RE-ISSUED: Elgin Academy inspection report released

According to the report, young people at Elgin Academy are incredibly proud of their school and welcoming to visitors. They also demonstrate a range of useful skills, including leadership and communication.

The report goes on to praise the teachers for creating a calm learning environment and offering a wide variety of clubs and activities for young people during lunchtimes and after school.

However, two of the quality indicators focused on during the inspection, ‘Learning, teaching and assessment’ and ‘Raising attainment and achievement’ were rated as 'weak'.

Teachers at Elgin Academy are encouraged to improve their understanding and delivery of quality learning, teaching, and assessment to ensure more consistency and raise student aspirations in all subjects.

The inspectors also recommended that staff concentrate on meeting the needs of all students by making sure tasks and activities are suitable for everyone.

Senior leaders should collaborate with staff to improve academic achievement for all students, especially in maths throughout the school. They were asked to establish effective systems to support more students in achieving higher qualifications from S4 to S6.

Inspectors also encouraged to keep reviewing the curriculum for students in S4 to S6. This includes assessing how well new courses meet student needs and contribute to their educational outcomes.

Moray Council’s Chief Education Officer, Vivienne Cross, said: “The report provides the school with a clear agenda for improvement which will be the focus for the year ahead under the leadership of the new Head Teacher. An action plan to cover the areas for improvement has already been drafted and work will commence at pace to address this whilst building on existing strengths.”

“Furthermore, the school is making improvements to enhance the learning environment. They’ve introduced a new Learning and Teaching policy and are prioritising staff training to address inspection findings.”