethos, alongside developing numeracy, outdoor play in the foundation stage and outdoor learning across the school, are guiding well the work of the school to realise its vision. The effective monitoring and evaluation of the impact of development work includes the use of first-hand evidence of learning and teaching. All the teachers engaged in well-planned peer observations in February 2026, contributing positively to collegiality, trust and a culture of honest professional reflection. This process enabled the teachers to share successful approaches to teaching measures and to explore the children’s misconceptions more fully, informing future planning. There is variation in the quality of the action plans, which would benefit from clearer, measurable targets and well-defined milestones to demonstrate impact more effectively.
The governors are committed to the school’s vision, ethos and values. They are updated regularly about the life and work of the school and are highly supportive in meeting the professional learning needs of the staff. The governors take pride in their school community and in the proactive staff who work collaboratively in the best interests of the children. They acknowledge that increased communication with co‑ordinators would further strengthen their challenge function. The 2024/25 annual report from the board of governors is still in draft form.
B. Implementing and improving to achieve the vision
Planning across the curriculum is coherent and consistent, supporting the effective sequencing of learning. It enables the children to build upon prior knowledge, and to deepen their skills and understanding as they progress through the key stages. Across the most effective practice, teachers record insightful and perceptive evaluations of the children’s learning within their planning, characterised by meaningful reflection on the children’s outcomes.
Where learning is most successful, the children build progressively on prior knowledge, demonstrate a clear understanding of the purpose of their learning through effective teacher explanation and modelling, make meaningful connections, and apply their learning in relevant, real-life contexts. There is increasing and purposeful use of creative and active learning approaches, both indoors and outdoors across the school, with multi-sensory approaches used effectively to enrich learning. Questioning is a notable feature in the most effective lessons, with carefully planned, purposeful and research-informed approaches that deepen the children’s understanding, challenge their thinking and extend their vocabulary. Where learning is less successful, the transition to independent tasks is not always well-supported.
Outdoor play-based learning is a key strength of the school’s provision, offering rich, engaging and purposeful experiences that reflect the children’s interests. The environment promotes curiosity, creativity and sustained engagement, while providing valuable opportunities for safe risk-taking, problem-solving and the development of resilience. A well-balanced approach between adult-guided and child-initiated learning supports independence and ownership, with skilled observation ensuring the provision remains responsive and of a high quality.
The children are provided with purposeful and well-integrated opportunities to write across a range of contexts, including weekly journal entries, which foster engagement, creativity and a developing enjoyment of writing. The carefully structured opportunities for independent writing, together with planned time for editing and refinement, enable the children to improve the quality of their work, take increasing ownership of their learning, and develop greater independence as writers. The accurate use of mathematical language and subject-specific vocabulary is consistently modelled by staff. Consequently, the children develop confidence in using mathematical terminology, supporting them to articulate their thinking clearly and explain their reasoning with increasing accuracy.
Digital skills are developed progressively across the school, ensuring continuity in learning. The children use digital tools purposefully to enhance cross-curricular learning, through multimedia tasks, research, coding projects and creative activities. Alongside this provision, the school makes effective use of a comprehensive online safety curriculum, which supports the children in developing the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to become safe, responsible and confident users of digital technologies.
The school demonstrates a strong commitment to supporting the children’s physical health and wellbeing through a comprehensive range of regular physical education, enrichment activities, and competitive opportunities that foster positive attitudes towards active and healthy lifestyles. The ‘Girls Active’ initiative, is empowering year 6 and 7 girls to develop their leadership skills by promoting participation in sport, increasing engagement and inclusivity.
The school demonstrates a strong and sustained commitment to emotional literacy and wellbeing, reflected in a cohesive whole-school approach to personal development and the effective implementation of the PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) programme. A well-co-ordinated programme for wider safeguarding and safety education includes regular input from external agencies, such as the Fire and Rescue Service Northern Ireland, and structured programmes, for example, in road safety, cycling proficiency, and farm safety. Age-appropriate assemblies and talks reinforce key messages about personal safety and wellbeing, helping the children develop an appropriate awareness of how to keep themselves safe. Educational visits, including residential experiences, further broaden their experiences, while developing independence, resilience, and self-confidence. The children, in discussions with inspectors, said that they feel safe, well supported, and know who to talk to if they are worried or have a problem.
C. Building equity
An inclusive ethos is embedded across the school, supported by effective pastoral practices and strong collaboration with external agencies, including RISE NI, the EA Local Impact Team and the Family Hub, which enhance the support provided to the children with SEN and their families. The school has appropriate systems in place to support early identification and intervention. Diagnostic assessment is used effectively to inform targeted support for the children, such as the small-group literacy interventions in year 3. Most (82%) of the parents who responded to our questionnaire said that the staff support their child with any difficulties that they have with their learning.
The provision for SEN is currently evolving as the school responds proactively to its changing context, in relation to staffing and accommodation. Progress has been made in aligning the SEN provision with the revised SEN legislation and frameworks. The school has started transitioning from Individual Educational Plans (IEP) to Personal Learning Plans (PLP), through strengthened involvement of the children and parents in the planning process. This has increased children’s ownership of their learning and target-setting, while further supporting collaboration between the school and home.
The school needs to develop a more systematic approach to collating, monitoring and evaluating both qualitative and quantitative data, including the progress of children against their IEP targets, in order to better measure impact, inform strategic planning and provide a clearer picture of outcomes for the children with SEN. Planning for learning requires development to ensure the provision for all children with SEN is sufficiently well matched to their individual needs in order to improve further their outcomes and levels of engagement.
