Croftcroighn School and Nursery in the city’s East End has been awarded one of the best ever reports for a Glasgow school.

Croftcroign has received 5 ‘excellent’ ratings - for Communication and Language, Care, Welfare and Development, Engagement of staff in the life and work of the school, Developing people and Partnerships and Leadership of the Headteacher.

All the remaining 11 indicators were rated ‘very good’. None were judged ‘good’, ‘adequate’, ‘weak’ or ‘unsatisfactory’.

Head teacher Margaret McFadden was delighted with the report and praised the efforts of her staff, pupils and parents for their significant role in this wonderful achievement.

“It is a resounding endorsement of the service we provide for our pupils and families at Croftcroighn School, and everyone associated with the school is delighted and justifiably proud of it's success,” she said.

“For many years our school has worked with parents/carers, health service colleagues and other professional services - together with partner organisations in our local and indeed wider school community - to ensure that we achieve the very best outcomes for our children.

“I am particularly pleased by the recognition given to staff at Croftcroighn. We have a very committed and conscientious team of staff who share a very strong work ethic and the highest aspirations for our children. As a direct result, the Inspection team recognised that 'Croftcroighn school provided an excellent educational experience for all of it's pupils and nursery children'.

“As an ambitious school, our challenge is now to maintain and build upon the school's success and the high educational standards we have set.”

HMIe Inspectors were full of praise for Croftcroighn, finding it “provided consistently high quality teaching and support for pupils”.

The report added that “Parents were very positive about all aspects of the school”, and “all staff in the school and the nursery were very positive about all aspects of school and nursery life”.

The key strengths it highlighted were:

· The leadership of the headteacher in promoting innovative and creative practice in learning and teaching
· Action taken by staff to improve the quality of learning and teaching
· The quality of pastoral care
· High expectations of pupils’ achievements
· Pupils’ progress in communication and language and their wider achievement in the school and local community
· The quality of teamwork and partnerships with parents, health services and other agencies

Significantly, for a school for children with complex learning difficulties, the overall quality of achievement in communication and language was described as ‘excellent’, and “at all stages pupils were highly motivated to develop their language and communication skills and enjoyed the wide range of stimulating resources”.

Inspectors also praised staff in the report for the innovative communication methods they taught their pupils and highlighted the variety of ways in which the children were communicating with the mainstream pupils in the attached primary school.

Croftcroighn moved into a purpose-built state-of-the-art campus with Avenue End Primary and Kincardine Nursery in May 2007, and the inspectors made specific reference to the accommodation “providing a learning environment of a very high quality, very well designed for the range of pupils’ needs.”

Glasgow City Council’s Executive Member for Education and Social Renewal, Bailie Gordon Matheson, congratulated everyone associated with Croftcroighn School and Nursery class.

“This is a wonderful report and a deserving reward for the hard work and commitment of the headteacher, her staff, pupils and parents at Croftcroighn,” he said.

“My ambition is for every school in Glasgow to achieve similar standards and I’m delighted that over the last two years we have seen a flurry of excellent HMIe reports for primary, secondary and nursery schools in the city.

“There is no doubt that Croftcroighn is a wonderful school, where children feel comfortable and secure and are able to learn to the best of their ability in a very conducive learning environment.

“My congratulations to headteacher Margaret McFadden and her staff - the very high quality of care they provide ensures that every youngster at the school is being given the very best educational start.”

Croftcroighn’s report joins a growing number of extremely favourable HMIe reports published for East End schools over the last couple of years - including St Andrew’s Secondary, St Benedict’s and St Timothy’s primaries and Lochview Nursery.

A full copy of the report can be found on the HMIe website at http://www.hmie.gov.uk/