Banff Primary School
Aberdeenshire Council
22 January 2008

3. Progress towards meeting the main points for action
4. Conclusion
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HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published a report on the inspection of
Banff Primary School in December 2006. The report indicated that HM Inspectors would engage with the school and the education authority in monitoring progress and would publish an interim report within one year of the publication of the original report.
Working with the school, the education authority prepared an action plan indicating how they would address the main points for action identified in the original HMIE inspection report.
HM Inspectors carried out an interim follow-through visit to the school in October 2007. The team assessed the extent to which the school was continuing to improve the quality of its work, and evaluated progress made in responding to the main points for action in the initial report.
Education authority officers had provided valuable support to the school since
December 2006. They had worked closely with staff on a range of activities designed to improve the school’s capacity for improvement, including staff development on the teaching of aspects of English language and mathematics. As a result, teachers were extending their teaching approaches and improving the quality of pupils’ learning experiences. There had been significant staff changes at senior management level. Immediately after the inspection an acting depute headteacher had been appointed. The headteacher’s post was filled on a short-term temporary basis by an acting headteacher. Two additional acting depute headteachers had been appointed to cover the depute headteacher’s post. In the current session the school had three newly qualified teachers. Following the period of staff changes, the senior management team were working well together again to take forward the action plan.
The school continued to give very good attention to pupils’ care and welfare and provided good support for families. Staff continued to improve the school grounds as a learning resource. They made effective use of the local environment to promote pupils’ wider achievements and further improve pupils’ health and well being. For example, the school had now gained a silver Eco School award and the arrangements for health promotion were highly praised by the Health Promoting Schools Unit. The school had developed further its links with parents, particularly with the development of classes for parents for whom English was an additional language. In partnership with Banff and Buchan College a significant number of parents benefited from a range of classes held during school hours. They were able to improve their computing skills and learn about nutrition.
The initial inspection report published in December 2006 identified five main points for action. This section evaluates the progress made with each of the action points and the resulting improvements for pupils and other stakeholders.
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3.1 Improve pupils’ attainment in English language and mathematics.
Overall, the school was working well to address this main point for action. Staff had taken a number of important steps to improve pupils’ attainment. However, it was too early to fully evaluate the impact that these approaches were having on pupils’ attainment across the school.
There were signs of some slight improvement in pupils’ attainment in writing and mathematics. However, there had been a slight decline in pupils’ attainment in reading.
By P3, most pupils were achieving national levels in mathematics and writing. Just over half of P7 pupils reached national levels of attainment in mathematics. The headteacher had started to track pupils’ progress in reading, writing and mathematics and discuss pupils’ progress more regularly with staff. Staff were making good use of new resources which had been purchased to improve the teaching of mathematical problem solving and English language comprehension. The acting depute headteacher had visited other schools to observe effective teaching practice and resources. Teachers had reviewed the teaching of English language and mathematics to increase the focus on raising standards of attainment. Teachers had made a good start to involving pupils more actively in their learning. Although some pupils were achieving national levels of attainment earlier than before, the headteacher should continue to work with staff to ensure that approaches used to track pupils’ progress will lead to further improvements in pupils’ attainment.
3.2 Improve pupils’ continuity and progression in their learning.
The school was working well to address this main point for action.
There was greater continuity and progression in pupils’ learning. Teachers had revised aspects of the programmes for English language and problem solving. Staff had been successful in improving arrangements to transfer information about individual pupils to ensure continuity in their learning. A new personal profile had been developed and pupils were now involved in selecting samples of their work for inclusion in their portfolio.
Induction arrangements for pupils moving from the nursery to P1 have been extended and were to be further enhanced in the following session. Staff were aware of the need to make more effective use of transition information when planning learning experiences for children in P1. The school had consulted parents on the development of a whole school policy on homework.
3.3 Improve the pace of learning and level of challenge in tasks and activities.
With support from the education authority teachers had begun to take steps to address this main point for action.
All teachers had taken part in staff development activities to improve aspects of learning and teaching. Teachers were keen to be involved in sharing good practice with each other and some had been involved in visits to observe examples of good teaching. They were now using a wider range of approaches and had begun to involve pupils more in evaluating their own work and the work of others. Teachers continued to share with pupils the purposes of lessons and what they expected them to learn. However, the pace of learning still varied
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across class groups and there was still some over-reliance on textbook activities. The headteacher should continue to work with staff to ensure further improvement in the pace and challenge in pupils’ learning. All pupils were not yet involved in setting targets for the next steps in their learning.
3.4 Increase opportunities for pupils to be actively involved in their learning.
With support from the education authority teachers had begun to take steps to address this main point for action.
Teachers had benefited from professional development activities designed to enhance their teaching skills. As a result, pupils had started to benefit from more opportunities to be actively involved in their learning. Senior pupils organised an enterprise activity involving a considerable number of local businesses. They invited business representatives to a lunch and pupils took part in meaningful discussions about the world of work. Through a range of enterprise and citizenship projects pupils at all stages had improved their knowledge of recycling and sustainability and improved their skills in working together in a team. Teachers had begun to involve pupils in personal learning planning. At the upper stages pupils had some experience of setting and evaluating their own learning targets in mathematics.
3.5 Improve approaches to monitoring and evaluating pupils’ attainment, learning and teaching.
The school had taken appropriate steps to begin to address this main point for action.
The headteacher had introduced an increased range of approaches to monitor and evaluate pupils’ progress and attainment and the quality of teaching and learning. She checked pupils’ jotters and teachers’ forward plans, provided written feedback and had undertaken some observation of learning and teaching. The feedback had helped staff to reflect on the quality of learning experiences they provided for their pupils. However, these arrangements were not yet sufficiently systematic and rigorous. More remained to be done to ensure further improvements in pupils’ attainment and in the overall quality of learning and teaching.
The school and education authority had made a promising start to meeting the main points for action in the inspection report of December 2006. They had taken a number of important steps to address aspects of all of the main points for action and more improvements were planned. Further work remained to be done to improve pupils’ attainment and ensure that all pupils made appropriate progress. The headteacher, working with staff and with the support of the education authority had the capacity to improve the school further. HMIE will continue to engage with the school and education authority and will provide another report on progress for parents and carers within one year of the publication of this report.
Marion Burns
HM Inspector
22 January 2008
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If you would like an additional copy of this report
Copies of this report have been sent to the headteacher and school staff, the Director of
Education and Recreation, local councillors and appropriate Members of the
Scottish Parliament. Subject to availability, further copies may be obtained free of charge from HM Inspectorate of Education, Greyfriars House, Gallowgate, Aberdeen AB10 1LQ or by telephoning 01224 642544. Copies are also available on our website: www.hmie.gov.uk.
HMIE Feedback and Complaints Procedure
Should you wish to comment on any aspect of follow-through inspections, you should write in the first instance to Annette Bruton, HMCI, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House,
Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
If you have a concern about this report, you should write in the first instance to our
Complaints Manager, HMIE Business Management and Communications Team, Second
Floor, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA. You can also e-mail HMIEcomplaints@hmie.gsi.gov.uk. A copy of our complaints procedure is available from this office, by telephoning 01506 600200 or from our website at www.hmie.gov.uk.
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 the 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: www.spso.org.uk.
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HM Inspectorate of Education
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