North Walls School and Nursery bairns are “happy, confident and included”

Education Scotland inspectors found “confident children who are safe, included and happy” at North Walls Community School and Nursery. 

The school and nursery were inspected in June this year with Inspectors speaking with parents/carers, children, the headteacher and staff. 

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

 • Confident children who are safe, included and happy. They are supportive of each other and proud of their school and nursery. 

• All staff work well as a team. Led effectively by the headteacher, they have developed consistent and well-considered learning and teaching approaches. 

• Children across the school and nursery learn in stimulating and engaging environments. Children are motivated by relevant and meaningful learning experiences.  

• Practitioners in the nursery use skilled questioning and high-quality interactions to support children to make very good progress in their learning. 

Two areas for improvement were identified and discussed with the headteacher and representatives from Orkney Islands Council: 

• Staff in the school and nursery should continue to develop opportunities for children to take responsibility for their own learning. This should help children to understand better their progress and have a meaningful voice in choices which affect their learning. 

• Staff in the school should build on their approaches to assessing children’s progress in learning. This should include the headteacher and staff continuing to develop approaches to reaching a shared understanding of standards about children’s attainment across the curriculum. 

Quality indicators rated “evaluation, learning, teaching and assessment and raising attainment and achievement” as “good”. In the nursery, “evaluation, learning, teaching and assessment and securing children’s progress were rated as “very good”. 

Inspectors are confident that the school will continue to improve in the areas identified and will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. 

Chair of the Council’s Education, Leisure and Housing Committee, Councillor Gwenda Shearer, said: “This inspection report details yet another of our schools that is clearly in good heart with a staff team being led effectively by the headteacher and the children at the centre of what they do. 

“Additional reassurance is given by Inspectors who have shared their confidence in the staff continuing to make further improvements.” 

The report can be found at: https://education.gov.scot/inspection-and-review/find-an-inspection-report/find-an-inspection-report/details?id=3885