Report of a Primary Inspection - Braidside Integrated Primary School

DE Ref No 306-6551

October 2025

1. Introduction

A. Background information

Braidside Integrated Primary School is a new-build co-educational integrated school in Ballymena, County Antrim, with a part-time nursery unit. The new build was completed in 2020 and includes 14 classrooms, a library, a multi-purpose hall, an enclosed teaching courtyard, shared learning spaces, and a forest area. Almost all of the children come from the surrounding area. There are currently 347 children enrolled in the school, which includes 26 in the nursery unit. Each year, almost all children from the nursery unit transfer into Year 1 of the primary school. Thirty-five per cent of the children have free school meals entitlement and almost one-quarter of the children (23%) have been identified as having special educational needs (SEN).

The staffing complement consists of the principal, the vice-principal, 14 classroom teachers, four classroom assistants, 18 learning support staff and the wider staff team.

The school provides a daily breakfast club and facilitates wraparound care in the afternoon, working with an external agency; it is a Level 3 ‘Take 5’* school. The school is developing further its forest area and is working towards the Eco Schools Green Flag*.

B. Views of pupils, parents and staff

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) issued online confidential questionnaires to the children in year 7, all 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 a representative of the board of governors.

C. The process of inspection

The ETI worked alongside Braidside Integrated 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 staffing complement consists of the principal, the vice-principal, 14 classroom teachers, four classroom assistants, 18 learning support staff and the wider staff team.

B. Implementing and improving to achieve the vision

There is variation in the planning, teaching and assessment for learning. In the more effective practice across the school, the lessons are well-paced, structured, responsive to the children’s needs, and classroom assistants are deployed appropriately to support learning. The teachers revisit learning objectives throughout the lesson, provide thinking time, and provide planned opportunities to deepen and extend understanding by connecting the learning to real-life contexts. The children are encouraged to articulate their understanding and are actively engaged, especially when if they have the opportunity to do so when working in pairs or small groups. In discussions with inspectors, the older children report that they sometimes engage in opportunities to self-assess and reflect on their work. Across the school, the children would benefit from more open-ended approaches to develop their independence and reduce reliance on teacher-led instruction and learning.

The current long-term planning is not guiding the teachers effectively enough to ensure the children’s learning experiences are consistent and support progression, particularly in the areas of Mathematics and numeracy, and play. The school has recently reviewed its teaching of Mathematics and numeracy and invested in a new commercial scheme; the staff are currently in the process of reviewing the current planning to ensure it aligns with the Northern Ireland Curriculum and meets fully the needs of the children. The planning for play has been identified appropriately as needing to be developed further, to ensure learning opportunities are progressive as the children move through key stage (KS) 1. The staff need to work together to review planning, not only in these particular areas, but across the curriculum.

The school is well-resourced and the children have regular access to indoor and outdoor areas adjacent to their classrooms as part of their learning experiences. Opportunities for learning are extended into the outdoor environment. For example, the children spoke enthusiastically about their experience of going blackberry picking while learning about the Seamus Heaney poem ‘Blackberry Picking,’ highlighting how authentic contexts can deepen engagement and lead to enriched learning.

Observations of the children and evaluations of their progress are not used consistently to inform or adapt planned learning to be responsive to or deepen the children’s understanding and raise standards. The school has recently introduced a new approach to assessment of learning through the completion of a termly monitoring proforma. The approach is focused on delivering a more systematic tracking of the children’s progress, to identify potential underachievement, and provide information for the planning of curriculum delivery and learning and teaching, to include targeted interventions. It provides the opportunity to develop a more collegial approach to monitoring and evaluation procedures.

