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De La Salle College inspection highlights staff absences

De La Salle College in west Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell
De La Salle College in west Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell De La Salle College in west Belfast. Picture by Hugh Russell

TEACHERS at troubled De La Salle College missed almost 2,800 days between them in a single school year.

Inspectors found staff at the west Belfast college, which includes 70 teachers, were absent an average of almost 40 days.

This is almost five times the average absence rate for post-primary schools.

The school now needs external support to improve after it received the lowest inspection grading.

Inspectors raised concerns about achievements and standards and leadership and management.

Last year, an independent panel found that a serious breakdown of working relationships impacted substantially on pupils.

It said some staff "described a culture of fear" and made claims of "bullying and intimidating behaviour".

The school had been in turmoil over a breakdown in relations between some of the teaching staff and principal Claire White. Many staff at the time were involved in a rolling sick day protest.

Inspectors visited in November last year and made their report public yesterday.

The inspection included a confidential questionnaire completed by parents, teaching and support staff. More than half of the small number of parents who responded reported they did not feel that "the school is well led and managed at all levels".

A majority of the staff who responded reported that "although there have been recent improvements in the quality of working relationships, a culture of intimidation and bullying had existed in the school which led to staff feeling vulnerable and stressed".

In the last academic year, inspectors noted, the school was "affected adversely by a high level of staff absence" - this sat at an overall average of 39.6 days per member, as compared with an average of 8.2 days across the post-primary sector.

Full-time teachers are required to be available for work on 195 days.

At the time of the inspection, a significant number of key leadership positions were either vacant or filled by a member of staff in an acting-up capacity.

Inspectors said there was a need to "improve the quality of planning, teaching and assessment, including in the discrete provision for English, mathematics and modern languages".

They added the school should "review and improve the curriculum offer and access to better meet the abilities, interests and career aspirations of the pupils".

It also should "review and clarify the roles and responsibilities of all post holders to better align with school development planning, support more effectively staff development needs and develop more robust self-evaluation practices".

It was further recommended that the college develop "appropriate and effective lines of communication in all aspects of the work of the school, and to commit fully to the development of an ethos that values openness, transparency, mutual respect and consultation; and improve the effectiveness of strategic leadership at all levels at leading and bringing about school improvement".

"De La Salle College needs to address urgently the significant areas for improvement identified in the interest of all the learners. It requires external support to do so," the report concluded.