Appendix 1 - Perth Academy Inspection Report
Perth and Kinross Council · 22 April 2024
Back to Executive Sub-Committee of the Learning and Families Committee — 22 April 2024 and its agenda
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1 | Perth Academy, Perth and Kinross Council, 5350638 © Crown Copyright 5 March 2024 Dear Parent/Carer In November 2023, a team of inspectors from Education Scotland visited Perth Academy - Acadamaidh Pheairt. During our visit, we talked to parents/carers and young people and worked closely with the headteacher and staff. The inspection team found the following strengths in the school’s work. These apply to Gàidhlig (Gaelic) and English Medium Education. • Through a period of considerable change, the headteacher has established a clear vision for improvement. She is increasingly engaging stakeholders in school improvement and providing support and challenge to the school community to increase aspiration and ambition. • Young people are welcoming and respectful. Most demonstrate a positive attitude to school and value their learning. • Young people are developing important skills through their participation in a wide range of out of class activities. The following areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from Perth and Kinross Council. • The local authority should continue to work with the headteacher to stabilise school leadership and support school improvement further. All key stakeholders, including learners, should be engaged more effectively in agreeing improvement priorities. • Staff need to improve the quality of learning and teaching across the school. They should plan tasks and activities that are more motivating, relevant and set at the right level of difficulty for young people. • Senior leaders and staff should review approaches to improving wellbeing, attainment and achievement to enable all young people to maximise their potential and achieve success. All stakeholders should contribute to improving wellbeing for the whole school community. • The local authority should continue to support staff as they improve Gàidhlig and implement their vision for change. Young people should be encouraged further to continue with Gàidhlig (Gaelic) Medium Education as they move from primary to secondary stages and through the senior phase to gain qualifications. All staff across the school should play their part in developing a positive ethos for Gàidhlig that promotes equity and equality.
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2 | Perth Academy, Perth and Kinross Council, 5350638 © Crown Copyright We gathered evidence to enable us to evaluate the school’s work using four quality indicators from How good is our school? (4th edition). Quality indicators help schools, local authorities and inspectors to judge what is working well and what needs to be improved. Following the inspection of each school, the Scottish Government gathers details of our evaluations to keep track of how well Scottish schools are doing. Here are Education Scotland’s evaluations for Perth Academy Quality indicators Evaluation Leadership of change satisfactory Learning, teaching and assessment weak Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion weak Raising attainment and achievement satisfactory Descriptions of the evaluations are available from: How good is our school? (4th edition), Appendix 3: The six-point scale A more detailed document called Summarised Inspection Findings (SIF) will be available on the Education Scotland website at: Inspection and Review | Education Scotland What happens next? As a result of our inspection findings we think that the school needs additional support and more time to make necessary improvements. We will liaise with Perth and Kinross Council regarding the school’s capacity to improve. We will return to carry out a further inspection of the school within 12 months of the publication of this letter. We will discuss with Perth and Kinross Council the details of this inspection. When we return to inspect the school we will write to you as parents/carers informing you of the progress the school has made. David Drysdale HM Inspector