St Brendan’s Primary School
Motherwell
North Lanarkshire Council

20 February 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 Brendan’s Primary School was inspected in October 2006 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 a member of the School Board, representatives of the Parents’ Association and a group of parents¹.

St Brendan’s Primary School is a denominational school serving parts of the Muirhouse and Craigneuk areas of Motherwell, and the Netherton area of Wishaw. At the time of the inspection the roll was 161. 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. At the time of the inspection, the headteacher had been in post for ten months.

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.

Parents were pleased with almost all aspects of the school. Almost all felt that staff made them feel welcome and that the school had a good reputation in the community. A few would have liked to be consulted more on the work of the school and would have liked more advice on how to help their children with homework. Around a quarter did not think that the school informed them sufficiently about the priorities for improving the education of their children. Pupils were very positive about almost all aspects of the school. Almost all felt that teachers expected them to work hard and that the school helped them to keep safe and healthy. A few did not think that their teachers listened to what they had to say or that they were treated fairly. Teachers and support staff were pleased about almost all aspects of the school. They felt they worked well as a team. Around a half of support staff did not think that they had good opportunities to be involved in the decision-making processes in the school. A fifth of support staff did not think there was effective communication or that there was regular discussion about school priorities.

4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?

Pupils’ learning experiences and achievements

The overall quality of the curriculum was good, with suitable breadth at all stages. Initiatives in a number of areas including science, technology and information and communications technology (ICT) were helping to improve pupils’ development of knowledge and skills. Commendably, all pupils received two hours of high quality physical education each week. Visiting specialists in music and French made valuable contributions. The development of pupils’ personal and social skills was embedded in the school’s approach to learning about, and caring for, the environment. Pupils learned about issues in the global community through the Eco Schools project and Fairtrade activities. The headteacher was aware of the need to further develop ICT across the curriculum and to continue to review programmes. The quality of teaching was good. Teachers planned their lessons well and gave clear explanations, directions and instructions. Almost all teachers shared lesson content with pupils and a few had begun to discuss learning targets with them. All teachers interacted positively with pupils and used praise effectively to motivate and encourage. Teachers used questioning well to check pupils’ understanding. Use of ICT in teaching and learning was too limited. Homework was regularly set and well used to support pupils’ learning.

Almost all pupils were very well behaved and keen to learn. At all stages, they cooperated and collaborated well in a range of activities. In P3, pupils worked in groups of three when confidently presenting reports on environmental studies to the whole class. Pupils in P6 enthusiastically discussed health issues as pairs. Pupils in P5 also worked well in pairs to produce a collage in art and design. Pupils were beginning to develop skills in evaluating their own learning, for example, in P2 during reading and in P4 in physical education. However, pupils had too few opportunities to work independently and their motivation decreased when teachers provided them with too much information. In a few cases, pupils were not sufficiently challenged by the pace of work.

The school took very effective steps to help pupils achieve across a wide range of activities. Pupils at all stages demonstrated self-confidence and positive attitudes towards others and the world around them. Pupils were actively involved in the life of the school through the pupil council, Eco committee and the Fairtrade group. They had improved areas of the school including the recently-opened Peace Garden. The school had achieved two Eco School green flags and was one of the first schools in Scotland to gain Fairtrade status. Pupils spoke with pride about their responsibility and actions for conserving and improving the local and global environments. Pupils were developing their sports skills in after-school clubs including football, netball, athletics and multi-sports. They had achieved success in poetry and art competitions and performed in regular musical productions including the Christmas show and the St Andrew’s Day show. Pupils in P5 had recorded their own CD in a professional studio. Pupils at all stages regularly raised money for a range of charities.

English language

The overall quality of attainment in English language was good. Most pupils at all relevant stages were achieving appropriate national levels of attainment in reading and writing. In recent years attainment in reading had remained steady. During the last session, pupils’ attainment in writing had shown significant improvement. Staff did not formally assess pupils’ attainment in listening and talking. Pupils who were experiencing difficulty in classwork were making good progress. Bilingual pupils were making good progress. Throughout the school, pupils listened well to adults and each other and most expressed their views clearly and confidently. At P1 to P3, pupils were making a strong start to reading and writing. Pupils at all stages were systematically developing skills in reading for information, and demonstrated a good level of knowledge about language. However, a few pupils at P6/P7 did not read widely for pleasure and were not able to talk about favourite authors. At all stages, pupils wrote well for a range of purposes and audiences. They had a good understanding of what they needed to do to develop their writing skills further. Most pupils presented their written work neatly.

