Oakgrove Primary School
St George’s Cross
Glasgow City Council
2 September 2008
Contents
Page
1. Background
1
2. Key strengths
1
3. What are the views of parents, pupils and staff?
1
4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?
2
5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?
4
6. How good is the environment for learning?
5
7. Leading and improving the school
7
Appendix 1 Indicators of quality
9
Appendix 2 Summary of questionnaire responses
10
Appendix 3 Good Practice
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How can you contact us?
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1. Background
Oakgrove Primary School was inspected in May 2008 as part of a national sample of
primary education. The inspection covered key aspects of the work of the school at all
stages. It evaluated pupils’ achievements, the effectiveness of the school, the
environment for learning, the school’s processes for self-evaluation and innovation, and
its capacity for improvement. There was a particular focus on attainment in English
language and mathematics.
HM Inspectors examined pupils’ work and interviewed groups of pupils, including the
pupil council, and staff. Members of the inspection team also met the chairperson of
the Parent Council, representatives of the parent-teacher association (PTA) and a group
of parents 1.
The school serves an area to the north-west of Glasgow city centre. At the time of the
inspection the roll was 131. The proportion of pupils who were entitled to free school
meals was well above the national average. Pupils’ attendance was below the national
average. The headteacher had taken up post in the present school session. The school
shared the campus with a Primary Bilingual Support Unit. The work of this unit did
not form part of this inspection.
2. Key strengths
HM Inspectors identified the following key strengths.
•
The positive start made by the headteacher, and the commitment of all staff to
improving the school.
•
The overall quality of teaching for effective learning.
•
Pupils’ high levels of commitment and engagement with their learning.
•
Productive partnerships with community and business partners and with
parents.
•
The very caring ethos and staff concern for pupils’ welfare.
3. What are the views of parents, pupils and staff?
HM Inspectors analysed responses to questionnaires issued to a sample of parents, P4
to P7 pupils, and to all staff. Information about the responses to the questionnaires
appears in Appendix 2.
1
Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and
carers who are relatives or friends.
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Overall, parents were very satisfied with the work of the school and thought their
children enjoyed being at school and were treated fairly. They thought school reports
gave them helpful information about their children’s progress and that staff made them
feel welcome. Parents and staff thought that there was mutual respect between teachers
and pupils, and that all staff showed concern for pupils’ care and welfare. Pupils spoke
highly of staff and thought teachers were good at letting them know how their learning
could be improved. Almost all reported they enjoyed being at school. They felt that
their teachers knew them well, and liked the opportunities to take part in after-school
clubs and activities. Staff enjoyed working in the school and thought they worked hard
to promote and maintain good relationships with the local community. All staff
thought that pupils were enthusiastic about learning, and that teachers ensured pupils
received constructive feedback about their work. A minority of teachers thought that
communication among staff could be more effective. Around half of the teaching staff
thought that senior managers could operate more effectively as a team.
4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?
Learners’ experiences
The overall quality of the curriculum was good. Its breadth enabled pupils to develop a
wide range of knowledge and skills. Clear curricular programmes promoted
progression in pupils’ learning across most areas of the curriculum. Further
development was required in some aspects of expressive arts. Personal and social
development was well embedded across the school. At the early stages, pupils were
involved in increasingly active approaches to learning, ensuring continuity in approach
from nursery to P1. At all stages, pupils had well-planned opportunities to develop
skills in enterprise education. They had regular opportunities to learn using
information and communications technology (ICT). The school was making good
progress towards providing all pupils with two hours of quality physical education each
week. Teachers were beginning to provide good opportunities for cross-curricular
work. They needed to ensure that all such activities built more effectively on pupils’
prior learning. The quality of teaching was very good overall. All teachers shared the
purposes of lessons and reviewed what pupils had learned. They explained clearly
what pupils had to do to succeed, and gave very helpful written and oral feedback on
pupils’ work. They used questioning very well to check pupils’ understanding of what
they were learning and to extend pupils’ thinking. Pupils at the early stages were using
ICT to learn about sentence building and word order in English language.
Overall, the quality of pupils’ learning experiences was very good. Pupils were
enthusiastic and very well motivated, particularly when they worked together in pairs
or larger groups, for example learning about planets in environmental studies. Across
the school, pupils were developing a range of skills as learners. They could make
helpful and accurate comments on their own and their classmates’ learning in a number
of areas, including in physical education. At the early stages, pupils showed that they
could check their own work and correct mistakes. Within and beyond the classroom,
all pupils were developing skills as responsible citizens and effective contributors,
particularly in the context of their enterprise activities. Pupils had planned and
undertaken a range of events which had developed their understanding of business
skills. They presented lively and informative reports on their learning in these and
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other contexts. This included when they learned out-of-doors, both within the school
grounds and on residential visits.
