Buckstone Primary School
and Nursery Class
The City of
Edinburgh Council
24 February 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. 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
Buckstone Primary School is a non-denominational school with a
nursery class. It serves the Buckstone area of Edinburgh. The roll
was 387, excluding 71 in the nursery when the inspection was carried
out in December 2008. Pupils’ attendance was above the national
average in 2006-07. The acting headteacher had been in post for
14 months.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Children’s attitudes and enthusiasm towards their learning and
wider achievements.
•
The high quality work undertaken by staff to support children
requiring additional help with their learning.
•
Nursery children’s experiences in outdoor learning.
•
The senior management team’s commitment to improving the
quality of learning and teaching.
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Children in the nursery engage very well in their learning and take part
enthusiastically in the wide variety of activities provided for them by
staff. They concentrate on their chosen play and work together in
small groups, cooperating with their friends. Most children are making
good progress in their development and learning. Children take part in
conversations with each other and adults with ease, and listen
carefully to instructions about their play. They use books to find
information and a few children can invent their own stories from the
pictures. Most can select labels with their name and a few can write
their own name well. Children are good at counting and can use
numbers, for example, when playing games on the computer or in their
role play.
Children in the school achieve well through their involvement in
before- and after-school clubs, lunch time activities, choir, instrumental
tuition, outings, and with visiting performers. Younger children would
welcome more clubs and activities for their age group. Children are
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becoming more responsible and an awareness of global citizenship is
developing through their very positive links with a school in Kenya.
Staff have introduced focus weeks on health, enterprise and Scottish
culture which help children gain a sense of responsibility and
citizenship. Children take pride in their achievements in music,
sporting events and science. They are achieving wider success in
Sports Scotland events. Children are thoughtful and creative when
learning about safety, for example in describing activities within a
science topic on electricity. Older children respond well to the
challenging experiences of their residential experience at Lagganlia.
Children enjoy performing duties as helpers and on school committees
such as the eco committee and the pupil council. They take their
duties seriously when helping in class, in the playground, at
assemblies and at school lunches.
Across the primary stages, almost all children are making good
progress in listening, talking, reading and writing. The acting
headteacher encourages staff to address all aspects of English
language to improve children’s attainment. Recent work on improving
children’s writing has resulted in more children at P2 achieving earlier
than might normally be expected. Children’s skills in listening and
talking are improving. Some children are particularly confident in
performing at school assemblies. They read well and write for different
purposes. For example, older children had written their own fairy story
to share with P1. Children are encouraged to read widely and they
enjoy having regular access to the well-resourced school library.
Some children are very skilful and enjoy reading. Despite a slight drop
in attainment in mathematics most children are making good progress.
Almost all children enjoy learning about mathematics in practical
lessons and are able to find information from graphs and tables. They
have good opportunities to improve their skills in problem solving.
Most children are accurate in oral number work but they were not
quick enough in finding answers. Too often children are involved in
completing textbook and worksheet activities which do not involve
them being active in their learning. In a few classes, staff make
effective links between mathematics and other curricular areas,
particularly in topic work. Recent improvements to resources for
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information and communications technology (ICT) are proving helpful
in reinforcing learning opportunities. For example, children now
access ICT more frequently in their class.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
Staff provide a good range of activities which support children well
across the broad areas of their learning and development. The
out-of-doors area of the nursery offers particularly stimulating
experiences which encourage children to be active and imaginative.
Children are developing their understanding of the natural world
through looking after their garden and feeding and watching the birds.
They express themselves well through their art and craft by creating
collages and paintings. Staff have started to take account of the
national initiative, Curriculum for Excellence, in their planning and are
well placed to involve children by asking their views about what they
enjoy in their learning.
Across the primary stages, the curriculum is broad and relevant.
Children experience a good range of activities. Staff have been
encouraged by the acting headteacher to become more aware of
Curriculum for Excellence. A few are developing this very well,
resulting in improvement in children’s experiences. This is helping
children to make links with their topic work such as the solar system
and aspects of English language, for example, in writing newspaper
articles and in sharing their knowledge at assembly. Most children are
well motivated and try to do their best. They have an increasing
awareness of the importance of healthy lifestyles. There is potential
for staff to make more use of the outdoor classroom area to further
develop environmental awareness for children. At P1-P2, staff have
made an early start to providing more active approaches to learning
through play using the resources and the areas outside the classroom
bases. Parents support this initiative well by offering to work with
small groups. However, the school needs to review the overall
structure of these sessions as children from the nursery to P2
experience the same activity which does not meet their needs well
enough. In the nursery, staff support children sensitively and know
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them well as individuals. They ensure children enjoy activities but now
need to introduce more challenge in learning to meet the needs of all,
including more able children. Across the primary stages, staff are
improving how they involve children in setting individual learning
targets in writing and mathematics. This is not yet consistent in each
class. Overall, children would benefit from better opportunities to take
responsibility for and be independent in aspects of their learning. The
senior management team are working with staff to improve teachers’
assessment and tracking of children’s progress in learning. The rate
of learning is too slow in some classes. Staff require to have higher
expectations of children and provide them with activities which are at
the right level of difficulty. The needs of children with additional
support needs are being met consistently well. The support for
learning teacher consults and works effectively with staff and parents
to meet the needs of individual children. Learning assistants work well
within classes and provide well-targeted help. Most children are
becoming effective contributors, and in some classes they work very
well with each other in pairs and trios. These children discuss their
learning with enthusiasm and help each other when they have
difficulties. A recent change to homework means that children have
regular and varied homework. For example, children in P6 made
impressive space stations and rockets as part of their topic on the
“Solar System” at home and then shared their efforts with others in
class.
