Pupils, staff and parents at an Angus school were Glow-ing with pride.
Minister for learning Alasdair Allan went online to congratulate Northmuir Primary in Kirriemuir for earning a top-quality inspection report.
He logged on to Glow the national schools intranet to speak to the school, which has become one of a handful in the country to receive only “excellent” or “very good” performance ratings.
Education Scotland inspectors praised the school and its nursery for its sense of ambition and high expectations, its involvement of parents and the community in supporting the children’s learning, its “highly-skilled and reflective” staff and the “inspirational leadership” of its senior management team.
Dr Allan said: “The report shows that Northmuir Primary is making great progress in delivering Curriculum for Excellence.
“Education in Scotland is moving with the times and our national schools intranet is helping to make sure pupils are learning online.
“I was delighted to be able to join those at Northmuir Primary for a secure online discussion on Glow, which gave me the opportunity to offer my congratulations and find out more about the strengths of the school.”
The inspection report said the children were polite, confident and developing very good social skills. They supported others in groups, evaluated their own work, and worked conscientiously without direct supervision.
Rigorous and systematic self-evaluation was embedded in the daily life of the school, with teachers looking at every lesson including children’s progress and using this as a basis for planning subsequent learning experiences.
The chief executive of Education Scotland, Dr Bill Maxwell, said Northmuir Primary would now be held up as an example for other schools across Scotland to learn from and follow.
“Our inspection shows that this is a notably high-performing school which has fully embraced the opportunities which the new curriculum presents,” he said.
“We will be highlighting the good practice our inspection team found in this school so that other education professionals can reflect on what they are doing and consider adapting some of the things that are clearly working in this school to their own circumstances.”
The report delighted Northmuir Primary head teacher Paula Wharton, who said it was the result of years of commitment.
“It acknowledges the dedication of our highly-skilled staff to meeting the needs of children and to delivering the Curriculum for Excellence in innovative ways.
“It recognises the involvement of parents, who support the school and their children so well. Most importantly, it celebrates the successes of our children of whom we are very proud.”