4 November 2014 Dear Parent/Carer Chatelherault Primary School and Nursery Class South Lanarkshire Council In September 2013 HM Inspectors inspected your child’s school and published a letter one month later. At the same time, the Care Inspectorate carried out a shared inspection of the nursery class. Recently, as you may know, we visited the school again. During our visit, we talked to children and worked closely with the headteacher and staff. We heard from the headteacher and other staff how the school has continued to improve. We looked at particular areas that had been identified in the original inspection and at other aspects of the school’s work, as proposed by the headteacher. As a result, we were able to find out how well children are now learning and achieving and how the school is continuing to support them to do their best. This letter sets out what we found. How well do children learn and achieve? Most children continue to enjoy their time at school and speak positively about their learning. They enjoy discussing their learning with each other, and showcasing their work to parents and visitors. Children with additional needs (ASD classes) now take part more frequently in learning experiences with their peers in mainstream classes and are involved in whole-school activities to a greater extent. One class had enjoyed taking on the role of forensic detectives and this provided a meaningful context for their learning. Teachers have introduced ways to engage children more successfully in their learning. For example, all children, particularly those in the nursery class, now enjoy more regular opportunities to learn outdoors. In the primary classes, teachers now provide more practical activities to stimulate children’s thinking. They are helping children to understand more clearly the purpose of lessons and are encouraging children to reflect on their learning and know if they have been successful. In the nursery and ASD classes, staff have improved the layout of the rooms. This is helping children to settle more easily and is encouraging them to persevere with activities for longer periods. Last session, the school introduced personal learning planning for children throughout the school. This should be developed further, particularly in the nursery class. It will help children to become more active participants in planning and reviewing their individual learning goals. Children at the early stages of primary are now making better progress in developing their early mathematics and literacy skills. Across the rest of the school, children’s achievements are still not of a consistently high enough standard. Staff have begun to track children’s progress more effectively and intervene where necessary. In time, this will help to ensure they all attain as highly as possible. Education Scotland W1 Spur Saughton House Broomhouse Drive Edinburgh EH11 3XD T 0131 244 8079 F 0131 244 8424 E [email protected] Textphone 01506 600236 This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as this will not connect. www.educationscotland.gov.uk Transforming lives through learning How well does the school support children to develop and learn? Staff continue to care deeply about providing high-quality experiences and doing the best they can for children. Teachers have recently improved the way they plan and deliver learning so that they can meet the needs of all children in their classes more effectively. This, along with some of the assessment information they are gathering, is beginning to ensure children receive more appropriate levels of support and challenge. In almost all classes, the pace of lessons is now brisker and therefore children are more stimulated, and spend more time learning. Staff have taken part in a wide range of professional learning and have worked very well with South Lanarkshire Council staff and with colleagues from other schools to help to bring about necessary improvements to the curriculum. They have developed programmes for learning in almost all subjects. Teachers are now using assessment information in spelling, reading and mathematics to plan more effectively for children’s progress. This is in the very early stages of development and will take time to have an impact on children’s progress. How well does the school improve the quality of its work? The headteacher has used the feedback from the original inspection to draw up an action plan for improvement. Some aspects of this plan are now in place and remaining aspects have been identified as priorities for this year and next year, for example further improvements to the curriculum. The school undertook a very successful piece of work to review its vision, values and aims and commendably included staff, children and parents in this process. This has helped children understand their role in improving their school and is raising expectations. We think this is a good model on which to base further improvements. The capacity of the school’s management team has been increased recently by the appointment of two depute headteachers who are already bringing about improvements in their areas of responsibility. The management team, and in particular the headteacher, need to strengthen further relationships within the school so that staff and parents feel confident in sharing their views and know they can influence change and help to drive improvement. What happens next? Staff have worked tirelessly to implement new ideas and to address the priorities highlighted at the time of the original inspection. It is too early to see the benefits of many of these improvements, particularly the impact they are having on children’s progress. The school understands there is more work required to bring about further improvements to the curriculum. Consequently, our Area Lead Officer will work with South Lanarkshire Council to continue to build capacity for improvement, and will maintain contact to monitor progress. We will return to carry out a further inspection within one year of publication of this letter. We will then issue another letter to parents on the extent to which the school has improved. At the last inspection of the nursery class in September 2013 there were two requirements made by the Care Inspectorate (Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, SCSWIS). We have found evidence that one of the requirements has been met. The other requirement relating to personal learning 2 planning has been carried forward in this inspection. In addition, seven recommendations have been made as a result of this most recent inspection. Details of these can be found at http://www.scswis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7644&Itemi Elaine Merrilees HM Inspector If you would like to receive this letter in a different format, for example, in a translation please contact the administration team on the above telephone number. If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact us by telephone on 0141 282 5000, or e-mail: [email protected] or write to us addressing your letter to the Complaints Manager, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Livingston EH54 6GA. 3