Aberfoyle Primary School and Nursery Class
Stirling Council
15 December 2009

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to let parents
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, children and the local community know whether their school
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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.
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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. 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
Aberfoyle Primary School is a non-denominational school with a nursery class. It serves the villages of Aberfoyle and Kinlochard and the surrounding areas. The roll was 94, including 22 in the nursery, when the inspection was carried out in October 2009. Children’s attendance was in line with the national average in 2007/2008.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
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Very good quality learning experiences provided by nursery staff.
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The stimulating and inclusive environment of the nursery class which supports and challenges children well.
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Confident, motivated, articulate children who are eager to learn.
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Attainment in reading and mathematics.
• teamwork.
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How well do children learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
In the nursery class, children are very motivated in their learning and gain high levels of success. They persevere very well in their chosen activities and are making very good progress in all aspects of their learning. Children are familiar with the daily routines and are becoming increasingly independent and confident in their learning.
They are able to make their own choices and are learning to share and cooperate with others. Across the primary stages, most children are motivated and interested in their learning. They work well with one another in pairs and in groups. They enjoy being involved in planning their learning of topic work. Children respond very well when they are actively involved in learning, for example during mathematical activities at P2/3, being ‘book detectives’ at P4/5 and during topic activities at
P6/7. They are beginning to gain more responsibility for their learning but there is scope to improve this further. Children take part eagerly in a range of outdoor activities. They can identify a number of ways in which the school is encouraging them to adopt healthy lifestyles.
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Children achieve success both within and beyond the classroom. In the nursery class, children like their certificates which celebrate their achievement and success. Across the primary stages, children take on a range of responsibilities including acting as house captains, being
‘buddies’ to younger children, and serving on the eco committee, health group and pupil council. Children have extended their learning through visits to places of interest linked to ongoing classwork.
Children in P6 increased their awareness of future career choices by attending a ‘Learning for Life’ careers event. At P7, children develop their personal and social skills well when joining with other local schools for their residential trip which is part of the planned move to secondary school.
In the nursery class, children are making very good progress. They enjoy listening to stories and can recall their favourites. Children are confident and enthusiastic when participating in early writing activities.
All children can recognise their name in print and many are able to write their name. In early mathematics, nursery children can count confidently, recognise shapes and use mathematical language during their play. Across the primary stages, most children are attaining appropriate national standards in reading and writing. Almost all are attaining appropriate national standards in mathematics. The school has improved standards in recent years and these are now returning to previous consistently high levels. In English language, most children listen well to one another and staff and respond appropriately. They are confident when presenting to class and at school assemblies.
They can talk confidently about their preferences in texts. Most children use a range of strategies well to find and select information from books. Most write well for different purposes and audiences. In mathematics, children are very confident in using number, money and measurement in both written and mental calculations. At P1, children can count to and recognise numbers beyond ten. At P4/5, children can make a range of three-dimensional shapes and identify the properties of these shapes. At the senior stages, children work well together to tackle and solve problems. Across the primary stages, children do not use information and communications technology effectively enough for data handling in mathematics.
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Curriculum and meeting learning needs
In the nursery class, staff provide a curriculum that ensures enjoyment, challenge and choice for all children. Staff provide high quality indoor and outdoor experiences which support children’s learning through play. Staff use the outdoor area effectively to provide high-quality investigative play. Children have very good opportunities for physical play indoors and out. Across the primary stages, staff provide children with a broad and balanced curriculum. They are beginning to develop a number of aspects of Curriculum for Excellence , for example in their cross curricular topic work. In most classes, children are learning to apply their literacy skills to other areas of learning. The school does not yet provide all children with two hours good quality physical education each week. Staff recognise the need to develop further children’s skills in science and technology.
In the nursery class, staff meet children’s learning needs very well.
They work closely with parents to support children’s learning. Staff provide activities which reflect children’s interests and these activities are well matched to the needs of almost all children. Children who attend full time have opportunities for rest and quiet times during the day. Across the primary stages, most staff meet children’s learning needs well. In the best lessons, staff ensure that activities are appropriately paced and that children learn at a rate which motivates and challenges them. This practice is not yet consistent enough across all primary classes. The majority of teachers explain the purpose of lessons and share what they want children to learn. They use questioning and discussion appropriately to engage children in their learning. The support for learning teacher works effectively with individual children and groups. Clear support plans are in place.
