Cross Arthurlie Primary School
Barrhead
East Renfrewshire Council

24 March 2009

This report tells you about the quality of education at the school¹. We describe how children benefit from learning there. We explain how well they are doing and how good the school is at helping them to learn. Then we look at the ways in which the school does this. We describe how well the school works with other groups in the community, including parents² and services which support children. We also comment on how well staff and children work together and how they go about improving the school.

Our report describes the ‘ethos’ of the school. By ‘ethos’ we mean the relationships in the school, how well children are cared for and treated and how much is expected of them in all aspects of school life. Finally, we comment on the school’s aims. In particular, we focus on how well the aims help staff to deliver high quality learning, and the impact of leadership on the school’s success in achieving these 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. 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. Examples of good practice
4. How well do children learn and achieve?
5. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?
6. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community?
7. Does the school have high expectations of all children?
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
9. What happens next?

4. How well do children learn and achieve?

Learning and achievement

Children are well motivated and enjoy learning. They feel safe and very well cared for in school. Children believe staff listen to them and take good account of their views. They work well together in pairs and groups. Children are making very good progress in reading, writing and mathematics. They are developing very effective skills in reading texts by a range of authors. Most write well for a range of purposes and use information and communications technology (ICT) to draft their written text. They listen well and are able to talk in groups about texts they are reading. At P6, children are developing their debating skills through their work on the Scottish Parliament. In mathematics, most children are confident and successful in using numbers. They handle information well and are able to solve problems. Teachers use ICT effectively to help increase children’s mathematical skills. Children are developing their confidence and self-esteem through participating in a range of out-of-school learning activities. The school has achieved two Eco-Schools Scotland Green Flags. Children are developing as good citizens through their fund raising work for national and international charities. Older children help others through peer mediation and by acting as ‘buddies’.

Curriculum and meeting learning needs

Children experience a broad curriculum which develops their skills in a progressive way. Teachers are making very good progress in introducing new learning approaches in line with the national initiative, Curriculum for Excellence. They are trialling outcomes in a number of curriculum areas and are providing children with more opportunities for choice and learning in depth. Staff are working well with neighbouring schools to develop literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. Teachers are successfully involving children more actively in their learning. Some teachers need to further develop this good practice at the early stages. Children are developing their understanding of skills for work through participating in the careers fair and the ‘day of work’ initiative where they shadow a parent or school staff at work. Staff develop children’s personal and social skills very well through a planned programme and whole school activities. They place a high priority on children’s health and wellbeing. Enterprise skills are developed effectively through teaching and learning approaches across the curriculum.

Staff know children very well and use an extensive range of methods to very effectively meet their needs. Teachers set tasks and activities at the right level of difficulty for almost all children. Careful tracking of children’s progress helps staff identify children who need additional support or extra challenge. Teachers take very good steps to ensure that all children are appropriately included and achieving as well as they can. Children with additional support needs benefit from an adapted curriculum in social studies and a few are developing important life skills through experiences in the community. The Learning Centre in the school provides very good support for specific children through a nurturing, calm environment. The principal teacher for inclusion coordinates support for pupils very effectively and provides valuable guidance and support for staff. Pupil support assistants provide very good support for individuals and groups of children. Children with additional support needs are making very good progress towards achieving their own learning targets. Teachers share the purpose of lessons with children and use questioning well to encourage them to think and to contribute their ideas and opinions. Children are involved in reviewing learning at the end of lessons through self and peer evaluation. Teachers provide regular homework but it does not always have sufficient variety.