Improvements in performance
Improvements in the school’s performance were good overall. Pupils’ attainment in
English language and mathematics had improved in recent years. Across the
curriculum, most pupils were making good progress in their learning from previous
levels of attainment.
In English language, standards of attainment were good. In recent years, attainment
had improved, with a majority of pupils achieving appropriate national levels in
reading and in writing and most in talking and listening. Pupils with additional support
needs were making good progress in their learning. Across the school, most pupils
were developing confidence in talking and listening in a range of situations, for
example in class and group discussion, and delivering well-paced and expressive
formal talks. Pupils at all stages were well supported in developing their skills in
writing accurately for a range of purposes. Across the school, most pupils were making
good progress in reading. By P7, pupils could confidently recognise and discuss key
features of poetry, as well as prose, both fiction and non-fiction. Across the
curriculum, pupils could understand and use specialist vocabulary in context. For
example, they used the language of business in their enterprise activities and the names
of particular muscles in physical education. Teachers now needed to ensure that
writing tasks and activities, particularly at middle and upper stages were sufficiently
challenging. Overall, pupils presented their work carefully with appropriate attention
to punctuation and spelling.
In mathematics, standards of attainment were good. In recent years, attainment had
improved and most pupils achieved appropriate national levels. At the early stages, a
significant number attained these levels earlier than might normally be expected.
However, these gains were not always maintained as pupils progressed through the
school. Pupils with additional support needs were making good progress in their
learning. Across the school, pupils could interpret information from tables, graphs and
charts. By P7, pupils could confidently use ICT to organise and present information
using graphs. At the early stages, pupils were making a very good start to developing
their numeracy skills through active learning. Across the school, pupils demonstrated
good skills in performing written and mental calculations involving, number, money
and measurement. They were not always confident in written calculations involving
fractions and decimals. Pupils had a very good knowledge of two- and
three-dimensional shapes. They could identify a range of shapes and confidently
describe their properties. By P7, pupils had a sound understanding of angles and
bearings. Pupils at all stages were developing good skills in solving problems.
Environmental studies topic work did not always ensure systematic development of
pupils’ knowledge and skills. At P5, pupils were knowledgeable about some aspects of
the solar system. At P7, not all pupils were able to describe the principles of a fair test
in science experiments. Pupils at upper stages were making good progress in
developing athletic skills. At P3, pupils were beginning to develop their keyboard
skills using ICT in line with the school’s aim of helping pupils to acquire skills for life,
including future employment.
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The school was successfully enabling pupils to extend their learning and personal
development. At all stages, pupils were developing and displaying confidence as
learners. Pupils organised events to raise money for charity or ran their own businesses
through the school’s well-established programme of enterprise education. Their
achievements had been recognised by the education authority’s presentation of a
Diamond Award for enterprise in each of the last three school sessions. Pupils worked
well together on particular projects to develop their skills of planning and organising.
Through their collective efforts with their teachers, they had gained the Eco-Schools
Scotland Silver Award and achieved recognition as a Fair Trade school. Pupils had
visited another school to explain what they had done to gain Fair Trade status.
Participation in these activities had helped pupils develop their understanding of
important moral issues.
The school had made good progress in addressing the priorities within its improvement
plan. Staff had developed, as planned, approaches to assessing pupils’ social and
emotional development and opportunities for active learning in the early stages of
pupils’ education. These measures were helping pupils develop as independent
learners who were increasingly able to evaluate their own learning. Teachers were
developing their skills in using the newly-installed ICT interactive whiteboards to
engage learners, for example by using graphics and images. The school had made good
use of quality indicators developed nationally to assess its progress in meeting its
improvement targets for this session, and in identifying appropriate next steps for
further improvement. For example, the school was reviewing its approaches to
planning to improve further its tracking and monitoring of pupils’ progress.
5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?
The school’s arrangements for meeting pupils’ learning needs were good. In most lessons,
teachers provided appropriate learning activities. However, in a few lessons, tasks were not
always well matched to the learning needs of all pupils. The school had clear and
systematic arrangements in place for identifying pupils with additional support needs. A
‘seashore’ nurture room was successfully meeting pupils’ personal, social and emotional
needs. Additional support plans (ASPs) were in place for pupils who required them and
these were discussed with parents and pupils. A few pupils with ASPs did not have
appropriate short-term learning targets and progress was not always reviewed regularly
enough. Staff from partner agencies, together with visiting teachers, provided valuable
advice to staff. They effectively supported pupils with a range of additional needs,
including the very high proportion of pupils for whom English was an additional language.
