St Peter’s Primary School
Bellsmyre
West Dunbartonshire Council

19 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 Peter’s Primary School was inspected in March 2007 as part of a national sample of primary 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, priest and teacher association (PPTA), a group of parents¹ and the local parish priest.

St Peter’s Primary School is a denominational school serving the Bellsmyre area of Dumbarton. At the time of the inspection the roll was 133. The proportion of pupils who were entitled to free school meals was well above the national average. Pupils’ attendance was in line with the national average.

2. Key strengths

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

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

All parents who responded to the questionnaire were very satisfied with most aspects of the school. They all felt that their children enjoyed school and found the work stimulating. They thought that teachers set high standards, encouraged children to work to the best of their ability and were caring. Parents thought that the school was well led and that staff made them feel welcome. Monthly reports on pupils’ personal and social development were valued by parents. Pupils were very positive about almost all aspects of school. All pupils felt that teachers helped them when they were having difficulty with their work. All staff were very positive about all aspects of the school.

4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?

Pupils’ learning experiences and achievements

Overall, the structure of the curriculum was good. Pupils had a broad and balanced experience which was enhanced by visiting teachers and speakers. For example, pupils had worked with an art specialist to create willow sculptures to improve the school grounds. Pupils in P6 and P7 were making good progress learning French. They had successfully prepared PowerPoint presentations in French which were sent to a twin school in Paris. Personal, social and health education was given an appropriately high priority. The school had recently made effective use of available curriculum time to develop creativity and pupils’ thinking skills. While the impact of the use of this additional time had not yet been evaluated, one outcome was that almost all pupils could play chess. While pupils had high quality experiences in physical education, they were not meeting the recommended two hours of physical activity per week. There was insufficient coverage of other world religions. Teaching had important strengths. All teachers had very good relationships with their pupils. In most lessons teachers shared with pupils what they expected them to learn. In a few lessons teachers made very effective use of questioning to develop their thinking, but this was not a consistent feature across all classes. In a few classes, pupils were given too much time to complete activities which were not always sufficiently challenging. Teachers were beginning to make more effective use of information and communications technology (ICT) to enhance their teaching. They issued a variety of homework regularly to support classwork.

The overall quality of pupils’ learning was good. Pupils were enthusiastic and hardworking, they listened attentively to their teachers. Almost all pupils were keen to please their teachers. At all stages, pupils worked well together in groups and pairs. For example, P1 pupils cooperated to design and build model houses and P4/5 pupils worked together to gather information about planets. Pupils in P5/6 took responsibility for managing their group tasks during ‘thinking time’. However, in too many teacher-led lessons, pupils did not have sufficient opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning or think for themselves. At times, the pace of learning was too slow and pupils were not sufficiently stimulated or challenged. Overall, pupils were not always sure of what they needed to do to improve their work.

The school took good steps to promote pupils’ wider achievements. Pupils were successfully developing confidence and positive attitudes towards others. Older pupils gave very good support to younger pupils as playground buddies. The school had achieved an Eco School Scotland Green Flag for its approach to sustainable development education and improvements to the school environment. The school had also achieved a local authority award for health promotion. Staff promoted a healthy lifestyle through a range of activities. For example, the catering manager worked with pupils to create healthy food and the school had achieved an award for a hand washing campaign. Pupils in P7 developed skills of leadership and teamwork through an outdoor education experience. At all stages, pupils contributed effectively to the school’s decision making process through the pupil council, an Eco School group and a creativity group. Pupils were developing citizenship skills through raising significant sums of money for local, national and international charities including a project aimed at assisting the people of Congo. All pupils gained a sense of audience through participating in the Christmas concert.

