Councillors to probe critical school report

Jun 24 2009 by Shona Mitchell, East Kilbride News

Councillors to probe critical school report

A CRITICAL report of Canberra Primary School will be raised at a meeting of the East Kilbride Area Committee meeting of South Lanarkshire Council today.

The Westwood school was inspected by HM Inspectors in February as part of a national sample of primary and nursery education and the report was published last month.

It highlighted a number of issues which needed to be addressed at the Westwood school.

Although pupils were described as “polite, confident, friendly, and keen to learn”, the report stated “staff morale was low”.

It also raised concerns about attainment in English language and mathematics and said pupils’ progress in writing was “weak”.

But the most alarming aspect of the report was reserved for teaching and support staff who, it stated, “do not work together effectively to support the work of the school”.

On a more positive note, the HM Inspectors found that Canberra was taking very effective steps to promote the children’s wider achievements and that children were making very good progress in developing personal and social skills.

The report also praised the hard work of the depute head and acting principal teacher in the head teacher’s absence.

The report then highlighted five main areas which needed action to ensure improvement before the next inspection in February.

They included involving the children more actively in their learning, providing pupils with appropriate levels of challenge and support to meet their needs, improving communication and partnership with parents as well as improving teamwork and leadership for learning at all levels and the school’s approach to self-evaluation.

It has been recommended that the HM report be noted at the Area Committee meeting as one of the council’s objectives is to raise educational attainment for all.

The committee has also been asked to note the findings of the HMI report on Greenhills Primary School and nursery classes which was inspected in March.