Peel Primary School
Livingston
West Lothian Council
31 August 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
Peel Primary School is a non-denominational school, serving the
Eliburn area of Livingston. The roll was 436 when the inspection was
carried out in June 2010. Children’s attendance was above the
national average in 2008/2009.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Confident, polite and articulate children.
•
High levels of attainment and achievement across the curriculum.
•
The wide range of learning experiences of high quality for children.
•
The positive and vibrant ethos within the school.
•
Knowledge of, and care for, individuals.
•
The strong commitment of the headteacher and staff to
self-evaluation and school improvement.
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Children are very well motivated and highly enthusiastic about
learning. They are polite and well behaved in class and around the
school. They work well with each other and are respectful of other’s
contributions to classwork or assemblies. Children are fully engaged
and active in their learning. They respond well to the many
opportunities for working in pairs, small groups or as a class. Equally
they concentrate very well in independent tasks. Information and
communications technology (ICT) is used very well to support learning.
Children are given high levels of responsibility, both in learning tasks
and in the life of the school as a whole. Most are fully aware of the
levels they were working towards and what they need to do to
improve. They discuss readily tasks and expectations with each other
and with teachers.
Children throughout the school benefit from a wide range of
opportunities for personal and social development. They achieve well
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in many fields. From P4 onwards, children are encouraged to develop
confidence and teambuilding skills through residential experiences and
outdoor education. Many develop a sense of community and of social
responsibility through their involvement in the pupil council, the
eco committee, charity work, buddying activities and helping with
school events. The weekly food cooperative has gained a National
Social Enterprise Award and is an exemplary instance of children,
parents and staff working together for the benefit of the wider
community. Children enjoy participating in a very wide range of
after-school activities, including a homework club, sports and games,
dance, art and design activities and music. The school encourages
and recognises individual achievement in many sporting and artistic
activities.
Almost all children are achieving anticipated national levels in writing
and reading. Many achieve these early. Most are making very good
progress in classwork. Those who need additional help with their
learning are progressing well towards their next learning targets. Early
literacy skills are developing very well at P1-P2. Thereafter, children
listen well to adults and to each other when working with a partner or
in groups. They are articulate and talk with confidence, for example
when identifying issues to investigate during topic work or in debates
and class discussions. Children read accurately and with improving
fluency, benefiting from the revised approaches to the teaching of
reading across the school. Most enjoy books and are conversant with
a range of authors. They can speak confidently about language and
the way writers achieve their effects. They write well for a range of
purposes. The school is now aiming to improve the quality of
children’s imaginative writing. There remains scope to improve
standards of spelling, handwriting and presentation in some classes.
Almost all children are achieving or exceeding expected national levels
in mathematics at all stages. Those who require additional help are
making good progress in their learning. By P7, children talk
confidently and with enthusiasm about their learning in mathematics.
They are secure in mental and written calculations and have a good
understanding of fractions, percentages and decimals. Throughout the
school, they have regular experience of practical working with money
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through a variety of enterprising projects. Their knowledge of shape
and information handling is very sound. Across all stages, children
use strategies well to support problem solving. They use ICT with
confidence to support their learning. Children are very interested in
health promotion and have a clear understanding of the benefits of
exercise, a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
The curriculum is very well organised, with suitable breadth and
balance at all stages. Teachers plan their work carefully, to ensure
that children’s learning experiences are consistent at each stage. The
school has reviewed successfully its approaches to teaching reading.
Programmes in science and social studies are also being improved in
the light of new national guidance. Children are offered opportunities
to apply their language and mathematics skills in a wide variety of
different situations, notably at the early stages. The school has
introduced a more sustained Scottish dimension in its curriculum,
including language and history. There is suitable emphasis on
education for sustainable development, global citizenship and
enterprise in education. The school does not yet provide all children
with two hours of physical education each week, although steps have
been taken to minimise the limitations of the indoor facilities and to
provide a wide range of physical activities, sports and games. The
school is very well placed to continue with its implementation of
Curriculum for Excellence.
Teachers identify and meet children’s learning needs very well.
