School earns praise

Jul 1 2009 by Kaiya Marjoribanks, Stirling Observer Wednesday

NEWTON Primary School and nursery class have impressed schools inspectors.

An HMI report highlights particular strengths of the school, including polite, well behaved and confident children who are eager to learn.

The children’s contribution to the life of the school, the positive and welcoming ethos, promotion of healthy lifestyles and children’s achievements in sports were also praised.

Examples of good practice were said to be how children showcase their learning experiences to parents and the school’s Max Club for increasing children’s self-esteem.

Areas for improvement included: strengthening monitoring of children’s progress to build more effectively on prior learning; ensuring that next steps in learning are clearly identified and shared with children; and extending good practice in providing high quality learning experiences consistently across classes.

However, the inspectors said as a result of the good quality of education provided by the school they would make no further visits in relation to their inspection.

They added: “The headteacher, well supported by two depute headteachers and three principal teachers, has created a very positive climate for learning.

“The leadership team has involved children in contributing to school values and a vision statement for the school.

“Staff are committed to improvement and now need to make children’s learning experiences consistently high in quality.

“In partnership with the authority, Newton Primary School has the capacity to improve further.”