St Louise Primary School
East Kilbride
South Lanarkshire Council
25 August 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.
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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
St Louise Primary School is a denominational school. It serves the
Murray and Whitehills area of East Kilbride. The roll was 137 when
the inspection was carried out in May 2009. Children’s attendance
was in line with the national average in 2007/2008. Almost a quarter
of children (35) attend the school as a result of placing requests.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
The positive ethos and strong identity as a community of faith.
•
Children’s behaviour and enthusiasm for learning.
•
Children’s ability to work independently and effectively with others.
•
Staff contribution to improving learning for children.
•
The leadership of learning shown by the headteacher.
3. Examples of good practice
•
The use of sound engineering to develop children’s skills in music.
•
Learning about Africa and children’s rights.
•
Using the school website to support children’s learning.
4. How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
In all classes children are highly motivated. They enjoy and respond
very well to valuable opportunities to be independent and make
decisions about their learning. Children work very well together in
pairs and groups. They are confident when reviewing their own and
others’ progress towards learning targets. Children know their
strengths as learners and what they need to do to improve.
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Children are extending their interests in learning through a varied
range of experiences. Their skills in enterprise education are
developing well through organising events and using their imagination
to reach solutions. Learning about Africa has enabled children to
compare their lives with those in another country. They now
understand the importance of children’s rights. Their efforts have been
recognised nationally on the BBC programme Newsround. They
develop their skills in physical education well through an extensive
range of activities including golf, badminton and basketball.
In recent years, the school has maintained high levels of attainment in
English language and mathematics. Almost all children achieve
appropriate national levels of attainment. A significant number achieve
expected levels early. Overall, children are making very good
progress in listening and talking, reading and mathematics. Overall
they are making good progress in writing. In English language, almost
all children listen well. They can express their views clearly and with
confidence. They talk knowledgeably about books they have read.
Children in P6 talk skilfully about their listening skills in music. Most
children read with fluency and can select appropriate information from
text they are reading. At the early stages children write very well for a
range of purposes. Across the school most use descriptions well and
create well-structured pieces of writing. Older children need
increasing opportunities to write at length. In mathematics by P7,
children are accurate in written calculations involving number and can
estimate measurements accurately. Most demonstrate appropriate
skills in mental calculations and a few are highly skilled. They have a
very good knowledge of the properties of shapes. Children are less
confident of strategies to solve problems and how to apply these in a
range of contexts.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
Children enjoy a broad curriculum which develops their skills in key
curricular areas. Staff are developing well the curriculum in line with
the national initiative Curriculum for Excellence. They plan useful
opportunities to link children’s learning and develop numeracy and
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literacy skills across the curriculum. Across many areas of the
curriculum, children benefit from many relevant and up-to-date
learning experiences. For example, staff focus on famous people
children know from the media to help children learn about equalities.
Well-planned activities develop children’s skills in information and
communications technology (ICT) well. The school makes suitable
use of the grounds to help ensure children receive two hours of quality
physical education each week.
Across the school, staff know the children and their families very well.
Staff adapt tasks and activities well to meet the needs of most
children. Staff often interact well in a range of creative activities to
engage children and extend their learning. For example, in
mathematics, children at P5 used construction kits and their
imaginations to explore their understanding of three-dimensional
shapes. Sometimes tasks are too easy for some children to progress
in line with their potential. Children who require additional support with
their learning are identified early and their needs are well met. All
children contribute to their own learning and work well together to
achieve success. Teachers give clear explanations and use questions
to check children’s understanding. They are less effective in using
questions to extend children’s thinking skills. A variety of homework
tasks are regularly set.
5. How well do staff work with others to support children’s
learning?
The school works closely with the active Parent Council in a number of
ways, including many worthwhile fundraising events. Parents are
pleased with the work of the school and complaints are handled
appropriately. Close links with the learning community, external
educational support agencies, the parish priest and local businesses
help improve the quality of children’s learning experiences. Parents
are consulted about sensitive health issues. They receive a range of
information about the work of the school through newsletters and
curriculum information leaflets. The well-used interactive website
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helps parents to be more involved in their child’s learning. It provides
current information including weekly updates on individual class tasks.
There are appropriate arrangements in place for children transferring
from nursery to P1. The school works effectively with staff from
St Andrew’s and St Bride’s secondary school to support progression in
learning from P7 to S1.
6. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their
school community?
Older children have a range of opportunities to lead and take on
responsibilities. They lead assemblies, act as buddies for younger
children and are members of school committees, including focus
groups about learning experiences. Children feel the pupil council is
good at helping make improvements. They are proud of the
Eco-Schools Scotland silver award and the difference they are making
to the school grounds. The commitment and teamwork of all staff to
improve learning for children is outstanding. They create a positive
friendly climate which is productive and focused on success for the
children. They regularly take part in many purposeful activities to
improve their work. Together teachers frequently look at their own and
others’ teaching and make important changes to improve learners’
experiences. They gather children’s views about their learning and
use this information well to review approaches across the school.
They work very well together to share effective practice within their
own school and schools in the learning partnership. These very
effective approaches to self-evaluation bring about improvements in
learning and achievement for all children.
7. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
Staff have very positive relationships with children and each other.
They have high expectations of attendance and behaviour.
Appropriate arrangements are in place for protecting children. The
headteacher knows children and their families very well. Staff have
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appropriate expectations of what most children can achieve. Almost
all children feel safe and well cared for. They feel their views are
listened to and valued. Children are very well behaved, supportive of
each other and very proud of their school. The school has appropriate
anti-bullying approaches. Children know that healthy lifestyles are
important. They speak confidently and with understanding of different
cultures and beliefs. Users with restricted mobility can access almost
all areas of the school
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher is very well organised, supportive and is held in high
regard by parents, staff and children. Through her successful
leadership she has created a community where everyone learns
together. She has a clear vision for the future direction of the school.
The principal teacher is very supportive of the headteacher and
manages her remit effectively. Her teaching is a model of good
practice. Together they encourage staff and children to lead a number
of projects which benefit the whole school community. With the
continuing support of the education authority the school is well placed
to build on its many strengths and continue to improve.
9. What happens next?
The school’s self-evaluation is leading to improvements in
children’s learning. As a result, the inspection team was able to
change its focus during the inspection to help the school plan to
improve even more. There is a very good quality of education
provided by the school and HMIE will make no further visits
following this inspection. The education 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.
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We have agreed the following area for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Build on existing best practice to ensure that all children
consistently make progress in their learning in line with their
potential.
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 St Louise Primary School.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
very good
very good
good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Elizabeth C Cole
25 August 2009
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very good
very good
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