10 February 2015
Dear Parent/Carer
Victoria Park School and Nursery Class
South Lanarkshire Council
Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I inspected your child’s school. During
our visit, we talked to parents and children and worked closely with the headteacher
and staff. We wanted to find out how well children are learning and achieving and how
well the school supports 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 the learning environment supports
communication, celebrating achievement and interdisciplinary learning. As a result,
we were able to find out how good the school is at improving children’s education.
How well do children learn and achieve?
Across the school and nursery the very good relationships between children and staff
contribute to a nurturing ethos and positive learning environment. Children are treated
with fairness and respect by all staff. In the nursery, children are beginning to gain
success and a sense of achievement in their learning. Children are happy and
becoming more familiar and confident with the daily routines. Nursery staff should now
provide children with more choices in their learning and a wider range of resources to
support play and communication. At the primary stages, the quality of children’s
learning and achievement is very good. Almost all children are motivated and
engaged in their learning. They are developing successfully the skills of cooperation
and are able to work in groups and with a range of adults and peers. Children’s
learning is enhanced through opportunities to learn in the local community. For
example, the choir recently performed at the Jam and Ham festival while other children
use local shops to reinforce likeskills. Resources, displays and the well-chosen range
of information and communication technology encourage children to be eager
participants and highly motivated in their learning. The weekly school assembly
provides a good forum for children to share news, enjoy the experience of singing
together and celebrate their achievements.
In the nursery, children are making good progress in literacy and numeracy. They are
able to communicate choices using speech, sign or gesture. Some children are able
to use switches to communicate. They are beginning to understand numbers and use
shapes to make patterns. Children in the nursery would now benefit from more
opportunities to develop early literacy and numeracy skills through a wider range of
planned activities. At the primary stages, children are making strong progress in
literacy and numeracy. The development of communication skills is a key feature in all
Education Scotland
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0141 435 3550
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0141 435 3555
E Clydebank@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
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www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Transforming lives through learning
learning and children are able to demonstrate progress in speech, sign, gesture and
use of augmentative communication aids. Where appropriate, some children are
developing good skills in reading and writing through topics and stories such as
George’s Marvellous Medicine. They are able to read simple texts, talk about what
they have read and demonstrate a good understanding of the story and characters.
Children are using their literacy skills in real life contexts. For example, the weekly
shopping group use words and symbols to identify and purchase snacks in the local
supermarket for children across the school. Children are making good progress in
mathematics and numeracy. A few children are able to add and subtract using two
digit numbers and demonstrate a good understanding of fractions. Children are able
to demonstrate what it means to be healthy and safe. They are learning to work with
others and make friends. They are developing good physical fitness and are
encouraged to be as active as possible in physical education and through enjoyable
and creative planned activities during intervals.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
Across the school there is a supportive and caring environment for learning. In the
nursery, some activities are well matched to the needs and abilities of individual
children. Interactions with children are purposeful and staff frequently talk to children
to support their learning. Children in the nursery have opportunities for free play and
would now benefit from shorter spells of more varied activities. In primary classes,
learning activities are very well-planned and differentiated to meet the range of needs
within each class. Staff take very good account of the communication and learning
needs of children in the planning and delivery of lessons. Class teachers, support staff
and health professionals work together very effectively in meeting children’s needs.
There is a strong sense of teamwork and there is good communication and shared
approaches within classes.
Staff have a clear understanding of Curriculum for Excellence and are using
experiences and outcomes well to plan learning. In the nursery, there is an
appropriately strong focus on communication; sensory learning and helping children
express their feelings and emotions through health and wellbeing programmes.
Nursery staff should now further develop programmes to ensure a wider range of play
contexts and more opportunities for outdoor learning. In the primary, the design of the
curriculum ensures children are achieving across a breadth and depth of literacy and
numeracy contexts. Children have the opportunity to develop skills for learning, life
and work through the delivery of active and interdisciplinary learning activities.
Programmes and courses are designed to allow staff flexibility to deliver learning
experiences which are personalised to children’s individual needs.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The headteacher, depute headteacher and staff are highly committed to improving
outcomes for children. They have a shared vision to allow all children to be the best
that they can be, whilst taking account of their individual needs and abilities. The
school is very committed to improving joint working with its allied health professionals
and collaborative approaches to planning are having a positive impact on children. In
the school and nursery, staff track children’s progress carefully and keep detailed
records of how well each child is progressing. The nursery now needs to further
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develop approaches to improvement and ensure these are resulting in better
outcomes for children. There are effective arrangements in place for senior managers
to monitor the quality of work of the school. The school ensures that the views of
parents and children are valued and these views are reflected in school improvement
priorities.
During the previous Care Inspectorate inspection, the nursery class had no
requirements and three recommendations. All three recommendations have been
met. As a result of this inspection, there are no requirements and five
recommendations.
This inspection found the following key strengths.




Happy, motivated children who enjoy their learning.
Creative and well-planned learning activities which provide very good opportunities
for children to be active and motivated.
Effective joint working with health professionals in meeting the communication and
medical needs of children.
The strong and effective leadership and vision provided by the headteacher.
We discussed with staff and South Lanarkshire Council how they might continue to
improve the school. This is what we agreed with them.


Continue to develop programmes and courses to further improve outcomes for
children.
Increase the pace of improvement in the nursery.
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. As part of its arrangements
for reporting to parents on the quality of education, South Lanarkshire Council will
inform parents about the school’s progress.
Monica McGeever
HM Inspector
Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations and
national care standards gradings, for your school can be found on the Education
Scotland website at
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/school/primsec/Victo
riaParkSchoolSouthLanarkshire.asp
If you would like to receive this letter in a different format, for example, in a translation
please contact the administration team on the above telephone number.
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If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact us
by telephone on 0141 282 5000, or e-mail: complaints@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
or write to us addressing your letter to the Complaints Manager, Denholm House,
Almondvale Business Park, Livingston EH54 6GA.
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