Information Bulletin
26 October 2004
Foula and Ollaberry Primary Schools are Praised by HMIe
Two more of Shetland's schools are highly praised in the most recent inspections of education provision by Her Majesty's Inspectors of Education. Both reports are published on 26 October 2004.
At Foula Primary School, the HM Inspectors identified the following to be key strengths:
- The quality of accommodation and the stimulating learning environment
- Polite and well-behaved pupils
- Staff commitment and the quality of pastoral care
- The school's partnership with parents, the local and the wider community
- The consistently high standard of teaching
- Well planned opportunities to provide pupils with a broad range of learning and social experiences
- Effective leadership and management by the Head Teacher
At the time of the inspection there were five primary pupils, who were making good use of ICT to support and enhance their learning, using computers to organise information and produce graphs and charts.
They commended the pupils' achievement of a gold award in enterprise for work on a school newspaper, and the excellent displays that created a stimulating, attractive and welcoming environment.
The only points identified for action at Foula School were to continue to develop the expressive arts programme, and, while the inspectors commended the well-planned teaching sessions, they felt that the planning could be simplified.
At Ollaberry Primary School, which had twenty-three pupils at the time of the inspection, the following five key strengths were identified:
- The very effective leadership of the Head Teacher in helping to ensure a clear focus on attainment and achievement in the school
- Strong sense of staff teamwork and commitment to all pupils including those with additional support needs.
- Increasing and improving opportunities for all pupils to achieve in a range of areas, including in information and communications technology (ICT).
- High quality pastoral care provided for pupils.
- Effective use made by staff of the school's high quality accommodation.
The inspectors noted much good practice in Ollaberry, particularly in the regular access to ICT in the newly developed computer suites. They praised the establishment of "Playground Pals" and paired reading, where older pupils look after and assist younger ones both in the playground and in developing reading skills. They also noted that effective support for pupils with additional support needs, with all staff involved working closely as a team.
They recommended that staff building on recent developments to ensure that pupils make progress in writing and talking, including how writing is assessed.
In both of the schools the quality of attainment in English Language and Mathematics was good. In both of the schools the effectiveness of the leadership of the Head Teacher was noted as being very strong.
The Head Teacher of Foula now also manages Skeld, Sandness and Papa Stour, as a pilot project of joint school management.
Ends