St Joseph’s RC Primary School
Bonnybridge
Falkirk Council

26 June 2007

Contents

1. Background
2. Key strengths
3. What are the views of parents, pupils and staff?
4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?
5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?
6. How good is the environment for learning?
7. Leading and improving the school
Appendix 1 Indicators of quality
Appendix 2 Summary of questionnaire responses
How can you contact us?

1. Background

St Joseph’s RC Primary School and nursery class were inspected in March 2007 as part of a national sample of primary and nursery education. The inspection covered key aspects of the work of the school at all stages. It evaluated pupils’ achievements, the effectiveness of the school, the environment for learning, the school’s processes for self-evaluation and innovation, and its capacity for improvement. There was a particular focus on attainment in English language and mathematics.

HM Inspectors examined pupils’ work and interviewed groups of pupils, including the pupil council, and staff. Members of the inspection team also met the chairperson of the School Board, representatives of the parent-teacher association (PTA) and a group of parents¹.

St Joseph’s RC Primary School is a denominational school serving the village of Bonnybridge. At the time of the inspection the roll was 170, including 29 children in the nursery class. The proportion of pupils who were entitled to free school meals was below the national average. Pupils’ attendance was in line with the national average.

The nursery class was inspected at the same time and is the subject of a separate report.

2. Key strengths

3. What are the views of parents, pupils and staff?

HM Inspectors analysed responses to questionnaires issued to all parents, P4 to P7 pupils, and to all staff. Information about the responses to the questionnaires appears in Appendix 2.

Overall, parents expressed a high level of satisfaction with almost all aspects of the school. All parents felt that the school was well led. They thought that their children found school work stimulating and challenging and that staff set high standards of attainment. Parents thought staff showed concern for the care and welfare of their children. They liked the opportunities for their children to participate in a range of clubs. Parents were appreciative of the support that staff provided for pupils. Almost all pupils were very satisfied with the school. They enjoyed learning and said that they supported one another well. Most pupils thought that pupils’ behaviour was good. Teachers also expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the school. They all rated the school’s work highly. A few felt indiscipline could be dealt with more consistently but that these instances were infrequent. Support staff were satisfied with most aspects of the school.

4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?

Pupils’ learning experiences and achievements

The school’s curriculum provided broad, balanced and varied experiences for pupils. Teachers made effective use of additional time allocated to mathematics, reading and writing to develop pupils’ skills. Written guidance for mathematics and English language provided helpful support to staff. There was an appropriate emphasis on health promotion and pupils were actively encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles. ICT was used effectively across the curriculum and in particular to support mathematics. Pupils at P5 to P7 were learning French effectively. The music and physical education (PE) curriculum was supported well by visiting specialist teachers. However, time for PE was variable across the stages. There was now a need to focus on developing the school’s approaches for talking and listening and ensure continuity in learning across classes. Very good links were made with the nursery in developing contexts for play. The overall quality of teaching was good. Most teachers used positive approaches well to motivate pupils, particularly at P1 and P7. They ensured that pupils knew why they were doing their class work and how to assess it. Teachers gave pupils clear feedback and targets for improving their writing. This good practice was developing in wider aspects of the curriculum. In the best practice teachers encouraged pupils to think for themselves and be actively involved in their learning. All teachers provided regular homework activities to support pupils’ learning.

Overall, the quality of pupils’ learning was good. Pupils were hard working and motivated to learn. They had made a good start to becoming independent learners and were increasingly aware of what they had to do to improve. In most lessons, teachers shared effectively what they expected pupils to learn and the pace of the lessons was sufficiently brisk. In the most effective lessons, pupils worked well in small groups. For example, P7 pupils worked well in trios to evaluate their choice and use of language in their writing. A few lessons were less effective and lacked sufficient pace and challenge. Overall, pupils’ skills in collaborative work were not developed consistently enough at the early stages.

The school had successfully focused upon improving the wider achievements of pupils. At all stages, pupils were developing a very good awareness of their responsibilities to themselves and to one another. They were given opportunities to make decisions within the pupil council and the school’s eco committee. They had brought credit to themselves and the school by achieving Eco School Scotland Green Flag status. They were developing skills in enterprise across the school and had attained a silver award. All pupils took part in a wide range of activities outwith school hours including drama, guitar and badminton. At P7, pupils developed good relationships through the buddy system and were involved in organising lunchtime games for the younger pupils. The school’s positive approaches to behaviour management had contributed to motivating pupils to succeed. Junior road safety officers promoted road safety at assemblies. Pupils had become aware of the need for healthy eating and exercise through a whole school focus on keeping healthy. They had participated in health promoting activities that encouraged them to eat healthily. At P5 and P6, pupils managed a healthy tuck shop. A small number of upper school pupils had developed good skills in playing musical instruments.

English language

The overall quality of pupils’ attainment in English language was very good. Attainment had fluctuated slightly in recent years but remained high. Almost all pupils had attained appropriate national levels in listening, talking, reading and writing. Across all stages, pupils had made very good progress in their coursework. Pupils requiring support were making appropriate progress. Almost all of them listened attentively, responded well to teachers’ questioning and were good at following instructions. At P7, pupils talked clearly about their feelings and expressed their opinions about texts they had read. Most pupils read widely for enjoyment and showed good understanding of writers’ ideas. Pupils at P1 were developing very good skills in predicting unfamiliar words from clues in ‘big books’. By P2, the highest attaining pupils read aloud confidently with fluency and with expression. Across all stages, pupils wrote very well for a wide range of purposes and audiences. At P7, pupils wrote clear science reports on investigations they had carried out on lung capacity. Overall, their written presentation was of a high standard.

