Gairloch Primary School
and Nursery Class
The Highland Council
23 August 2011
HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to
let parents1, children and the local community know whether their
school2 provides a good education. Inspectors also discuss with
school staff how they can improve the quality of education.
At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the headteacher and
staff about the strengths of the school, what needs to improve,
and how they know. We use the information they give us to help
us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we
go into classes and join other activities in which children are
involved. We also gather the views of children, parents, staff and
members of the local community. We find their views very helpful
and use them together with the other information we have
collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education.
This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the
quality of education in the school. We describe how well children
are doing, how good the school is at helping them to learn and
how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff,
parents and children work together and how they go about
improving the school. We also comment on how well the school
works with other groups in the community, including services
which support children. Finally, we focus on how well the school
is led and how staff help the school achieve its aims.
If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the school,
please visit www.hmie.gov.uk. Here you can find analyses of
questionnaire returns from children, parents and staff. We will
not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns
are so small that they could identify individuals.
1
Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers,
residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.
2
The term ‘school’ includes the nursery class or classes where appropriate.
Contents
1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school
community?
6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
8. What happens next?
1. The school
Gairloch Primary School is a non-denominational school with a nursery
class. It serves the village of Gairloch and the surrounding rural area.
The roll was 99, including 17 in the Gaelic medium classes, ten in the
English speaking nursery class and nine in the Gaelic nursery class
when the inspection was carried out in May 2011. Children’s
attendance was in line with the national average in 2009/2010. The
headteacher also has management responsibility for Poolewe Primary
School.
1
2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Children’s wider achievements and their attainment in
mathematics.
•
Positive partnerships and community links which support children’s
learning.
•
Staff commitment to improving the school, and to the care and
welfare of all children.
•
The headteacher’s effective leadership of change.
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Children in the nursery classes are happy and behave considerately to
each other. Most are keen to learn. They move confidently between
play areas, including outdoors, and concentrate well on what they
have chosen to do. Children, particularly in the English speaking
nursery, benefit from high quality dialogue with staff. Across the
primary classes, many children are beginning to work on relevant and
enjoyable activities. In some English speaking classes, this
independent, active approach to learning is not yet consistent enough
in all lessons. When working on cross-curricular topics, most children
are beginning to discuss activities as a group and to develop
independent learning skills. These skills are well developed in Gaelic
classes.
In the nursery classes, children are developing confidence in turn
taking and sharing. They are developing their vocabulary and can
express themselves clearly. Children in the Gaelic medium nursery
are developing an understanding of Gaelic idiom. In both nursery
2
classes, children listen well to stories and to simple instructions. Their
skills in early mathematics are developing well. Almost all can match
and sort materials. In the primary classes, children show a clear
understanding of environmental issues. The school has achieved a
Green Flag award from Eco-Schools Scotland. A few children are
developing skills as responsible citizens by taking on recognised roles
in helping others. More could do so. Children take an active part in a
range of musical, sporting and cultural activities. They work within the
community to raise considerable funds for charity. Many achieve
personal success at local events and festivals, including the Plockton
Drama Festival. Several have broadcast with confidence on the local
radio station. Many entertain local residents with regular shows and
concerts. Children in the Gaelic classes achieved well at the local
Mod and performed at a radio drama.
Children in the nursery classes are making good progress in their
learning. Children are confident in expressing their feelings and ideas
and listen well to adults and one another. They are keen to look at
books with adults or by themselves. Almost all can write their names.
They are learning early mathematics skills well through their play. In
Gaelic medium primary classes, children are making very good
progress overall in listening and talking in Gaelic. Their skills in
reading and writing are progressing well. A few could write at greater
length. In English speaking classes, several children do not listen well
enough. Their skills in group discussion need further development. At
the early stages, children are eager to read and do so with increasing
fluency and expression. By P7, higher achieving children can respond
sensitively to challenging texts. Throughout the primary classes,
children write for a wide range of purposes. In English speaking
classes, children write interesting pieces in connection with their topic
work, but, overall, standards of writing are not high enough. Staff are
working hard to help children at all stages improve their spelling.
Across the school, children are achieving very well in mathematics and
are making good progress. By P7, almost all children are quick and
accurate in their mental calculations. They are good at creating and
interpreting a wide range of graphs and charts. Many can solve a
range of problems with confidence.
