Old Monkland Primary School

Overview

The inspection found that the headteacher provides “strong and compassionate support” to staff, helping to embed actions that improve children’s learning experiences. Children are described as “polite and well-behaved,” engaging well in their learning and demonstrating empathy towards one another. The school and nursery successfully create a “nurturing environment” that has established positive attitudes to learning and strong relationships between staff and children.

Strengths

• The headteacher offers “strong and compassionate support” to teachers and the school community, aiding improvements in learning experiences.
• Children are “polite and well-behaved,” engage well in learning, and “talk confidently about their learning.”
• Staff create a “nurturing environment” that fosters “positive attitudes to learning” and a “positive learning community.”
• In the nursery, children “enjoy their nursery experiences” and are actively developing friendships.

Areas to improve

• Continue to develop and embed key strategies to raise attainment in the school.
• Improve planning in the nursery to ensure a “responsive approach to children’s interests” with appropriate breadth, depth, and challenge.
• Embed systems for staff to have a clearer overview of children’s progress and attainment, and improve accuracy in measuring progress against national standards.

Safeguarding

The Care Inspectorate issued a requirement for the nursery to ensure children are “safe and protected from harm” by improving child protection records and auditing accidents, noting that further scrutiny intervention will be considered.