Information Bulletin
07 January 2005
High Quality of Education Provided at Skeld Primary School
Skeld Primary School, which is part of the joint management pilot in the West Side of Shetland, was inspected in September 2004 by HM Inspectors of Education. The report shows that the school provides a very high quality of education to its 22 primary pupils. The nursery at Skeld Primary School was inspected at the same time, and was also highly praised.
The Joint Head Teacher was reported to have demonstrated commitment to the school and to have developed a clear vision for its future. He had made a very good start to providing effective leadership and management, and undertaken a detailed and appropriate audit of the school's work in order to focus on future improvements.
The quality of the teaching was found to be good overall, with some examples of very good teaching. Visiting specialists provided rich and varied experiences across all ares of the expressive arts curriculum.
The quality of pupils' learning was good, and the quality of pupils' attainment in English Language and Mathematics was very good. In both areas, almost all pupils had achieved appropriate national attainment levels, with a few having exceeded these levels.
There was a pupil council, which provided regular opportunities for pupils to have a positive influence on the life and the work of the school. Pupils achieved success in enterprise challenges and brought credit to themselves and their school in fundraising for charity, and involvement in the Eco-Schools initiative (Skeld School has achieved its Eco-School's Flag).
Standards of care and welfare in the school were high, with staff providing a very good level of care. The school had very good arrangements in place to support pupils at points of transfer from pre-school into P1 and P7 into secondary.
Pupils, staff, parents and the community were very proud of the school and identified strongly with it. The school's partnership with parents and local community was very good. Parents attended education authority consultation meetings and received regular information that keep them well informed of the school's joint management arrangements.
The report listed six key areas as in the "very good" category and eight key areas in the "good" category. They judged no aspects to be fair and no aspects to the unsatisfactory.
There were, however, some points for action to be included as part of the school's improvement programme. These were:
- To improve staff liaison and joint planning, and the assessment of talking and listening.
- Develop the use of ICT to support pupils' learning across the curriculum as planned.
- Devise and implement clear intervention procedures to identify and fully support pupils with additional support needs.
- In consultation with parents, formalise the emergency procedures to be implemented when the Head Teacher is not available.
This report reflects the dedication of the staff, the quality of their teaching and the ability of Joint Management to provide more quality time for management and continuous improvement.
As a result of the high performance, the strong record of improvement and the very effective leadership of this school, HM Inspectors will make no further reports in connection with this inspection.
Ends....