Greenhills Primary passes muster with inspectors

May 27 2009 by Lynda Nicol, East Kilbride News

GREENHILLS Primary School has been given the thumb’s up by Her Majesty’s Inspectors.

In their report published last week, the inspectors said they were confident the school would be able to make the necessary improvements it had recommended at their recent inspection.

The inspectors, who visited in March, when the roll was 295 children including 51 in the nursery class, praised the very positive and inclusive ethos they had found at Greenhills Primary and the school’s productive links with parents and the local community.

They also approved of the high quality provision made for children in the support and nursery classes.

Pupils, they added, were polite and well behaved and made a contribution to improving the school.

They praised the high quality pastoral support for children and effective partnership work with other agencies.

And they applauded the strong teamwork they had found between the management team and staff in improving the work of the school.

However, they found there were some areas for improvement to be made by the school and South Lanarkshire Council as education authority.

The inspectors agreed the school should continue to improve attainment in English language and mathematics; it should improve the pace of learning and ensure children’s previous learning was built up; and it should further develop self-evaluation to monitor what children had learned and were able to do.

As far as the inspectors’ evaluations for the school were concerned they found improvements in performance of the school “satisfactory” and in learners’ experiences and meeting learning needs “good”.

Improvements in performance, children’s experiences and meeting learning needs in the nursery class were all found to be “very good”.

Evaluations of the curriculum and improvement through self-evaluation in the nursery and primary were found to be “good”.

In the report the inspectors said they had found at the primary stages, children in Greenhills achieved in a wide range of activities and were developing very good personal and social skills. They were developing effective presentation skills, including using information and communications technology confidently.

At all stages children were making good progress in developing independence in their learning. They were making good progress in listening and talking and satisfactory progress in writing and mathematics.

Across the school, children were developing their writing skills through meaningful situations but had not yet progressed at a sufficient rate.

Children in support classes were actively included in all aspects of school life.

Staff in the nursery provided children with a broad range of experiences. They planned a well-balanced curriculum based on play, active learning and children’s enjoyment.

In the primary classes children experienced a broad curriculum. But across the primary classes, the tasks and activities which teachers set did not always meet the needs of children, particularly those who were high achievers.

At the early stages there was a need to build more effectively on what children had already learned.

Staff worked closely with the very supportive Parent Council and parents were pleased with the information the school gave them about their children’s progress.

Many children took on extra responsibilities to help improve the school. All staff were highly committed and worked very well together in taking forward school improvements.

The inspectors also reported the school had a welcoming and inclusive ethos, relationships were very good and behaviour was very well managed.

Head teacher Lynn Beveridge provided clear direction for the work of the school and had created a well-organised and positive learning environment where staff and children felt valued.

The inspectors concluded they were confident the school would be able to make the necessary improvements. As a result they would make no further visits and the school and the education authority would inform parents about progress in improving the quality of education.