Ardersier Primary School making progress after Education Scotland issued several recommendations after inspection
A primary school is showing "signs of progress" after being told to make improvements by inspectors, a follow-up visit has found.
Education Scotland inspectors revisited Ardersier Primary School after earlier setting out "a number of areas for improvement" following a visit in November 2023 and the setting out of recommendations in January last year.
And in an update on progress, which was issued this week, Education Scotland appeared to be pleased overall with the work that has been carried out in the interim - with it ruling that "sufficient progress" had been made in two of the three areas it had set out for improvement.
However it added that this progress will need to continue in order to meet the recommendations in the third.
The two areas where sufficient progress had been made included work on the children's literacy and numeracy, with the school's staff successfully targeting gaps in their learning.
It had also ensured that children's learning time is "used well" to boost progress in learning "across all areas of the curriculum".
But they added that some work is still needed to improve approaches to teaching and assessments to ensure "a consistently high quality for all children across the school".
In a letter to parents, inspector Robyn McIlroy said: "Attainment in literacy and numeracy has improved since the original inspection in November 2023.
"The majority of children achieved expected national curriculum for excellence levels in June 2024.
"Predicted levels of attainment suggest that overall, the majority of children are expected to sustain and improve levels of attainment this year."
They added: "A minority of children are capable of making better progress. There is a need for staff to continue their focus on improving children’s attainment."
Praising the work to ensure all learning time is well used to improve progress across the curriculum, the inspector added: "Teachers now have a better understanding of how to use assessment information when planning to support children to make improved progress.
"Termly planning now supports teachers better to identify specific gaps in children’s learning.
"The acting headteacher holds meetings regularly with teachers to discuss how well groups and individual children are progressing in their learning. This is beginning to help teachers to review and adapt their planning. Teachers should continue to focus on providing learning which offers appropriate pace and challenge for all children and helps them to make the best possible progress.
"Children are now more involved in deciding what and how they learn. For example, older children chose areas of interest when learning about the Second World War. Planning now supports a few curricular areas, for example modern languages and science, to be taught discretely."
Elsewhere, although they acknowledged that some progress is still needed to meet the third requirement on approaches to learning, teaching and assessment, they also noted that this had come against a backdrop of a number of teaching staff changes - including the arrival of a new acting headteacher in November.
"Whilst these changes have had an impact on the pace of strategic plans for improvement, this has not been as significant as it might have been. Since her appointment, the acting headteacher has worked effectively with the local authority and staff to address areas for improvement. As a result of this and the prior work of staff, some progress has been made in this area since the original inspection."
The added: "Overall while there are signs of progress, there remains areas of inconsistency in the quality of learning and teaching. Senior leaders and staff now need to build on the progress made and continue to improve children’s learning experiences."
The inspectors now plan to ask for a follow-up report on progress within one year of the latest inspection to see if the progress towards the third recommendation continues.
