11 February 2014
Dear Parent/Carer
St Elizabeth’s Primary School and Nursery Class
South Lanarkshire 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 how teachers support children to learn
actively and promote health and wellbeing across the school. We also looked at how
teachers are improving children’s attainment in mathematics. 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?
Children are very proud of their school. Their behaviour is commendable and it is
clear they enjoy coming to school. Children in the nursery and primary classes learn
and achieve well in and out of school. In the nursery, children had fun searching for
Christmas treasure and making pies in the mud. They regularly help each other with,
for example, putting on aprons to paint or getting ready to play outside. Most children
could talk confidently about what they are learning. There is scope for staff to continue
to plan learning activities that motivate all children and develop their ability to
concentrate well. Children in the primary classes are developing their enterprise and
citizenship skills. They benefit from participating in a wide range of roles including
being members of various committees and the pupil council and through acting as
playground leaders. They make positive contributions to the strong community of faith
and to the wider community. Children often learn in small groups and in pairs. They
told us they like this way of working especially in language work where specific skills
such as leadership or note-taking are developed. We have asked teachers to ensure
children have a better understanding of their learning and the skills they are
developing. Children’s achievements are celebrated regularly. It would be helpful if
the school extended their arrangements for tracking and monitoring of children’s
achievements.
Children in the nursery and in the primary classes are making good progress in literacy
and numeracy. Nursery children can express their views and listen appropriately to
instructions. They are beginning to develop their early reading and writing skills
through a variety of language activities. They are able to count and recognise
numbers to ten with a few counting beyond ten. They are gaining confidence in
Education Scotland
W1 Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh
EH11 3XD
T
0131 244 8371
F
0131 244 8424
E edinburgh@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
learning other mathematical concepts such as passage of time, weight and measure.
Most primary children articulate their thoughts and ideas well during lessons. A few
could improve their responses to questions by thinking more deeply. All children are
successfully learning Spanish. For example, they ordered their lunch in Spanish and
used Spanish numbers accurately in a game of ‘lotto’. Many older children are also
writing and reading simple texts in Spanish. The quality of children’s presentation of
their work and handwriting is very good. Changes to the way children are taught to
write are helping them to make faster progress. We have asked teachers to ensure
that the children who are most skilled at writing produce longer, high-quality texts. A
focus by teachers on improving further children’s attainment in mathematics is
beginning to make a difference. Most children are now more accurate in mental
calculations, solving mathematical problems, and in written tasks. Children in upper
stages classes are responding well to the challenges provided by working in ‘set’
groups. Children have a sound understanding of the need to maintain a healthy
lifestyle through eating healthily and taking regular exercise.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
The school has developed strong and productive partnerships with parents and
members of the church and community to support children’s welfare and learning.
Parents expressed high levels of satisfaction with many aspects of the work of the
school. They mentioned specifically the school’s success as a Rights Respecting
School and longstanding Fairtrade status. Staff liaise regularly with the depute
headteacher and others to ensure identified children with additional support needs
receive the help they require. Overall, staff in the nursery support children well. They
need to support children’s investigative and problem-solving skills more effectively. In
the best well-paced lessons, primary-aged children are learning actively and are
challenged to think for themselves. Staff provide children with a broad range of
activities in each area of the curriculum. Teachers are very organised, preparing
detailed plans for children’s learning. We have asked the school to develop a clearer
curriculum vision. This would involve parents and others in the process of developing
curriculum programmes which are relevant and focussed on developing children’s
learning skills. Teachers need to link their planning more directly to Curriculum for
Excellence guidance. This will result in greater consistency and progression in
children’s learning from nursery to Primary 7.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
All members of the school community, including the church and Parent Council, work
together to improve aspects of the work of the school. The strong Catholic ethos is
evident in the way children conduct themselves and in the positive relationships which
exist between staff, parents and children. The headteacher is highly regarded by
children, parents and staff. Her calm and sensitive approach is valued by all and has a
positive impact on the ethos and life of the school. Children’s views are heard and
respected. Staff all take on additional duties which broaden children’s experiences.
The school needs to further improve the range of approaches to monitor the quality of
learning and teaching and the development of the curriculum. More needs to be done
to track and record significant aspects of children’s progress in learning to ensure they
attain as highly as possible. The school is well placed, with continued partnership
working and relevant support from South Lanarkshire Council, to improve further.
2
This inspection found the following key strengths.




Extremely well-behaved children who are happy and proud of their school.
The wide range of children’s learning experiences, including experiences in
learning Spanish.
Staff who work very well as a team and enjoy strong and productive partnerships
with parents.
The strong and supportive Catholic ethos which permeates the school community.
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.


Continue to develop the curriculum to increase the focus on the development of
children’s skills.
Ensure greater rigour in approaches to self-evaluation to bring about consistency
of assessment, learning and teaching.
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 South Lanarkshire 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.
Marion Burns
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/StEli
zabethsPrimarySchoolSouthLanarkshire.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.
3