Quality Services

School Review Summary Report

Greenlaw Primary School

The review programme

The review programme comprised three areas:

Self-evaluation
Pupils’ learning experiences
Strategies for raising attainment with a particular focus on gifted and able pupils and the lowest attaining 20% of pupils - the authority focus

In consultation with the review coordinator, the school decided not to take up the option of a fourth area for review as it was felt that an in depth review of the three areas above would be the most beneficial to the school.

The review process

A team from the Quality Services reviewed Greenlaw Primary School in March 2006. The review team used the level four illustrations from How good is our school? (HGIOS) as its frame of reference and made their evaluation on the basis of evidence provided by the school and their own observations. The results of their findings are given below.

In order to make their evaluations, the team consulted a number of school documents, including the school improvement plan, interviewed samples of pupils, staff and parents, and observed learning and teaching. In total, seven lessons were observed.

Overall, self-evaluation and strategies for raising attainment were judged to be good and pupils’ learning experiences were very good.

Key strengths of the school

Of the areas reviewed, the school demonstrated particular strengths in:

Reflective practice to plan next steps in learning
Good dialogue with parents about their child’s learning
Stimulating and challenging learning environment
Motivated and well-behaved pupils
Conscientious staff who work well as a team to support learning and to raise attainment
Good use of formative assessment to support learning and set targets
Celebration of pupil achievements

Main action points for the school

The school should:

develop formal and systematic classroom monitoring involving both the headteacher and principal teacher and in consultation with staff
actively engage the involvement of all staff, parents and pupils by the headteacher in the school’s self-evaluation process and in writing both the school improvement plan and the standards and quality report
review the use of worksheets in classrooms to support learning
create a common structure for planning and recording

What happens now

The headteacher, in consultation with the review co-ordinator and the school quality improvement officer, will produce an action plan in response to the action points identified in the review. This action plan will be incorporated into the school improvement plan for the 2006-07 session.