Activities and tasks are well matched to the needs of most. The pace
of learning is brisk but appropriate. Active learning is embedded firmly
across the school. Teachers give clear explanations and use
questioning well to check children’s understanding. They share the
purpose of lessons with learners and review regularly what has been
learned. A few higher attaining children could still be challenged more
consistently in their work. Class teachers and the support for learning
staff work well together to identify those children who have difficulties
at an early stage and to ensure that their needs are being met
effectively. Individualised educational programmes are planned in
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detail, with suitable learning targets and arrangements to ensure
progress is reviewed regularly. There is scope for children and
parents to contribute more fully to the planning process. Children
enjoy their homework challenges which are appropriate and set
regularly.
4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s
learning?
Staff work very well with a wide range of professional agencies in
supporting children’s learning. These include psychological and social
work services, speech and language therapy, the school nurse, the
community policeman and the literacy base at Boghall. Children are
supported well at the transition stages. There is appropriate liaison
with providers of pre-school education. Effective links with the
education authority’s Children and Young People’s Team have also
enabled those at P7 to be well prepared for moving on to secondary
school. The Parent Council and parents are very supportive of the
school and its activities. Almost all parents are happy with the school
and the quality of information it provides about their children’s learning.
Any parental concerns or complaints are dealt with effectively by the
school. The school is working hard to increase opportunities for
parents to be involved in the life of the school. These already include
helping with school trips and other school activities and the very
successful food cooperative. Curriculum information evenings have
included Curriculum for Excellence, the new reading approaches,
residential education and transition to Inveralmond Community High
School. Parents and the school nurse have worked together to
produce an information leaflet about sensitive aspects of health
education.
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their
school community?
Children are very proud of their school and play an active part in
developing its strong sense of community. The pupil council works
hard for the benefit of the school. Through their work as litter
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detectives, junior road safety officers, office assistants and buddies,
children are very much part of the process of improving the school
and its environment. The eco committee has helped to gain an
Eco-Schools Scotland third green flag. Staff are also highly committed
to the school and work exceptionally hard for its improvement. The
headteacher has been successful in generating a very strong culture
of self-evaluation. Staff participate fully in a carefully planned
coaching programme and in the observation of learning and teaching
according to clear and appropriate themes. Teachers plan their work
very thoroughly. The senior management team monitors the quality of
planning, teaching and children’s progress equally rigorously. The
school improvement plan sets out in detail appropriate priorities for
future attention. The whole-school initiative to improve the teaching of
reading has been exceptionally effective and includes systematic
analysis of the views of parents, children and staff.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
Teachers and pupils have high expectations of learning, attainment,
achievement and behaviour. Children work enthusiastically to the best
of their ability and respect each other’s efforts. Staff have worked very
hard to create a vibrant atmosphere and learning environment.
Children’s achievements are shared regularly and celebrated through
assemblies and awards. The exceptionally well-organised display
policy reflects school values, acknowledges the efforts of individuals
and reinforces children’s learning. The school also has a caring ethos,
with concern for the health and well-being of individuals reflected in its
Health Promoting School status. The school is active in encouraging
children to make healthy choices. Staff are committed to the
safeguarding of all children and are knowledgeable about child
protection procedures. There is appropriate entrance security and
access for wheelchair users. Teachers ensure that all children are
treated equally and fairly. Children are aware of the beliefs and
customs of other cultures through assemblies, their international links
and the religious and moral education programme. Assemblies are
carefully planned and provide regular opportunities for religious
observance.
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7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher provides the school with strong leadership. She has
a clear vision for its future development and has generated impressive
momentum for change and improvement. She has been supported
well by the senior management team, consisting of the depute
headteacher and two principal teachers. Teachers are fully committed
to self-evaluation and school improvement in the interests of the
children. The school is very well placed to continue its further
development.
8. What happens next?
The inspection team was able to rely on the school's robust
self-evaluation. As a result, it was able to change its focus during the
inspection to support further improvements within the school.
The school provides a very good quality of education. Therefore, 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.
•
Continue with the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.
•
Continue to develop consistently challenging learning experiences,
particularly for higher attaining children.
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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 Peel Primary School.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
very good
excellent
very good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Lachlan MacCallum
31 August 2010
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very good
excellent
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