4 June 2013
Dear Parent/Carer
Dailly Primary School and Nursery Class
South Ayrshire 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 parental involvement, and active and
interdisciplinary learning. 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?
Across the school and in the nursery, children are happy and enjoy very good
relationships with their teachers and each other. They are keen to learn and apply
themselves enthusiastically. In the nursery and across the school, children are
beginning to be more actively involved in their learning. For example, in the nursery,
children are able to make suggestions about what they would like to learn and are
helping to plan their learning. In the primary school, children are beginning to set their
own learning targets and understand what their next steps in learning might be.
Teachers need to build on these early developments to help children set more
meaningful learning targets. They also need to help children become involved in
high-quality conversations about their learning. Almost all children are learning to be
good leaders and are making effective contributions to their local community. For
example, children gained successes in the local pigeon racing event, ‘Doo the right
thing’, and the horticultural show. The children also feature regularly in the local
newspaper for events such as the Burns Supper and the Big Pedal event.
In the nursery and across the school, children are making satisfactory progress in their
literacy and numeracy skills. In the nursery, most children listen well in large and small
groups and can follow simple instructions. Almost all older nursery children can
recognise their name and a few can label their work and help to create signs for the
nursery. A few children can talk about rhyming words and most are able to clap out
sounds in words. In numeracy and mathematics, most children can match and sort
with confidence. They are able to count to ten and a few beyond ten. A few children
are able to follow pictorial instructions to complete models. The nursery should ensure
that children have more opportunities to use their literacy and numeracy skills in
different learning situations. In the primary school, children are making progress in
Education Scotland
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Transforming lives through learning
developing their early reading skills. Almost all children can read with fluency and are
good at sounding out unfamiliar words. Children in the upper stages are aware of
different types of texts and are able to write for different audiences and purposes.
They now need to develop their understanding of print to a higher level of thinking. In
numeracy and mathematics, most children at the early stages have an understanding
of the key number facts within and beyond ten. They can tell the time using analogue
and digital clocks. At the upper stages, most children are confident in measuring,
identifying three-dimensional objects and in solving mathematical problems. A few
children are becoming more confident in their understanding of algebraic equations.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
The school has a very caring and welcoming ethos. Staff know children well and work
effectively with parents to support children’s learning. Children with additional support
needs are identified early and there are good plans to meet their needs. Support from
other agencies is well coordinated to help children progress in their learning. In
classes, not all children are sufficiently challenged and some tasks and activities are
not sufficiently motivating or matched to individual needs. There is scope to improve
further the support given to all children by providing activities which extend and
deepen learning. The school is beginning to take more account of Curriculum for
Excellence guidance and staff are beginning to gain confidence in using it to improve
and refresh the curriculum. Cluster working with partner schools is starting to have an
impact on how the school tracks and monitors children’s progress and moderates
standards. Children have access to a broad curriculum with good support from visiting
specialists in music, art and health and wellbeing. All children are provided with two
hours of physical education. Staff are aware of the need to increase the pace of
curriculum change and to develop clearer programmes of study across the curriculum.
Children moving into secondary school benefit from well-established transition
arrangements. Transitions for nursery children moving into school are well planned
with good information provided on children’s learning.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The new headteacher has made a significant impact in the short time she has been in
post. She is very ably supported by the principal teacher and together they have
established a very clear vision for the school and identified a challenging improvement
agenda. The headteacher has introduced an effective range of procedures and
systems to monitor and evaluate the school’s work. To date these have not had time
to impact fully on children’s learning. Parents are much more effectively involved in
supporting the school. They now support the school to evaluate teaching and learning
as well as hosting events and fundraising activities. Staff are beginning to work
together to take forward improvements. They value the opportunity to work with
teachers in their local cluster and this has helped to develop skills and ideas about
how to improve tracking and monitoring of children’s progress. They now need to build
on this early start in working together to enhance school improvement. The pace of
change has been remarkable and the school are aware that time is now required to
embed and refine the systems and processes which have been put in place to ensure
school improvement.
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The inspection found the following key strengths.
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Strong leadership from the headteacher and principal teacher with a clear vision for
improving outcomes for children.
Positive relationships between teachers and children who are enthusiastic and
keen to learn.
Strong partnerships with parents in relation to teaching and learning.
We discussed with staff and the education authority how they might continue to
improve the school and nursery class. This is what we agreed with them.
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Ensure that all staff are meaningfully engaged in working together to lead school
improvement.
Build on recently introduced systems and processes for self-evaluation with a
particular emphasis on evaluating the quality of teaching and learning to improve
outcomes.
Increase the pace of curriculum change in line with the principles of Curriculum for
Excellence.
Involve children more in their learning and provide more challenging tasks and
activities.
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. With support from
the local authority and Education Scotland the school will be able to make the
necessary improvements. Our Area Lead Officer along with the local authority will
discuss the most appropriate support in order 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.
Dr. Laura-Ann Currie
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/Daill
yPrimarySchoolSouthAyrshire.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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