A good year for St John’s
School’s Eduction Scotland report
Proud staff and pupils from St John’s Primary received a good report from Education Scotland.
The report – compiled by a team of inspectors who visited the Hamilton school in May – commended the “polite” pupils and the efforts of the staff.
And it concluded by saying: “We are confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and so we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection.”
They key strengths of the school were:
• Courteous, respectful children who have a positive attitude to learning encouraged by the school’s approach to children’s rights. They are polite, well-behaved, eager to learn and proud of their school.
• An inclusive ethos underpinned by the school’s approach to promoting rights which results in children feeling valued and well supported.
• The capacity of staff to work together to drive improvements at St John’s Primary School.
There were some areas for improvement that were identified and discussed with the head teacher and a representative from South Lanarkshire Council: These were: • Senior leaders, with ongoing support from the local authority, need to adopt a more strategic approach to leading change that results in improved outcomes for children.
• More robust analysis and use of data to inform interventions is needed. Build on approaches to selfevaluation to ensure the work of the school is being effectively monitored and leads to improvement.
• Develop high-quality teaching, learning and assessment across the school that provides children with greater levels of challenge.
The report added: “There is a positive climate for learning in the school, underpinned by the school’s approach to promoting children’s rights. Relationships are of a consistently high standard with mutual respect between children and teaching, non-teaching and support staff.
“Strong peer relationships were evident in a variety of contexts, including children from supported classes working well with children in mainstream classes.”