TEACHERS at a Newton Mearns school have been praised by inspectors after a recent visit.
The Education Scotland team said the way staff at St Cadoc’s Primary School and Nursery Class taught literacy and numeracy “resulted in children’s sustained and high levels of attainment.”
Inspectors said the teachers’ “strong approaches to learning through play in the early school years allow children to be curious and creative as independent and resilient learners” and added that a key strength of the school was “teachers’ skilful and highly effective use of questions during learning.”
The report explained: “This encourages children across the school to think deeply about what and how they learn.
“Teachers use well-considered questions to adapt the learning to meet the needs of all children.”
The report said the school’s values “support a very positive ethos for learning” and added: “Staff and children enjoy mutually respectful relationships which ensure a calm and purposeful learning environment for the school and nursery.”
Maria McBride, headteacher, said: “We are thrilled with the recent inspection report from Education Scotland, which celebrates our inclusive culture that nurtures both academic and social growth for every child.
“Our dedicated staff work hand in hand with families and the wider community to provide a warm, engaging education that helps all our pupils reach their potential.”
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She added: “The report highlighted the positive learning environment across the school, and we are particularly proud that our teachers were praised for their skilful questioning, encouraging our children to think critically.
"We will continue to build on all the positives outlined in the report as we reinforce our commitment to being a nurturing and empowering environment for all.”
Primary seven pupil Isabelle Cooke said: “I really enjoy being at St Cadoc’s because we have lots of different faiths within the schools and it’s good to learn from each other and celebrate our diversity.
“Our teachers provide so many different opportunities for us to learn in an exciting and fun way. I’ve really loved being a pupil here.”
Areas for improvement, which were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from East Renfrewshire Council, included advice for senior leaders and staff “to continue to develop regular opportunities for children to lead their learning and learn independently” and for teachers to “continue to develop their approaches to assessing children’s progress across curricular areas outwith literacy and numeracy.”
The report also noted that “senior leaders and practitioners in the nursery should continue to improve their approaches to planning, assessment and monitoring and tracking of children’s progress.”
The full report is available on the Education Scotland website.
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