Nesting Primary School
Shetland Islands Council
2 June 2009
This report tells you about the quality of education at the school1.
We describe how children benefit from learning there. We
explain how well they are doing and how good the school is at
helping them to learn. Then we look at the ways in which the
school does this. We describe how well the school works with
other groups in the community, including parents2 and services
which support children. We also comment on how well staff and
children work together and how they go about improving the
school.
Our report describes the ‘ethos’ of the school. By ‘ethos’ we
mean the relationships in the school, how well children are cared
for and treated and how much is expected of them in all aspects
of school life. Finally, we comment on the school’s aims. In
particular, we focus on how well the aims help staff to deliver high
quality learning, and the impact of leadership on the school’s
success in achieving these 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. Where applicable, you will also be able to
find descriptions of good practice in the school.
1
2
The term ‘school’ is used to include the work of the nursery
class, where relevant.
Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to
include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are
relatives or friends.
Contents
1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. Examples of good practice
4. How well do children learn and achieve?
5. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
6. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school
community?
7. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
9. What happens next?
1. The school
Nesting Primary School is a non-denominational school. It serves the
communities of North and South Nesting. The roll was 23 when the
inspection was carried out in March 2009. Pupils’ attendance was in
line with the national average in 2007/2008.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
The role of all staff in providing a range of opportunities for
children to achieve widely.
•
The use of information and communications technology to
enhance children’s learning.
•
Productive partnerships with parents, local schools and the
community to enhance children’s learning.
•
The success of the school in developing children’s knowledge and
understanding of local culture.
3. Examples of good practice
•
Singing in Shetland dialect.
•
Use of information and communications technology.
4. How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Children are proud of their school and share their views confidently.
They are developing their understanding of the heritage of Shetland by
taking part in community events, including ‘Up-Helly-Aa’. Children
have very good opportunities to achieve more widely through a range
of after-school activities, such as, cookery, woodwork and sports.
They have positive attitudes towards the environment and have
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achieved two Eco-Schools Scotland green flags. Children are skilled
at singing in Shetland dialect and playing musical instruments and
successfully take part in school and community performances. They
use information and communications technology (ICT) effectively to
talk and share learning experiences with children from schools in
London. At P6 and P7, children developed their confidence and social
skills through participating in a residential trip to London along with
another local primary school. Children are making good progress in
listening and talking, reading and mathematics. They are making
satisfactory progress in writing. Children listen well and are able to
express their ideas clearly. Staff now need to develop children’s skills
in listening and talking to each other in groups. Children enjoy reading
and use the library regularly to select books by their favourite authors.
They speak enthusiastically about books they have read. Children
write for a variety of purposes, including poetry. They are developing
their use of vocabulary to add detail to their writing. However, children
do not always write well consistently. Children are beginning to use
their literacy skills in other areas of the curriculum. In mathematics,
they have an appropriate understanding of number, money and
measurement. They are confident in recognising the properties of
two- and three-dimensional shapes. At the upper stages, children are
able to discuss and use problem solving strategies. Across the school,
children’s skills in mental calculations need to be further developed.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
Staff provide children with a broad curriculum. They are developing
aspects of the national initiative, Curriculum for Excellence. For
example, they plan activities which encourage children to link their
learning in different areas of the curriculum. Staff encourage children
to be creative, particularly in music and art. They use the local area
very well to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of the
environment. They have increased children’s enjoyment in the
curriculum by providing opportunities for children to select the focus of
their learning in environmental studies topics. Children enjoy
developing their skills in enterprise and are using their skills to
organise a talent show. They are increasing their understanding of the
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world of work. The school is working towards providing two hours of
physical education each week for children.
Classroom tasks and activities are not always well enough matched to
meet the needs of all children. For some children, the pace of learning
is too slow and they need to be given more challenging work. The
school has appropriate procedures for identifying those children with
additional support needs. Children who have difficulties with aspects
of their learning have individualised plans in place. These plans help
children with additional support needs to make progress in their
learning. Teachers give clear explanations and instructions and share
the purpose of lessons with children. They use questioning well to
check children’s understanding. Children are capable of completing
tasks without close supervision. They do not always know how well
they are doing and how to improve their work. Teachers set a broad
range of interesting homework tasks.
