Dobwalls Community Primary School

Overview

Dobwalls Community Primary School is described as a “friendly and welcoming place” where pupils are “happy and enjoy attending.” The inspection found that the school provides a “broad and ambitious curriculum” with high expectations, resulting in good outcomes for most pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Strengths

• Pupils develop strong learning habits through ‘S.E.C.R.E.T. skills’, helping them to be “creative, resilient and to work well in a team.”
• The mathematics curriculum is “designed and sequenced well,” enabling pupils to “connect knowledge together” and recall concepts accurately.
• Staff identify the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) “with precision,” providing effective support so they “progress well through the curriculum.”
• Attendance is managed effectively, with the school working closely with parents to reduce absence, resulting in pupils attending “regularly.”
• Pupils have positive attitudes, feel safe, and benefit from leadership opportunities such as serving on the school council or as librarians.

Areas to improve

• In some subjects, teachers do not use assessment effectively to check understanding, leading to gaps in pupils’ knowledge and insecure recall of past learning.
• There are variations in the delivery of the phonics scheme, as not all staff check that pupils “sound out words accurately,” causing some to struggle with fluency.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”