Pupil support assistants worked effectively to support pupils.
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6. How good is the environment for learning?
Aspect
Comment
Care, welfare
and
development
Arrangements for pupils’ care, welfare and development
were very good. All staff knew pupils very well and were
sensitive and responsive to their needs. They were trained
in the school’s child protection procedures. The personal
and social development programme addressed relevant
issues, such as the prevention of bullying. There were
appropriate measures to ensure safe use of the Internet.
Pupils enjoyed the opportunities for socialising at the
well-attended breakfast club. The school had taken
effective steps to promote a healthy lifestyle through its
programme of after-school clubs and was further developing
playground activities along with the Primary Bilingual
Support Unit. Pupils agreed that the school helped them
keep safe and healthy. Enterprise activities were helping
pupils develop confidence and independence. Teachers
monitored absence carefully but needed to work with
parents to continue to improve pupils’ attendance. The
school had very effective arrangements for pupils’
transferring from nursery to P1 and from P7 to Hillhead
High School. Pupils for whom English was an additional
language were very well supported.
Management
and use of
resources and
space for
learning
Arrangements for the management and use of resources and
space for learning were good. Attractive displays of pupils’
work throughout the school provided a welcoming and
stimulating environment for learning. Specialist areas such
as the nurture room and ICT suite were well used to support
pupils’ learning and development. Teachers used the
school’s spacious garden grounds well for learning outdoors,
for example in mathematics and environmental studies. The
school used space shared with the Primary Bilingual Support
Unit to support closer links between the two. Staff had been
creative in using the school’s open plan teaching and
learning areas to help pupils learn independently and to
support pupils with particular learning needs. At times,
however, pupils’ lively engagement was potentially
distracting to pupils in adjacent classes. The building’s
security arrangements were appropriate. Access for users
with restricted mobility was also appropriate.
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6
Aspect
Comment
Climate and
relationships,
expectations
and promoting
achievement
and equality
and fairness
The climate for learning, relationships, and arrangements for
promoting achievement and equality and fairness, were all
very good. The collective commitment of parents, pupils
and staff to uphold the school’s four aims to Respect,
Nurture, Empower and Achieve was well reflected in, for
example, the themes of whole-school assemblies, the
content of the programme for personal and social
development and the many charitable fundraising activities.
Staff and parents shared high expectations of pupils’
behaviour and achievement. Adults and children were
attentive and responsive to each other. Staff had contributed
to the development of school policy across a range of areas
of its work. At all levels, staff fostered pupils’ personal and
social development through pupils’ involvement in the life
of the school. Achievement was promoted through public
celebration such as the school’s award of Fair Trade status.
Individual successes were recognised at assemblies as well
as being recorded in achievement folders for every pupil.
There were regular opportunities for religious observance
and the school promoted inclusion through its appropriate
arrangements for pupils of other faiths. The school was
further developing its approaches to promoting racial
equality and helping pupils recognise and tackle
discrimination.
The school’s
success in
involving
parents, carers
and families
The school had been very successful in involving parents,
carers and families. Parents were very satisfied with
arrangements for reporting their children’s progress. They
felt welcomed at school and thought that their views were
respected. The school had very effective procedures for
consulting with parents on sensitive issues, such as aspects
of health and physical education. It worked very closely
with the active Parent Council to promote understanding of,
and commitment to, the school’s core values. The PTA ably
supported the school. The visiting teacher of English as an
additional language held regular meetings for parents whose
first language was not English. Through these and other
meetings, the school was helping parents to support their
children’s learning. The school and the Parent Council were
consulting on further improvements to these very positive
initiatives.
7. Leading and improving the school
Appendix 1 provides HM Inspectors’ overall evaluation of the work of the school.
Oakgrove Primary School provided a good standard of education overall, although
there remained headroom for further improvement. Standards of attainment were good
and had improved in recent years. Several features of the school’s provision, such as
the quality of teaching and learning, its arrangements for care and welfare and its
outreach to parents were very good. The school’s very effective community
partnerships supported pupils’ learning in many areas of the curriculum. The school
was strongly placed to improve still further, through its good and improving approaches
to self-evaluation.
In the short time since taking up her post, the headteacher had provided good
leadership of improvement and change in the work of the school. In the course of her
first school session, she had taken forward the priorities identified in the previous
school improvement plan. She had led staff well in conducting a comprehensive
review of the work of the school. Staff had responded well to her open and
approachable leadership style. As a result, pupils, parents and staff felt included and
consulted and the school had identified appropriate priorities for improvement. The
two principal teachers provided good support to the headteacher. They were, for
example, working to further support and develop parents’ involvement with their
children’s education, and developing improved approaches to planning for effective
learning. The recently-formed senior management team was working to develop
increasingly effective teamwork in leading school improvement. The school’s
arrangements for evaluating its own work had important strengths. The headteacher
had observed learning and teaching across the school and gave teachers helpful written
feedback. She sampled pupils’ work and had met with pupils to talk about their
experiences of the school. Staff shared examples of good practice and contributed to
the school’s programme of continuing professional development.
