Press Release
"Enthusiastic and confident children" at Lunnasting
Lunnasting Primary School and its Nursery Class have today (Tuesday) received a very positive report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIe). The inspection team particularly highlighted the following as areas that they considered to be “strengths”:
- Enthusiastic and confident children who are proud of their school and eager to learn.
- Strong community involvement in the life of the school.
- Strong sense of purposeful teamwork among staff in supporting school improvement.
In their report, which follows on from an inspection carried out in April 2011, the HMIe team commented on the fact that the children in the nursery are “happy, settled and enjoy their learning”. They also said that they “organise themselves, take turns and share resources well in their play”. In the primary school, they said that “most children are keen to learn. They feel safe in school and understand the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle”.
Chair of the Council’s new Education and Families Committee Betty Fullerton said “This is a really encouraging report. I was delighted to see the inspectors pick up on the fact that the children are keen to learn in the school and I am so pleased to see the strong community involvement acknowledged. An inspection report like this is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, so I would congratulate everyone involved”.
The report provides very positive comments on the leadership at the school, saying that the Head Teacher is “committed to the school and provides a clear sense of direction. She leads improvements effectively across the school and nursery and also leads by example when teaching her own class. The staff in general enthusiastically take on opportunities to lead improvements”.
The inspection team agreed with the school and authority’s view that there could be improvements made in the following areas:
- Continue to develop the curriculum using Curriculum for Excellence across the school and nursery.
- Improve further approaches to planning and assessment to support progress in learning across the school and nursery.
- Raise attainment further in English language and mathematics by improving approaches to tracking progress, to inform next steps in learning.
- Review the layout in the nursery as numbers increase to ensure access to a broad and balanced curriculum.
Noting that these improvements are expected to be taken forward later in the year, the inspectors said that they were “confident that the school would be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings”. HMIe will therefore make no further visits to the school in relation to this inspection and the education authority will inform parents about the school’s progress in improving the quality of education.
The full HMIe report is available here:
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/ViewEstablishment.aspx?id=7922&type=2