The work with the Nerve Centre* has impacted positively on the teachers’ confidence of using ICT across the curriculum. In the more effective practice, staff use a range of digital learning devices to enhance and extend the children’s learning. Providing regular opportunities to share effective practice across the school would develop further staff confidence and support the planning for skills progression in the use of ICT. The children spoke positively about the use of iPads to explore additional facts about class topics. The KS 1 children are coding digital devices to travel a range of distances avoiding obstacles. In KS 2, the children create and design coding which is linked to their World Around Us themes; this consolidates and extends their learning, as well as developing their thinking and managing information skills. The children are all very aware of how to stay safe online and use digital tools responsibly.

There are a range of programmes in place to promote effectively the children’s physical, emotional health and well-being. In discussions, the children spoke knowledgeably about the importance of regular exercise and welcomed opportunities to learn outdoors in the forest area. From September 2025, the school is participating in the Education Authority’s programme ‘Being Well, Doing Well’*, to promote a whole school approach to well-being. The newly established well-being council spoke about their ideas to provide the school with positive and fun activities. The school promote a healthy break which supports the children’s development of healthy lifestyle habits.

C. Building equity

The school provides an inclusive environment for all of the children. In discussions, the children in year 5 and year 7 spoke positively about embracing diversity within their school community and understand the importance of integration.

The staff know the children well and those who require additional support are identified early. They have undertaken a range of relevant professional learning to enable them to better support children with SEN, for example, autism training, trauma and attachment training and dyslexia awareness online training.

The nursery staff are beginning to identify children who may require additional support with their speech, language and processing skills. They will need to plan for and implement additional strategies for the benefit of these children.

A number of the children in KS 1 are provided with additional phonics and reading support through small group literacy withdrawal sessions. The classroom assistants provide targeted support for those children who have been identified as having SEN. The children benefit well where the classroom assistants confidently and sensitively implement approaches such as movement breaks, use of sensory resources and emotional support in calm spaces to help the children refocus and continue with their learning.

The Individual Education/Personal Learning Plans reviewed had appropriate and child-centred targets informed by the views of the children and their parents; these demonstrate that the children are making progress in their learning. With further targeted staff development, the school is well positioned to establish a consistent and whole school approach which will support effectively the progression of children with SEN across all year groups.

D. Defining, celebrating and embedding success

The children across the school are confident and well-mannered to each other, staff and visitors. They spoke with pride about their school and were articulate about their achievements and how the teachers support them with their learning. They engage positively with their peers, teachers and other adults and with an attentiveness and readiness to respond to instruction. Their work is well presented, with some lovely examples of handwriting. At KS 2, the children have opportunities to write in a range of genres and engage in the drafting and redrafting process. This process requires further development to ensure it is not solely focused on spelling, punctuation and grammar, but also provides opportunities to consider how the content of the writing in that genre could be improved. Reading development is well supported across the school, with pupils engaging with a wide range of texts. The reciprocal reading approach is having a positive impact on reading progress, particularly in KS 2.

The school has appropriately identified review time, to consider how well the introduction of the new scheme is informing the planning for Mathematics and numeracy and supporting opportunities to deepen the children’s understanding, consolidate key concepts and raise standards. In the more effective practice, the children are developing appropriate competence in digital skills, including programming devices, using software to enhance the presentation of their work and using ICT to code and sequence events.

The children’s work and achievements are valued and celebrated through well‑presented classroom and corridor displays. The children respond positively to their individual class reward systems and enjoy monthly school assemblies where success in school and outside of school is celebrated and recorded in the school’s merit book. Leadership roles provided through the Eco, school and well-being councils and playground buddies are valued. The children who spoke with inspectors expressed a desire to develop and extend their leadership roles by having opportunities to collect the views of children across the school. The year 7 children spoke enthusiastically about the importance of their work in looking after the environment, including recycling, litter picking, planting apple trees and composting. In the discussions, the children reported they would welcome further extra-curricular activities such as netball and cookery. The recent formation of the school football team has been appreciated highly by the children, and the participating children voiced their sense of belonging and pride.