Main points for action
The school and education authority should take action to improve arrangements to
better meet the needs of all learners. In doing so they should take account of the
need to:
•
review and develop aspects of the curriculum to ensure progressive
development of skills for all learners;
•
continue to improve, as planned, arrangements for monitoring and evaluating
the work of the school; and
•
continue to develop pupils’ skills in literacy and numeracy to further raise
attainment.
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What happens next?
The school and the education authority have been asked to prepare an action plan
indicating how they will address the main findings of the report, and to share that plan
with parents. Within two years of the publication of this report parents will be
informed about the progress made by the school.
Alistair Kirkwood
HM Inspector
2 September 2008
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Appendix 1 Indicators of quality
The sections in the table below follow the order in this report. You can find the main
comments made about each of the quality indicators in those sections. However,
aspects of some quality indicators are relevant to other sections of the report and may
also be mentioned in those other sections.
How good are learning, teaching and achievement?
The curriculum
Teaching for effective learning
Learners’ experiences
Improvements in performance
How well are pupils’ learning needs met?
Meeting learning needs
How good is the environment for learning?
Care, welfare and development
Management and use of resources and space for learning
The engagement of staff in the life and work of the school
Expectations and promoting achievement
Equality and fairness
The school’s success in involving parents, carers and
families
Leading and improving the school
Developing people and partnerships
Leadership of improvement and change (of the
headteacher)
Leadership of improvement and change (across the school)
Improvement through self-evaluation
good
very good
very good
good
good
very good
good
very good
very good
very good
very good
good
good
good
good
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
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Appendix 2
Summary of questionnaire responses
Important features of responses from the various groups which received questionnaires
are listed below.
What parents thought the school
did well
What parents think the school could
do better
•
Teachers set high standards for
pupils’ attainment and their
children found schoolwork
stimulating and challenging.
• Teachers were good at letting
them know their children’s
strengths and weaknesses.
• Staff showed concern for the care
and welfare of their children.
• The school was well led.
•
What pupils thought the school did
well
What pupils think the school could
do better
•
Teachers explained things clearly
and were good at telling them how
they were getting on with their
work.
• Teachers helped them when they
had difficulty with classwork.
• They were listened to and had a
say in deciding how to make the
school better.
•
What staff thought the school did
well
What staff think the school could do
better
•
•
They had good opportunities to be
involved in the decision-making
process.
• Teachers set high standards for
pupils’ attainment.
• Staff showed concern for pupils’
care and welfare.
• There was regular discussion
about how to achieve school
priorities.
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A few parents expressed concern
over the condition of pupils’ toilets.
Around a third of pupils thought
the behaviour of pupils in school
could improve.
Around half thought that senior
managers could operate more
effectively as a team.
Appendix 3 Good practice
In the course of the inspection, the following aspects of innovative and effective
practice were evaluated as being worthy of wider dissemination.
Education for Life: ‘On The Money’
The school wanted to help pupils develop skills that would help them better
understand the world of work and business. Staff had devised a programme of
activities based on popular children’s fiction and materials that aimed to help pupils
at P6/P7 explore key ideas about life and work. The school worked very effectively
with partners to obtain access to expert knowledge in two very different enterprise
contexts: business and literature. Pupils had devised questions and conducted
interviews with their expert consultants. They had used the knowledge gained to set
up and run successful enterprises of their own. Pupils had learned how to work
together in teams and how to fulfil particular roles within those teams. They had
developed important communication skills, including their understanding of key
business vocabulary and related ideas. They had learned how to evaluate their
progress against agreed measures of success. Overall, the programme had helped
pupils to develop confidence in themselves and each other. Their activities had
enabled them to experience success in their business ventures. They had contributed
to their own learning through participation in key events such as the interviews with
the consultants. They had exercised responsibility in taking on specific jobs within
their businesses.
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How can you contact us?
If you would like an additional copy of this report
Copies of this report have been sent to the headteacher and school staff, the Executive
Director of Education and Social Work Services, 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, Europa Building,
450 Argyle Street, Glasgow G2 8LG or by telephoning 0141 242 0100. 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 primary inspections, you should write in
the first instance to Chris McIlroy, HMCI, at 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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