3
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
Teachers are improving children’s learning experiences taking account
of Curriculum for Excellence. Children in the nursery classes are
learning well through a broad range of activities. They can make
choices in their play. In all primary classes, children are beginning to
use their skills in literacy and numeracy to help them learn in other
areas of the curriculum. Staff have begun to develop children’s
knowledge and skills in all aspects of health and wellbeing. Staff
provide good opportunities for children to learn outdoors, using the
local environment effectively. All children learn to swim. Children at
P6 and P7 develop their teamworking skills through a residential
experience at Badaguish Outdoor Centre. A wide range of visits and
visitors enriches learning at all stages. The school has provided a
good range of sporting and musical activities at lunchtime clubs, but
few children opt to attend regularly. All children benefit from two hours
of high quality physical education each week.
Across the nursery and primary classes, staff know and understand
the needs of individual children well. They are very caring and
supportive to children. Across the primary stages, teachers organise
tasks and activities which suit the learning needs of most children. In
a few classes, the level of work is not challenging enough for a few
children. Children experiencing difficulties are well supported and
included. A number of children have helpful individualised educational
programmes containing appropriate learning and social targets.
Support staff help children very well to learn, particularly in reading.
As a result of the school’s approaches, children with additional support
needs are making good progress. Teachers set a wide variety of
interesting and challenging homework.
4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s
learning?
Staff work well with a range of professional partners in other services
and agencies to support children’s learning. The Parent Council is
4
very supportive of the work of the school. A number of parents work
alongside teachers in school or accompany children on outings.
Others share their expertise and experiences with children to develop
their learning. Parents find school reports helpful and informative.
Strong partnerships with members of the community help enrich
children’s learning. The school offers suitable arrangements to consult
on sensitive aspects of the school’s programme of relationships and
health education. The school responds promptly and appropriately to
any complaints or concerns. Children are very well supported at times
of transition.
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their
school community?
Across the school, staff have created a caring and supportive
atmosphere where children, parents and visitors feel welcome and
valued. Staff are eager to continue to improve the school. They work
together in a strong team and are involved fully in the life of the school.
Staff, children and parents are keen to play their part in school
improvement. Children are capable of playing a greater role in helping
evaluate and plan improvements that impact on learning and teaching.
The headteacher uses a range of ways to gather information to
improve the work of the school. She reviews teaching plans, carries
out classroom visits and provides teachers with helpful feedback on
learning and teaching. These approaches now need more rigour to
ensure learning is of a consistently high quality across the school.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
Staff have very positive relationships with children. Children are
friendly and polite to staff and visitors, but not always to each other.
The school plans to review its approaches to promoting positive
relationships to address consistently any minor restlessness among
children in a few classes. Staff celebrate children’s many successes
at assemblies, with well-judged praise and with class reward systems.
5
All school staff know what to do to keep children safe and well. The
education authority should ensure that catering staff receive
appropriate training in child protection. There are appropriate
opportunities for religious observance. Children are developing a
secure understanding of fitness and a healthy diet. There is scope for
some children to develop their expectations of themselves as learners.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher has a strong commitment to the school and the
community. She has a clear vision for the school which she has
shared widely. She is supported well by the principal teacher who
effectively leads developments in the school’s approaches to
assessment. More rigour is now needed in monitoring the progress of
learners to ensure appropriate levels of challenge for all children. Staff
are involved in developing the school’s vision and values. They take
responsibility for developing aspects of the work of the school. The
school is ready to improve further and is well placed to continue its
development of Curriculum for Excellence.
8. What happens next?
We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary
improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will
make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school and
the education authority will inform parents about the school's progress
in improving the quality of education.
6
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Work together better to develop good practice more consistently
across all aspects of the school and nursery classes.
•
Continue to improve children’s learning experiences, taking
account of Curriculum for Excellence.
•
Improve self-evaluation to ensure that the learning needs of all
children are met.
At the last Care Commission inspection of the nursery classes
there were no requirements and no recommendations.
7
Quality indicators help schools and nursery classes, education
authorities and inspectors to judge what is good and what needs to be
improved in the work of a school and a nursery class. You can find
these quality indicators in the HMIE publications How good is our
school? and The Child at the Centre. Following the inspection of each
school, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three
important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish
schools and nursery classes are doing.
Here are the evaluations for Gairloch Primary School and Nursery
Class.
Primary school
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
good
good
good
Nursery class
Improvements in performance
Children’s experiences
Meeting learning needs
good
good
good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school and
nursery class.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Anne McGachey
23 August 2011
8
good
good
When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our
readers can see clearly what our judgments mean.
excellent
very good
good
means
means
means
satisfactory
weak
unsatisfactory
means
means
means
outstanding, sector leading
major strengths
important strengths with some areas
for improvement
strengths just outweigh weaknesses
important weaknesses
major weaknesses
If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an
electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a
different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to
comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us
at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT,
HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business
Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service
for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the
line will not connect you to a member of staff.
You can find our complaints procedure on our website
www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints
Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
Crown Copyright 2011
HM Inspectorate of Education