Uig Primary School and Nursery Class Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 14 September 2010 HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to let parents1, children and the local community know whether their school2 provides a good education. Inspectors also discuss with school staff how they can improve the quality of education. At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the headteacher and staff about the strengths of the school, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we go into classes and join other activities in which children are involved. We also gather the views of children, parents, staff and members of the local community. We find their views very helpful and use them together with the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education. This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of education in the school. We describe how well children are doing, how good the school is at helping them to learn and how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff, parents and children work together and how they go about improving the school. We also comment on how well the school works with other groups in the community, including services which support children. Finally, we focus on how well the school is led and how staff help the school achieve its aims. If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the school, please visit www.hmie.gov.uk. Here you can find analyses of questionnaire returns from children, parents and staff. We will not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns are so small that they could identify individuals. 1 Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends. 2 The term ‘school’ includes the nursery class or classes where appropriate. Contents 1. The school 2. Particular strengths of the school 3. How well do children learn and achieve? 4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning? 5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community? 6. Does the school have high expectations of all children? 7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction? 8. What happens next? 1. The school Uig Primary School is a non-denominational school with a nursery class. It serves the district of Uig and surrounding area. The roll was 29, including eight in the nursery, when the inspection was carried out in June 2010. Children’s attendance was below the national average in 2008/2009. The nursery class was taken under the management of the education authority in February 2010. 1 2. Particular strengths of the school • The headteacher’s leadership in improving learning and teaching. • Well-behaved, polite and confident children who are eager to learn. • Opportunities for children to work in a range of enterprising ways. • The commitment of all staff and their success in leading improvements in the school. • Partnership working with parents and the wider community. • Use of the local environment to enhance children’s learning. 3. How well do children learn and achieve? Learning and achievement In the nursery class, children are happy and settled. They are learning simple routines well. They are learning to take turns and form friendships. Staff recognise they now need to involve children more effectively in planning and talking about their learning. Across the primary classes, children are highly motivated and engaged in their learning due to the outstanding quality of learning experiences provided for them. Children contribute confidently to discussions and work very well with each other during group tasks. They are involved in creative and investigative activities and welcome opportunities to take responsibility for leading their own learning. Children are able to identify targets to improve their own work. They apply their learning successfully in new situations. Across the school, children use information and communications technology (ICT) very well to support their learning. For example, in P1-3, children used video evidence to 2 evaluate how well they had described mini-beasts they had found as part of topic work. Children use feedback from their teachers and their classmates very well to improve their learning. Children’s achievements across the curriculum are consistently high. They work in enterprising ways across a range of curricular areas and when contributing to school and community improvements. Children show enthusiasm in music and sing confidently. They are developing very good skills in art and express themselves well in a variety of styles. Children can identify what they need to do to be healthy. Across the school, children participate successfully in a wide range of sporting events such as athletics, rowing and swimming. Children show positive qualities of leadership through serving as members of the pupil council and eco committee, as class monitors and when managing enterprise projects. In the nursery class, most children listen well in groups and can follow instructions in both English and Gaelic. Children’s skills in early writing are not yet well developed. A few children are able to name simple shapes and sort by colour. Older children are developing skills in counting and can recognise numbers to ten. Across the primary classes, children attain very well. Almost all achieve appropriate national levels of attainment in reading, writing and mathematic. They show a positive interest in reading and almost all read with fluency and expression. Children are able to talk about a range of books they have read. They write for a range of purposes, including writing factual reports. Staff have identified correctly the need to strengthen attainment in aspects of writing. At the early stages, children are developing a good understanding of number. They are able to measure accurately and by P3, they can describe different types of triangles. Children make very good use of their numeracy skills across other areas of the curriculum. For example, at P7, children used a spreadsheet to calculate income and expenditures when planning their art exhibition. 3 Curriculum and meeting learning needs In the nursery class, staff are currently reviewing and improving the curriculum. They recognise the need to plan activities which are based on play and take account of children’s interests. Across the primary stages, staff have made a very positive start to improving the curriculum using Curriculum for Excellence. The school provides a broad and balanced curriculum which includes all subject areas, enriched by visiting specialists. Children have very good opportunities to link their learning across subjects. Teachers make very good use of the school grounds and surrounding area for learning outdoors. They involve visitors to the school to develop children’s enthusiasm and interest in learning. Children have regular opportunities to develop their skills in Gaelic. The school is developing children’s literacy and numeracy skills successfully in different areas of the curriculum. Staff are providing two hours of good-quality physical education each week for all children. Supported-study sessions have helped children to develop skills in mental mathematics and in preparing and serving food safely. In the nursery class, staff know individual children well. Relationships between staff and children are positive. The headteacher has identified the need to work with staff to ensure that tasks and activities take better account of children’s prior learning and interests. Across the primary stages, tasks and activities are at the right level of difficulty in almost all lessons. Teachers give clear explanations and share the purpose of lessons clearly. They plan a range of stimulating activities which encourage children to be involved in their learning. Teachers use questions effectively to extend and challenge children’s thinking. Effective consultation and teamwork between the support for learning teacher, support staff and teachers ensure that children who need additional help are supported well. Teachers provide regular and appropriate homework. 