15 September 2015
Dear Parent/Carer
Innellan Primary School
Argyll and Bute Council
Recently, as you may know, I inspected your child’s school. During my visit, I talked to
parents and children and worked closely with the headteacher and staff. I wanted to
find out how well children are learning and achieving and how well the school supports
children to do their best. In August 2014, Innellan Primary School became part of a
temporary shared headship with Toward Primary School. The headteacher shared
with me the school’s successes and priorities for improvement. I looked at some
particular aspects of the school’s recent work, including the way children’s positive
behaviour is promoted, and how well their progress is now tracked and monitored. As
a result, I was able to find out how good the school is at improving children’s
education.
How well do children learn and achieve?
Children enjoy learning, feel safe and are proud of their achievements. They get on
well with their teachers and are sensitive to the needs of other children in the school.
When given the opportunity, they develop well their skills of working together in pairs
and small groups to complete tasks. Children are beginning to become more
responsible and lead their own learning. This happens after they engage in activities
that help them to think for themselves. When learning outdoors in the garden and in
the local community they are motivated and participate well. They created impressive
scarecrows using techniques a farmer would use and carefully placed them in the
garden to prevent birds from eating the plants. In physical education, children talk
confidently about their learning. They enjoy using the all-weather pitch to develop their
skills and are clear of the purpose of the learning activities and what they need to do to
succeed. In other areas of learning, at times, children are passive and can become
demotivated. The school is aware of the need to ensure that the few examples of high
quality experiences for children are consistently applied across all of their learning.
Staff plan to develop further the promising start made to improve children’s skills in
talking about their learning. Children are now benefiting from improvements in the
quality of written and oral feedback they receive from staff.
Children are motivated and enthusiastic about the many clubs that are available to
them after school. These clubs are supported by the school and led by a team of
highly-committed parents and volunteers. The sports club and craft club are very well
attended by children from both Innellan Primary School and Toward Primary School.
At the gardening club, children make effective use of the local grounds to understand
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Transforming lives through learning
issues of sustainability. They gained the Scottish Wildlife Trust level four award for
their wildlife oasis in the garden and featured in a nationally published magazine. At
the craft club they cook, draw and use a range of materials creatively. Their work from
the clubs was on display at the South Cowal Festival. Most children attended the
Dunoon Grammar School technology day and were inspired by local entrepreneurs
describing how they started their successful business. The school plans to identify
further opportunities such as the John Muir Award to promote and recognise children’s
achievements. These contexts should help children to develop important life skills and
confidence.
The school has begun to develop a clear overview of children’s attainment and
achievement in literacy and english, numeracy and mathematics. This is a promising
start towards knowing where the much needed improvements are in children’s
progress. Children at the early stages make a good start with their phonics. Older
children are now beginning to read novels with fluency. The school is working towards
improving children’s skills further in understanding what they have read. There are a
few examples of children writing well in real and meaningful contexts. However,
overall children’s writing is not of a high enough standard. They are unable to adapt
the style of their writing to suit different purposes. They listen well and are beginning
to take turns talking in small groups. The school has identified the need to develop
children’s confidence in talking and debating real-life issues. Children are not
confident in building on each other’s ideas. In numeracy and mathematics, children
make appropriate progress in basic written calculations using whole numbers. They
use concrete materials confidently to order fractions. They use digital technology well
to handle information and to represent their findings through a range of graphs. There
is a need to improve children’s mental agility and their skills in problem solving. There
are too many gaps in children’s knowledge of basic mathematical thinking. Children at
P2 and at P3 use simple Gaelic phrases with an appropriate accent to describe their
feelings about food and drink. In technology, children use tools such as a saw and drill
safely to create bird boxes for the school grounds. In physical education and aspects
of science, children’s progress is clear and teachers ensure that children develop their
skills, knowledge and understanding taking account of what they already know. We
have asked the school to ensure this approach is used to raise children’s attainment
and achievement across all learning.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
There are strengths in the way the school supports children to develop and learn.
There are a few examples where tasks and activities are set at an appropriate pace
and level of difficulty. In these examples, children make good progress in their
learning. The school is aware of the need to apply this more consistently. Children
needing additional help with their learning are well supported. Visiting staff provide
helpful guidance and strategies to remove any barriers children may be experiencing.
