29 October 2013

Dear Parent/Carer Chatelherault Primary School and Nursery Class South Lanarkshire Council Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I inspected your childs school. During our visit, we talked to parents and children and worked closely with the headteacher and staff. We wanted to find out how well children are learning and achieving and how well the school supports children to do their best. The headteacher shared with us the schools successes and priorities for improvement. We looked at some particular aspects of the schools recent work, including interdisciplinary and active learning. As a result, we were able to find out how good the school is at improving childrens education. How well do children learn and achieve? Children in the nursery class, school, and Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) base are happy and enjoy positive relationships with their teachers and each other. Almost all children report that they are well cared for, feel safe and enjoy being at school. Children in the nursery class are developing their learning through a range of play activities and almost all children are actively engaged in their learning. At the primary stages, many children can talk about aspects of their learning and assess how well they are progressing. Across the nursery class, school, and ASD base, children need to be encouraged to take more responsibility for planning and developing their learning and to talk about their next steps in learning. Pace of learning needs to be increased to ensure that children are motivated by, and engaged in, their learning. Children have very good opportunities to engage in a wide range of clubs and committees which are helping them to develop leadership skills, to be confident and responsible citizens. For example, through the schools achievement of life long eco status, led by the eco committee, children are learning to look after their environment. Almost all children have very good opportunities to enrich their learning through a wide range of excursions and residential experiences. Such opportunities should be further extended to include children in the ASD base. In the nursery class, almost all children listen well to each other and to simple instructions. They talk confidently during their play. Most children are developing their early writing and number skills. At the primary stages, children are reading a range of appropriate texts and are developing their comprehension skills. At the upper stages, children can write for a wide range of purposes. For example, some older children wrote imaginative descriptions linked to their topic on the Romans. Many children are capable of writing at greater length using stimulating contexts across the curriculum.
Education Scotland W1 Saughton House Broomhouse Drive Edinburgh EH11 3XD T 0131 244 8079 F 0131 244 8424 E edinburgh@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk Textphone 01506 600236 This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as this will not connect. www.educationscotland.gov.uk

Transforming lives through learning

In the ASD base, almost all children have made progress in aspects of language and communication, and are developing good reading skills. At the early stages, children can count, describe simple shapes and use their number skills to solve simple problems. By the upper stages, children can describe the properties of three-dimensional objects and are able to use computers to help them organise information and data. In both literacy and numeracy children should be making more progress, particularly at the early stages. In health and wellbeing, children are learning about how to stay healthy, by for example, eating the right foods and keeping fit. In the upper stages children are learning to speak French and can repeat and read simple phrases in French. How well does the school support children to develop and learn? Children are well supported in their learning by a wide range of partners. For example, parents, the Active Schools coordinator, rugby, golf and hockey clubs, provide enriched opportunities for children to engage in sports such as golf, rugby, hockey, netball and football. Many children working with the club coaches go on to use their skills in out-of-school activities. The school, ably supported by the Area Learning Support teacher, is good at identifying and assessing children with additional support needs (ASN). An appropriate range of tasks, activities and resources are provided to meet the needs of children with an Additional Support Plan. In class children are not always challenged sufficiently. Children in the ASD provision need more opportunities to learn in real-life contexts. Staff are working hard to become more familiar with Curriculum for Excellence guidance to plan childrens learning. The school has developed a science programme in partnership with Hamilton Grammars feeder primary schools. This programme provides a good model to use when developing other programmes and courses across the different subject areas. There are very effective procedures in place to support children moving from P7 to secondary school. Assessment of childrens learning across the curriculum should be further developed as a priority to assist with planning so that children make appropriate progress. Staff also need to provide more opportunities for children to use their learning in new and different learning situations. How well does the school improve the quality of its work? The schools approaches to evaluating its own work need to be further developed to ensure greater improvement in childrens learning experiences and achievements. The headteacher has consulted teachers about what needs to be improved in the school. The headteacher and senior management team now need to implement plans for improvement to ensure a positive impact on childrens learning. Teaching staff across the nursery class, school and ASD base are continuing to work hard to make changes to how they plan and support children to learn and to improve the curriculum. They are now thinking and talking about how they can improve and are keen to develop good practice with colleagues in other establishments. Teachers observe each other in lessons and this is helping them widen their understanding of working with children of different ages. These activities need to be further embedded to impact significantly on childrens learning experiences. The management team now needs to continue to support teachers in curriculum development and in tracking and monitoring childrens progress.

This inspection found the following key strengths. Children are polite, well-behaved and have positive relationships with staff and each other. They are proud of their wider achievements which are well celebrated by the school. Staff are highly motivated to work with senior managers to continue to improve the school. Almost all parents are happy with the school and the ways in which staff support their children.

We discussed with staff and South Lanarkshire Council how they might continue to improve the school, nursery and ASD base. This is what we agreed with them.

The school needs to continue to develop its curriculum in line with national guidance. Approaches to self-evaluation need to ensure the work of the school is being effectively monitored and leads to improvement. A robust system of tracking and monitoring childrens progress needs to be implemented. The school needs to further increase pace and challenge to ensure children make progress in their learning.

What happens at the end of the inspection? As a result of our inspection findings we think that the school, nursery and ASD base need additional support and more time to make necessary improvements. Our Area Lead Officer will work with South Lanarkshire Council to build capacity for improvement, and will maintain contact to monitor progress. We will return to carry out a further inspection within one year of publication of this letter. We will then issue another letter to parents on the extent to which the school, nursery and ASD base have improved.

Dr Laura-Ann Currie HM Inspector Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations and national care standards gradings, for your school can be found on the Education Scotland website at http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/school/primsec/Chat elheraultPrimarySchoolSouthLanarkshire.asp If you would like to receive this letter in a different format, for example, in a translation please contact the administration team on the above telephone number. If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact us by telephone on 0141 282 5000, or e-mail: complaints@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to us addressing your letter to the Complaints Manager, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Livingston EH54 6GA.