Praise for schools and early learning centres
Inspectors who visited 12 schools and nurseries in North Ayrshire to evaluate the quality of their provision found them to be very positive overall.
Staff from Education Scotland spent time at seven primary schools, three council ELCs and two partner nurseries in 2023-24 and the overall performance feedback continues to be very positive.
Key strengths common to several establishments that were highlighted by inspectors include:
- effective leadership - strong leadership from headteachers and senior leaders in raising attainment
- collaborative staff work - Teachers and support staff working well together to improve learning, teaching and assessment practices
- positive relationships and support - strong, supportive relationships between staff and learners within a nurturing and calm environments
- learner attainment in key areas - high attainment, particularly in numeracy and listening and talking, and
- opportunities for skill development - a wide range of opportunities provided for children to develop skills and achieve outwith the classroom.
Areas where continued improvement is advised include the development of more independence in learning, better assessment and tracking processes and raising attainment in core subjects.
Schools are subject to periodic external evaluation by Education Scotland, which is the national inspection agency, while early learning and childcare settings are inspected by both Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate.
Education Scotland uses a six-point scale, ranging from excellent to very good, to report on the performance of the educational establishment in each of the assessed quality indicators.
Since the introduction of the current inspection framework “How Good is our School”, 32 inspections have been carried out in North Ayrshire schools and ELCs.
The results of these have been extremely positive, with the council outperforming regional and national comparators across all quality indicators, which are: leadership of change, learning, teaching and assessment, ensuring well-being, equality and inclusion and raising attainment and achievement.
The 2023-24 Care Inspectorate inspections of eight council ELCs and classes and four partner nurseries were positive, with five being evaluated as “very good”.
Common strengths included:
- nurturing care - children learning in secure, happy and confident environments
- strong teamwork and leadership - staff working effectively as teams, supported by strong leadership
- learning through play - a strong emphasis on play-based learning
- positive relationships with families - building strong, meaningful relationships and
- a commitment to continuous improvement - staff and leadership committed to self-evaluation.
Care Inspectorate reports included six areas for improvement in total for early learning and childcare establishments in in 2023-24 and plans are in place in to address these.
Quote: It is encouraging to see how positive the inspectors’ findings have been at our primary schools and ELCs. Where areas for continued improvement have been flagged up, we are working with the establishments involved to support them as they work towards improved outcomes.
Quote from: Councillor Shaun Macaulay, Cabinet Member for Education and Young People
At a recent meeting of Cabinet (3 December) the report was noted and the performance of schools and ELCs commended.
Published: 18 December 2024