Keith Grammar and Newmill Primary follow-up inspections

School inspectors have found that a Moray secondary is well on target towards implementing recommendations they made following an inspection visit more than two years ago. 

Five main points for action were identified in the original report which the inspectors made on Keith Grammar. 

Now, in a follow-up report, the inspectors have said the school had made very good progress on three of the points for action and good progress on the other two. 

As a result they do not intend making any further inspection visits to the school. 

The latest report, published today (Jan 29), said head teacher John Aitken and his staff, with the support of Moray Council as education authority, had made good or very progress in meeting all the main points for action. 

“The head teacher and the senior management team had given a clear lead to staff in planning and implementing improvements in the areas identified in the original report,” said the inspectors. 

They said the senior management team now operated as an effective team, with the head teacher sharing decision-making more effectively and consulting fully with members of his team. 

One area where good progress had been made was in ensuring that staff used consistent approaches to promoting positive behaviour. 

“Staff had made a number of helpful improvements to the school’s behaviour management policy,” said the report. 

“The number of pupils being sent out of class due to indiscipline had reduce significantly. 

“Staff and pupils reported significant improvements in behaviour within classes and around the school. As a result of the improvements made, there was now a more settled learning environment." 

The report found that very good progress had been made in involving all staff more effectively in delivering initiatives to improve the school and in reviewing the curriculum to ensure choices offered to pupils were appropriate and could be successfully delivered. 

Meanwhile, a follow-up report on Newmill Primary School - one of Keith Grammar’s associated primaries – has found that some progress had been made in addressing issues identified in the original inspection report last February. 

“The acting head teacher, working with staff and with the helpful support of the education authority, had made a useful start to improving the school,” said the report, which is also published today. 

It found that the school had taken some helpful steps to improve the structure and balance of the curriculum and had made an effective start in improving the pace and challenge to raise attainment in English language and maths. 

The school had also made a promising start in improving leadership and evaluating and improving the work of the school. 

The report said HM inspectors would continue to engage with the school and the education authority and would provide another progress report within the next 12 months. 

Donald Duncan, Moray Council’s director of educational services, said the Keith Grammar report confirmed the very good progress that had been made in addressing the main points for action and laid a very firm foundation for continued progress with the support of the local authority. 

Of the Newmill report, Mr Duncan said: “It acknowledges that the school has made a useful and promising start in meeting the action points and as we are now in the process of appointing a new head teacher, I am confident that the school, with continued support from the local authority, will make further progress. 

Councillor Jeff Hamilton, joint chairman of the education and social services committee, said: “Both these reports indicate progress and I am confident that the appointment of a new head teacher at Newmill will see more rapid progress in the months to come.”