Education watchdogs give pinewood a star
a West Lothian school has been given a gold star after being praised by education watchdogs.
Inspectors from Education scotland visited the pinewood school in Blackburn in January and found a positive culture across the school based on strong relationships between staff and children and young people.
During the visit, the inspector talked to parents/carers, children and young people and worked closely with the head teacher and staff.
they gathered evidence to evaluate the quality of leadership and management and children’s successes and achievements.
and their report found that the strong relationship with the head teacher and senior leaders resulted in all of the children and young people and their families feeling included, respected and valued.
During the visit the inspectors highlighted strengths including the progress that children and young people make in health and wellbeing particularly in developing independent living skills, the quality and range of learning activities available for children and young people to learn in the community and through outdoor learning and the strong partnership working between the school and parents.
the report by inspectors also noted the head teacher and staff communicate regularly with parents to keep them informed on their children’s and young people’s progress with their learning.
and inspectors found that parents also receive support and advice from staff to help them meet the needs of their child at home and in the community.
However, the inspectors identified areas for improvement in approaches to the tracking and assessment of learners’ progress and in raising attainment and achievement across the school.
Dr Elaine Cook, depute chief executive of West Lothian Council, said:“this is a good report which the parents/carers, pupils and school can be very happy with. the school is well-placed, with support from Education services, to address the areas for improvement.
“I was particularly pleased to see that the inspectors had marked pinewood school as very good for‘ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion’.”