12 April 2016
Dear Parent/Carer
Panmure St Ann’s
The City of Edinburgh Council
Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I inspected your child’s school. During
our visit, we talked to parents and young people and worked closely with the
headteacher and staff. We wanted to find out how well young people are learning and
achieving and how well the school supports young people 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 health and wellbeing programme and the service provided to young people
and their families. As a result, we were able to find out how good the school is at
improving young people’s education.
How well do young people learn and achieve?
In the majority of lessons, young people have appropriate learning experiences. Staff
have warm, positive relationships with young people. Most learners feel safe, secure
and confident in seeking support when required. Many young people enjoy a wide
range of physical activities and outdoor learning, including horse riding, swimming and
sailing. They develop their social skills by participating in a range of activities within
their local community such as visiting the local ice rink, going on a tour of Edinburgh
Dungeons, and working to protect the environment with the ‘Green Team’ project.
Most young people cooperate well with staff but could take more responsibility for their
learning. A significant number are not motivated by the planned classroom activities.
A few young people have made significant progress in attending school since joining
Panmure St Ann’s. However, some young people do not attend regularly or arrive on
time. The school needs to improve young people’s attendance and identify strategies
to support young people to attend school and improve their timekeeping. Although
only a few young people have part-time timetables, the school should aim to engage
those young people in full-time education.
Panmure St Ann’s places great emphasis on assisting young people to improve their
health and wellbeing. As a result, most young people are making progress with their
social and emotional development. Since attending the school, some previously
disengaged young people have made significant progress with their achievements
compared to their prior school. Young people are given the opportunity to participate
in volunteering and work experience placements including, local nurseries and
schools, care homes and local farms. A few young people benefit from leadership
opportunities through the pupil council. They have considered introducing new
Education Scotland
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Transforming lives through learning
uniforms and reducing access to fizzy drinks to improve young people’s health.
Overall, there is scope to raise the achievement of young people both at the broad
general education and the senior phase. In particular, young people need further
support to build the skills required to make a successful transition into work, training or
further education.
The majority of young people achieve an appropriate range of course awards and
units at National 3 and National 4 in English, mathematics, religious education, and
social studies. They achieve particularly well in English and social subjects. Young
people now have opportunities to achieve in physical education, administration,
biology and chemistry. In English, a few young people are developing writing skills
well, particularly in writing for information and imaginative writing. However, too many
literacy-based activities in the school focus on discussion. Young people need more
time dedicated to developing their skills in reading, writing and listening. Most young
people are making satisfactory progress in developing their skills and understanding of
numeracy. Young people are at various stages of developing their skills and
understanding of shapes, pattern and symmetry, and fractions. All young people have
the opportunity to develop their understanding of how to keep themselves safe and
healthy through group work lessons. This includes exploring the effects of alcohol
abuse, strategies for dealing with bullying, and healthy eating.
How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
Tasks, activities and resources are appropriate to the needs of the majority of young
people. Most lessons build on prior learning. Small class sizes allow staff to plan
flexibly for young people who may need their own space at points during the day.
However, young people’s poor attendance and latecoming often leads to the pace of
learning being too slow in many classes. As a result, some young people are not
being challenged appropriately by learning activities. Most staff are knowledgeable
about young people’s social, emotional and health needs. Group workers play a
strong role in supporting young people to access education. They provide
personalised support to young people and their families to support them at home, at
school and within their communities. Most young people are making satisfactory
progress towards achieving targets set within individualised educational programmes.
The school needs to revisit the rationale for the curriculum in order to set out a clear
vision based on shared values and young people’s needs. Across the school, young
people experience learning in a limited number of subject areas. There are insufficient
opportunities for learners to exercise choice in what or how they learn. Staff need to
put clear plans in place to develop better programmes of learning in line with
Curriculum for Excellence. For example, there are too few opportunities for young
people to gain work related qualifications. There is significant scope to involve partner
agencies more fully in planning and delivering aspects of the school’s curriculum.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The headteacher has been successful in developing positive relationships across the
school. She is ably supported by a depute headteacher and collectively they have
gained the respect of the whole school community. Led by the headteacher, staff
throughout Panmure St Ann’s are committed to school improvement. The school has
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a number of systems in place to help identify where it is successful and what it needs
to do to improve. However, more evidence needs to be gathered to help identify key
priorities. Senior managers could make better use of information about young
people’s attendance, behaviour, engagement, and achievements. The school does
not yet have sufficient evidence of self-evaluation activities leading to improved
outcomes for young people.
This inspection found the following key strengths.
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Positive relationships across the school established by senior managers.
Group workers’ support for young people and their families.
Opportunities for young people to learn within their local community.
We discussed with staff and The City of Edinburgh Council how they might continue to
improve the school. This is what we agreed with them.
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As a matter of priority, take steps to improve young people’s attendance and
timekeeping.
Increase expectations of young people’s attainment and achievement.
Develop the curriculum in line with national guidance to ensure young people
receive their full entitlements to a broad general education and senior phase.
Take a more rigorous approach to self-evaluation and tracking young people’s
progress.
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 The City of Edinburgh Council to build capacity for improvement
and will maintain contact to monitor progress. Parents will be informed of the extent to
which the school has improved as part of the local authority’s quality assurance
arrangements.
Steven McPherson
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/Pan
mureStAnnsEdinburgh.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 0131 244 4330, 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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