‘Good progress’ made at school since 2019
Perth and Kinross Council councillors have been told local nursery children have“the best eating experience out there”.
Nursery children come together for what the council calls a“family mealtime experience”.
A council official this week told a committee the Care Inspectorate pays close attention to what happens during nursery mealtimes.
A report on key findings of the Care Inspectorate’s inspections and evaluations of early learning and childcare (ELC) was presented to Perth and Kinross Council’s executive sub-committee of lifelong learning committee on Monday, March 21.
Early years and childcare service manager Bernadette Scott told the committee:“We have what we call a family mealtime experience in our ELC settings. It’s a learning experience.
“It’s a social event. The children are sitting around the table learning to use their cutlery, etc.
“The Care Inspectorate do actually pay a great deal of attention to that when they go in and will always comment on that in the narrative of the report. ”
She told councillors PKC did its own quality assurance around the“family mealtime experience”in early years settings“making sure the children of Perth and Kinross do have the best eating experience out there”.
Perth Grammar School has been praised for improvements made following a poor inspection.
In November 2019 Education Scotland graded the secondary in the city’s Muirton area as “weak” in raising attainment and achievement.
A Perth and Kinross Council committee was this week told “good progress” had been made since the 2019 inspection.
While raising attainment and achievement was graded as “weak”, the 2019 inspection graded the learning, teaching and assessment at Perth Grammar as “satisfactory”.
A report from the inspectorate’s return visit - which was delayed by COVID and took place in November 2021 - was provided to the executive sub-committee of lifelong learning committee on Monday, March 21.
On their return visit the inspectorate noted Perth Grammar School staff were “working well together to deliver high quality learning and teaching”.
HM Inspectors of Education found “significant improvements in the school’s approaches to monitoring and tracking young people’s progress”.
Staff were considered to be “successfully” addressing issues raised during the 2019 inspection. The inspectorate recognised the school “needs some more time to implement fully its priorities for improvement”.
A PKC officer told the committee: “We are pleased that the good progress made with the school under the leadership of the headteacher and her senior leadership team have been recognised.
“And this is through a period of significant change and in supporting young people and their families through COVID-19.
“We are confident the school has the capacity to continue to improve.”
Headteacher Fiona Robertson explained a lot of the return visit incorporated the school’s response to COVID and said: “Education Scotland recognised that our young people have been well supported by their teachers and staff.”
She told councillors the school continued to “utilise and build upon the changes” to how education was delivered during the pandemic.
Miss Robertson said while the pandemic had been “hugely challenging” some of the changes introduced were “here to stay such as not reintroducing the school bell”.
Improvements made include the formation of a school attainment board to track and monitor data across all curriculum areas.
PKC has been asked to update Education Scotland on progress by December 2022.