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

Staff work very well with a range of partners through the well established and highly effective ‘Joint Support Team’. This group is led by the headteacher and includes the education psychologist, social workers, the school nurse, and representatives from the family learning team and the behaviour and communications outreach services. Information about children’s needs and progress is shared effectively through this group. The school has excellent arrangements to support children as they transfer from nursery into primary school and from P7 to secondary school. Staff take great care to ensure that children are well supported as they progress through the school. Links with the community are strong. The school keeps parents well informed through an attractive website, letters and information leaflets, parents’ evenings and helpful reports on their children’s progress. The school has an active and supportive Parent Council and fund raising committee. Parents feel that they are consulted regularly and effectively. They are confident that concerns are taken seriously and addressed. Staff have developed effective partnerships with local employers and organisations, as well as the local further education college, to enhance children’s learning experiences. The school is good at sorting out complaints from parents, children and other members of the community.

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

Children have an active voice in the school. They enthusiastically take on responsibilities and are developing their leadership roles well. They are involved regularly in decision making through a variety of committees. These include the school council, eco committee, health committee, website committee and the equality committee. Staff regularly seek their views on a range of aspects of the work of the school. Teachers are currently developing approaches to involving children more actively in discussions about improving learning. The school council has taken forward a number of developments which have led to improvements. These include contributing to the code of conduct and anti-bullying code, and introducing corridor patrol, worry sheets and worry boxes. The committees have clear plans which are developed in consultation with children. The school has gained a local award for health promotion. Children participate enthusiastically in healthy Tuesday and the annual health fortnight. All staff are highly committed to the school. Teachers and support staff take on additional responsibilities. They participate in working groups and many provide after-school activities for children. Staff are highly skilled at identifying strengths and areas for development of the school. They use very effectively the information that they gather from a range of sources to help them improve the school.

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

All staff place a very high priority on the care and welfare of all children. Child protection procedures are clear and implemented by all staff. All staff record incidents, concerns and complaints with vigilance and senior managers ensure follow-up action is taken and reported back to children, parents and staff. The school provides support for children with mental health issues through art/play therapy. This support has improved vulnerable children’s emotional wellbeing. The school is very welcoming and children are happy and settled. There are very good relationships amongst all and behaviour is very well managed. Children are very polite and courteous. Staff have high expectations of children’s attendance, attainment and behaviour. Children’s achievements are recognised and celebrated very well including through regular assemblies, the displays of their work around all areas of the school, newsletters and the website. Children have appropriate opportunities for religious observance. Children suggested and set up an equalities committee. This group organises a range of activities including the annual equality day, ‘the feelings lunch time drop in club’. P7 children lead the annual holocaust day assembly. Staff promote equality of opportunity and encourage a celebration of diversity very well. Children feel they are treated equally and fairly.

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

The headteacher has a clear and ambitious vision for the school. She has successfully developed and shared her vision with all staff, parents and children. She provides outstanding leadership, direction and support. Through her highly-developed interpersonal skills and professionalism, she has skilfully created an ethos where staff and children enthusiastically take on lead roles across the school. She places a high priority in developing people and partnerships. The headteacher encourages creativity in her staff and supports innovation well. She is consultative and encourages staff to work together well. She has been successful in securing a shared commitment among staff to work continuously to improve the school. The headteacher is very well supported by the depute headteacher and the principal teachers. They provide very good leadership in their areas of responsibility. Teamwork across the school is very effective. Staff are exceptionally skilful at sharing good practice and their expertise. They have enthusiastically embraced the challenge of Curriculum for Excellence and are working together well to implement national advice.

9. What happens next?

The school’s self-evaluation is leading to improvements in children’s learning. As a result, the inspection team was able to change its focus during the inspection to help the school plan to improve even more. HMIE will make no further visits following this inspection. The education authority will inform parents about the school’s progress as part of the authority’s arrangements for reporting to parents on the quality of its schools.

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 Cross Arthurlie Primary School.

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

HM Inspector: Mary E Hoey
24 March 2009

To find out more about inspections or get an electronic copy of this report go to www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact the Business Management and Communications Team (BMCT) if you wish to enquire about our arrangements for translated or other appropriate versions.

If you wish to comment about any of our inspections, contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write in the first instance to BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.

Our complaints procedure is available from our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can write to our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.

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 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 at www.spso.org.uk.

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

Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education

Footnotes

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