Inspection Report, Parent Letter – Translatable post

1 | Hanover Street Primary School and Nursery Class, Aberdeen City Council, 5239729 © Crown Copyright

3 September 2019

Dear Parent/Carer
In May 2019, a team of inspectors from Education Scotland visited Hanover Street Primary School and Nursery Class. During our visit, we talked to parents/carers and children and worked closely with the headteacher and staff.

The inspection team found the following strengths in the school’s work.

  • The leadership of the headteacher, ably supported by the depute headteacher.
  • A strong sense of teamwork amongst the staff. They have a commitment to professional learning and development to support the improvement of outcomes for children in the nursery and at the primary stages.
  • Across the school and the nursery, well behaved, respectful children who have a positive attitude to learning. They demonstrate kindness and care for each other in their work and in their play.
  • The nurturing and inclusive ethos where children and their families are well supported. Diversity and equality are celebrated in a school and nursery where children are well placed to develop as global citizens.

The following areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the headteacher and a representative from Aberdeen City Council.

 

  • Continue to improve learning, teaching and assessment to ensure all children enjoy high quality experiences.
  • Develop the curriculum to offer children progression, relevance and depth in their learning. This work should reflect the school’s unique setting in the community and support children as learners within 21st century Scotland.
  • In the nursery setting, there requires to be a stronger focus on developing children’s skills in literacy and numeracy.
  • Ensure children across the primary stages make appropriate progress across their learning in all curriculum areas. This work is needed to improve attainment and achievement for all children.

2 | Hanover Street Primary School and Nursery Class, Aberdeen City Council, 5239729 © Crown Copyright

We gathered evidence to enable us to evaluate the school’s work using four quality indicators from How good is our school? (4th edition) and How good is our early learning and childcare?.

Quality indicators help schools, local authorities and inspectors to judge what is working well and what needs to be improved. Following the inspection of each school, the Scottish Government gathers details of our evaluations to keep track of how well Scottish schools are doing.

Here are Education Scotland’s evaluations for Hanover Street Primary School and Nursery Class

 

Quality indicators for the primary stages     Evaluation
Leadership of change – good
Learning, teaching and assessment – satisfactory
Raising attainment and achievement – satisfactory
Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion – good

Descriptions of the evaluations are available from:
How good is our school? (4th edition), Appendix 3: The six-point scale

 

Quality indicators for the nursery class Evaluation
Leadership of change – good
Learning, teaching and assessment – satisfactory
Securing children’s progress – satisfactory
Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion – good

Descriptions of the evaluations are available from:
How good is our early learning and childcare? Appendix 1: The six-point scale

A more detailed document called Summarised Inspection Findings (SIF) will be available on the Education Scotland website at:

https://education.gov.scot/inspection-reports/aberdeen-city/5239729

3 | Hanover Street Primary School and Nursery Class, Aberdeen City Council, 5239729 © Crown Copyright
What happens next?

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. Aberdeen City Council will inform parents/carers about the school’s progress as part of its arrangements for reporting on the quality of its schools.

Susan Duff
HM Inspector