Vale Primary School Head praised for managing change

The Headteacher of Vale Primary school, Gary Hind, has been praised for successfully managing a series of changes within the school.

The most recent inspection report says the school has been through a period of ‘considerable change,’ having merged the infant and junior schools in September 2013 and St Sampson’s Infant School.

A team of 4 HM Inspectors from Education Scotland visited the school earlier this month and spent three days observing lessons, talking with learners and looking at their work.

They also spoke with staff and parents and looked at school records and other documents.

Key strengths identified are:

• Articulate and confident children who are keen to learn and are proud of their school.

• Positive partnerships with parents, professionals and thel ocal community which enrich children’s experiences.

• The commitment of all staff to working in teams to improve the school.

• The Headteacher’s leadership in managing change, building an ethos of teamwork, and in securing improvements for the school community.

Areas identified for how the school might continue to improve:

• Continue to improve approaches to meeting the learning needs of all children.

• Continue to develop the leadership skills of the staff team and of children.

• Use self-evaluation approaches in a focused way to secure further improvements.

The Education Scotland inspection framework includes evaluations against 6 indicators which are judged against 6 levels; excellent, very good, good, satisfactory, weak, unsatisfactory.

These are the evaluations for Vale Primary School:

• Improvements in performance - Good

• Learners’ experiences - Good

• Teaching for effective learning - Good

• Meeting learning needs - Satisfactory

• Improvement through self-evaluation -Good

• Leadership of improvement and change - Good

You can access the ful report here.