Borders primary school given thumbs-up by education inspectors

Ednam Primary School pupils and staff George McIntosh, Henry Aitcheson, Hannah Morris Atkinson, Mathilde Borja, Susan Elliott, Catriona Finn, Julie McIntosh, Barbara Shiel, Aidan Richardson and Florence Brooks.

A Borders primary school has been given the thumbs-up by education watchdogs following its latest inspection.

Ednam Primary, near Kelso, and its nursery have been praised by Education Scotland for ensuring youngsters there make good progress in literacy and numeracy and that its learning environments are up to par.

Learning, teaching and assessment was rated as satisfactory at the primary and its performance in raising attainment and achievement was classed as good. The school’s nursery was rated good in both those categories.

Pupils, described as happy and confident, were also praised for their behaviour and enthusiasm.

“They are keen to learn and eager to make progress,” says inspector Ken McAra in his report, out now.

Three areas for improvement were identified and they are now being addressed.

They include ensuring greater consistency of approaches in learning, teaching, tracking and monitoring.

The school is also being urged to make sure that the pace of learning is sufficiently challenging to meet the needs of all its children and to further develop partnerships with parents and partners so that they are fully involved in evaluating its work and reviewing its values and aims.

Headteacher Catriona Finn said: “We are all pleased with the positive recognition given to pupils, staff and parents in the report.

“Our number one priority is to ensure the best possible education for our young people.

“We will now continue to move forward with a focus on the recommendations given to ensure the school continues to improve.”

Parent council chairperson Melanie Brookes added: “I’m delighted to see that so many of the strengths of our unique school have been recognised in this report.

“I’m confident that, through our development plan, the staff and management team will continue to build on their hard work to date and keep improving the school experience for all our children.”