4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s
learning?
Staff have formed helpful partnerships with a range of agencies to help
children improve their learning. The speech and language therapist,
the educational psychologist and English as an additional language
teacher provide staff with helpful information and work directly with
children to help them make good progress. The school communicates
regularly with parents through newsletters, its website, parents’
evenings and an annual written progress report. The acting
headteacher has plans to further improve communication with parents.
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Nursery children take part in appropriate activities in the school which
helps them move into P1. Closer links between the experiences in
nursery and P1 are developing to build on children’s learning better
and ensure they continue to develop their independence and
confidence. Children at P7 are well supported through several events
and meetings when transferring to Boroughmuir High School.
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their
school community?
Children enjoy taking responsibility across the school. Older children
speak enthusiastically about how house captains are chosen and feel
that this is fair system. Children are actively involved in health
promotion and are working towards their silver health promotion
award. There is an effective buddy system to encourage children to
be tolerant and supportive of each other. Children feel they have good
opportunities to share their concerns confidentially through the “voice
box” in each class. Parents are usually consulted about changes to
school policies but they would like to have a clearer role in the decision
making process. They would welcome the opportunity to be consulted
more about their children’s learning. The recent school website is
popular and is providing an alternative route of communication for
parents. Teachers are beginning to share good practice with each
other to improve children’s learning experiences. The acting
headteacher has established a system for staff to visit classes to
discuss ways to improve children’s experiences. Staff now need to
use more effectively guidance developed nationally on school
self-evaluation to assist them in identifying the school’s strengths and
weaknesses. The senior management team are now more involved in
monitoring practice and suggesting how staff can improve their
teaching to help children make better progress.
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6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
Children are very proud of their school. They are encouraged to be
kind and considerate to each other. If concerns are raised senior
management work with children, staff and parents to help develop
appropriate attitudes both in and out of school. The school
successfully celebrates children’s achievements at assemblies,
through wall displays and in newsletters. Religious observance is a
feature of assemblies and in class. All staff are aware of their
responsibilities to keep children safe and well, including a good
understanding of child protection procedures. The school takes
appropriate action if children are absent from school without
explanation. Children enjoy being at school but some say they find the
work too easy. Teachers require to increase their expectations of
children’s learning which would improve children’s attainment. They
should involve children more in understanding what they need to do to
improve their work and take more responsibility for their learning.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
Under the management of the acting headteacher, the school has a
clear sense of direction. The school has had a lack of consistency in
staffing over a long period of time which the acting headteacher is
addressing appropriately with the support of the education authority.
These changes of staff mean that tracking of children’s progress in
learning has not been maintained at a sufficiently robust level. The
acting headteacher has recognised this and has made substantial
improvements in learning, teaching and tracking of children’s
attainment. The senior management team, working with staff, are
improving children’s experiences. For example, staff receive valuable
comments which in turn allows them to adapt their plans for children’s
learning. Opportunities have increased for staff to discuss children’s
progress in their class and regular classroom visits are in place to help
improve teaching. These encouraging improvements are resulting in
children making better progress in learning. The acting headteacher is
ably assisted both by the depute headteacher and principal teacher,
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who carry out their responsibilities well. All staff are very committed to
the nursery and school. They have been involved and consulted in
deciding the priorities for the school’s improvement plan. They are
enthusiastic and are willing to take forward initiatives within the
improvement plan in different working groups.
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 following this inspection. The
school and the education authority will inform parents about the
school’s progress in improving the quality of education.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Raise attainment in English language and mathematics and
provide learning activities at the correct level to challenge all
children.
•
Develop children’s skills as independent learners.
•
Involve all staff in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the
school and nursery class and in planning for improvement.
At the last Care Commission inspection of the nursery class there
were three requirements. These related to safe recruitment
procedures by the local authority. The authority had addressed all
three.
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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 Buckstone Primary School and Nursery
Class.
Primary school
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
good
very good
good
Nursery class
Improvements in performance
Children’s experiences
Meeting learning needs
good
very 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: Elizabeth Paterson
24 February 2009
9
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