12 January 2016
Dear Parent/Carer
James McFarlane School
North Ayrshire Council
Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I inspected your child’s school. During
our visit, we talked to parents and children and young people and worked closely with
the headteacher and staff. We wanted to find out how well children and young people
are learning and achieving and how well the school supports children and young
people to do their best. The headteacher shared with us the school’s successes and
priorities for improvement. We looked at some particular aspects of the school’s
recent work, including how the school works with partner agencies, Eco Schools and
interdisciplinary learning. As a result, we were able to find out how good the school is
at improving children’s and young people’s education.
How well do children and young people learn and achieve?
Children and young people respond well to positive relationships with staff and the
welcoming ethos in the school. They are happy and confident when communicating
with adults. Some children and young people are very engaged in their learning. For
example, they enjoy sessions in the hydrotherapy pool and show a high level of
enthusiasm and motivation. We asked the school to provide better opportunities for
children and young people to be more active in their learning. Children and young
people make appropriate choices related to food at snack and lunchtime. A few
children and young people use visual symbols effectively to indicate how well they
have achieved. The school needs to consider a range of approaches to help learners
make more informed choices and evaluations about what they have achieved.
Children and young people enjoy learning in the community through visits to local
shops and road safety walks. Children at the primary stages benefit from working with
buddies from Stanley Primary School. They enjoy opportunities to develop
communication skills and to interact with them socially. Young people at the senior
stages develop their enterprise skills through making and selling cards. These are
sold at school events and in a local community centre. The school has recently set up
whole school committees such as Pupil Council and Eco Schools. These committees
are at the early stages of enabling children and young people to be more involved in
the life of the school and staff should continue to monitor and evaluate the
effectiveness of children’s participation. The school recognises achievements of
learners through assemblies and awards. The recent introduction of an app allows
good use of digital technologies for children and young people to share their learning.
Education Scotland
Unit 7, Blair Court
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0141 435 3550
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0141 435 3555
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www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Transforming lives through learning
There is a need to continue to develop a range of ways for young people to
communicate, share and celebrate their learning.
Across the school, children and young people make satisfactory progress in their
learning. Overall, they are increasingly developing their skills in communication.
Almost all children and young people use visual symbols well to help them understand
their daily timetables. The school should continue with its plans to help children and
young people develop signing skills. Where appropriate, some learners are able to
read words and sentences and a few are able to use technology well to record their
daily news. Children and young people are learning about number and money. They
can count items and are able to use coins to purchase items when shopping in the
local community. Children and young people need more planned opportunities to
apply literacy and numeracy skills in meaningful and relevant contexts. Young people
at the senior stages are achieving National Qualifications and other awards. The
school should ensure that young people in S4-S6 have better opportunities to develop
skills and qualifications that will help them beyond school. Young people would also
benefit from more opportunities to make choices about their National Qualifications.
Children and young people are developing independence in their personal care. A few
children have an understanding of what they need to do to keep healthy and can make
good choices about their eating.
How well does the school support children and young people to develop and
learn?
Staff provide a caring and welcoming environment. They work well with partners to
meet the health and care needs of children and young people. Parents are positive
about the support children and young people receive and there is good communication
between school and home. In a few classes, lessons are well planned to take account
of the needs of all learners. However, in almost all classes, the pace of learning is
slow and children are not fully engaged in their learning. Staff need to plan activities
that take enough account of the range of needs of all children and young people. A
range of plans are in place to support the needs of children and young people such as
health care plans and behaviour support plans. These plans help staff develop
approaches which best meet the range of additional support needs, particularly those
children and young people with significant health needs. Together with North Ayrshire
Council, the school is currently developing new approaches to planning in order to
meet the additional support needs of children and young people. Staff should ensure
that these new approaches provide continuity in learning and include all relevant
partners.
Staff recently reviewed the curriculum using national guidance. As a result, they made
changes to learning programmes. For example, staff are beginning to plan the
curriculum with an increased focus on literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.
Staff are aware of the need to improve the curriculum and ensure developments lead
to well-planned programmes in all areas of the curriculum. Curriculum development
should continue to take account of the wide range of additional support needs across
the school and ensure all children and young people have opportunities to make
appropriate progress. Senior pupils would benefit from programmes which reflect their
individual strengths and help them develop skills for life beyond school. The school
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works with a small number of partners in the community and there is scope for them to
involve a wider range of partners in planning and delivering the curriculum.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
A range of approaches are in place to help staff evaluate the work of the school and
identify improvements. Over the past few years these have resulted in positive
outcomes. For example, there are improvements in the communication skills of
children and young people and a recent focus on behaviour support has had a positive
impact. The school should improve how it gathers and uses information about
progress to help staff plan programmes which take account of prior learning and help
identify next steps. Processes for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning need
to be reviewed to ensure they lead to improvements. Staff work well together and with
other schools to improve their professional development. They are committed to
improving their practice and take part in relevant professional learning activities. The
school, with support from the authority, should continue to help staff identify relevant
professional development opportunities which will lead to better outcomes for children
and young people.
This inspection found the following key strengths
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The caring and inclusive ethos of the school resulting in happy, confident children
and young people.
The school’s approaches to helping children and young people communicate.
Partnerships with allied health professionals in meeting the health needs of children
and young people.
Partnerships and communication with parents.
We discussed with staff and North Ayrshire Council how they might continue to
improve the school. This is what we agreed with them.
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Provide opportunities for children to be more active in their learning.
Continue to develop the curriculum and relevant learning programmes in all subject
areas.
Further develop approaches to self-evaluation which lead to improvements in
learning and teaching of all staff that support children and young people.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
As a result of our inspection findings we think that the school needs additional support
and more time to make necessary improvements. Our Area Lead Officer will work with
North Ayrshire Council to build capacity for improvement, and will maintain contact to
monitor progress. We will return to carry out a further inspection within one year of
publication of this letter. We will then issue another letter to parents on the extent to
which the school has improved.
Monica McGeever
HM Inspector
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Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations, for
your school can be found on the Education Scotland website at
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/school/primsec/Jam
esMcFarlaneSchoolNorthAyrshire.asp
If you would like to receive this letter in a different format, for example, in a translation
please contact the administration team on the above telephone number.
If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact us
by telephone on , 0131 244 4330 or e-mail: complaints@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
or write to us addressing your letter to the Complaints Manager, Denholm House,
Almondvale Business Park, Livingston EH54 6GA.
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