Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
School is ‘improving’
Watchdog praises primary but more progress needed
A CITY primary school and nursery has been praised by a watchdog for its efforts to improve over the last seven months.
Rowantree Primary School and Nursery Class had been the subject of a grim assessment from Education Scotland assessors in June last year.
Assessors said at the time that the school needed “strong leadership”, “consistently high-quality learning” and “considerably improved” arrangements for kids with additional needs.
In a new report, Education Scotland inspector Sally Stewart said the Linlathen school had made progress — but that more work still had to be done.
She wrote: “There is now a much calmer atmosphere, providing a more supportive environment for children.
“As a matter of priority, the school now needs to make further improvements to the curriculum, taking careful account of the context of the school and its community.”
Inspectors will re-visit the school within the next 12 months in order to further assess Rowantree’s progress.
Education Scotland has also paid a fresh visit to Dundee City Council’s Young People’s Unit (YPU) at Dudhope House, which the authority runs alongside NHS Tayside.
Representatives of the body who visited the mental health facility in December 2016 concluded that the management there had “no clear vision” and a poor grasp of how to track youngsters’ development.
In the watchdog’s fresh report on the facility, assessor Steven McPherson said the YPU had made “very good progress” following the creation of a working group to tackle issues.
The progress is good enough, he said, to warrant no further revisits to the school: “We are confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and so we will make no more visits i n connection with this inspection.”
Dundee City Council children and families convener Councillor Gregor Murray said: “These reports recognise the hard work that is being put in by our staff and I would like to thank them for their efforts.”