Pencaitland Primary School Was Inspected in May 2008 and HM Inspectorate of Education Published

INSPECTION BY THE HMIE OF YESTER PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY CLASS

DECEMBER 2010

ACTION PLAN

JANUARY 2011 Yester Primary School and Nursery Class was inspected in November 2010 and HM Inspectorate of Education published a report in December 2010.

The school and the education authority have prepared an action plan indicating how they will address the main points for action contained in the HMIe report.

HMIe main point for action:

 Improve the curriculum, children’s experiences and progress in all aspects of learning in the nursery class to better meet the learning and care needs of children.

School action plan:

 The nursery environment will be reorganised, resourced and developed to offer the children high quality experiences in each curricular area, based on the principles of child-centred approaches to learning and teaching. This will be done with the support and advice of the authority.

 Learning stories will be amended to include next steps for children.

 An Early Years Team is to be established which will meet monthly to review planning and assessment to ensure appropriate expectations for children’s learning.

 Further development of transition from nursery to P1. Clear timetable for cooperative teaching and observations across all areas of the curriculum.

 Routines and rotas will be developed to promote greater independence for children in the nursery.

 Planning and assessment formats will be further developed; these will support the progression of skills in language and mathematics through play using Curriculum for Excellence outcomes and local authority advice. Use to be made of responsive planning sheets to record immediate action and planned action for individual children.

 Requirements and recommendations identified by HMIe will be met through;

1. Clear care plans being drawn up in consultation with parents for any individual pupils with medical conditions. 2. The medication policy and procedures used in the nursery to be developed in line with authority procedures and good practice guidance. 3. Toothbrushing procedures to be reviewed and developed in line with authority procedures and good practice guidance.

 Weekly meetings will be held with nursery staff and management with clear targets to be identified. This will include monitoring of classroom practice.

 Teaching staff will continue to have regular meetings with the Head Teacher, which will focus on individual pupil attainment. HMIe main point for action:

 Continue to develop the curriculum using the principles of Curriculum for Excellence.

School action plan:

 The curriculum will be reviewed with a focus on how we ensure balance in experiences and outcomes so as to develop children’s skills across all curricular areas.

 A number of staff collegiate activity time sessions will focus on activities related to planning for progression from Early - Second level (Curriculum for Excellence) and not simply within one stage. Main areas for focus this year will be literacy and maths.

 A number of staff collegiate activity time sessions at school and cluster level will focus on assessment within Building the Curriculum 5. This is intended to build staff capacity in assessing children’s progress across all areas of the curriculum and identifying next steps. This should promote greater pace and challenge at an individual level.

HMIe main point for action:

 Build on existing arrangements for self-evaluation, including by sharing the most effective learning and teaching in classes, to improve further the learning outcomes for all children.

School action plan:

The school will continue to embed the procedures highlighted by the HMIe as good practice and will further improve whole school self-evaluation through many of the actions detailed above and by:

 Continuing to develop the use of ‘How Good Is Our School 3’, ‘Journey to Excellence’ and ‘The Child at the Centre’ throughout the school session.

 Setting up a programme to allow staff to share the most effective learning and teaching in classes through team teaching, peer observations.

 Continuing to develop more high level professional dialogue and detailed feedback on next steps in children’s learning following monitoring of planning, children’s work, and classroom observations.

 Involving pupils more in evaluating their learning and identifying areas for improvement.

A more detailed plan of action for the school can be found in the school’s development plan.

Mr Don Ledingham Executive Director of Education & Children’s Services East Lothian Council Education & Children’s Services John Muir House Court Street Haddington EH41 3HA