Education Scotland
Foghlam Alba
Education Scotland, T1 Saughton House, Broomhouse Drive, Edinburgh EH11 3XD
t 0131 244 8293
f 0131 244 8424
Textphone 01506 600236
e edinburgh@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
w www.educationscotland.gov.uk
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28 February 2012
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Dear Parent/Carer
St Leonard’s Primary School and Nursery Class
South Lanarkshire Council
Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I visited and inspected your child’s school.
Throughout our visit, we talked to many parents and children and we worked closely with the
headteacher and staff. We wanted to find out how well children were learning and achieving
and how well the school supported 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 how children and staff are improving the school . Also,
we looked at the effectiveness of partnerships with parents and agencies which support
children’s learning. As a result, we were able to find out how good the school was at
improving children’s education. I would now like to tell you what we found.
How well do children learn and achieve?
At the nursery and primary stages, children are very motivated and enthusiastic in learning. In
the nursery, almost all engage fully in activities which they choose for themselves. Children
are consulted regularly by staff and make decisions about what they want to learn. They
learn well outdoors including, for example, to explore aspects of science. At the primary
stages, children engage in learning confidently and are given responsibility for many aspects
of their learning. They work very well with each other, learning through discussion and
problem-solving approaches. Tasks and activities are well designed to encourage and
support children to work things out for themselves. Children are confident in talking about
how well they are doing and what they need to do to make further progress. The school has
recently introduced ‘Friday Circles’ which enable all children in the school to put forward their
views as part of small groups. The children feel, justifiably, that their views and opinions are
sought and acted upon. P6 and P7 children take responsibility for chairing these groups and
gathering the information. Children work very closely with the local parish and community
and participate confidently in a range of local events, such as monthly masses and the school
show. Their achievements within and outwith school are celebrated regularly at assemblies.
Children are achieving very well. At the nursery stage, they listen well to stories and sing
songs enthusiastically to help develop their language, extend vocabulary and identify rhyme.
They are developing an awareness of letter names and sounds and a few choose to write.
Children’s knowledge of early number is progressing well and most can sort, sequence and
match items according to size, shape and colour. At the primary stages, children are making
very good progress in English language and mathematics. In listening and talking, almost all
children are confident in their ability to interact with others. Younger children are reading with
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appropriate fluency and understanding. At the upper stages, children talk with enthusiasm
about their favourite authors and provide reasons to support their choices. Across the school,
children read a wide variety of genre. The school’s approach to improving writing has been
most effective and children’s ability to write accurately and descriptively has been increased.
At all stages, children write successfully and very well for a variety of purposes. In
mathematics, activities linked to real-life contexts, including financial aspects, give children an
understanding of its application in everyday life. Active learning approaches linked to topic
work reinforce and consolidate children’s mathematics work well. Across all stages,
children’s problem solving skills are developing successfully. Children are making very good
progress in a number of other areas of their learning.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
Across the school, staff support your children very well to develop and learn. In the nursery
class, staff are responsive to children’s interests and adapt activities appropriately. In the
primary classes, teachers plan tasks and activities that challenge children well in varied and
stimulating ways. Support assistants are well deployed and play an important and very
effective role in supporting individuals and groups of children. Staff value parents’
involvement in their children’s learning and actively encourage it in a variety of effective ways.
The school has established very good partnership working with parents, support teachers,
agencies and organisations to ensure the right types of support for children and families.
Children who require additional support with their learning are very well supported and are
progressing well. Across the school, staff have used Curriculum for Excellence very
effectively to improve many programmes and learning approaches. As a result, children
receive a broad and balanced curriculum which increases their knowledge and understanding
and develops their skills. Teachers have developed topics that make strong links across
curricular areas very successfully. These topics and other learning activities contribute
effectively to the school’s stimulating ethos. The school has very well-developed pastoral and
curricular arrangements to support children as they move from nursery to the primary and
then to secondary school.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
All staff are improving continually the quality of their work and children’s learning experiences
in a consistent way. The headteacher has a very clear vision for improving the school and
has shared it very well with parents, staff, children and the community. Through his highquality leadership, he has developed an ethos which has enabled the quality of learning
experiences and teaching approaches to be improved consistently. All staff reflect on their
work and review practice, including by sharing their work with each other, to promote highquality teaching and continuity and progression in children’s learning. The headteacher,
depute head and principal teachers regularly visit classes to evaluate learning and give
helpful feedback to staff. They hold regular meetings with staff to ensure that children are
making appropriate progress. Children discuss regularly their progress with their teachers.
This helps them to identify how to improve their learning. The headteacher has asked
parents, staff and children for their views of the school and has used their comments to inform
the school improvement plan and to help the school improve.
This inspection of your school and nursery class found the following key strengths.
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Well-behaved, confident and motivated children.
The inclusive, nurturing ethos built on gospel values.
Children’s continuous progress in learning and achievements.
Strong teamwork of all staff and their successful partnerships with parents, agencies, the
parish and local community.
The impact of headteacher’s leadership on developing high-quality learning experiences.
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We discussed with staff and the education authority how they might continue to improve the
school and nursery class. This is what we agreed with them.
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Continue to develop further the curriculum by applying Curriculum for Excellence.
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
visits in connection with this inspection. The local authority will inform parents about the
school’s progress as part of the authority’s arrangements for reporting to parents on the
quality of its schools.
Hakim Din
HM Inspector
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.hmie.gov.uk/ViewEstablishment.aspx?id=7266&type=2
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example,
in a translation. You can contact us at enquiries@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to us
at BMCT, Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale
Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact 01506
600200, or write to us at the above address or e-mail:
feedback@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk.
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