4 4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning? The school works very well with parents, the local community and a wide range of partners to support children’s learning and wellbeing. The Parent Council is very supportive of the work of the school and provides additional resources through a range of fundraising activities. In the nursery class, parents regularly discuss children’s learning with staff. Helpful newsletters keep parents informed about the work of the school. The school has appropriate procedures in place to respond to concerns and complaints. Parents can view materials used for health education. Children use the local museum regularly when researching topics. The community shop supports children’s enterprise activities in a range of ways. An outreach officer from An Lanntair Art Centre is working with children in P4 to P7 as they organise an art exhibition. Parents are provided with homework hints in order to enable them to support their children’s learning. They receive information on children’s progress at parent consultation meetings and through informative annual written reports. Children are well supported when they start P1. Staff prepare children well for making a confident move from P7 to the Nicolson Institute. 5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community? All staff and children are committed to improving the school further. In the nursery, staff recognise the need to develop more effective ways of assessing and recording children’s progress. The headteacher works very closely alongside staff and monitors children’s learning and attainment. She supports staff very effectively to ensure children benefit from strong links between self-evaluation, professional development and school improvements. One of the class teachers has successfully developed the use of ICT, including GLOW technology, across the school. Support staff feel their views are listened to and they take on additional areas of responsibility willingly across the school. Children at all stages have an important and active 5 role in school improvement. Members of the pupil council have worked successfully with others to improve the selection of reading books in the school library and they have worked with the Community Centre Association to improve facilities in the local play park. The school has achieved a silver award from Eco-Schools Scotland and a gold enterprise award from the local authority. 6. Does the school have high expectations of all children? The school has a very positive and supportive ethos with a strong sense of mutual respect between staff and children. Children are polite and very well behaved. Along with adult members of the school community, they identify strongly with the school. Staff have high expectations of behaviour and achievement. They are highly committed to children’s care and welfare. The school has an appropriate policy for child protection and staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities. Children feel safe and well cared for in the school. Staff use religious and moral education to raise children’s awareness of different cultures, equality and fairness. They should now explore ways of providing children with regular opportunities to participate in religious observance. Staff share children’s achievements in displays around the school and community centre and in the community newsletter. The local Historical Society includes examples of children’s work on its web site. The school successfully promotes healthy lifestyles. 7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction? The headteacher, along with staff, is highly committed to the school and the children. She carries out her management and teaching commitments very well and leads by example. Since taking over the management of the nursery class, she has worked with the play leaders to identify strengths and appropriate areas for improvement. This has been an important step which will help the nursery to improve. The headteacher is very well supported by staff who work 6 together effectively to improve the work of the school. All members of the school community have worked well together to develop a clear vision for the school and nursery. The school is very well placed to improve further. 8. What happens next? As a result of the very good quality of education provided by the school, we will make no further visits in connection with this inspection. The education authority will inform parents about the school's progress as part of the authority’s arrangements for reporting to parents on the quality of its schools. We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school and education authority. • Further develop children’s skills in writing. • Improve the nursery curriculum to ensure high-quality play opportunities which take account of children’s needs and interests. • Further improve the way staff assess children’s progress in the nursery and use the information to plan suitable activities for them. At the last Care Commission inspection of the nursery class there were four requirements, all of which had been addressed. 7 Quality indicators help schools and nursery classes, education authorities and inspectors to judge what is good and what needs to be improved in the work of a school and a nursery class. You can find these quality indicators in the HMIE publications How good is our school? and The Child at the Centre. Following the inspection of each school, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish schools and nursery classes are doing. Here are the evaluations for Uig School and Nursery Class. Primary school Improvements in performance Learners’ experiences Meeting learning needs very good excellent very good Nursery class Improvements in performance Children’s experiences Meeting learning needs satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school and nursery class. The curriculum Improvement through self-evaluation HM Inspector: Jacqueline Horsburgh 14 September 2010 8 good good When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our readers can see clearly what our judgments mean. excellent very good good means means means satisfactory weak unsatisfactory means means means outstanding, sector leading major strengths important strengths with some areas for improvement strengths just outweigh weaknesses important weaknesses major weaknesses If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA. Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect you to a member of staff. You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259. Where the school has a nursery class, you can contact the Complaints Coordinator, Headquarters, Care Commission, Compass House, Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY, telephone 0845 603 0890. Crown Copyright 2010 HM Inspectorate of Education