The Education Scotland report on Newlands Primary School has been published this week. During their visit, inspectors talked to parents/carers and young people and the Head teacher and staff.
The Inspection team found some strengths in the school's work:
- The staff team are nurturing, caring and supportive of each other and of the children. This promotes a strong sense of teamwork across the whole school community.
- The polite, respectful children who are proud of their school and participate well with their learning. They are keen to contribute to their school through their involvement in pupil parliament leadership groups.
- The effective partnership working that enhances the work of the school to meet the wellbeing needs of all children.
The following areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the head teacher and a representative from the council:
- Strengthen approaches to evaluating the work of the school to ensure it accurately informs the leadership of change and improvement.
- Develop a shared understanding of high-quality learning and teaching. This should improve the consistency of learning and teaching across the school and ensure that all children benefit from high quality learning experiences.
- Improve approaches to assessment and moderation to ensure that planned learning is better matched to the needs of all children.
- Raise attainment in literacy and numeracy, particularly in writing.
Headteacher, Carn Peaston said:
"We are delighted our dedicated staff team have been recognised for their nurturing and supportive approaches to creating an inclusive learning environment for all our children. As Head Teacher, I am proud of all the children who were identified by the inspection team as being polite, respectful and engaged learners, reflecting our school values.
"We recognise and are reassured that areas of improvement identified by the inspection team are aligned with those in our current School Improvement Plan".
Newlands Parent Council Chair, Jaimie Buchanan added:
"Newlands Parent Council is very pleased that the Inspection Team highlighted the nurturing and community-focused environment in our school, how caring staff are, and our polite and respectful children, who take pride in their school, engage well with learning and are keen to contribute to school life.
"We hugely appreciate the efforts of all parties involved with the daily life of the school, as well as its central role in our community and we are keen to help further build on this.
"We are also pleased to see that Newlands leadership team has developed a detailed action plan to address all areas for improvement identified in the inspection. Parent Council will support the headteacher and management team to lead the implementation of this plan, to reflect Newlands as a brilliant, high-achieving school and help it reach its full potential.
"In the coming year, the Parent Council is particularly looking forward to increasing parent engagement and developing a range of activities and fundraising to help enrich the life of the school and community."
The council will report on progress with the agreed areas for improvement within one year of the publication of this inspection. Taking account of the progress report, inspectors will then decide whether further engagement with the school is required.