School is told: must do better
Poor report card for Catrine Primary
A village school has been savaged for being weak and not good enough for its children.
Catrine Primary has now been ordered to shape up by official inspectors.
Their report said it does not have a “clear vision to improve learning”.
It flopped on most quality indicators, with improvements in performance and meeting learning needs both decribed as weak.
Staff have been given a year to improve and Her Majesty’s Inspectors will now work directly with East Ayrshire Council.
The school, with a roll of 118, was picked out as having some lessons that are not challenging enough and “learning is too slow”.
Teachers were said to lack confidence in evaluating pupils’ work.
The report said: “Early evaluations show improvements to children’s selfesteem and confidence. However, there are important weaknesses in arrangements for meeting the learning needs of children.
“There is a need to ensure the curriculum has a stronger impact on raising attainment and links learning more effectively.
“Overall the implementation of curriculum for excellence needs to be accelerated and we have asked the school to increase the pace of change.”
In the school’s handbook, headmistress Avril Dante promises they aim for “excellence in everything we do”.
And she adds: “When your child joins us at Catrine Primary School we are entering into a partnerhip with you with the joint aim of helping him/ her get the best out of the learning and teaching being offered.”
The official inspection says that Catrine would benefit from “stronger leadership and higher expectations”.
The nursery staff have been told to ensure youngsters are engaged in active play throughout the whole session.
The report notes: “At times they spend too long waiting on activities to start.
“While most children have positive relationships with each other, a significant minority do not always behave well.”
Inspectors praised the children for being keen to learn and staff for working as a team to create a positive ethos.
They also noted the early impact of the nurture class for primary one and two and the quality of the outdoor learning at the nursery.
Inspector Guch Dhillon said: “We think the school needs additional support and more time to make necessary improvements.”
Alan Ward, East Ayrshire Council’s head of education said: “Catrine Primary School is in a process of improvement and we are at the early stages of developing the curriculum there.
“The offer of additional support to help the school reach its goals and deliver a superb education for pupils is welcome and I look forward to the follow- up visit from HMIE, when I’m confident the required changes and improvements will have been put in place.”