4 September 2012
Dear Parent/Carer
Palnackie Primary School
Dumfries and Galloway Council
In June 2011, HM Inspectors published a report on your child’s school. Recently, as
you may know, I visited the school again. During my visit, I talked to children and
worked closely with the headteacher and staff. I heard from the headteacher and
other staff how the school has continued to improve. I looked at particular areas that
had been identified in May 2011 and at aspects of the school’s work, as proposed by
the headteacher. As a result, I was able to find out how well children are now
learning and achieving and how the school is continuing to support them to do their
best. This letter sets out what I found.
How well do children learn and achieve?
Children at Palnackie Primary School are now much more motivated learners. They
talk about their school with considerable pride. Almost all are able to work very well
in pairs and small groups. They listen well and respect each other’s opinions. Most
children are now able to talk with confidence about their strengths and think about
what they need to do to improve their learning. There is scope to improve the way
children gather their many achievements. Children benefit from a wide variety of
exciting activities which take place outdoors and in the local area. They are gaining
valuable life skills from trips by bus to the shops and through their work with a school
in Kenya. Children’s literacy skills are improving. Most are now better at
comprehension and listening and talking. Children’s presentation of their work is
much neater but the content, range and length is not yet good enough and this
needs to be a continued focus for the school. A whole-school focus on improving
numeracy has helped children, particularly those at the upper stages to be more
accurate and confident in areas such as counting, measure and shape.
Children tell us that they feel valued by their teachers and support staff. They now
look forward to coming to school and being effective, responsible members of their
community. Children actively promote environmental awareness through their
eco committee actions and support residents of a nearby care home. They keep fit
and healthy by taking part fully in a wide range of in-school and after-school sports
and activities.
Education Scotland
Europa Building
450 Argyle Street
Glasgow
G2 8LG
T
0141 242 0100
F
0141 242 5757
E glasgow@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
Textphone 01506 600236
This is a service for deaf users. Please do not
use this number for voice calls as this will not
connect.
www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Transforming lives through learning
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
The school continues to work well with visiting professionals and agencies to provide
children and families with effective pastoral care and well-judged support.
Relationships between children and staff are increasingly positive and mutually
respectful. Children behave very well. Teachers plan lessons which are now more
relevant and challenging. They keep records of children’s progress and use the
information to think about what children will learn next. These arrangements are at
an early stage of development and will need time to make a difference to the pace at
which children learn and achieve. Parents have had more involvement in their
children’s learning and they very much welcome this way of working with the school.
Staff and parents have worked effectively together to think about how they could
improve the curriculum. It is now more child-centred and provides a broader range
of learning experiences based on national guidance. Interesting projects are helping
children to make connections between different areas of their learning. Children are
getting better at using and applying their literacy and numeracy skills in, for example,
enterprise and ‘master-class’ projects supported by a range of information and
communications technology. Children receive at least two hours of high quality
physical education. The curriculum is further enhanced by visiting specialists.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
We are now confident that the school is well placed to continue to improve the
quality of its work. The headteacher has provided a strong lead and together with
the full support of staff they have reviewed the school’s vision, values and aims.
These are shared and supported by the whole school community. The headteacher
is held in high regard by children, parents and staff. They praise her commitment
and determination to make Palnackie Primary School a vibrant learning environment.
She has developed a team which is successfully making significant improvements to
the school’s ethos and children’s attitudes to learning. The curriculum shows
positive signs of improvement. While there is scope to raise further children’s
attainment there are clear signs of improvement. With continued support from the
education authority, the school has the capacity to improve further.
What happens next?
The school has improved many areas of its work since the original inspection. We
are now confident that the school’s self-evaluation processes are leading to
improvements. As a result, we will make no further visits in connection with the
original inspection. The education authority will inform parents about the school’s
continued progress in a report within one year of the publication of this report and
share the content of that report with Education Scotland.
Marion A Burns
HM Inspector
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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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