A positive inspection of Cambusbarron Primary School and Nursery by Education Scotland recently shows marked improvements across the board.

The school’s performance has been turned around since Education Scotland’s original inspection of the school last year. In the previous report from 2014, inspectors recommended a number of key areas for improvement.

Now the latest report shows the school has raised expectations in all aspects of its work with almost all children having positive learning experiences and making better progress while benefiting from a vibrant learning environment.

In both the primary and nursery classes, children are now making good progress in their learning and the standard of children’s writing and numeracy in P1 and P2 is high. Across the school, the pace of learning and level of challenge have improved which has led to better progress in literacy and numeracy overall. Children also have a good awareness of the importance of healthy eating and being active.

Staff now place a clear emphasis on setting high expectations for children’s learning and have improved their approaches to planning learning and are developing a shared understanding of what they want children to achieve through Curriculum for Excellence. Staff are also working very well together to support children who require additional help and as a result, support for learning is effective and well-targeted.

The new headteacher has had a very positive impact on the work of the school and the open-door approach taken has contributed to significantly improved communication between staff. The commitment of staff has resulted in the school now having a clear and shared vision with values founded on high expectations for children.

Head of school improvement, Kevin Kelman, said: “Stirling Council’s Education Service has a strong track record and takes great pride in the high standard of learning enjoyed by pupils across our school estate.

“We are delighted that the latest inspection of Cambusbarron Primary School and Nursery has shown that all the recommendations from the previous report have been addressed, with a focus on improving the learning experiences and outcomes for children.

“The recent report indicates that Cambusbarron Primary School is now well placed to ensure it improves further in future.”