‘Respect, competence, personal regard for others and integrity.’
The Principal has a vision for the future at Knockevin School as one that sees the school as a vibrant, self-improving community of good practice, meeting the needs and aspirations of all pupils through high-quality teaching and learning. The learning environment is built on positive and nurturing relationships which lead to high-quality learning outcomes. For the Principal and her Senior Leadership Team (SLT), it is all about providing a high-quality education for everybody, it is about individual needs being met and children succeeding because they have the education to which they are entitled. This is in a context where there is sound governance, effective leadership and a focus on the needs and outcomes of children and young people.
What is very clear from this review is that the team across all three sites continues to put the needs of their pupils at the heart of everything that they do. They skilfully nurture and build the aspirations of every young person in a way that allows them to reach their full potential. Data and key performance indicators are used effectively to monitor and track the progress and attainment of all the pupils. Outstanding, inclusive schools like Knockevin are created by passionate leaders. It is this passion that makes the staff rise early and stay late to achieve their goal. This goal is owned personally by them.
When a child starts at Knockevin, they always talk to them about having a new start, building new relationships, and building new memories. The staff take collective responsibility for the diversity of the community; all pupils are helped to overcome barriers to learning and fulfil their potential. The team work very hard to build a positive relationship with that child. Whether their needs are around speech and language, physical, sensory, or social, they put a plan in place to ensure that they take them forward. Across the academic year professional staff keep looking at that plan and adjusting and adapting whenever necessary.
Parents/carers and key stakeholders are well informed about all aspects of the learning programme and the opportunities for development and progression. Students are suitably challenged at Knockevin. Targets are ambitious and written in consultation with students and families. This co-ownership instils a sense of pride, determination, and motivation in the students. I learned of the countless opportunities for life skills which include working on relationships and building self-confidence and self-esteem. There is an appropriate therapeutic curriculum designed around the needs of the pupils that is responsive to changing circumstances. There is a focussed principle of high expectations for all in the school. It is crucial for all leaders in Northern Ireland to follow the practice in Knockevin and like them, have an in-depth knowledge of every individual child at the school.
Staff manage pupils’ behaviour well on all sites. Leaders ensure that staff are well-prepared to support and resolve any behaviour concerns, including if there were any rare instances of bullying. Occasionally, a pupil needs a break from class and their learning is interrupted. Leaders have developed a wide range of strategies to support pupils to de-escalate and return to their learning as quickly as possible.
The school is well-led and managed. Staff feel supported by leaders. Governors know the school well. Governors and leaders regularly check on staff workload. They support staff if any concerns are raised. Changes are made, where possible, when concerns are raised.
Staff report that the school is a “happy place”. Leaders provide coaching for key staff. This makes sure that staff are able to discuss their work with leaders and thus ensures consistency in the delivery of the curriculum. Leaders also arrange for staff to work with other schools to learn from each other. This deepens staff’s subject knowledge.
The views and ideas of the children and staff at Knockevin are regularly sought by SLT to inform ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and actions to promote improvement. This is a longstanding hallmark of the school and a fundamental reason behind many of their successes and the reason they have built a culture of belonging. The school provides accurately targeted support that is well matched to the additional learning and social needs of the pupils, including newcomers. Staff professional learning underpins the identified priorities for development to support delivery and quality improvement going forward. Staff are appropriately qualified, trained, and experienced and have the necessary expertise to meet learning, curricular and pastoral needs, and management responsibilities. On the date of my visit, staff (from all three sites) were all coming together that afternoon on the Castlewellan campus to engage with the Education Authority Northern Ireland (EANI) team in training. There is a systematic and agreed commitment to sharing and disseminating best practice in learning and teaching.
At Knockevin, learning and teaching strategies match the needs of the pupils’ ensuring activities are differentiated, motivating, appropriately challenging, well-paced and, where appropriate, build on prior learning and the interests of the pupils. There is an effective organisational structure with clear roles and responsibilities for staff that supports the achievement of objectives, and which builds and sustains positive working relationships and supports Continuing Professional Development. A wide range of assessment strategies are used appropriately to guide planning, teaching, and training and to support learning. The school communicates regularly and effectively with parents to provide comprehensive information on pupils’ progress and achievement.
There is a shared strategy and vision which is based on the school’s values and aims and is leaner-centred. A positive ethos is evident in the way that all staff provide a safe, secure environment with effective working relationships at all levels that enables the pupils to learn. The leadership team provides resources and accommodations that are of a high quality, and are managed effectively to support high-quality learning, teaching, and training. Indeed, strategic premise enhancement building work was taking place on the school’s footprint whilst I was on visit. The Governors and leadership team of Knockevin recognise the challenges that working across three sites brings. The Governors communicate widely the vision, ethos and strategic direction of the school and ensure strong links between the school and its wider community. They have communicated with the Department of Education and the Minister for Education, Paul Givan, and are delighted with the recent news that Knockevin has been identified for a new build. The team looks forward to planning for a purpose-built school on one site. The school appreciates the hard work of all who have supported them with this project so far, particularly the local Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from all parties.
The school has and implements fully an appropriate safeguarding policy (incorporating a protection policy for children and adults at risk) which is in line with the requirements of the relevant Departments. The pupils, parents/carers and all relevant parties are informed of policies and procedures relating to the protection of children, young people, and adults at risk. Staff and Governors regularly receive training including safeguarding and child protection. The school regularly (at least annually) carries out self-evaluation of its own child protection/safeguarding policy and practice using the phase appropriate ETI safeguarding/child protection proforma.
Knockevin School has been an IQM Centre of Excellence school for three years. They are a respected and valued member of the Northern Ireland IQM Cluster. There is a well-embedded, rigorous, and systematic process for self-evaluation and quality improvement. Across three different annual reviews (2022, 2023 and 2024) this Assessor believes that they have demonstrated a high level of capacity for sustained inclusive improvement in the interest of all the learners.
At Knockevin School (Downpatrick, Dundrum and Castlewellan) staff, pupils’ parents, carers, and partner organisations are involved effectively in the self-evaluation and quality improvement planning processes to bring about improvement in the quality of inclusive provision. It is with this in mind that I recommend that their work be recognised by the IQM central team as worthy of Flagship School status.
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