Positive report for Falkirk district primary as good progress has been made

Slamannan Primary School and early years centre received a poor inspection report in 2018, which said that pupils were not being challenged enough and older pupils were not being prepared for high school.

Follow-up inspections were put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic but when the inspectors finally returned in November 2021 they found very positive changes.

Members of Falkirk Council’s Scrutiny Committee heard on Thursday that since then, the council’s team of Children’s Services advisers continued to work closely with the school’s staff with progress being reported to Education Scotland.

The committee heard that the national watchdog is now satisfied that the school and nursery will continue to improve without further involvement from them.

In a letter, parents at the school were told: “After reviewing the evidence, we are now confident Slamannan Primary School has the capacity to continue to improve and we will publish no further reports in relation to the April 2018 Education Scotland inspection report. Officers from Falkirk Council will continue to work with the school to ensure progress continues.”

Acting head of education, Rhona Jay, commended the headteacher and staff for their professionalism and resilience during such an extended period of scrutiny and their commitment to bringing about improvements.

Members of the committee thanked the staff for all the hard work that had resulted in “a good news story”.

Independent councillor Brian McCabe asked how the staff handled the pressure that was brought by external inspections.

Service manager Lisa McCabe said that they welcome external scrutiny to help deliver improvements and as a service they are “building a culture where staff teams understand that contribution of external scrutiny and are well supported to engage with it positively”.