Education Scotland Inspection of West Primary School ECSPB
Renfrewshire Council · 24 August 2023
Back to Education and Children's Services Policy Board — 24 August 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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1 ___________________________________________________________________ To: Education and Children’s Services Policy Board On: Thursday 24 August 2023 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Interim Chief Education Officer ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Education Scotland Inspection of West Primary School ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 West Primary School was inspected by Education Scotland in February 2023 as part of a national sample of education. Education Scotland uses different models of inspection and at West Primary School the short model approach was deployed. Education Scotland also inspected the Gaelic Medium Education provision which is in West Primary School. Inspectors assessed the school and the GME provision with a focus on two quality indicators which are referenced in How Good is our School? 4 Quality Indicator 2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment. Quality Indicator 3.2 Raising attainment and achievement. 1.2 This was a positive inspection which evaluated all quality indicators as ‘good’. 1.3 As part of the inspection model the following area was also reviewed: Quality Indicator 2.1 Safeguarding Education Scotland do not attach an evaluative grade to this. Instead in the Summary of Inspection Findings there are evaluative statements provided which are positive and contribute to the overall school ratings of good. 1.4 The inspection report in the form of a letter to parents, published by Education Scotland on 20 June 2023, is attached as an appendix to this report and is also available from the Director of Children’s Services or from the Education
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2 Scotland website Link to Education Scotland Inspection Reports The letter to parents identified four key strengths of the school. The headteacher and management team provide highly effective leadership. The headteacher is supported well by staff in creating and maintaining a nurturing and inclusive learning environment. Staff, work closely with families and a wide range of partners and agencies to improve outcomes for children. Children identify strongly with their school. Relationships are positive and children engage well with each other and staff. They appreciate the opportunities they have to develop their interests and talents. A strong feature of the school as a community is the promotion of equity. The emphasis staff place in addressing barriers to learning is helping children engage fully in the life of the school. This is having a positive impact on children’s engagement and attainment. Gaelic Medium Education within West Primary School is becoming well established. Children are making good progress in talking Gaelic. For children learning through English, their curriculum is widening through their learning about Gaelic language and culture. 1.5 The inspection report also identified three areas for further improvement: Continue to refine approaches to learning and teaching. This will help to ensure appropriate pace and challenge to reflect the range of needs of all learners. Staff should increase the opportunities for children to assume greater responsibility for leading their own learning, building on the existing practice already in place. Continue to take forward the already identified school priorities and planned interventions to raise children's attainment further. Continue to liaise closely with the local authority to build Gaelic Medium Education from nursery across all stages of learning. 1.6 There is an agreed set of procedures for responding to inspection reports which will support the school and Children’s Services to plan how the area for further improvement will be addressed. Actions are detailed within the school improvement plan which is shared with parents. In addition, the school will be supported in its improvement journey by Children’s Services. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations 2.1 Members of the Education and Children’s Services Policy Board are asked to note and celebrate the key strengths and recognise the area for further improvement in the Education Scotland report on West Primary School and the Gaelic Medium Education Provision. _________________________________________________________
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3 3. Background 3.1 Following a pause to inspections due to the pandemic, Education Scotland’s routine programme of inspection of schools and early years settings resumed in September 2022. Children’s Services welcomes the process of audit undertaken by Education Scotland as supportive to continuous improvement in Renfrewshire’s education establishments. The school team at West Primary School approached the inspection in a positive manner and embraced it as a professional learning opportunity in partnership with colleagues at Education Scotland. 3.2 The report includes four areas for further improvement, and progress in addressing this will be monitored by Children’s Services staff through the Quality Improvement Framework. 3.3 The inspection report will inform planned improvement activity, and will enable the school, the flexible learning resource and wider service, to build on the recognised strengths and focus further development on areas for improvement to enable the school to continue to deliver a quality educational provision. ___________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial - None 2. HR & Organisational Development - None 3. Community/Council Planning – engaging with, and learning from external inspection, ensures that our Renfrewshire is thriving: high standards of education provision ensure that children and young people are given the best start in life so that they promote and contribute to a more prosperous, fairer society. It also ensures our Renfrewshire is well – by providing an environment which encourages care, welfare and development, establishments play a crucial role in developing children and young people so that they become responsible citizens. The inspection process also supports delivery of the Council Plan cross- cutting theme of improving outcomes for children and families as well as other Council Plan key strategic outcomes, for example: Economy Equipping all children and young people to achieve success in life Fair Creating inclusive and supportive learning environments for children and young people. Embedding children’s rights in our decision-making processes
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4 4. Legal – None 5. Property/Assets - None 6. Information Technology - None 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety - None 9. Procurement – None 10. Risk - None 11. Privacy Impact - None 12. Cosla Policy Position – N/A 13. Climate Risk – None _________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers - None __________________________________________________________ Children’s Services T McGillivray Author: Tracy McGillivray, Head of Education (Inclusion and Quality Improvement) tracy.mcgillivray@renfrewshire.gov.uk
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1 | West Primary School, Renfrewshire Council, 8626723 © Crown Copyright 20 June 2023 Dear Parent/Carer In April 2023, a team of inspectors from Education Scotland visited West Primary School. During our visit, we talked to parents/carers and children and worked closely with the headteacher and staff. West Primary School Early Learning and Childcare Class was inspected by Care Inspectorate within the past 18 months. Therefore we have agreed with the local authority and school that the nursery class is not part of this inspection. The inspection team found the following strengths in the school’s work. • The headteacher and management team provide highly effective leadership. The headteacher is supported well by staff in creating and maintaining a nurturing and inclusive learning environment. Staff, work closely with families and a wide range of partners and agencies to improve outcomes for children. • Children identify strongly with their school. Relationships are positive and children engage well with each other and staff. They appreciate the opportunities they have to develop their interests and talents. • A strong feature of the school as a community is the promotion of equity. The emphasis staff place in addressing barriers to learning is helping children engage fully in the life of the school. This is having a positive impact on children’s engagement and attainment. • Gaelic Medium Education within West Primary School is becoming well established. Children are making good progress in talking Gaelic. For children learning through English, their curriculum is widening through their learning about Gaelic language and culture. The following areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from Renfrewshire Council. • Continue to refine approaches to learning and teaching. This will help to ensure appropriate pace and challenge to reflect the range of needs of all learners. Staff should increase the opportunities for children to assume greater responsibility for leading their own learning, building on the existing practice already in place. • Continue to take forward the already identified school priorities and planned interventions to raise children's attainment further. • Continue to liaise closely with the local authority to build Gaelic Medium Education from nursery across all stages of learning.
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2 | West Primary School, Renfrewshire Council, 8626723 © Crown Copyright We gathered evidence to enable us to evaluate the school’s work using 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 West Primary School Quality indicators Evaluation Learning, teaching and assessment good Raising attainment and achievement good 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: Reports page | Inspection reports | Education Scotland What happens next? We are confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and so we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. Renfrewshire Council will inform parents/carers about the school’s progress as part of its arrangements for reporting on the quality of its schools. Charles Rooney HM Inspector