4 March 2014
Dear Parent/Carer
Walker Road School and Nursery Class
Aberdeen City 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 the school’s approaches to the teaching
of reading and how well staff gather information about children’s achievements. 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?
In the nursery class, children are happy and settled and are making friends. They
enjoy talking to staff about their play. They now need further encouragement to talk
about what they are learning during different activities and to make decisions about
what they learn next. Children enjoy listening to favourite stories, sharing books with
each other and practising early writing. Their early number skills are being developed
well through play, for example when baking. They now need help to develop these
skills more thoroughly through different activities around the playroom and outdoors.
At the primary stages, children work hard and behave very well. Older children
respond well to opportunities to develop their independence, for example by
organising events and performances, and becoming buddies or house captains. Many
children are now capable of developing greater responsibility, particularly in relation to
their own learning. In the best classes, children learn at a brisk pace and make
suitable progress. In these classes, teachers help children to understand their
strengths and set themselves goals to improve their work. This good practice is not
yet consistent enough across the school. We have asked the school to ensure that
children’s learning experiences are of a consistently high standard in all classes,
including the class for children with additional support needs. Here, children feel safe
and secure but their learning needs to be more purposeful, and to link more closely
with the work they do in their mainstream classes.
Across the school, most children make satisfactory progress in English and
mathematics. In other subjects, such as science and the expressive arts, children
enjoy their learning but their progress is not so clear. Recent changes to the teaching
of reading and writing are helping to improve the way children learn in these areas.
Education Scotland
Johnstone House
50-54 Rose Street
Aberdeen
AB10 1UD
T
01224 642544
F
0300 244 9443
E aberdeen@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
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use this number for voice calls as this will not
connect.
www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Transforming lives through learning
Teachers now have a stronger focus on the direct teaching of specific reading and
writing skills and give children clearer guidance about how to improve their work. The
school has successfully introduced new approaches to promoting literacy such as
visits to The Reading Bus and teaching children how to use technology to produce
animations of poems they have written. These changes and initiatives are still in the
early stages and will take time to bring about an improvement to children’s attainment.
In mathematics, children’s skills develop progressively as they move through the
school, but in most classes, teachers need to raise their expectations of what children
can achieve. Children are able to explain their calculations with increasing confidence.
They now need more opportunities to apply their numeracy skills in real-life contexts
and to solve mathematical problems. Children have an understanding of the
importance of diet and exercise on a healthy lifestyle. Staff are currently examining
how children’s health and wellbeing can be developed more effectively.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
In the nursery and primary classes, staff provide a positive climate which builds
children’s confidence and self-esteem. Relationships between teachers and children
are positive and respectful. Children also support each other well. This is particularly
noticeable in the way children support their friends whose main home language is not
English. Teachers prepare well for lessons. Along with the headteacher and depute
headteachers, they have begun to gather a wide range of useful data about children’s
performance in reading, writing and mathematics. Staff understand the need to make
better use of this information and to build their own confidence in using different kinds
of assessments. This will help teachers to provide the right level of support and
challenge for all children. At the primary stages, a significant number of children
receive additional help from specialist teachers, pupil support assistants and other
agencies to help them make progress. We have asked the school to look at how these
professionals can work more closely together. This will help the school to be more
effective in meeting learning needs of children who require additional help, particularly
those in the additional support needs class. A few children from P1 and P2 are
well-supported in a nurture group. The school has improved some aspects of the
curriculum. For example, in the nursery and primary classes, there is a suitable focus
on developing children’s literacy and numeracy skills. Productive links with local
businesses are helping to develop children’s skills for learning, life and work. Overall,
the pace of curricular improvements has been too slow. Consequently, Curriculum for
Excellence is not yet having a strong enough impact. We have asked the school to
address improvements sooner than planned to provide progressive and challenging
learning across all subjects and in every class.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The headteacher has implemented a suitable range of approaches to evaluate the
work of the school. The school gathers the views of staff, parents and children about
initiatives, such as homework and the active approaches to literacy. Teachers reflect
on their work and a few share their skills with one another. The headteacher and
depute headteachers monitor teaching, and regularly meet with staff to discuss
learning plans and, increasingly, children’s achievements. However, these
approaches are not always leading to improvements in learning and teaching.
Children have a say in decisions which affect them, but are capable of having a
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stronger influence on improving their school. A few staff take on additional
responsibilities and leadership roles, for example in dance coaching, literacy, science
and health. This approach to shared leadership should be further developed to
include all staff. This will increase the school’s capacity to improve. The depute
headteachers support the headteacher well. They have successfully led
developments in the nursery and primary classes. The experienced headteacher is
dedicated to improving the school. The headteacher, depute headteachers and staff
now need to work more collaboratively with each other, and with parents and children
to bring about sustained improvements.
This inspection found the following key strengths.
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Polite, well-behaved children who enjoy their learning and are a credit to their
school.
Strong relationships between staff and children which provide a positive climate for
learning.
Improved approaches to the teaching of reading and writing.
The promising start made to gathering information on children’s progress and
achievements.
We discussed with staff and Aberdeen City Council how they might continue to
improve the school and nursery class. This is what we agreed with them.
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Develop consistently high-quality teaching and learning across the school.
Increase the pace of curriculum improvement, including approaches to
assessment, to meet the needs of all children.
Improve the quality of provision for children in the additional support needs class.
Establish a clearer vision and shared culture of self evaluation which improves
children’s learning experiences and achievement.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
We are satisfied with the overall quality of provision. We are confident that most of the
school’s self-evaluation processes are leading to improvements. Our Area Lead
Officer will work with Aberdeen City Council in agreeing appropriate support for the
school. This will focus on improving the curriculum at the nursery and primary stages,
and improving outcomes for children in the additional support needs class. Aberdeen
City Council will inform parents of the extent to which the school has improved.
Elaine Merrilees
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/Walk
erRoadSchoolAberdeenCity.asp
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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.
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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