South Ayrshire Council News

After a follow up inspection by HM Inspections of Education of Fisherton Primary School a report of their findings has been published.

In June 2005 HM Inspectors visited Fisherton Primary School and produced a report that indicated areas in which the school could be improved. HM Inspectors revisited the school in May 2007, to assess the extent to which the school was continuing to improve and to evaluate the progress being made in responding to the points for action in the initial report.

The latest report highlights further improvements that the staff have made at the school including:

• Improving the quality of pupils’ learning experiences.
• Taking action to ensure improvement in the leadership of the school.
• Improving approaches to supporting pupils experiencing difficulties with learning.
• Improving the schools approaches to evaluating and improving the quality of its work.

The improvements that have been made since the initial report was published have been brought about by:

• Effective leadership and direction being shown by the Head Teacher while managing changes.
• Conscientious and committed school staff introducing new initiatives.
• Pupils raising their level of attainment in reading, mathematics and writing.
• Pupils embracing the changes within their school: participating in a wide range of artistic, cultural and sporting activities; working as peer tutors and buddies for younger pupils; developing additional personal and social skills; making a presentation to a Council Committee and making a CD for new pupils about daily life in Fisherton Primary School.
• Participating in a range of activities which promoted active citizenship including involvement in a range of fund raising activities for charities.

The latest report concluded by saying: "The Head Teacher and her staff had made very good progress in addressing the main points for action in the initial inspection report of June 2005. They had demonstrated high levels of commitment and much greater teamwork in taking forward key initiatives to improve the quality of learning and teaching. The school now provided pupils with a wider range of suitably challenging experiences to help them make appropriate progress. Staff made effective use of improved arrangements to monitor and evaluate the quality of the school’s work."

HM Inspectors have decided that because of the progress that has been made they will not carry out any further inspection visits to the school in connection with the report of June 2005.
Anyone wishing to study the full report should telephone the HM Inspectorate of Education offices on telephone number 0141 242 0100. Alternatively copies of the report are available on their website at www.scotland.gov.uk/hmie.