Ursuline Secondary School in Thurles school has ‘very good leadership’ - WSE

A whole school evaluation (WSE) of the Ursuline Secondary School in Thurles has found that the quality of management, teaching and learning at the all-girls school is “very good overall.”

All schools are subject to regular WSEs in order to ensure standards are upheld. An inspector examined all aspects of school management and teaching on February 14, and the report was published on May 10.

Ursuline Secondary School is an all-girls voluntary secondary school which was founded in 1787 by the Ursuline Sisters. The enrolment stands at 790 girls, including boarders, and enrolment has been consistent for the last ten years with some growth in more recent years.

The main findings are: “The quality of leadership and management is very good overall, led by a very effective senior management team and board of management; a realistic, prioritised vision for future school development has been created but awareness of it is limited to only certain stakeholders.

“Students are helped to develop their individual strengths through access to a very broad curriculum and co-curricular opportunities in high-quality learning facilities, and through excellent care supports and student-teacher relationships.

“The quality of teaching was good or very good in all of the lessons observed. The quality of learning was good overall; areas for further development are the usage of more varied modes of assessment and homework, and developing consistent ‘working with others’ student skills.

“The school has very successfully implemented previous inspection recommendations to a high standard, though providing written formative feedback for learners is still an area for improvement.

“The quality of the school self-evaluation (SSE) process is good and, commendably, SSE strategies have been adopted by the staff and embedded in teaching and learning.”

Full story in this week's Tipperary Star