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Inspectors praise ‘confident, able and articulate’ pupils at Sutherland school





A north coast primary school has been rated ‘satisfactory’ by Education Scotland, while its nursery class has been rated “very good”.

A team of inspectors from Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate visited Farr Primary School and the nursery class at Bettyhill in November last year.

Schools are assessed in various areas on a six-point scale ranging from excellent, very good and good to satisfactory, weak and unsatisfactory.

A team of inspectors from Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate visited Farr Primary School and nursery class in November.
A team of inspectors from Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate visited Farr Primary School and nursery class in November.

The 31-pupil school was rated ‘satisfactory’ in the areas of leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment; ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion; and raising attainment and achievement.

The nursery class was rated “very good” for its leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment; ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion; and securing children’s progress.

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It was noted that difficulties in filling vacancies at the school were having an impact.

Inspectors were full of praise for pupils, finding them to be confident, able and articulate as well as polite, well-mannered and welcoming to visitors.

They said that staff in both the school and nursery worked very well together and were supportive of the children and each other.

The report said: “Practitioners in the nursery are highly effective. They support children to make very good progress in their learning through skilful interactions.”

It was also noted that the Parent Council was “very supportive” of the school, providing funding for buses to enable children to attend school trips as well as purchasing playground equipment and cooking equipment to enhance children’s learning experience.

Inspectors identified a number of areas where they felt improvement could be made. These were discussed with the headteacher and a representative from Highland Council.

It was felt that senior leaders needed to work with staff across the school to focus on improving children’s progress and attainment across all areas of the curriculum.

The inspectors also said that senior leaders and staff needed to improve approaches to learning, teaching and assessment.

“Teachers need to use their assessment information more effectively to plan learning activities that are well matched with children’s needs and abilities,” says the report.

And it was also recommended that the progress children made over time be measured more effectively.

But inspectors said: “We are confident that the school has the capacity to continue to improve and so we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection.”

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