St Ninian’s Primary School
Gourock
Inverclyde 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 Ninian’s Primary School was inspected in February 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 and representatives of the parent-teacher association (PTA)¹.

The inspection team also evaluated aspects of the school’s progress in implementing national recommendations related to improving aspects of school meals provision.

St Ninian’s Primary School is a denominational school serving the town of Gourock and surrounding area. At the time of the inspection the roll was 366. The proportion of pupils who were entitled to free school meals was well below the national average. Pupils’ attendance was above the national average.

2. Key strengths

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

Overall, parents expressed a very high level of satisfaction with almost all aspects of the school. All parents felt that the school was very well led. They felt that the school had a very good reputation in the community and that staff showed concern for the care and welfare of their children. All parents thought the school set high standards of attainment and achievement. A third of parents were concerned about the quality of the school buildings. Pupils were very proud of their school and enjoyed being there. They thought they were well cared for and teachers knew them very well. Staff expressed complete satisfaction with all aspects of the school. In particular, they praised the headteacher for her outstanding leadership. They felt that they communicated effectively as a staff team and maintained excellent relationships with pupils and parents. They very much enjoyed working at the school and praised the pupils for their exemplary behaviour, enthusiasm and achievements.

4. How good are learning, teaching and achievement?

Pupils’ learning experiences and achievements

The overall quality of the curriculum was good. The school provided pupils with an appropriately broad and balanced range of learning activities. Teachers used available time effectively to improve pupils’ skills in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils’ skills in art and design were being developed very effectively. Personal and social education, citizenship and enterprise education were well addressed across the curriculum. There was an improving emphasis on health education and pupils were encouraged to adopt healthy lifestyles. However, the school had yet to develop a progressive programme for listening and talking. Limited use was made of information and communications technology (ICT) to support learning. Teaching approaches had important strengths. Teachers were very well organised and they made very effective use of praise to build pupils’ confidence. They gave clear explanations and shared with pupils what they expected them to learn. Most teachers were skilled in using questioning to check pupils’ understanding. Several made very good use of direct, interactive teaching, particularly in English language. However, teachers did not consistently involve pupils in sharing what they had learned. Teachers set pupils a good variety of homework tasks to support the learning taking place in school.

Almost all pupils were very well motivated and hardworking. In most classes, pupils had regular opportunities to work collaboratively. At P2, for example, groups of pupils worked well in small groups while reading for information. At P4, in art and design, pupils were successfully developing skills in using paint to create tone and texture. At P7, pupils worked effectively in small groups to discuss the writing style of a Scottish poet. Pupils were then given opportunities to create and perform group poems. Pupils were beginning to assess their own work and that of classmates identifying areas for improvement, for example, in writing. In the most effective lessons the pace of learning was brisk. However, in some lessons the pace was slowed either by too much teacher direction or too much written textbook work. Pupils at P5 responded very well to teaching approaches in mathematics which encouraged them to be actively involved in their learning. This active approach to learning was not yet consistent across the school. In particular, pupils at the early stages would benefit from more opportunities to learn through purposeful play.

The school had taken very good steps to help pupils develop their wider achievements. At all stages, pupils were making very good progress in developing their confidence and self-esteem. The school valued and celebrated the pupils’ wider achievements in a variety of ways. These included attractive displays of pupils’ art and design work, effective class and whole school reward systems and regular school assemblies. Elected representatives from P4 to P7 exercised responsibilities through the Pupil Council and the Eco Committee. The Pupil Council had been actively involved in seeking the views of the children by conducting a questionnaire on all aspects of school life. Senior pupils successfully supported the youngest pupils in the playground and through a paired reading project. All pupils were improving further their enterprise skills by raising funds for local and international charities. At P7, pupils were knowledgeable about the benefits of Fair Trade products. The school was working towards recognition as a Health Promoting School and most pupils had a good understanding about nutrition.