Regular consultation takes place between class teachers and the support for learning teacher. Staff recognise the need to refine individual targets for children with additional support needs.
Homework is regular and varied. Several teachers use homework diaries well as a method of communicating with parents.
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4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
Nursery staff have developed strong, positive relationships with parents. Parents feel welcome in the nursery, and regularly help with nursery activities. Children and parents are well supported when starting nursery and parents are encouraged to stay until children are happy and confident. Across the school, staff work well with a range of professionals to support children in their learning. Progress reports, parents’ meetings, class information leaflets and ‘meet the teacher’ events keep parents informed about their children’s progress. Parents are consulted on sensitive aspects of health education. A significant number of parents serve on the Parent Council. They work very well to raise funds to support the school. Relationships between the Parent
Council and the headteacher are not yet positive enough. The school does not yet have a robust enough system for showing how it records and deals with complaints. The school supports children well when they move from nursery to P1 and from P7 to McLaren High School.
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?
The nursery and primary classes are very welcoming and children are happy and settled. Children have a number of opportunities to contribute to the life of the school. They take responsibility as house captains, act as ‘buddies’ to younger children, encourage recycling through the ‘eco’ committee and share their views through the pupil council. Children have lots of good ideas and should now be given the opportunity to take the lead with these developments. Staff teamwork is now strong and class teachers are keen to be more involved in helping the school to improve. The nursery knows itself well, and staff reflect regularly on their practice. They have undertaken self-evaluation, using the information gained to identify appropriate areas for improvement. The headteacher has put in place a number of approaches to monitor the work of the school and nursery class.
These include sampling children’s work, monitoring teachers’ planning,
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observing learning and tracking children’s progress. Teachers are aware of the priorities in the school improvement plan and are now beginning to play an active part in helping to take them forward. The headteacher needs to make more robust use of tracking systems to ensure that good progress is maintained for all children. The school should involve children and parents more in evaluating its work.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
There is a very positive ethos in the nursery. Staff provide a stimulating learning environment for children. They have high expectations of children’s learning and development. In the nursery class, staff celebrate children’s achievements, through photographs and displays of work. They are developing new initiatives to celebrate children’s achievements further through an ‘Achievement Tree’.
Across the school, relationships among children and staff are positive.
Children are polite, courteous and welcoming to visitors. Staff have high expectations of children’s attendance, behaviour and attainment.
All staff are trained in child protection procedures. Assemblies take place on a regular basis and celebrate children’s achievement and success. The school chaplains contribute regularly to religious observance. A health group has recently been reformed and children are keen to be effective in promoting healthy living across the school and the nursery class. Children feel that their views are valued and that they are treated fairly. The school does not have an anti-bullying policy in place and does not record allegations of bullying effectively enough.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
Nursery staff work very well as a team and have a strong commitment to ongoing improvement. The headteacher and newly appointed principal teacher are clear about how they want to take forward school improvement priorities. The principal teacher is already taking an effective lead in relation to improving planning for children’s
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experiences. Staff feel supported by the headteacher. The school seeks the views of parents but does not yet involve them fully enough in taking forward improvements. The headteacher, with the support of the education authority, needs to work more closely with parents.
Better partnership working would increase the school’s capacity for future improvement.
8. What happens next?
We are confident that, with support from the education authority, 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. Our District Inspector will maintain contact with the education authority to monitor improvements.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school and education authority.
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Strengthen relationships with parents.
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Provide a consistently high quality of learners’ experiences.
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Involve staff and parents more fully in evaluating the work of the school.
At the last Care Commission inspection of the nursery class, one recommendation was made and has since been addressed.
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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 Aberfoyle Primary School and Nursery
Class.
Primary school
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
Nursery class
Improvements in performance good good good very good
Children’s experiences
Meeting learning needs very good very good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school and nursery class.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Isabel Robb
15 December 2009 good good
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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 .