School inspectors have recommended improvements at Lochgelly West Primary after rating some areas “weak” and others “satisfactory”.
A team of inspectors from Education Scotland visited the Fife school in September.
They found the school to be weak in raising attainment and achievement.
And they deemed it only satisfactory in three areas: leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment, and ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion.
A weak rating means priority action is required, while satisfactory means strengths just outweigh weaknesses.
Only one other Fife school out of 16 received a weak rating in inspection reports published since October 2023. That was Warout Primary School in Glenrothes.
At Lochgelly West new head teacher Gordon Anderson and his principal teacher started only a few weeks before the inspection. This followed several years of leadership instability.
We’ve scrutinised the inspectors’ report on the school to pull out some of the praise and criticism. The nursery was also inspected and rated as good.
About Lochgelly West Primary School
Lochgelly West Primary School has 204 children across eight classes.
Almost 70% of pupils live in a deprived areas and 33% have additional support needs.
Where Lochgelly West Primary was praised
- Mr Anderson has gained the confidence and trust of children, staff and parents. He has accurately identified where improvement is needed
- Children are polite, welcoming and eager to learn
- Children are taking on more leadership responsibilities, such as becoming captains, prefects or committee leaders. They led a restructure of the house system.
- The number of violent incidents recorded is reducing. Use of nurturing approaches by staff has created a calmer environment
- All classrooms have a specific area where children can regulate emotions. This is increasing their participation in lessons.
- Staff use digital technology effectively and children use digital devices with skill and confidence
- Transitions from nursery and between school stages are well-planned and strong. Children are well supported moving into Lochgelly High School
- Staff work well together to identify children who have an additional support need and devise strategies to support them
Where Lochgelly West Primary was criticised
- Staff and leadership instability has hampered attempts to raise children’s attainment
- Children’s outcomes decline as they progress through the school. Attainment in literacy and numeracy by the end of P7 is weak, with just over half of pupils making expected progress
- A few children become disengaged in the majority of classes when teachers devote too much time to explanations or whole class teaching
- Children’s learning experiences are not yet of a consistently high enough quality across the school
- Quality of feedback from teachers for pupils varies
- Not all children receive their entitlement to two hours of high quality PE every week
- The majority of parents would like more regular feedback about their children’s learning
- A minority of children do not feel respected by peers and think that the school does not deal well with bullying.
What does the head teacher say?
Inspectors have recommended a series of improvements to be made at the school. They will return in 18 months to assess progress.
Mr Anderson said: “We are proud to see that the inspection team recognised that our children and staff in Lochgelly West create a highly-positive ethos and a strong sense of community.
“It was also pleasing that our values were highlighted and how these underpin high-quality relationships throughout the school and nursery and very positive interactions between the staff and children.
“The areas for improvement noted by the inspection team are areas which our self-evaluation processes have already identified as we continue to ensure all of our children progress across the curriculum with achievements celebrated.”
Conversation