Education officials glowing in praise for school’s strong ethos

12 March 2025

ANNSBOROUGH Integrated Primary School has received an overwhelmingly positive inspection report from education officials just weeks before it celebrates its 190th anniversary.

Founded in 1835 and originally a Mill School, it subsequently became a National School when all children in the village, from whatever faith or background, attended.

From its infancy, Annsborough was always an integrated seat of learning before its official designation as such in 1977 and next month it celebrates its remarkable anniversary with a special assembly on April 8 and an open night the following evening.

The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) report lauds all members of the school community which inspectors say embodies its “working together in harmony” ethos.

The report says children have a “strong sense of pride in and belonging to their school” with the well-planned and connected curriculum described as “relevant, engaging and promotes effectively the holistic development of the children.”

In addition, the ETI report said Annsborough Integrated Primary very effectively promotes the wellbeing of all of the children, with inclusion and equality also at the heart of its ethos.

“The individualised approach to supporting all children enables them to make good progress,” the report continues.

“A strength of the school’s provision is its ability to foster a learning community in a small school that maximises the learning opportunities for all children. 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.”

Education inspectors say an area for consideration is to extend the learning, particularly for the children with the highest level of attainment, by providing more opportunities to develop their thinking and problem-solving skills.

“Annsborough Integrated Primary School takes great pride in its heritage and the education it has offered across generations,” the report continues.

“The school lives out its motto ‘together in harmony’ by promoting a strong sense of community where the children thrive in a happy, inclusive and unique learning environment.”

The ETI said it will continue to work with school, including to share an example of highly effective practice from which others may learn, with the aspect of practice which should be shared more widely is how to grow a community of learning in a small school in a rural setting to maximise the learning opportunities for all children.

Mr Seamus McMullan, chairman of the school’s board of governors, has tribute to all the staff who have contributed so much to providing such a high standard of education for all pupils who have attended this “special primary school over almost 200 years”.

He continued: “The individualised approach taken by all staff in supporting children at primary level enables them to make such good progress at the beginning of their journey throughout the education system.

“The effective promotion of wellbeing for all children, as well as the child protection arrangements in place, ensure the children are kept safe at all times.”

Mr McMullan said the governors appreciated how fortunate they were to have such a dedicated team of teachers and teaching assistants with a brilliant range of skills and expertise who are expertly led by principal Mrs Lynda Brown.

“The school very much appreciate the support and trust the families place in us when they send their children to this very special local rural school,” he said.

“The Annsborough school community takes pride in its heritage and lives out its motto of ‘together in harmony’ and the board of governors appreciate all the help and advice which has been given to our school over the years by staff from the Education Authority, NI Council for Integrated Education and financial support from the Integrated Education Fund.”

Mr McMullan said the inspection report noted that all members of the school community embody the school’s vision of ‘working together in harmony’ and this has been aptly demonstrated over the past number of weeks.

“All staff, parents, pupils and friends of the school have been working intensively in preparation for the two-day 190th celebrations which take place on April 8-9,” he said.

Mr McMullan said he was extremely impressed with how education inspectors engaged with Mrs Brown and all her staff, pupils, parents and Governors throughout the inspection process.

“Inspectors provided the school community with every opportunity to demonstrate the high quality of primary education and the promotion of pupil wellbeing and the welfare and safety of the children in our small rural school,” he said.

Mr McMullan added: “The governors work closely with the principal and staff and are acutely aware of the excellent standard of education and care which all the children receive and it’s very rewarding when a formal statutory body such as the ETI was able to experience the excellent quality of education in all its forms provided by the staff in Annsborough Integrated Primary School.

“The staff can feel justifiably proud of their devotion to educating our children and should see the reported outcomes of the inspection as a validation of the high standard which they continually achieve.”

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