16 December 2014
Dear Parent/Carer
Wigtown Primary School and Nursery Class
Dumfries and Galloway 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. As you know, your child’s school is
now in partnership with Kirkcowan Primary School and a number of key staff changes
have taken place within your school. This has brought change and a chance for the
headteacher of both schools to recognise and build on the opportunities this presents.
We looked at some particular aspects of the school’s recent work, including
collaborative learning and teaching and the organisation of learning including active
approaches. 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?
We found that your children are learning and achieving well in the nursery and the
school. In all areas, there is an atmosphere of excitement and motivation for learning.
Children are very happy and value their friendships through cooperating and showing
respect for each other. In the nursery, children make choices confidently. In
particular, they demonstrated that the unrestricted access to the outdoors is enabling
them to be energetic, great investigators whilst building on their imagination and sense
of wonder. We have asked nursery staff to capture more of children’s ideas through
talking with them about what they want to learn and helping them to document how
they will go about it. At the primary stages, children are determined to do well. They
enjoy the active approaches to learning in the classrooms. In the activity room, most
children show that they can practise and apply their skills through real-life problems
and tasks independently. Using their personal learning folders, children told us which
learning goals they are working toward and that they value the school’s approaches to
recognising success. All children in the school have a role in one of their committees.
The Eco-Schools Scotland group have, over time, achieved a magnificent six green
flags. The Press Group are establishing their role in promoting the work of the school
and the pupil council are successfully taking forward the views of their peers.
Children demonstrate very positively many of the values of the school through their
work with each other. Citizenship skills are reflected in the ways older children are
working within the community to explore what Remembrance means to Wigtown. All
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Transforming lives through learning
children are contributing to enterprises to raise funds for a charity which is close to the
heart of the school. In the nursery and at the primary stages, children are making
good progress in literacy and English, numeracy and mathematics. The youngest
children are becoming confident, expressive speakers who enjoy songs, rhymes and
discussing stories. They write, wherever they play, for a wide range of reasons which
are important to them. Children in the nursery count, measure and compare
successfully for meaningful purposes. A few are ready for more challenge in their
learning. At the primary stages, staff are focused on improving children’s attainment.
Notably, improvement in attainment as a result of more active approaches to learning
are now being realised and staff are working hard to ensure this trend continues. An
improvement in what and how children read is motivating children to read more and
discuss their preferences. The stimulating annual Wigtown Book Festival enables
children to meet authors, hear stories and poems read in exciting contexts. We
discussed with staff that a more consistent approach to giving children feedback on
their writing will complement the work they are already doing to help children improve
their writing and spelling further. Children described their growing confidence in
numeracy through better approaches to mental calculations and a greater emphasis,
by teachers, on real-life problems. Skill in written calculations is improving as children
have a deeper understanding of place value.
How well does the school support children to develop and learn?
We saw that the nursery and school are working effectively to establish a strong
nurturing, inclusive ethos to help children grow and develop as individuals. This is
benefiting all children. All adults demonstrate care and respect for your children. In
the nursery, staff plan activities which are built on children’s interests. They
understand why children prefer to learn both in and out-of-doors. We talked with staff
about working alongside you more often to discuss what children can do and need to
learn next and to ensure that activities are challenging enough to enable children to
reach these goals. At the primary stages, the new staff team including support staff
are working together very flexibly to respond to children’s learning needs. We agreed
that more time is needed with this new team to ensure all lessons and activities are
challenging enough, build on what children already know and enable children to focus
on reaching their own targets. We are confident the school can do this very effectively.
Where children need extra help to learn, there are strong partnerships between
parents, staff and other professionals. As a result, children are progressing well and
you appreciate the support from the headteacher and staff, including those who visit
the school during the week.
The curriculum is built on a sound vision which is enabling your children to experience
stimulating learning experiences that make well planned use of local partnerships and
the community. Through the leadership of the headteacher, staff plan and organise
the curriculum together across the multi-composite classes. This is helping to ensure
children will have the real-life experiences which build on the skills and attributes they
need as they progress through the school. Approaches to learning across different
subject areas are beginning to work well for children. For example, linking scientific
investigations on forces with skills in numeracy and literacy. Learning in the
stimulating outdoor area and local community, for example with the Rangers and local
businesses is a strong feature of the school and is helping children to put their learning
into action. All children are now learning French and it is being embraced by children
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in the nursery and at the early stages as it is new. We have agreed with the nursery
and school that they need to continue to look more closely at how they capture what
and how well children are learning. Commendably, the headteacher has established a
toddler group within the school as a feature of the very effective transitions from home
to nursery. Children have settled very well into P1 and those in P7 are already
enjoying their programme of visits to Douglas Ewart High School.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The headteacher has rightly focused on building the partnership between Wigtown and
Kirkcowan Primary Schools. The staff team at Wigtown has undergone a number of
changes including the appointment of a new principal teacher. The headteacher has
built and leads what is now a strong and ambitious staff team who are continuing to
take forward the schools’ ongoing aim of raising attainment. Children and staff share
an enthusiasm for learning and their conversations about the quality of learning are a
regular feature of the schools’ self-evaluation. Teamwork across the nursery and
school is a strength and is focused on improving learning and teaching. Staff are
becoming more confident in identifying which features have the greatest positive
impact on raising attainment as they track children’s progress. As a result of talking
with you as parents and local partners, the headteacher and staff have a deep
understanding of the school community. Their approaches to class structures,
founded on self-evaluation, are bespoke to the school and are working well for your
children. In continuing to take forward agreed plans for improvement, the school has a
strong capacity to continue to build on what it does well.
This inspection found the following key strengths.
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Children in the nursery and at the primary stages who are confident, enthusiastic
about and motivated to improve their learning.
Partnerships and engagement with the local community to enable children to gain
important life skills.
The attention to children’s care and welfare shown by all adults within the school
community.
The teamwork of all staff and their commitment to improving learning and teaching
through well-considered approaches.
Strength of leadership provided by the headteacher.
We discussed with staff and Dumfries and Galloway Council how they might continue
to improve the school and nursery class. This is what we agreed with them.
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In the nursery class, continue to build on prior learning and work alongside children
and their families to agree what children can learn next.
Continue with plans to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy through refining
approaches to learning, teaching and assessment.
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What happens at the end of the inspection?
We are satisfied with the overall quality of provision. We are confident that the
school’s self-evaluation processes are leading to improvements. As a result, we will
make no further visits in connection with this inspection. As part of its arrangements
for reporting to parents on the quality of education, Dumfries and Galloway Council will
inform parents about the school’s progress.
Shona ES Taylor
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/Wigt
ownPrimarySchoolDumfriesandGalloway.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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