Applegrove Primary School inspection report
School inspectors have said that a Moray primary needs to raise pupil attainment and achievement and to adopt more innovative approaches to learning and teaching.
Applegrove Primary at Forres also needed to take a more rigorous and focused approach to self-evaluation, quality assurance and improvement planning, they found.
A team of inspectors from Education Scotland visited the school over two days in March and their report is published today.
In the two areas of performance they assessed – self-evaluation for self-improvement and raising attainment and achievement – they scored the school as ‘weak’.
The inspection report said the strengths of the school included its polite and well-behaved pupils who were motivated to learn, the caring relationship between children and staff and the high quality targeted support for children with additional needs.
However, the inspectors also identified a number of areas for improvement.
“Led by the head teacher, the school must adopt a more collaborative approach to measuring the quality of its work,” they said. “In particular, there is a need to better gather the views of children, parents and partners on the quality of school provision.”
They also highlighted the need to raise children’s attainment and achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy, and to increase leadership opportunities for staff, children and parents in taking forward school improvement priorities.
The inspectors also said there was a need to ensure that learning activities had appropriate pace and challenge for all children and that more innovative approaches to learning and teaching were encouraged and shared across the school.
Their report concludes: “We will liaise with Moray Council regarding the school’s capacity to improve and we will return to carry out a further inspection of the school.”
The council’s head of schools and curriculum development, Vivienne Cross, said: “Education officers within the council will continue to work closely with Applegrove as the school moves forward in addressing the issues highlighted by the Education Scotland inspectors.”
Moray Council area stretches from Tomintoul in the south to the shores of the Moray Firth, from Keith in the east to Forres in the west. The council and its 4,500 employees respond to the needs of 95,510 residents in this beautiful part of Scotland, which nestles between Aberdeenshire and the Highlands.
Famous for its colony of dolphins, fabulous beaches and more malt whisky distilleries than any where else in Scotland, Moray is a thriving area and a great place to live.
Headquartered in Elgin, the administrative capital of Moray.