Windygoul Primary School and Nursery has been rated ‘good’ across all measures by inspectors who praised the school’s warm and inclusive environment.

Education Scotland visited the Tranent school and nursery, and Woodside, the school’s specialist provision for children with additional support needs, in May this year.

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In a letter to parents and carers, the agency highlighted the strengths it found in the school. It mentioned:

  • The celebration of children’s many successes in demonstrating the school values of “responsible, positive and respectful”, noting the children’s pride, enthusiasm and hard work;
  • Senior leaders using a wide range of data to support effective strategies to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy.
  • An inclusive environment across all areas of the school, nursery and Woodside, supporting children to develop communication skills and engage successfully in learning within a child-centred environment;
  • The sense of fun and freedom displayed by children and staff in the nursery as they enjoyed a broad range of experiences outdoors.

The report also praised the school for the relationship between Woodside and the mainstream school.

The report read: “A group of children from the mainstream primary school regularly meet with children from Woodside socially, and in learning activities as signalong ambassadors and Woodside buddies.

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“They are learning to sign and use their skills to form successful friendships with Woodside children, promote inclusion and awareness of alternative communication.

“They do this through visiting classes regularly, demonstrating signing at assemblies through ‘sign of the week’ and use signing at key events at Christmas and Hallowe’en. Buddies lead outdoor games with Woodside children such as mini football, hide and seek, basketball and cycling.”

Inspectors recommended that the school’s staff continue to build on its positive work assessing and monitoring children’s learning progress and roll this approach out across all curriculum areas.

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Involving children as active leaders of their own learning was also discussed.

In conclusion, inspectors evaluated the school as ‘good’ across all the quality indicators.

Councillor Fiona Dugdale, cabinet member for education and children’s and family services said: “This is a glowing report and I’m sure its positive findings will be no surprise to the children and families that are part of the Windygoul school family.

“I was particularly pleased to see the inspectors reflect on children’s pride in their learning, and their enjoyment in play.

“It is so heartening for Windygoul’s headteacher, Ms MacKenzie, and her staff to have this agency recognise the warm, nurturing and inclusive environment they have created to support children to succeed in school.

“The school will continue to build on this success and to ensure that all efforts are focused on helping children to thrive.”

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Dianne MacKenzie, Windygoul headteacher, said: “We are incredibly proud of our children, staff and school community and it was lovely to have our child-centred, inclusive and nurturing approaches recognised by the inspection team.

“The validation of our school self-evaluation within the inspection report further supports our shared improvement journey. We will continue to focus on key aspects of learners’ successes and achievements and developing skills for learning, life and work.”