13 May 2014
Dear Parent/Carer
Aitkenbar Primary School
West Dunbartonshire 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 worked closely with the headteacher
and staff. We wanted to find out how well children are learning and achieving and how
well the school supports children 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 the rich learning experiences,
approaches to numeracy and the ethos and life of the school. As a result, we were
able to find out how good the school is at improving children’s education.
How well do children learn and achieve?
We found that children are thriving at school and are immensely proud of everything
they are achieving. We saw in every class children who are motivated and determined
to do well. Children told us they feel valued, respected and encouraged to achieve
things they thought they could not do. As a result, children treat each other with high
levels of respect and behave very well. In class, children work together in groups
purposefully and respond enthusiastically to the brisk pace in learning set by their
teachers. Children enjoy their lessons and say that active approaches by teachers
help them use their initiative and learn better. They use pieces of their work and their
learning journals to talk with teachers about what they do well and how they can
continue to improve. Through action groups such as the ‘Events’, ‘Newsletter’, and
‘Display’ groups, children show the story of their learning experiences very attractively
around the school, in local newspapers and write their own newsletters to share these
experiences with each other. Children, through their considerable achievements,
make an outstandingly positive contribution within their school and local community.
They have achieved significant sporting success, for example, in rugby, football and
netball. Children have a good understanding of how to protect their environment. The
‘Eco’ and ‘Gardening’ groups have harvested their own vegetables and have attained
two Eco-Schools Scotland green flags.
Children are making very good progress in literacy and numeracy and staff can
demonstrate the added value the school makes to children’s progress as they move
from P1 to P7. Children talk with confidence for a wide variety of very worthwhile
purposes. The rich contexts for learning through, for example, play and drama help
children gain and improve their vocabulary and inspire them to write engaging stories.
The ‘Library’ and ‘Scotland’ action groups and the ‘Culture Vultures’ all help children
Education Scotland
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Transforming lives through learning
engage with a wide variety of books and other reading materials to improve their
reading and research skills. The school is taking forward a new approach to improving
children’s numeracy skills. We saw that this is working well. Children are very positive
about their successes and feel their ability to do calculations mentally and on paper
has improved. They also have a better understanding of financial education. Children
are gaining wide-ranging skills for life through their work in health and wellbeing. The
‘Healthy Hunters’ action group are helping to raise fitness levels in each class and the
Junior Road Safety Officers have improved safety around the school. Children show a
desire and commitment to be responsible citizens locally and globally. The ‘Charities’
group have coordinated food and gift collections for their own community and children
abroad.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
The values and ethos of the school place a high priority on knowing children and their
families. The school does this extremely well. Staff in all areas of the school
understand and demonstrate what they need to do to help children reach their
potential. They work with outside agencies very effectively to ensure children benefit
from the specialist help and advice they need to help them learn. Commendably, the
headteacher and principal teachers are instrumental in making sure solutions are
found so that all children can make the best progress. Support assistants work closely
with teachers and make a valuable contribution towards children’s wellbeing and
progress. The ‘Roots of Empathy’ project at P3 is building on children’s
self-awareness outstandingly well and is helping them develop their emotional
wellbeing. All staff provide well-structured, engaging lessons and activities which are
set at the right level of challenge. They make well-planned use of the indoor and
outdoor environments, for example Overtoun Estate, to provide children with a variety
of exciting, relevant experiences to enhance their wellbeing and help them learn in
new ways. The school is successful in providing a curriculum which reflects the needs
of the local community and is designed to provide children with the skills they need to
be successful in life. Skills in health and wellbeing, literacy and numeracy are at the
heart of the curriculum. Staff are very creative in the way they design learning
experiences which take account of children’s ideas and use people and places within
the community. Many children, as part of school life, experience outdoor environments
and visits to local facilities such as the swimming pool and library for the first time.
Children took part in a residential visit to Ardlui and others worked with the BBC to
make a short film. As a result, they are more resilient and have gained skills in using
technology. Staff work tirelessly, using guidance within Curriculum for Excellence, to
continue to develop programmes of learning activities which are fresh, relevant and
enable children to build on their knowledge and understanding. The school works
cooperatively with local nurseries and Dumbarton Academy to ensure arrangements
for transitions meet children’s pastoral and learning needs. Children at P7 are
benefiting from the developing, shared work taking place between the school and
subject departments at Dumbarton Academy, for example, in mathematics and the
French Café.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The school’s approaches to evaluating its own work are successfully driving
continuous improvement. Staff are rigorous in their approach to sharing effective
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learning and teaching strategies with each other. Almost all staff have been at the
school for a number of years. This allows them to use their knowledge and
understanding of children and families to help children overcome barriers they may be
experiencing whilst they are in school. Staff are proactive in seeking children’s views
and ideas through the numerous action groups including the pupil council. Children
agree that they have a strong voice across the school and talk about the difference
they make for each other. The Parent Council works closely with the school and
supports all initiatives and events. It is working with the headteacher to look for
different ways to encourage you and other parents to become more involved in your
child’s learning and in the life of the school. The headteacher provides calm,
measured leadership within the school and community. She is ambitious for the
school and her aspirations for children are shared by all who work with her. She is
skilled at supporting children to overcome the challenges they face. Her principal
teachers go beyond their remits to improve the outcomes for children, in particular,
where children need extra help to succeed. The school has strong capacity to
continue to improve, and to help other schools improve by sharing its highly effective
practice.
This inspection found the following key strengths.
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Children who are ambitious for themselves and each other.
The energy and commitment of all staff to ensure the best outcomes for children
and improve their life chances.
The work of the school in engaging a wide range of partners to provide valued
support and stimulating learning experiences for children.
The work of the principal teachers and the teamwork of staff to create rich learning
experiences and meet the learning needs of children in every classroom.
Leadership of the headteacher.
We discussed with staff and West Dunbartonshire Council how they might continue to
improve the school. This is what we agreed with them.

Continue to build on the curriculum through the school’s own identified
improvement plans.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
We are satisfied with the overall quality of provision. We are confident that the
school’s self-evaluation processes are leading to improvements. As a result, we will
make no further evaluative visits in connection with this inspection. During the
inspection, we identified an aspect of innovative practice which we would like to
explore further in order to share the practice with others. As a result we will work with
the school and West Dunbartonshire Council in order to record and share more widely
the innovative practice.
Shona ES Taylor
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/Aitke
nbarPrimarySchoolWestDunbartonshire.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 0141 282 5000, 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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