English language

The overall quality of attainment in English language was good. Pupils’ attainment in reading and writing had shown a slight decline in recent years. Across the school, most pupils were achieving appropriate national levels of attainment in reading and the majority were achieving these levels in writing. At P2, almost half were achieving these levels earlier than might normally be expected. Pupils with additional support needs were making appropriate progress. At most stages, pupils listened well to instructions. Pupils spoke confidently about their personal experiences. Most pupils read fluently and with good expression. They understood the main ideas in texts they read. At P6 and P7, they showed an appreciation of a range of poetry, writing styles of different authors and most enjoyed reading for pleasure. Pupils in P1 could confidently find the contents page and index in non-fiction books and select an important fact to share with their class. At all stages pupils wrote for a suitably wide range of purposes. However, at P6 and P7, pupils did not have sufficient opportunities to write at length. At most stages, the standard of handwriting and presentation had scope for improvement.

Mathematics

The overall quality of attainment in mathematics was very good. Over the past three years, levels of attainment had improved. All pupils at P3, almost all pupils at P4 and most pupils at P6 and P7 were achieving appropriate national levels. At P2, almost all pupils were achieving these levels earlier than might normally be expected. Some pupils at the middle and upper stages were capable of achieving higher standards. Pupils with additional support needs were making appropriate progress. By P7, pupils were confident when extracting information from a range of graphs and charts. However, pupils had not had sufficient opportunities to use ICT to support their learning in mathematics. At earlier stages, pupils were beginning to make more effective use of computers to produce graphs from the information they had collected. Pupils demonstrated accuracy in both written and mental calculation. At the upper stages, pupils were confident when using fractions and percentages. At all stages, pupils demonstrated skills in aspects of measurement. They could identify accurately two- and three-dimensional shapes and describe their properties. Pupils were confident in using a range of strategies to solve problems.

5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?

The school’s approaches to meeting pupils’ learning needs were good. The school had been involved in implementing a range of effective education authority initiatives, including early intervention, to assist pupils at a sufficiently early stage to enable them to overtake their learning difficulties. Pupils with additional support needs received well-judged, effective support and were making good progress in their learning. However, in some classes, tasks and activities were not well enough matched to the needs of higher attaining pupils. Class and specialist teachers, visiting support teachers and support staff provided very effective assistance to all pupils, in particular those who experienced difficulties in their learning. They offered a range of provision to help children overcome barriers to learning. The school had worked with parents to create individualised educational programmes (IEPs) for identified pupils. The school worked very effectively with a wide range of external agencies to target a range of support to pupils and families.

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.

St Peter’s Primary School provided its pupils with a good education within a safe, caring and supportive environment. Pupils were making good progress in their learning. The quality of teaching was good and pupils’ learning needs were met well. The school was working very effectively with a range of agencies to support pupils. Very good partnerships existed with parents and the wider community. Attainment in mathematics had improved and was very good. Although attainment in English language was good, it had recently declined. Pupils’ behaviour was very good. Teachers now needed to increase their expectations of pupils’ attainment and increase the pace and challenge of lessons, particularly for higher attaining pupils.

Overall, the quality of leadership was good. The headteacher had been in post for eight years. He was very well respected by pupils, parents, staff and the wider community. He had successfully developed and sustained a positive climate for learning. He was well supported by the depute headteacher. Both the headteacher and depute were strongly committed to inclusion. They were highly visible around the school. The depute headteacher was leading developments effectively in a significant number of key areas, for example literacy, numeracy and support for pupils. The principal teacher was an experienced classroom practitioner. However, she had not been given the opportunity to lead any improvements identified in the current school development plan. A number of class teachers were leading initiatives, for example, in enterprise and active learning. The headteacher and depute headteacher monitored forward plans, sampled pupils’ work and visited classes to observe learning and teaching. Teachers were given written feedback which was supportive to them, but which was not always sufficiently focused on improvements to learning and teaching. Together, the headteacher and depute headteacher met regularly with teachers to discuss pupils’ progress. Pupils’ attainment information could be used more effectively at these meetings both by senior managers and by individual teachers to plan pupils’ next steps in learning. With a more rigorous approach to self-evaluation focussed on learning, teaching and attainment the school had the capacity to improve provision for pupils.

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.

Elizabeth Morrison

HM Inspector

19 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 Director of Education and Cultural Services, 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, Ground Floor Suite, Unit 7, Blair Court, Clydebank Business Park, Clydebank, G81 2LA or by telephoning 0141 435 3550. 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.