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1. The Inspection
HM Inspectors of Education (HMIE) published a report on standards and quality in Woodlands Primary School in May 2004. In August 2004 North Lanarkshire Council, in collaboration with the school, prepared and published an action plan indicating how they would address the main points for action in the HMIE report within a two year period.
North Lanarkshire Council Quality Improvement Officers assessed the extent to which the school was continuing to improve the quality of its work, and evaluated progress made in responding to the main points for action in the original report.
2. Continuous Improvement
The headteacher, supported by the depute headteachers, principal teachers and staff had worked to take forward the recommendations contained in the report. Support for pupils' learning had been improved and interactive teaching styles had engaged pupils in their own learning. More challenging attainment expectations had resulted in some pupils exceeding appropriate national standards. Homework procedures offered a range of challenges and opportunities to pupils and helped keep parents better informed about the curriculum. There had been improvements in monitoring and more teachers were engaged in self-evaluation.
The school was now well placed to sustain and build on its achievements.
3. Progress towards the main points for action
The initial inspection report published in May 2004 identified four points for action. This section evaluates the progress made with each of these action points and the resulting improvements for pupils and other stakeholders.
The school and education authority should take action to ensure further improvement in the work of the school and to raise achievement for all its pupils. In doing so, they should take account of the need to:
3.1 continue to improve approaches to learning support so as to sustain a more co-operative teaching style;
The school had made very good progress towards meeting this point for action.
Records prepared by support for learning staff had been shared with class teachers and there had been improvements in record keeping and written communications. The learning support teacher now worked in classes alongside the teacher to support learning. Opportunities had been given to teachers to discuss pupils' progress and future learning targets with her. The school had improved its referral forms for pupils experiencing difficulties in learning. The approaches for identifying the needs of higher achieving pupils had been improved. The achievements of small groups of pupils with similar additional support needs were being carefully tracked. They received good support and were achieving good national standards of attainment. Classroom assistants and special needs staff had been consulted about the support they offered in the school and were now used more effectively to support learning and teaching in the classes. Individualised educational programmes (IEPs) had been reviewed and improved, teachers were consulted about targets for pupils and parents were kept fully informed of targets and progress.
The improved consultation and clear approach to support for learning had resulted in improvements in meeting the needs of pupils across the school and across a range of abilities.
3.2 increase challenge for pupils;
The school had made good progress towards meeting this point for action.
The school had employed a range of strategies to ensure increased challenge for pupils. A number of staff had been trained in co-operative learning. This was impacting positively in classes and on the demands made on pupils' engagement and involvement in their own learning. Staff were using formative assessment strategies to set challenging next steps in learning with pupils. The feedback on their work was enabling pupils to develop self-evaluation skills and to become independent learners. The school had organised the pupils into groups of similar ability across a number of classes enabling staff to plan a more appropriate pace of work for all pupils. Baseline assessment was being used to identify higher achieving pupils in the early stages and to monitor their achievements. Their attainments were carefully monitored and tracked to ensure appropriate progress. Some pupils were using personal learning plans to set targets and review progress. The school was about to extend personal learning planning. Teachers were sharing good practice across the school in formative assessment and the headteacher and depute headteachers were monitoring impact. The reading curriculum at the early stages had been amended and the pace of learning had improved. The school had extended the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and were using a range of software to challenge pupils.
3.3 Continue to develop and extend systems for monitoring the work of the school;
The school had made good progress towards meeting this point for action.
The headteacher and staff with additional responsibilities in the school had undertaken a number of monitoring activities that informed them of progress across the school in learning and teaching. Target setting and tracking had been improved and pupils' needs were being more effectively identified and addressed. Pupil progress was being monitored through senior managers' scrutiny of pupils' jotters and teachers' planning. Teachers were given feedback on their planning and there was a greater consistency of expectations across the school. Tracking and prediction of attainment had ensured that national testing took place at times more appropriate to pupils' progress. The school had maintained and improved levels of attainment across all stages. Senior managers visited classrooms and now needed to focus on evaluating the quality of teaching during these visits. Pupils' attendance had been monitored and the impact of good attendance on attainment had been shared with teachers and parents. Staff were involved in the development of monitoring and responded positively to the procedures put in place in the school. This was an ongoing development that had supported staff and had given promoted staff an awareness of the range of issues teachers were dealing with in the class and of the impact of change and developments across the school.
3.4 Review the use of homework to make it more effective.
The school had made very good progress towards meeting this point for action.
The school had consulted pupils, parents and staff about homework and had used the results to improve the effectiveness of the homework programme. Homework diaries had been introduced and were used to inform parents, improve communications between the school and the home and increase pupil responsibility for learning. Increased resources for improving homework provision were being used effectively. Homework was planned to include all curricular areas. Planning of homework was monitored by senior managers. Pupils in P4-P7 had undertaken personal projects as part of their homework, providing more opportunities for independent learning. A more consistent approach to homework had been developed, parents were clear about how to support their children and home-school liaison had improved.
4. Conclusion
With effective support from North Lanarkshire Council, Woodlands Primary School had responded very well to the recommendations of HMIE with improvements in learning support and monitoring the work of the school. These developments had helped increase the challenge for pupils and had made homework more effective All staff had been fully involved in the development of the action plan and had supported senior managers in undertaking the recommendations within the agreed timescale. The headteacher, depute headteachers and staff had worked together to ensure that the requirements of the action plan were progressed. The school was well placed to continue the improvements achieved to date. North Lanarkshire Council will not publish further reports in relation to the 2004 HMIE report.
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