E. Growing a community of learning

The children in Braidside Integrated Primary School are proud to belong to an integrated school. The year 7 children articulated clearly how they value having friends of different religions and the importance of showing respect to everyone. The continued focus on developing and promoting further the integrated ethos of the school has been welcomed by the staff. Events celebrating cultural connections provide the children with opportunities to learn about the language, traditions, and music of the diverse school population which makes up Braidside Integrated Primary School. The children also have opportunities to learn Highland dancing and some Irish language and sports.

Staff professional learning is not linked to the current SDP priorities and is not referenced in the associated action plans. There is a need for strategically planned whole school professional learning, to include for example Measures, Shape and Space developing further independent learning and problem-solving approaches, and where it is identified across the school, opportunities for teachers to disseminate the effective practice. In the questionnaires, the teachers report limited opportunities for staff professional learning. A few of the staff have been proactive in seeking professional learning opportunities in their own time.

As a Sustrans Gold Award* accredited school, there are impactful opportunities for the children to engage in activities which encourage them to walk, cycle, and scoot to school to improve their health, raise their awareness of keeping safe, reduce traffic, and create a safer environment. The school has good links with local organisations such as the nearby churches and the food bank charity, the Trussell Trust*. The charity recently visited the school as part of its Harvest Festival and the children brought in food donations to support its work. This partnership helps to develop the children’s understanding of some of the challenges faced by families living with food poverty. A well-established link with a residential care home provides intergenerational learning opportunities for the children, through writing letters to the residents and the school choir performing for them.

The parents are kept informed by a communication app, social media and digital newsletters and photographs on the school website. Through events such as the ‘Colour Run’, which was suggested by the children, the Parents’ Group have been successful in raising funding for charities including the Air Ambulance Northern Ireland* and also have supported initiatives within the school such as the ‘Take 5’ well-being work.

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

Braidside Integrated Primary School provides an inclusive and welcoming learning environment for all children. The improvement work to address the identified priorities will allow the school to better achieve its vision ‘to work together to enable each child to reach their academic and personal potential within a culture of mutual respect’.

The inspection has highlighted a number of areas for action. The areas for action which will enable Braidside Integrated Primary School to achieve its vision more fully are:

to develop effective collaborative working relationships among all of the staff, supported through strategically planned professional learning opportunities and identification and sharing of good practice across the school; and
to develop the roles of the co-ordinators to ensure more strategic development planning processes underpinned by robust monitoring and evaluation approaches to raise further the standards of the children.

ETI will monitor the progress of the school in addressing the areas for action. There will be a progress inspection. Sustained external support will be provided to Braidside Integrated Primary School to help it address the areas for action in a timely way.

4. Appendices

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

Appendix 2: Notes

Page 1

‘Take 5’*

‘Take 5’ refers to an initiative to improve mental health promoting five actions for well-being (Keep Learning, Be Active, Connect, Take notice and Give).

Eco Schools Green Flag*

The Eco-Schools Green Flag is an internationally recognised award for excellence in environmental action and learning.

Page 3

Nerve Centre*

The Nerve Centre’s Creative Learning Centres (CLCs) work in partnership with the Education Authority of Northern Ireland and other bodies to deliver creative media and digital skills education for young people and teachers.

Education Authority’s Being Well Doing Well*

The programme aims to support schools (nursery, primary, post primary, special and EOTAS) to develop a whole school approach to emotional health and well-being.

Page 5

Sustrans Gold Award*

The Sustrans Gold Award is an accreditation given to schools for their long-term commitment to promoting active and sustainable travel, such as walking, cycling, and scooting to school.

Trussell Trust *

The Trussell Trust is a food bank charity that runs a network of food banks as an anti-poverty initiative, providing emergency food and support to those facing hardship.

Page 6

Air Ambulance Northern Ireland*

Air Ambulance Northern Ireland is a charity that provides a Helicopter Emergency Medical Service in partnership with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service delivering advanced pre‑hospital critical care by responding to serious medical emergencies across the province.