Council Pledges Continuing Support for Priorsford Primary School

Monday, December 4 2006

Following an inspection of Priorsford Primary School, Peebles, in September 2006, the Council has pledged that it will continue its programme of regular and sustained support to the school’s management team.

This is seen as a key feature to secure the improvements necessary for the school to move forward.

The inspectors identified good practice in a number of key indicators of quality including the structure of the curriculum and the teaching process. In addition, several very important strengths of the school were identified. These were:

Courteous, friendly and very well-behaved pupils who took pride in their school.
Attainment in reading.
Pupils’ skills in drama and physical education and notable wider achievements in Eco School activities and sports.
The commitment of all staff to the care and well-being of pupils and their warm relationships with them.
Interested parents, including an active School Board and hard-working PTA.
Pupils' knowledge of healthy eating and their active sense of ownership of the school's Eco School tuck shop.

The head teacher Mrs Smith said: "I welcome the inspection report and was pleased the pupils' pride in the school and their good behaviour was recognised by the Inspectors as this creates a good ethos where staff and pupils can work together."

The Chairman of the School Board, Mr Gisborne said: "I am pleased that the Inspectors recognised the school's strengths. The School Board is looking forward to working in partnership with the school and the authority to help bring the school's improvement objectives about."

The report identified that with the support of the authority the Headteacher had taken steps to improve aspects of the school but this had yet to impact fully upon practice.

Areas for further development by the school include:

Implementing the recently devised strategies to improve communications within the school, with parents and with the wider community in order to better support pupils' learning.
The overall leadership of the school, including a review of the remits and deployment of promoted staff and to ensure they work effectively and efficiently together and with all other staff to enable pupils to reach their full potential.
Meeting pupils' needs more effectively, particularly at the middle and upper stages, by improving the pace of lessons, challenging pupils more consistently and encouraging pupils to become more independent learners.
Using information and communications technology (ICT) much more effectively to support learning and teaching and to develop pupils' ICT skills.
Reviewing learning and teaching approaches to develop collaborative and interactive approaches.
Self-evaluation, including the monitoring and tracking of pupils' achievement, in order to identify and address more effectively pupils' next steps in learning.

Reference: News-18242, Contact the Author