Mathematics

Overall, the quality of pupils’ attainment in mathematics was very good. Attainment in recent years had remained consistently high and showed signs of further improvement in the current year. Almost all pupils were achieving appropriate national levels of attainment in key aspects of mathematics. Across the school, a notable number of pupils were achieving these levels earlier than might normally be expected. Pupils with additional support needs were making steady progress in their classwork. Across the school, pupils were able to present and interpret information accurately from a variety of graphs and charts, including spreadsheets and databases. Written and mental calculation skills were well developed. At all stages, pupils could recognise two- and three- dimensional shapes and describe their properties. Computers were used effectively across the school to support learning in mathematics. Pupils could identify some strategies for problem solving and enquiry, but required further opportunities to apply these to real-life situations.

5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?

The school’s approaches to supporting pupils’ learning were good. Teachers were knowledgeable about pupils’ needs and worked well to meet them. The school had a systematic and well-developed approach to identifying and assisting pupils with additional support needs. Working alongside class teachers and support for learning assistants, the support for learning teacher provided well-judged support. Pupils with individualised education programmes were following clear learning targets, however these needed to be monitored and updated more regularly. The needs of some higher achieving pupils were being well met, notably at P1 and P7. Pupils who were looked after by the local education authority were supported appropriately and were making good progress in their learning. Despite this level of good practice, in a few lessons teachers did not always select sufficiently challenging activities for the highest attaining pupils.

6. How good is the environment for learning?

7. Leading and improving the school

Appendix 1 provides HM Inspectors’ overall evaluation of the work of the school.

Overall, the school provided pupils with very effective education. The headteacher was very committed to the school and placed high value on wider achievements for pupils. The quality of teaching was good and in some instances very good. Pupils had positive attitudes towards learning and were hardworking. Attainment had remained high in recent years. Parents were actively involved in the life of the school and its community.

The overall quality of leadership of the headteacher was good. She communicated effectively with staff, parents and pupils. The welcome she gave parents contributed significantly to the positive ethos of the school. She managed the school well and showed concern for the care and welfare of staff and pupils. The headteacher had gained the confidence and respect of staff. She was well placed to take a focused look at improving consistency in the quality of learning and teaching. The recently appointed principal teacher had made a good start to leading developments in promoting science and effectively fulfilled her remit to deliver French. Several teachers were delegated a range of responsibilities as coordinators. However, it was too early in the school year to assess the impact of this on learning and teaching across the school. The school’s approaches to monitoring and self-evaluation had resulted in the production of an appropriate development plan. These had been recently introduced and staff recognised the need to develop a wider range of approaches. The headteacher, together with staff needed to introduce more rigour to self-evaluation to ensure further improvements in learning and teaching. The school was well placed to implement such approaches and had the capacity to continue to improve.

What happens next?

The school and the education authority have been asked to prepare an action plan indicating how they will address the main findings of the report, and to share that plan with parents. Within two years of the publication of this report parents will be informed about the progress made by the school.

Susan Gow

HM Inspector

26 June 2007

Appendix 1 Indicators of quality

The sections in the table below follow the order in this report. You can find the main comments made about each of the quality indicators in those sections. However, aspects of some quality indicators are relevant to other sections of the report and may also be mentioned in those other sections.

This report uses the following word scale to make clear judgements made by inspectors:

Appendix 2 Summary of questionnaire responses

Important features of responses from the various groups which received questionnaires are listed below.

How can you contact us?

If you would like an additional copy of this report

Copies of this report have been sent to the headteacher and school staff, the ector of Education, local councillors and appropriate Members of the Scottish Parliament. Subject to availability, further copies may be obtained free of charge from HM Inspectorate of Education, Endeavour House, 1^st Floor, Greenmarket, Dundee DD1 4QB or by telephoning 01382 576700. Copies are also available on our website www.hmie.gov.uk.

HMIE Feedback and Complaints Procedure

Should you wish to comment on any aspect of primary inspections, you should write in the first instance to Chris McIlroy, HMCI, at HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.

If you have a concern about this report, you should write in the first instance to our Complaints Manager, HMIE Business Management Unit, Second Floor, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston, EH54 6GA. You can also e-mail HMIEComplaints@hmie.gsi.gov.uk. A copy of our complaints procedure is available from this office, by telephoning 01506 600200 or from our website at www.hmie.gov.uk.

If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our complaints procedure, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent and has powers to investigate complaints about Government departments and agencies. You should write to the SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also telephone 0800 377 7330 (fax 0800 377 7331) or e-mail: ask@spso.org.uk. More information about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website: www.spso.org.uk.

Crown Copyright 2007

HM Inspectorate of Education

This report may be reproduced in whole or in part, except for commercial purposes or in connection with a prospectus or advertisement, provided that the source and date thereof are stated.

Footnote
1. Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.