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St Bernard's Primary School, Glengormley was congratulated for its progress over the last 15 months by Education Minister Mr John O'Dowd, on his visit to the school today.
In February 2010 the school was placed in Intervention Measures after an Inspection Report deemed it inadequate to meet the needs of its pupils. Through the support of the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS), experienced principals, firstly Mrs Eithne Brady and then Mr Paul Flanagan were seconded to St Bernard's. Mr Flanagan was joined by Ms Orla O' Dowd as a seconded vice-principal in September 2010 to lead and guide the school through a series of improvement programmes.
The Department of Education Inspectors monitored progress throughout the year and then carried out a follow up inspection in May 2011 which highlighted areas of vast change and improvement over a short period of time. The inspection team commented on the,
"the very good leadership and management of the Principal and seconded Vice principal who provide highly effective strategic and operational leadership and management; the very good use of performance data to monitor and track the individual children's progress; the strong commitment given to meeting the needs of children with special educational needs; the very effective leadership and management provided by the literacy and numeracy co-ordinators; the robust processes for monitoring and evaluating and the high quality of teaching observed with most being very good or outstanding."
The inspectors also acknowledged the support given by CCMS and the NEELB in moving the school forward .The school has been removed from Formal Intervention measures from 27 July 2011.
Mr Paul Flanagan, now the appointed Principal, was delighted with the report,
"When I came to St Bernard's in July 2010 I realised that there were many aspects of the school that needed improvement and development. The morale of the staff, pupils, parents and governors was at an all time low and the school community was in shock at the report issued by the Inspectors in February 2010.A number of families had already moved to other schools and the whole fabric of the building was in need of immediate refurbishment.
"With carefully constructed action plans and the support of the various agencies including the board of governors, St Bernard's embarked on a rigorous programme of improvement and development. Full credit is due to all the staff who have worked tirelessly throughout the year and produced an excellent outcome for the school and this community. The progress made has been a wonderful and tremendous team effort with a steep learning curve for everyone. There is a new image and enthusiasm about the school. The school has been turned around in such a short space of time. The culture has totally changed and many new ideas have been successfully introduced and embedded into everyday practice. The confidence of parents and the local community has been restored and renewed."
According to Jim Clarke, CCMS Chief Executive,
"Strong leadership, clear vision and attention to detail has empowered the staff, pupils and parents and given the community back a school they can once again be most proud of."