Inspectors pleased with 'positive progress' made at Golspie High School
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Schools inspectors are pleased with the progress made at Golspie High School to improve attainment levels, head teacher Mark Evans has said.
The 246-pupil school has been monitored closely since 2017 following concern over its academic performance.
Inspectors have made a number of visits over the years and were back at the school last month.
Mr Evans reported to Sutherland County Committee at its meeting on November 22 that inspectors were pleased with the work undertaken to boost the secondary’s performance.
“We have made positive progress from 2019-21, particularly against our virtual comparator,” he said.
“There are one or two groupings of pupils of different abilities that we still need to work on, but we had a visit from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate ten days ago and they recognised that improvement as well.
“That is really positive and they can see the work we are undertaking to further enhance that attainment.
“The progress we have made is a tribute to everyone at the school.”
Mr Evans said school attendance figures were slightly below average for Highland and Scottish schools but work was ongoing to address this issue.
“We have Clive Grewcock with us as a children services worker and part of his remit is school attendance and he is working intensively with young people and parent/carers to bring these figures up,” said Mr Evans.
The head teacher also spoke about staffing difficulties during Covid.
“We did have a few really hairy times at the back end of the summer term and at the start of the new term when at any one time we had about six people off.”
He added that the school was currently short of a home economics teacher and three staff members were on long-term leave.
County committee chairman Cllr Richard Gale voiced his pleasure at the good report.
He said: “I know how much effort you and your staff have put into Golspie High School and really appreciate the work you have been doing.
“It has not been easy and recruiting staff has been difficult but you have gone out of your way to recruit good quality staff and the attainment levels are a testament to that.
He continued: “I think what Clive Crewcock is doing to address the attendance issue is excellent.”
Cllr Gale also noticed that the “positive destination” figures for the school had also improved with all pupils leaving Golspie High School in 2019/20 going on to further education, training or employment.
