Hamnavoe Primary School’s strengths highlighted by inspectors

Hamnavoe Primary School has received a positive report from government inspectors following a visit in November.

The school was shown to have a number of particular strengths, including:

• Children’s wider achievement and experiences in expressive arts;

• Support provided for children who need help with their learning;

• The leadership of the head teacher in promoting the school in the community and in building an inclusive ethos.

The HMIE report said children work well together and show strong co-operation skills.

It said children have a clear understanding of what it means to be healthy, thanks to good work on health promotion.

It also found most children were achieving national standards of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics, adding the school had been working to improve children’s writing.

The inspection team found the school had a clear sense of direction – something recognised by staff, pupils and their parents. They attributed this to the clear lead given by the head teacher to school improvement.

There is some room for improvement, however.

Inspectors agreed with the school that work should be done to improve the curriculum, ensuring progress is made in learning.

Work should also be done to ensure tasks and activities are at a suitable level of difficulty to help youngsters make progress.

Some aspects of learning and teaching should be improved. In particular, the report says opportunities for children to take more responsibility for their learning should be extended.

The school should also involve all staff, children and parents more effectively in self-evaluation.

However the inspection team were confident would be able to make the necessary improvements.

HMIE will make no further visits to the school in relation to the inspection.

The SIC’s spokesman for education, children and young people, Bill Manson, said the report overall was very pleasing, and there were many positive comments within it which underlined the high quality of education being provided at Hamnavoe.

He said the points of action were already being addressed.