D. Defining, celebrating and embedding success
The school fosters a positive ethos in which achievement is recognised and celebrated. This is reflected clearly in the children’s confidence, progress in learning, and well-developed thinking skills and personal capabilities. Evidence from the school’s internal assessment data indicates that almost all of the children attain in line with, or above, expected levels in numeracy and most attain in line with, or above, expected levels in literacy. There is clear progression in reading and writing across the school. As the children advance, they produce an increasingly wide range of written work, including narratives, recounts, reports and instructional texts. A clear sense of pride is evident in the excellent standard of handwriting and presentation of the work within the children’s books.
The World Around Us serves as a catalyst for learning across the wider curriculum, with the children benefiting from rich and meaningful connections that are consistently made in the planning. This integrated approach enhances engagement and ensures that learning is both purposeful and well contextualised. A particular strength of the provision is the school’s well-established Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics provision. From the earliest stages, children begin to develop key skills through well-planned and purposeful experiences within play‑based learning. These early foundations are carefully and deliberately built upon as children progress through the school, with opportunities to explore, investigate and problem-solve in increasingly sophisticated ways across all year groups. The children’s success in national competitions, such as ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’, further reinforce their technical knowledge and confidence.
The children effectively apply their understanding of the environment, society and the economy in meaningful, real-life contexts. Through varied experiences, they develop a clear awareness of social responsibility, sustainability and fairness, alongside growing financial awareness, and demonstrate an increasing ability to recognise the impact of their actions. Leadership opportunities, through for example, the eco‑committee, school council and digital leaders, enable the children to become active citizens while strengthening key skills such as teamwork, communication and responsibility.
A meaningful and motivating system of recognition celebrates a wide range of successes. Weekly assemblies and the annual Prize Day provide valuable opportunities to acknowledge academic, pastoral, sporting and personal successes, reinforcing the school’s values and expectations. In addition, the use of the ‘Wow Wall’ in the school foyer further enhances this culture of celebration, while the annual Christmas productions showcase the singing, dancing and dramatic skills of the children, enriching their creative experiences. The children spoke confidently to us about their achievements and took pride in being recognised for the wide range of successes celebrated across the school, reflecting the positive impact of these approaches on their self-esteem and confidence.
E. Growing a community of learning
The children are friendly and considerate within a supportive environment where the school’s core values, which include respect, responsibility, teamwork, kindness and achievement, are reflected in the interactions between the staff and children. During discussions with us, the children described their school as ‘Cheery Bleary’ capturing well its warm and welcoming ethos. Almost all (93%) the parents who responded to our questionnaire said that their child is happy at school.
The children have meaningful opportunities to express their views on aspects of school life. The school’s strong focus on mental health awareness, shaped by themes identified by the children and reflected in whole-school initiatives, has a positive impact on the ethos and culture of the school. Through the school council, the children contributed meaningfully to the development of the school’s updated positive behaviour policy; their views are reflected in the agreed class charters and golden rules. Furthermore, over recent years, the children have presented their case for outdoor school improvements to the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, resulting in funding for new sports and outdoor equipment and, most recently, plans for a trim trail. These activities promote a caring and inclusive environment where pupils feel valued, listened to and supported, fostering a strong sense of ownership and responsibility.
The children’s learning and wider experiences are enhanced through a range of competitions, charity work, school trips, local hospital and care home visits and participation in the Lurgan Show, where they have enjoyed considerable success in showcasing their poetry, art and handwriting. Most (84%) of the year 7 children who responded to our questionnaire said that their school is an important part of the local community and most (86%) of the parents who responded to our questionnaire said that the school has good links with other community organisations and clubs. Links with a local business supports fundraising in the school and collaboration with a local charity and parents has supported the development of the outdoor learning areas, including the bike shed. The children also benefit from experiences that emphasise the real-life relevance of their learning, including the school’s recent participation in a Queen’s University outreach pilot, which provided insight into careers such as student nursing and midwifery, and their engagement in Young Enterprise NI.
In the responses to our questionnaire, only one-half (50%) of parents indicated that staff ask for their views and take them into account and written comments from a significant minority of parents highlighted concerns relating to communication. Going forward, there is a need to strengthen consultation and communication processes with parents to deepen the home-school partnership in support of the children’s learning.
The school places a clear emphasis on building staff expertise and capacity through professional learning that aligns well with its identified development priorities. This includes opportunities for collaborative practice through peer observations and team teaching, which support the sharing of effective approaches and the development of professional confidence and consistency. All staff received training to support the development of the children’s speech, language and communication skills, including the use of structured questioning approaches to extend thinking and develop language. All the staff who responded to our questionnaire said that they have benefitted from recent professional learning opportunities, and all the teachers told us that their professional skills, understanding and knowledge are valued, and they have opportunities to share them with others.
F. Child protection
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.
3. Next steps
The children in Bleary Primary School are happy and supported well to believe in themselves, to persevere in their learning, and to recognise and celebrate success in its many forms, in line with the school motto ‘Believe, Persevere, Succeed’.
The next step for Bleary Primary School is to take forward the following area for action: to improve the provision for the children with SEN.
As part of ETI’s routine monitoring processes, the District Inspector will monitor the school’s progress in addressing the area for action.
4. Appendix
Appendix 1: Quantitative Terms
In this report, proportions may be described as percentages, common fractions and in more general quantitative terms. Where more general terms are used, they should be interpreted as follows:
Almost/nearly all - more than 90%
Most - 75% - 90%
A majority - 50% - 74%
A significant minority - 30% - 49%
A minority - 10% - 29%
Very few/a small number - less than 10