Robslee Primary School
Thornliebank
East Renfrewshire Council

17 November 2009

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to let parents¹, children and the local community know whether their school² provides a good education. Inspectors also discuss with school staff how they can improve the quality of education.

At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the headteacher and staff about the strengths of the school, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we go into classes and join other activities in which children are involved. We also gather the views of children, parents, staff and members of the local community. We find their views very helpful and use them together with the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education.

This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of education in the school. We describe how well children are doing, how good the school is at helping them to learn and how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff, parents and children work together and how they go about improving the school. We also comment on how well the school works with other groups in the community, including services which support children. Finally, we focus on how well the school is led and how staff help the school achieve its aims.

If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the school, please visit www.hmie.gov.uk . Here you can find analyses of questionnaire returns from children, parents and staff. We will not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns are so small that they could identify individuals. Where applicable, you will also be able to find descriptions of good practice in the school.

Contents

1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
4. How well do staff work with others to support children's learning?
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?
6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
8. What happens next?

3. How well do children learn and achieve?

Learning and achievement

Children are eager to take part in learning and they learn well together. Most children are motivated and try to do their best. They learn most effectively by being actively involved in tasks which encourage them to think for themselves. In a few classes, children are developing these skills well. This now needs to become more consistent across the school. Children make good use of the outdoor environment to support their learning. They work well in pairs and are beginning to assess each other’s progress. However, they are over dependent on staff and need more help to take responsibility for their own learning. Across the school, children are not sufficiently clear about their progress and next steps in their learning. They make good use of information and communications technology in their learning.

Children experience a broad range of activities which enable them to achieve widely. Most learn new skills in out-of-hours activities such as sport, singing or chess. At all stages, they have a sound knowledge of the importance of eating healthily and taking regular exercise. Most children develop leadership and teamwork skills through participating in committees such as the pupil council and the eco committee. Children are developing a secure understanding of how to care for the environment. For example, at P3 children find out about the natural world through learning in the well-developed school grounds. Children’s success in this area has led to the school achieving a second green flag award from Eco-Schools Scotland. Across the school, children had appropriate investigative skills in science. For example, children could demonstrate their understanding of the water cycle through group drama. Children have a good understanding of others’ needs through their work for charities and fair trade. The majority are gaining confidence through taking part in local competitions, school assemblies and film making.

In recent years, almost all children have attained appropriate national levels in reading and mathematics. Most children have attained these levels in writing. Levels of attainment in reading and mathematics have improved in recent years, although attainment in writing has been variable. Overall children have made good progress in English language and mathematics. Children with additional support needs are making very good progress. A few children are capable of achieving national levels of attainment in listening, talking, reading and writing earlier than they do at present. In English language, most children listen well and talk confidently in groups. Most children read well with understanding and read for enjoyment. They write for a variety of purposes and audiences. However, they do not have enough opportunities to write at length or build on their earlier learning. A few children are not confident in identifying how writers use language to create particular effects. In mathematics, most children can perform mathematical calculations accurately. Most are confident in calculating mentally. They are aware of problem solving strategies but are not confident in using these.

Curriculum and meeting learning needs

Across the school, staff provide a broad range of experiences for children. Staff are at the early stages of using Curriculum for Excellence to build more fully on children’s prior learning. They are beginning to plan topics to make learning more relevant and enjoyable. Recent improvements have been made to reading across the school to make it more interesting for children. They have started to develop children’s literacy and numeracy skills across other areas of learning. Staff organise a good range of interesting visits to motivate children. For example, at P2, children have learned about life in the past in Glasgow during a visit to the People’s Palace. Staff help develop children’s understanding of health issues through the well-planned personal and social development programme. All children benefit from two hours of high-quality physical education each week. Appropriate religious and moral education lessons ensure children are well informed about different faiths.

Across the school, most learning activities match children’s learning needs. A few children work on tasks that are too easy. As a result, they are not learning as well as they might. The school has well-developed approaches for identifying, monitoring and supporting children with additional learning needs. Support staff work closely with teachers and provide well-judged help to individuals and small groups of children. The school provides very effective support, enabling children who are having difficulties with their learning to achieve success and make very good progress. The support for learning teachers provide very good support to help meet children’s needs. Children who have English as an additional language receive helpful specialist support. In most lessons, staff explain things clearly to children. They use questioning well to encourage children’s thinking and to sum up what children have learned. Teachers set regular homework but this is not always varied enough.

4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?

Almost all parents are positive about the school. The supportive parent-teacher association provides additional resources through regular fundraising activities. Over the last few years the school has been very successful in obtaining grants to develop the grounds. The school has developed successful partnerships with a range of agencies, such as speech and language therapists, social work professionals and educational psychologists to support children’s learning. Staff work closely with Green Cart Space to support the development of the school gardens. Good links with the two local parks help to extend children’s learning about the environment. Helpful newsletters keep parents well informed about the work of the school. Parents regularly receive information on children’s progress at parent consultation meetings, open surgeries, and in informative annual written reports. The school consults parents appropriately about sensitive health issues and deals promptly with any concerns or complaints. Staff now plan to involve parents more fully in their children’s learning.

5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?

Children are developing a strong sense of responsibility. Those at the upper stages willingly take on extra responsibilities, such as helping younger children and acting as peer mediators or dinner monitors. They have recently won a Diana award for their work. At all stages, children are active in improving the school as members of the pupil council, eco committee, as Junior Road Safety Officers and a range of other recently established committees. The headteacher has put in place measures to monitor the work of the school and identify areas for improvement. These have not yet been effective enough in improving children’s learning experiences. The school consults class teachers and support staff about what to improve. Staff are committed to the school and several staff have been responsible for improving aspects of the school. The school does not yet track attainment or wider achievement effectively enough to ensure that children are making appropriate progress. Children receive good support when moving into P1 and transferring to S1 in Woodfarm High School.

6. Does the school have high expectations of all children?

The school has a welcoming, supportive atmosphere where children get on well with each other and with all staff. Children feel safe and well protected in school. Staff treat them fairly and with respect. The school regularly shares children’s achievements through assemblies and high-quality displays around the school. The school successfully promotes healthy lifestyles. Staff do not have consistently high expectations of higher-achieving children. All staff know what to do to keep children safe and well. They understand their role in child protection. The school chaplain helps the school to provide appropriate opportunities for religious observance. Staff promote equality and celebrate different faiths and cultures. Children feel that staff deal well with any incidents of bullying.

7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?

The headteacher has successfully developed a warm friendly environment where children and parents feel welcomed. He now needs to provide staff with clearer guidance on planning and implementing Curriculum for Excellence to ensure a whole-school approach to learning and achievement. With ongoing support from the education authority, the school can continue to improve.

8. What happens next?

We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school and the education authority will inform parents about the school's progress in improving the quality of education. Our District Inspector will maintain contact with the education authority to monitor improvements in learners' achievement.

Quality indicators help schools and nursery classes, education authorities and inspectors to judge what is good and what needs to be improved in the work of a school and a nursery class. You can find these quality indicators in the HMIE publications How good is our school? and The Child at the Centre. Following the inspection of each school, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish schools and nursery classes are doing.

Here are the evaluations for Robslee Primary School.

Primary school

We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.

HM Inspector: Sadie Cushley
17 November 2009

When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our readers can see clearly what our judgments mean.

If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.

Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.

Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect you to a member of staff.

You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.

Where the school has a nursery class, you can contact the Complaints Coordinator, Headquarters, Care Commission, Compass House, Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY, telephone 0845 603 0890.

Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education

Footnotes

1. Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.
2. The term ‘school’ includes the nursery class or classes where appropriate.