South Ayrshire Council News

HM Inspectors of Education, who carried out an inspection of St Cuthbert's Primary School in May 2007, have given the school an outstanding report.

Every year HM Inspectors visit a sample of primary, secondary and special schools to find out how they are performing. They then publish a report giving evaluations of pupils’ achievements, the effectiveness of the school and the environment for learning. The report also includes evaluations of how well pupils are supported.

The Inspectors findings are then published in a report to given parents and the wider community information about the life and work of the school. Reports identify key strengths of a school, its capacity for improvement and sets out the main points for action. This lets the Inspectors establish how well schools are performing across the country. The Inspectors can then inform Scottish Ministers about the performance and needs of the education system.
St Cuthbert’s Primary School inspection covered key aspects of the work of the school at all stages. It evaluated pupils' achievements, the effectiveness of the school, the environment for learning, the school's processes for self-evaluation and innovation and its capacity for improvement. There was a particular focus on attainment in English language and mathematics.

Inspectors examined pupils' work and interviewed groups of pupils, including the pupil council and staff. Members of the inspection team met representatives of the Parent Teacher Association and a group of parents.

The Inspectors identified the following key strengths within the school:

• The school’s recent successes in meeting the learning needs of all pupils.
• Welcoming ethos and a strong sense of community, including productive partnerships with parents and the wider community.
• Care and concern of all staff for the welfare of their pupils.
• Increasingly effective procedures for evaluating the work of the school.
• High quality leadership of the Head Teacher in improving the approaches of staff to learning and teaching.

As a result of the high performance, the strong record of improvement and the very effective leadership of the school, HM Inspectors will make no further reports in connection with this inspection.

The Inspectors have asked school and the authority to produce an action plan indicating how they will address the main findings of the report and to share that plan with parents and carers. Within the next two years the education authority, working with the school, will provide a progress report to parents and carers of the school pupils.

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