Mathematics

The overall quality of pupils’ attainment in mathematics was good. In recent years, levels of attainment had remained steady. Most pupils were achieving appropriate national levels of attainment. At P2, almost all pupils were achieving these levels earlier than might normally be expected. However, a few at P4 to P7 were capable of achieving better standards by being set more challenging tasks. Almost all pupils were making good progress in their coursework. Pupils who experienced difficulties in mathematics were making good progress. By P7, pupils were not able to identify and select information from a range of graphs. They did not have experience of using computers to organise and present information. At all stages, pupils were competent using and understanding number, and were secure in their knowledge of two- and three-dimensional shape. At all stages, pupils were able to use appropriate strategies to help solve mathematical problems. Pupils had the opportunity to apply their mathematical skills in practical contexts including, for example surveys of water use.

5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?

The school’s approaches to meeting pupils’ learning needs were adequate. Teachers took account of prior learning when planning work for most pupils. However, tasks and activities did not always meet the needs of higher achieving pupils well enough. Shortages in the availability of appropriate learning support staff affected the school’s capacity to meet pupils’ learning needs. A supply teacher provided helpful support to a range of pupils. Individual pupils also received good support from class teachers, classroom assistants, support assistants and visiting specialists such as the teacher of English as an additional language. However, the school did not have a systematic approach for identifying and meeting the needs of pupils who required additional support with their learning. A few pupils with additional support needs had individualised educational programmes (IEPs). These IEPs required further development to ensure learning targets were more appropriate and that parents were fully involved at an earlier stage. There were good arrangements for supporting pupils at times of transition, for example, from nursery to P1 and from P7 to secondary school.

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 Brendan’s Primary School provided a very caring and supportive environment for learning. There were very good relationships and teamwork of staff. The quality of learning and teaching was good. There was a strong emphasis on the development of pupils as responsible citizens through the school’s approach to caring for the environment and the global community. Standards of attainment in English language and mathematics were good. A few pupils could achieve more through better identification of learning needs to ensure sufficient support and challenge in their learning.

The new headteacher had high expectations of the school and had communicated this to staff, pupils and parents. She had identified a number of priority areas for development and had already made a number of improvements, including communication and in the promotion of a greater sense of school identity through pupils’ uniform. Parents and staff had commented on the positive impact she had achieved in the school. She had been successful in developing productive partnerships that had impacted positively on pupils’ experiences. She promoted the school well and ensured that its achievements were celebrated in the wider community. She had made a number of important changes in her short time in the school, and now needed to develop collaborative working approaches with the staff. She had made a good start to establishing a monitoring programme which, with the school’s tracking and target setting approaches, had already increased attainment in writing. She had produced an evaluative standards and quality report. However, staff, parents and pupils were not sufficiently involved in evaluating the performance of the school. Self-evaluation was not yet sufficiently focussed on teaching and learning. Teachers needed to continue to develop their approaches to critical self-evaluation of their own practices.

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.

Mary Hoey

HM Inspector

20 February 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:

excellent: outstanding, sector leading
very good: major strengths
good: important strengths with areas for improvement
adequate: strengths just outweigh weaknesses
weak: important weaknesses
unsatisfactory: major weaknesses

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, 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, Europa Building, 450 Argyle Street, Glasgow G2 8LG or by telephoning 0141 242 0100. Copies are also available on our website www.hmie.gov.uk.

If you wish to comment about primary inspections

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

Our complaints procedure

If you have a concern about this report, you should write in the first instance to Hazel Dewart, Business Management Unit, HM Inspectorate of Education, Second Floor, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA. A copy of our complaints procedure is available from this office or by telephoning 01506 600258 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. The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman is fully independent and has powers to investigate complaints about Government departments and agencies. You should write to The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, 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.

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