Loanhead Primary receives positive HMIE follow up report
A positive HMIE report was published on Tuesday 23 September, following an inspection of Loanhead Primary by Education Scotland.
The Education Scotland inspection team had published a letter on Loanhead Primary in August 2024, setting out required improvements that had been agreed with the school and the Council. During a recent return visit, the inspectors engaged with children from all age groups and worked closely with Headteacher Kirsty Doncaster and her staff.
Their subsequent report highlighted the progress made by the school and the impact on children’s learning and achievements, including the positive progress made towards increasing opportunities for leadership and improvement; strong progress in delivering more engaging and appropriately challenging tasks and activities for all learners; significant progress towards developing a clear whole-school strategic approach to promote health and wellbeing, and ensuring equality and inclusion for all children and effecting progress to improve consistency of assessments.
The inspectors highlighted that the ‘headteacher has a clear vision and ambition for the school to provide high quality learning experiences for all children to fulfil their learning potential. This is now impacting positively on learning and teaching across the school’, and that ‘The headteacher, together with staff, has now established more effective arrangements which they are using well to lead and influence change.’
The inspectors are confident that the school will continue to make positive change and there will no further visits in connection with this inspection.
Councillor Elaine Cowan, Spokesperson for Education, and Children and Young People visited the school with local members Councillors Neal Ingram and Graham Boyd, and Depute Director of Education, Graham McGinn.
Councillor Cowan said: “I was very pleased to read the most recent report from the HM Inspectors and note the significant improvements that have been achieved by Headteacher Kirsty Doncaster and her team. The inspectors highlighted that ‘senior leaders support staff to review the work of the school increasingly well’ and that as a result ‘staff have an increasingly accurate picture of the school’s overall strengths and areas for continuous improvement’. This is evidence of focused work to ensure that the school continues to improve and to ensure that all the children who attend the school are supported to reach their full potential
“Well done to Kirsty Doncaster and the whole school on this very good report.”
Headteacher Kirsty Doncaster said: “The whole school is rightly proud of the report from our recent inspection, which shows strong progress against all points outlined by the inspectors last August.
“This has been very much a team effort and I would like to thank our dedicated staff who are wholly committed to ensuring that all of our children reach their full potential.”