Support staff, including the janitor, are very sensitive to children’s pastoral care and
learning needs. They work closely with teaching staff and volunteers providing
valuable support. Whole-school strategies effectively promote children’s positive
behaviour and emotional wellbeing. As a result there is consistency in the way
children’s behaviour is supported across all their learning. We have asked the school
to continue to use the helpful information available about learning needs to support
children more effectively.
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The curriculum has a few very well-planned opportunities to develop children’s skills,
knowledge and understanding. These include very good use of the school grounds
and the local community. In partnership with a secondary science teacher, high quality
learning was planned through the ‘Beach Science’ project. Children learned
challenging concepts about ecosystems and species adaptations at the local shore.
The course for physical education is delivered effectively by a visiting teacher. It is
broad and designed well to build on what children already know. The range of
experiences includes Nordic walking, swimming and improving fitness levels. In
computing science, children develop computing programming skills using ‘kodu’ and
‘scratch’ to create digital games. They benefit from musical tuition delivered by a
visiting specialist. For example, older children enjoy learning to play musical
instruments such as the clarinet. Learning through ‘Crofting Connections’ provides
children with a relevant understanding of Scotland’s heritage and how that influences
the way they live today. At the gardening club, children replicate these approaches in
their school grounds and develop valuable skills for life. As a result, the environment
they created provides a rich context for wildlife to thrive and for the children to learn.
‘Freddie’ the wild pheasant is now a popular and regular visitor to the garden. Children
observe his behaviours and talk with deep knowledge about the species. Visitors and
trips provide worthwhile experiences that are followed up in school to enhance
children’s learning. Children visited the local woodland area, a butchers and a venison
larder as part of the ‘land management’ project. They attended the ‘Sky Academy’ and
learned how to create professional news bulletins. They used techniques such as
green screen technology to present, record and edit their knowledge about world
disasters. This year the school has introduced some valuable learning opportunities.
They are aware that more work needs to be done to ensure that learning is joined up
and at an appropriate level. There are too many gaps in children’s learning. We have
asked the school to continue to review the curriculum, as planned, and to ensure that it
takes full account of national advice. The school needs to continue to improve the
courses and programmes to meet the needs of the wide range of ages and stages of
development that are taught together.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
After a long period of instability with staffing, Argyll and Bute Council put in place a
temporary shared headship arrangement between Innellan Primary School and
Toward Primary School. As a result, the experienced headteacher from Toward
Primary was appointed to the post in August 2014. This appointment brought a much
needed period of stability to the school. She introduced a range of approaches to
improve the ethos and the quality of children’s experiences. Children’s emotional
wellbeing has improved and they now make better progress in their reading. Children,
parents and staff are very positive about the changes in the school. They are pleased
the school has maintained its identity and see the benefits of shared learning
opportunities that take place with Toward Primary School. The headteacher
encourages staff to take on more responsibility and improve practice. The positive
changes in science are led by a class teacher. The headteacher plans to develop
further leadership across the school. She is reviewing remits to ensure high quality
learning and teaching raises children’s attainment and achievement. Parents and staff
are committed to improving the school. They participate in the school’s workshops
and have worthwhile opportunities to reflect on its work. However, more needs to be
done to ensure all self-evaluation activities improve outcomes for children. Staff are at
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the early stages of using assessment effectively to support the judgements they make
about children’s progress. The school plans to continue to develop approaches to
assess and monitor young people’s progress ensuring young people at these stages
attain as highly as possible. With the continued support of Argyll and Bute Council the
school has the capacity to continue to improve.
This inspection found the following key strengths.
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Polite children who are proud of their school.
Use of the outdoors and the gardening club to enhance learning in the classroom.
The improvements led by the headteacher to the ethos of the school and progress
in children’s reading.
I discussed with staff and Argyll and Bute Council how they might continue to improve
the school. This is what I agreed with them.
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Continue to review and develop the curriculum in line with national advice and
ensure that it leads to improvements across all children’s learning.
Develop monitoring and tracking further to ensure it supports children to attain as
highly as possible.
Continue to develop leadership to ensure that staff at all levels take appropriate
responsibility and improve outcomes for children.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
As a result of our inspection findings we think that the school needs additional support
and more time to make necessary improvements. Our Area Lead Officer will work with
Argyll and Bute Council to build capacity for improvement, and will maintain contact to
monitor progress. We will return to carry out a further inspection within eighteen
months of publication of this letter. We will then issue another letter to parents on the
extent to which the school has improved.
Elizabeth C Montgomery
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/Innel
lanPrimarySchoolArgyllandBute.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.
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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