ROSNEATH Primary School has had a positive report card from education inspectors, who have hailed the “highly positive” relationship between staff and pupils.
The village school was graded ‘good’ by Education Scotland inspectors for learning, teaching and assessment, following a visit in June.
It was also marked ‘satisfactory’ for raising attainment and development, while its nursery was ranked ‘good’ for learning, teaching and assessment, and for securing children’s progress.
Inspectors will make no further visits to the school, although they did remark on some possible areas for improvement.
An inspector said in the report: “In a very short space of time, the new teaching team have developed highly positive relationships with children and each other.
“They work closely under the guidance of an able leadership team who have correctly identified the need to improve children’s learning experiences across the school.
“Together, the leadership team and teachers have significantly improved the quality and consistency of key aspects of learning and teaching across the school.
“Children have benefited from the much-needed stability the current team has brought. They are supported by skilled support staff who contribute positively to children’s experiences.
“This session, the head teacher has nurtured a strong team who are keen to continue to improve the experiences of all children.
“Moving forward, the staff team should continue to embed their new approaches to learning and teaching to continue to improve the quality of education.
“Overall attainment in reading, listening and talking and numeracy is satisfactory. Attainment in writing is weak. The inconsistency of teaching staff and significant staff absence in previous years has impacted on children’s progress and attainment over time.
“At all levels, children have gaps in their learning. Teachers have taken appropriate, prompt action this session to address this.
“As a result, children’s progress has accelerated and attainment at all stages has been raised. Increased progress is particularly evident at first level. However, children at second level could attain more.”
Meanwhile, in relation to the nursery class, the inspector said: “Practitioners have carefully used neutral colours, natural materials and soft furnishings to create a calm, welcoming and homely environment.
“They have established strong, caring and trusting relationships with children and their families They demonstrate the setting’s values of love and respect in their daily practice and support children well to learn about emotions and manage their behaviours.
“There are cosy spaces where children can take time to rest and relax. As a result, most children are happy, settled and confident in the setting. They form friendships and show care and support for others.
“All practitioners know children very well as learners. They provide an effective blend of responsive and adult-led experiences to support children’s learning and development. All practitioners engage sensitively and affectionately with children in their play.
“They are increasingly aware of when to interact to support learning and when to give children time to engage deeply in their play. They ask questions to extend children’s thinking and value children’s ideas.
“Children are making good progress in learning over time, and most are on track to meet all their developmental milestones. They learn about science as they explore the life cycle of frogs, combine substances in messy play and grow flowers and vegetables.
“They learn about the world of work through role-play experiences such as the travel agent. They explore technology as they create their own bridge structures using a variety of materials.”
