Inspectors' praise for Applegrove Primary

INSPECTORS have praised improvements made at a local school but will continue to monitor its progress.

Following an inspection of Applegrove Primary last June, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIe) made several recommendations before carrying out a recent follow-up visit.

The team from Education Scotland initially visited Applegrove over two days last March and published a report calling for head teacher Lesley Meehan to take the lead in raising pupil attainment and achievement, and adopt more innovative approaches to learning and teaching, scoring the school as 'weak' in these areas.

At the most recent visit, inspectors noted that the school has made progress since the original inspection.

In a follow-up letter, Education Scotland noted: "The environment and climate for learning across almost all classes is positive and respectful, with most children appropriately motivated and eager to learn.

"Staff are working well together to support learners, enhance practice and extend their own professional learning. Teachers across the school work well together to plan learning, teaching and assessment.

"The head teacher and leadership team have worked well with the local authority to establish a more rigorous and regular approach to evaluating the work of the school."

Chair of Moray Council's Children and Young People's Services Committee, Cllr Sonya Warren, praised the Applegrove staff.

She said: "I'm pleased to see that inspectors have recognised the hard work the Applegrove Primary School and education staff have put in to implement the recommendations by Education Scotland. We'll continue to support the school to make further improvements that benefit the pupils, staff and school community."

HMIe Inspector Sadie Cushley confirmed the school has made progress since the original inspection.

However, she added that her department will ask for a report on progress from Moray Council in a year's time.

Ms Cushley's report included the words: "Although attainment shows some improvement, it is not yet sufficiently high enough" and "There is still a need to improve the opportunities for children to be more involved in leading their own learning".

A Moray Council spokesperson said: "We will continue to support the head teacher and staff and provide Education Scotland with a further update next year."