Inverness Gaelic school impresses inspectors
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Inspectors have praised standards at Inverness's Gaelic primary school and its nursery class.
A visit by the inspection team in June, just before the summer holidays, saw the primary school rated very good in terms of learning, teaching and assessment as well as for its work in raising attainment and achievement.
The nursery class achieved "good" ratings for the same areas.
In a summary of its findings inspectors from Education Scotland said they had identified a number of strengths including the school's development of "articulate, enthusiastic and confident" children.
"Staff at Bun-Sgoil Ghàidhlig Inbhir Nis provide a positive, nurturing and welcoming ethos," they said.
"This underpins the bun-sgoil’s approach to total immersion and reflects their values: Coibhneas (Kindness), Dòchas (Hope), Spòrs (Fun), Deònach (Willing) and the focus on children’s rights.
"Children are very proud of their bun-sgoil and interact well with each other, staff and visitors."
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They also praised "very strong" staff teamwork, adding: "All adults work together well to create a nurturing ethos and promote positive relationships to underpin total immersion.
"Children are building deep knowledge and skills over time through opportunities for achievement, rich real-life based experiences and links to the world of work."
For the nursery class in particular they made mention of "engaging" outdoor learning and good work in helping to support Gaelic fluency as well as developing problem-solving and social skills.
In terms of improvements that could be made inspectors said for both the nursery and early years of primary school staff should work to develop further learning approaches based on the principles of total immersion, including play-based learning.
The nursery should also continue to develop approaches to "planning, checking children’s progress and tracking development of Gaelic through total immersion play" while the staff in the primary school should "continue to develop and embed a shared understanding of standards and expectations of children’s progress and attainment."
