15 May 2012
Dear Parent/Carer
Robert Smillie Memorial 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 children’s involvement in the school’s masterclasses, the benefits to
children through their involvement in Rights Respecting Schools, and the
approaches taken to support children and their families. 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?
Across the nursery and primary classes children are learning well. They are
enthusiastic about their learning. They are treated with fairness and respect. The
nurturing ethos helps children make good progress in their learning. In the nursery
children get on well with each other. They are beginning to be involved in planning
their learning. In the primary classes, children talk knowledgeably about anti-bullying
issues including reasons why people bully others. They are confident that if they
have concerns about how they are treated then these would be taken very seriously
by staff. Children at P1 to P3 work very independently during a wide range of
motivating experiences. The school is developing a more consistent approach to
involving children more in their learning with the older classes. It is also looking at
ways to give more children opportunities to be active in the life of the school.
Across the nursery and primary classes, children make good progress in English
language, literacy, mathematics and numeracy. In the nursery class, most children
speak confidently and are learning to take turns. They are beginning to show an
interest in developing their skills in writing. Children’s early writing skills could be
developed further. In mathematics and numeracy, they know the names of shapes
and can sort them with confidence. A few children can count beyond ten and
recognise numbers. In the primary classes children talk confidently, read fluently
and most apply their writing skills well in different areas of the curriculum. Across the
school children need to develop a deeper understanding about what they have read.
Staff now need to build on these approaches to improve children’s progress further.
Education Scotland
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Gallowgate
Aberdeen
AB10 1LQ
T
01224 642544
F
01224 625370
E aberdeen@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
Textphone 01506 600236
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www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Transforming lives through learning
Across the nursery and primary classes successes are celebrated widely. Older
children take their responsibilities as Rights Respecting Ambassadors and
membership of the pupil council very seriously. An area of innovation in children’s
learning is in information communications and technology, where children at P7
know about and can create quick response codes to access the Internet. Staff are
aware of the need to ensure children benefit from experiences of a very high quality
across all areas of their learning.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
Nursery and primary school staff support children well and know their particular
circumstances very well. In both the nursery and primary classes, staff plan tasks
and activities that help children make appropriate progress in their learning. The
school has well established approaches for children needing additional help with
their learning. Children are identified early and receive well-targeted support. For
example, ’Jigsaw House’ is a support service for children and families across the
authority. Children using the service learn in a nurturing environment and make very
good progress in their emotional development. The curriculum is broad and there
are examples of well-planned learning experiences of a high quality. Staff develop
children’s talents well through masterclasses which give access to specialist
teaching. There is a clear focus on developing children’s health and wellbeing.
Increasingly, staff plan well opportunities for developing children’s skills in literacy
and numeracy across their learning. The school needs to develop further this work
and the progression of skills across all areas of the curriculum. In doing so, further
use needs to be made of Curriculum for Excellence to help improve the curriculum in
all aspects. Staff need to ensure they make best use of available time before
intervals for children to learn.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
We are confident the school will continue to improve. Staff are enthusiastic and
learn very well from each other. They are committed to helping all children achieve
the best they can. Staff know the school well and together reflect on how it can
improve further. There are many approaches in place which look closely at the work
of the school. There is a need to make sure these approaches lead to a consistency
in standards across the school and in the nursery class. The headteacher is caring
and has led many important changes in the school. Her leadership has brought
about a positive ethos and significant changes to the behaviour of children. There is
a need to continue to develop the leadership roles of children and staff across the
school and in the nursery class.
This inspection of your school and nursery class found the following key strengths.
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Children’s motivation to learn.
The care and welfare of children through a nurturing learning environment.
The support given to vulnerable children and their families.
The teamwork of all staff and the way they learn from each other.
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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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Develop further children’s leadership roles across the nursery and in the primary
classes.
Further improve children’s progress in learning and achievement in all areas.
Continue to develop the curriculum taking full account of the principles of
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.
Elizabeth C Cole
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.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/school/primsec/Ro
bertSmillieMemorialPrimarySchoolSouthLanarkshire.asp.
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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