St Joseph’s Primary inspection report published

Children at St Joseph’s Primary in Helensburgh are motivated and are proud of their school community, inspectors have reported.

The results of an inspection by Education Scotland at the only denominational school in the Helensburgh and Lomond area were published today.

The inspectors found that learning, teaching and assessment were good in the primary school and very good in the nursery class.

And raising attainment and achievement was rated as good in the primary, with securing children’s progress very good in the nursery section.

The report stated: “Children and staff respect and value each other. There are positive and nurturing relationships across the school and nursery.

“Children are motivated, engage well in their learning

“In the school, led very effectively by the acting headteacher, staff have high expectations for children.

“They plan activities well which improves children’s understanding and helps them to talk confidently about their learning.

“In the nursery, staff provide high-quality experiences and a stimulating environment that supports children to make very good progress in their learning.”

Areas for improvement which were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from Argyll and Bute Council included:

• Continue to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy across the primary stages, particularly for children who require additional support with their learning.
• And teachers should continue to work with each other, and colleagues in other schools, to develop a better understanding of national standards.

There were 141 children across seven classes on the school roll at the time of the inspection, and the report added that attendance was in line with the national average while there had been no exclusions for the last five years.

The full report is here: st-josephs-ps-sif-311023