Carstairs Junction Primary School

Overview

Education Scotland inspectors visited Carstairs Junction Primary School and Nursery Class in March 2024. The report highlights a school where children are “friendly and enthusiastic” and staff create a “highly inclusive learning environment.” Evaluations for the primary school’s learning, teaching, and assessment were rated as “good,” while the nursery class received “very good” for securing children’s progress.

Strengths

• Children are “proud of their school community” and “engage positively in their learning.”
• Staff work well together to support “positive relationships and wellbeing.”
• Leaders track progress effectively, using information to identify children requiring “additional support for learning” and implementing “timely interventions.”
• Nursery children are making “very good progress” through “stimulating nursery experiences” that encourage them to be “confident, independent, curious and creative learners.”

Areas to improve

• Senior leaders and teachers should improve the “overall quality of learning and teaching” by ensuring activities are planned at the “right level of difficulty.”
• Leaders should work with partners to “improve attendance across the school and supported classes.”
• Practitioners should develop the “quality and consistency of observations” to help children understand what they have learned and what they might learn next.

Safeguarding

The report states that staff create a “highly inclusive learning environment” that supports “positive relationships and wellbeing,” but does not provide a separate, detailed evaluation of safeguarding procedures.