Sketch and blog to attain excellence
Inspectors’ new format helps spread good practice
Artistic ‘sketch note’ drawings and blogs are being used to help parents better understand school and nursery inspection findings.
Cornton Nursery, at 40-42 Lomond Crescent, is one of the first in Stirling to have the outcome of their visit by inspectors explained in the new format.
The design is supported by a a blog by the school or nursery telling their side of the inspection story.
It is hoped the new set-up will be used to spread the information to other schools and the wider community allowing other establishments across Scotland to learn and benefit from what was picked up during inspection.
Cornton Nursery offers flexible early learning and childcare for up to 66 children aged six weeks to school age.
To support families during school holiday periods, provision is also offered to children up to 12 years.
In their visit to Cornton last year, Education Scotland inspectors identified highly-effective practice in the approaches the nursery took to developing a shared vision for change and improvement.
The government body praised the nursery for ensuring the whole community took ‘ownership of their shared vision’ while staff described how they combat some of the economic, health and social challenges faced by some of their families.
Head of nursery Kate O’Neil, said in the blog: “We invest a lot of time in getting to know the needs and aspirations of our children and families within our diverse community. This enables us to develop a strong shared vision which drives training and nursery improvements, in order to secure children’s progress.
“Our community constitution is signed by families at home visits and by children at the start of each year. This states that by offering a nurturing environment and promoting accountable behaviour all children and adults will participate in play, learning and communication, engaging respectfully, safely, fairly, fully and joyfully.”
Stirling Council’s education committee chair Susan McGill and Stirling North Tory councillor Ross Oxburgh both praised the work of staff at the nursery.
Janie McManus, interim director of inspection at Education Scotland, added: “The sketch note and the blog tell the story of the outstanding practices inspectors identified at Cornton, and I want to thank everyone at the nursery and Stirling Council for working with us to share this more widely, ensuring the benefits are felt across the country.”