Niddrie Mill Primary School
The City of Edinburgh
Council
22 December 2009

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to let parents
1
, children and the local community know whether their school
2
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. Where applicable, you will also be able to find descriptions of good practice in the school.
1
Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers,
2 residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.
The term ‘school’ includes the nursery class or classes where appropriate.

Contents
1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. Example of good practice
4. How well do children learn and achieve?
5. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
6. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?
7. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
9. What happens next?
1. The school
Niddrie Mill Primary School is a non-denominational school. It serves the Craigmillar area of east Edinburgh. The school is housed in a modern shared campus that opened in August 2008. The roll was 250 when the inspection was carried out in November 2009. Children’s attendance was below the national average in 2007/2008.
1

2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Well-mannered,
•
Promotion of reading for enjoyment.
•
Help for children to talk about their feelings and improve their behaviour.
•
Staff care for children’s welfare and for continuous improvement.
•
Success of the headteacher and depute headteacher in creating a culture of self-evaluation.
3. Example of good practice
•
The Retreat.
4.
How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Children benefit from a broad range of learning experiences which motivate them to do well. Most children concentrate on tasks in class and group work. All children regularly review their individual learning targets for English language and mathematics. Some are able to talk about how to improve their learning further. Children feel safe and well cared for. At times, the behaviour of a few children disrupts the learning of others. Children at the early stages in particular, learn well through play in the open areas.
2

Children value their wider achievements. Most can describe how to keep themselves healthy and safe. Older children show a sense of responsibility by acting as ‘Playground Pals’. Those at the middle stages have cooperated well to write and perform a lively puppet show for parents. The active eco group encourages everyone to recycle waste paper. All children understand the school’s values. Those at
P2 and P5 have created lively DVDs to promote the values of
‘perseverance’ and ‘respect’ and share enterprising projects such as
‘ The Wedding’ . Children in The Retreat are proud of their
‘achievement ladder’ which charts their progress. High achieving children in P4 to P7 have a good understanding of media.
Children are making good progress in English language and mathematics. In recent years, attainment in reading, writing and mathematics has improved. Most children achieve appropriate national attainment levels in reading and mathematics. The majority do so in writing. Children with additional support needs are making good progress overall. In English language, most children listen well to the teacher’s explanations. They are not yet as skilled in building on the contributions of others in groups. Most children are reading a wide range of books. Children sequence their writing well and are improving their writing skills. In mathematics, most children carry out written and mental calculations with accuracy. Across the school, children can interpret information from charts and graphs. They show appropriate skill and confidence in tackling problems.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
Staff provide a broad curriculum and are taking forward aspects of
Curriculum for Excellence well. Teachers have begun to plan stimulating studies which help children to transfer their skills and knowledge across curriculum areas. The programme for information and communications technology is strong. Programmes for mathematics and numeracy are being developed to encourage active approaches to learning. The school is providing two hours of good quality physical education each week for all children.
3

All staff know children and their families very well. Teachers plan tasks and activities that mostly take account of children’s needs, especially in English language and mathematics. In a few lessons, staff do not provide tasks that meet the full range of children’s needs.
The school’s approach to meet children’s emotional needs is outstanding. The behaviour support teacher works very effectively in
The Retreat to build children’s social skills, and to provide nurturing.
Learning support staff, including assistants, successfully help children who struggle with reading. Children requiring additional support have clear learning targets. Visiting teachers support children’s learning very well. Teachers give purposeful explanations, use assessment well and issue regular homework. Several make good use of technology such as interactive whiteboards.
5. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
All children benefit from productive links with partner agencies which support their learning. The breakfast club provides valuable support to specific children which helps them to be ready to learn. Counsellors from The Place2Be make a positive difference to children’s lives. The
Parent Council organises monthly coffee mornings which coincide with opportunities for parents to visit classes and share their child’s learning targets. Parents feel well informed about the work of the school through, for example, termly letters from teachers. Staff consult parents on sensitive health issues. The school deals effectively with any concerns or complaints from parents. There are very effective arrangements to support children’s move from nursery to P1 and from
P7 to local high schools.
6. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?
All staff are fully engaged in the life of the school and there is a strong culture of improvement. Staff ask children about ways to improve the
4

school. The pupil council has consulted with children and has, for example, increased the variety of playground equipment. At P6, the
Investigate Group has worked actively to ensure that children can use the astro-turf pitch outwith school hours. Parents are consulted about aspects of the school’s work but response levels are often low. Senior staff meet regularly with teachers to discuss any child who is falling behind or is not being challenged. Teachers visit colleagues’ classes and afterwards discuss good practice and ways to improve learning.
Staff in behaviour and learning support regularly evaluate the impact of their work on children’s progress and confidence. Self-evaluation is leading to improvements and making an impact on children’s learning and attainment.
7. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
The school is very welcoming with a clear sense of purpose. Children are courteous and almost all feel that teachers treat them fairly and praise them when they work well. Staff have high expectations of behaviour, attendance and achievement. A few parents do not share these expectations. All teachers deal with child protection issues well and raise concerns appropriately. The authority is taking steps to ensure that catering staff are trained in child protection. The school monitors children’s absences and follows up unexplained absences well. Children’s links with a school in Kenya help them to appreciate different cultures as well as equality and fairness. There are appropriate opportunities for religious observance.
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher has a clear vision for the school and exerts a quiet, influential presence. She instils confidence in staff, parents and children. She is very well supported by her depute headteacher who provides effective leadership at the early stages. All staff work well together to improve children’s learning and attainment. Support staff
5

play a key role in ensuring the smooth day-to-day running of the school. The school is very well placed to continue to improve.
9. What happens next?
The inspection team found that the school’s self-evaluation was accurate at an early stage of the inspection. As a result, the inspection team was able to change its focus during the inspection to help the school plan to improve even more. We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school and the education authority will inform parents about the school’s progress in improving the quality of education.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school and education authority.
•
Continue to improve attainment, particularly in writing and numeracy across learning.
•
Strengthen the curriculum in line with Curriculum for Excellence .
6

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 Niddrie Mill Primary School.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences good good
Meeting learning needs very good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum good
HM Inspector: Fiona Carlisle
22 December 2009
7

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 outstanding, sector leading major strengths important strengths with some areas satisfactory means strengths just outweigh weaknesses unsatisfactory means 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 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education