Staff at a Moray school have succeeded in turning around a ‘weak’ performance report in less than a year.
Keith Primary was slammed by inspectors in May last year when they found two distinct areas where performance was falling short of national requirements, with a further three rated at satisfactory.
Pupils were said to have not been challenged enough with tasks they were being set failing to reach the consistency required to build on their previous learning.
In a follow up report published this week, inspectors say they have noted marked improvements over a number of areas – although there remained work to be done in achieving further improvements.
Inspectors said that primary and nursery learning had improved as did provision of additional support, while staff appeared to be more confident in working along with the Curriculum for Excellence and had worked together to bring a shared understanding of requirements.
The report was welcomed by Moray Council’s director of education and social care, Sandy Riddell, who said: “There has been a lot of hard work carried out at Keith Primary over the past year and it is clearly paying off. The progress that has been made is very encouraging and I am confident it will continue.”
The school’s head teacher, Elizabeth Beattie, said that staff and pupils were delighted with the new report, adding that it recognised the efforts of everyone at the school.
She added: “A year ago we had the opportunity to discuss teaching and learning and our improvement plan with the inspectors – and they gave us some really useful advice for moving forward.
“Staff were very willing to make the necessary improvements and worked over and above their usual duties to make sure that changes were put in place as quickly as possible.”
The initial 2012 report came just months after Keith Primary moved to new £10million premises in the town.