English language

The overall quality of attainment in English language was very good. Pupils’ levels of attainment had been increasing steadily in recent years. Almost all had attained appropriate national levels in listening, talking, reading and writing. At a number of stages, pupils had attained these levels in reading and writing earlier than might normally be expected. All pupils, including those with additional support needs, were making good progress in their coursework. At almost all stages, pupils listened well to teachers and to one another. They talked effectively in groups and spoke competently about their thoughts and ideas. P4 pupils discussed texts and offered considered opinions on books which they had read. By P7, pupils extracted information from texts and demonstrated very good understanding of what they had read. Throughout the school, pupils regularly read for pleasure using class libraries. At P2, pupils used the Internet effectively to source information. At all stages, pupils planned and produced written work for a broad range of purposes. Pupils’ skills in punctuation, spelling and grammar were well developed. At all stages, the standards of presentation were commendable.

Mathematics

The overall quality of pupil attainment in mathematics was very good. In recent years, the level of pupils’ attainment in mathematics had remained consistently high. Almost all pupils achieved appropriate national levels of attainment. Most of them attained these levels earlier than might be expected. At P2, almost all pupils were exceeding national levels. However, this early progress was not sustained in the following year. Pupils who experienced difficulty with their learning were making good progress in their coursework. At all stages, pupils presented information in appropriate ways including charts and graphs. By P7, almost all pupils performed well in written and mental calculations and were developing a good understanding of number, money and measure. They had a good knowledge of symmetry and shapes and could discuss their properties confidently.

At all stages, pupils were developing their skills in problem-solving and enquiry and were aware of appropriate strategies. Some pupils were not always able to identify and apply appropriate strategies effectively in new situations.

5. How well are pupils’ learning needs met?

The school’s arrangements to meet pupils’ learning needs were good. Staff used an appropriate range of strategies to identify individuals’ learning needs and to improve pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills. However, despite this good practice, teachers did not always provide appropriately challenging activities which were well matched to the needs of all pupils. Support staff were well deployed and made positive contributions to supporting pupils’ learning. The network support teacher provided good support to identified pupils. She worked closely with the depute headteacher to plan support for pupils and deliver relevant training for staff. A small number of pupils were being supported by individualised educational programmes (IEPs). These had recently been reviewed by the headteacher. She had correctly identified the need to extend the number of IEPs and improve existing IEPs by setting clearer and more specific short term targets and involve parents more in this process. The school had clear and effective procedures to ensure a smooth transition for pupils moving from P7 to secondary school. Arrangements for transition from nursery into P1 were in place but these had not impacted effectively enough on learning experiences of pupils in P1.

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 Ninian’s Primary School provided a high standard of education for its pupils. There was a very positive and supportive ethos in which staff, pupils and parents worked very effectively together. Pupils were polite, confident, and their behaviour was exemplary. Relationships among pupils and staff were excellent. Pupils’ attainment in English language and mathematics was very good. The quality of learning and teaching was good. The quality of pastoral care was very good and staff had high expectations of pupils’ attendance and wider achievements.

The school had the clear capacity to ensure further improvement. The experienced headteacher was an excellent leader and manager. Her open and approachable leadership style was highly regarded by staff, pupils and parents. In her time as headteacher she had made an outstanding contribution to taking forward the work of the school and had demonstrated a clear vision for the future development of the school. Through highly effective consultation and communication, she had created a strong and cohesive staff team. She had successfully led improvements in the curriculum and, with support from staff and parents, had improved the environment for learning. The headteacher and staff used a variety of approaches to monitor the quality of the school’s work. Some had only recently been introduced and had yet to impact fully on teaching and learning. Nonetheless, the headteacher had a very good understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for development. Senior managers gave feedback to staff about their teaching plans and they also sampled pupils’ work. The headteacher and staff produced an informative annual standards and quality report for parents. The two depute headteachers and the principal teacher worked well together to provide a good level of support to the headteacher and staff. They valued the headteacher’s encouragement and they were making an important contribution to the life and work of the school.

What happens next?

As a result of the high performance, the strong record of improvement and the very effective leadership of this school, HM Inspectors will make no further reports in connection with this inspection. 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 the education authority, working with the school, will provide a progress report to parents.

Marion Burns

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 Corporate Director: Education and Social Care, 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.

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.