5. How well do staff work with others to support children’s
learning?
Staff work with a range of people to support children’s learning. These
include staff from speech and language therapy, health agencies and
psychological services. Volunteers from the local community help with
after-school activities, including woodwork. Parents of children with
additional support needs are involved in reviewing the progress their
child has made towards individual learning targets. Support staff make
positive contributions to supporting children’s learning. The school
works closely with the supportive Parent Council. Parents are kept
well informed about the work of the school through regular newsletters
and the school website. Termly class information leaflets provide
parents with helpful information about key aspects of children’s
classwork. While most parents are happy with the work of the school
a few do not feel their concerns are dealt with appropriately. The
school has appropriate programmes in place for children moving into
P1 and for P7 pupils transferring to Scalloway Junior High School.
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6. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their
school community?
Children are actively involved in improving the school. They have a
range of opportunities to take on roles of responsibility and contribute
to the life of the school, including as part of the pupil council and eco
committee. Children have a good understanding of healthy lifestyles
and the school has gained Health Promoting School status. Children
have worked with parents and members of the community to improve
the school grounds. The school gathers the views of staff, parents and
pupils and has used them to improve the work of the school. For
example, in response to parental questionnaires, the school has
improved homework and further developed links with other local
schools. Children’s views have been taken into account to increase
musical tuition and extend the range of after-school activities. Staff
discuss issues relating to teaching and learning and are committed to
improving the work of the school. The school has improved
approaches to monitoring children’s experiences and tracking their
progress. This has not yet had sufficient impact on raising attainment
and ensuring all children make appropriate progress.
7. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
The school is welcoming and has a positive atmosphere. Children are
friendly and engage readily with visitors. They have very positive
relationships with all staff. Children feel the school treats them fairly
and their opinions are listened to and valued. They know what to do if
they are concerned about anything. Staff have received training in
child protection and they know what to do if the headteacher is not in
school. The school has formed productive links with other schools in
the local area and in London. Appropriate procedures are in place to
encourage and monitor children’s attendance at school. Staff do not
yet have high enough expectations of what children can achieve. The
school is aware of the need to review its policy for dealing with any
instances of bullying behaviour. Children’s achievements are
celebrated through assemblies, a golden folder and local newspapers.
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The local minister supports the work of the school. There are regular
opportunities for religious observance. Children learn about other
cultures and beliefs well through the programme for religious and
moral education and speaking with children of different faiths.
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher has a clear vision for the school. She has involved
staff, parents and children fully in agreeing an appropriate set of aims.
She is highly committed to the school community and to improving the
work of the school. She has led the staff on improving important
aspects such as forward planning and the use of ICT. Staff work well
together as a team. The headteacher has improved approaches to
monitoring and evaluating the work of the school. Together with the
staff, she needs to use the information gathered to more rigorously
evaluate the impact on children’s learning. The school is well placed
to improve further.
9. 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 following this inspection. The
school and the education authority will inform parents about the
school’s progress in improving the quality of education.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Ensure the pace of learning and level of challenge are sufficient to
meet the needs of all pupils.
•
Continue to develop approaches to monitoring and evaluating the
work of the school to improve children’s experiences and
attainment.
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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 Nesting Primary School.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
good
good
satisfactory
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Janie McManus
2 June 2009
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good
satisfactory
To find out more about inspections or get an electronic copy of this
report go to www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact the Business
Management and Communications Team (BMCT) if you wish to
enquire about our arrangements for translated or other appropriate
versions.
If you wish to comment about any of our inspections, contact us
at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write in
the first instance to BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm
House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA.
Our complaints procedure is available from our website
www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can write to our Complaints
Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our
complaints procedure, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish
Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent
and has powers to investigate complaints about Government
departments and agencies. You should write to SPSO, Freepost
EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also telephone 0800 377 7330,
fax 0800 377 7331 or e-mail: ask@spso.org.uk. More information
about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website
at www.spso.org.uk.
This report uses the following word scale to make clear
judgements made by inspectors.
excellent
very good
good
satisfactory
weak
unsatisfactory
outstanding, sector leading
major strengths
important strengths with some areas for
improvement
strengths just outweigh weaknesses
important weaknesses
major weaknesses
Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education