Satisfactory report card returned on Inverness primary school following inspection
Kinmylies Primary School in Inverness has received a satisfactory report following an inspection.
Education Scotland inspectors are confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and will make no more visits in connection with the recent inspection.
The school has a roll of 307 with 54 in nursery class. The headteacher has been in post for five and a half years and is supported by a depute headteacher and a principal teacher.
An additional principal teacher is currently on secondment to another post within the local authority, and has not been replaced. There have been a number of changes to the senior leadership team in recent years.
Children’s attendance is generally in line with the national average and there have been no children excluded from the school in recent years. In September 2023, the school reported that 27 per cent of children had an identified additional support need.
Several strengths were highlighted:
Children are well-mannered, eager to learn and have a positive attitude towards their learning. They demonstrate their school values positively in their interactions with others;
Staff across the school and nursery, have developed positive, nurturing and respectful relationships with children. This supports a safe and supportive environment for learning;
The headteacher places great importance on improving children’s wellbeing and sense of inclusion. As a result, children feel well-supported and have a strong sense of belonging to their school community;
Within the nursery, children benefit from a high-quality learning opportunities through play that supports them to develop their confidence, curiosity and communication skills. Children make good progress as a result;
Learning, teaching and assessment were satisfactory said the inspectors, adding that this indicator focuses on ensuring high-quality learning experiences for all children and young people.
“It highlights the importance of highly-skilled staff who work with children, young people and others to ensure learning is motivating and meaningful,” said the report. “Effective use of assessment by staff and learners ensures children and young people maximise their successes and achievements.”
Leadership of change was also satisfactory. This indicator focuses on collaborative leadership at all levels to develop a shared vision for change and improvement which is meaningful and relevant to the context of the school within its community.
Areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from Highland Council.
They included that senior leaders should improve leadership of change at all levels to enhance positive outcomes for children. This should include involving staff, children, parents and partners further in the process of change.
Senior leaders and staff should continue to improve the quality of learning, teaching and assessment across the school and to raise the attainment of children, with a focus on improving children’s success in writing and numeracy.
In the nursery, practitioners should ensure children’s learning through play builds on what they have learned previously, and they should improve how they monitor children’s progress in learning.
