Inspectors praise 'friendly, warm and welcoming' Portgordon Primary
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PORTGORDON Primary has been praised as a "friendly, warm and welcoming school" by inspectors.
A team from Education Scotland visited the school in May of this year during which time they talked to parents/carers and children and worked closely with headteacher Karen Murray and staff.
In addition to the welcoming ethos displayed by the school, inspectors went on to praise Portgordon's youngsters for being "respectful towards each other and adults" and demonstrating an "eagerness to learn".
They added: "The positive relationships across the whole school community.
"Senior leaders and staff know children and their families well."
However, the inspectors rated the school as 'weak' in the categories of learning, teaching and assessment as well as raising attainment and achievement.
A number of areas for improvement were identified and discussed with Mrs Murray and a representative from Moray Council.
The inspection team concluded: "Staff should raise attainment in literacy and numeracy for all children, ensuring children are supported and challenged to make the best possible progress.
"Staff should continue to work with other schools to develop a shared understanding of national standards.
"Senior leaders and staff should improve approaches to learning and teaching across the school. In doing so, they should ensure the pace of learning is brisker."
A Moray Council spokesperson said: “The inspection report has highlighted strengths in the work of the school along with areas for improvement following this short model inspection.
"Education staff have worked with the school to progress an action plan to address these areas. The inspection team praised the way staff at Portgordon Primary work to create a warm and welcoming ethos, and a setting in which children are respectful to each other and to adults, and demonstrate an eagerness to learn.
"Inspectors also commended senior leaders and staff for the positive relationships that they have created across the whole school and community as a result of knowing the children and their families so well.
“The school was evaluated as ‘weak’ in learning, teaching and assessment, and in raising attainment and achievement. Education Scotland will make a return visit within the next 12 months when education staff expect to demonstrate significant progress. The inspection report sets out the improvement agenda which the school, supported by the central Education team, is committed to delivering. Improvement work will be supported to progress at pace.”
Fochabers-Lhanbryde councillor Marc Macrae voiced his confidence in the school's ability to address the points highlighted by the inspectors.
He continued: “Whilst it is always disappointing when reports identify negatives we much however look beyond those and to what lessons can be learnt both immediately and over time to overcome the concerns from the inspection team.
“I have found every day of my life to be a learning experience, be it finding out new things for myself or sharing knowledge and experiences I have gained and I hope that pupils and staff at Portgordon will look on the report not as a negative but constructive criticism to move forwards.
“The report noted that there is a friendly, warm and welcoming ethos established across the school and that the children and respectful towards each other and adults and demonstrate and eagerness to learn.
“Inspectors commented that staff should ensure that the children and both supported and challenged to make the best possible progress, as well as working with other schools in the area to develop shared understandings of national standards to improve attainment.
“It is important that the findings are used to support both the staff and the pupils to move forwards. Covid placed major challenges on the methods used for the older primary classes and the younger pupils have entered into new ways of learning and teaching.
“Given the dedication of our teaching and back office staff through challenging times I am sure the inspectors will return in 12 months time to find a school which welcomed the criticism and used it to develop and enhance the whole learning experience across the school community.”
At the time of the inspection the school had a roll of 45 pupils taught across three classes – P1/2, P3/4/5 and P6/7.
The inspection report is available on the Education Scotland website.
