Houston Primary gets top marks from inspectors

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Pupils and staff at a village school are celebrating after getting one of Renfrewshire's best ever inspectors' reports for a primary school.

Houston Primary School achieved six Excellent ratings, the most any school in Renfrewshire has been awarded, in a Her Majesty's Inspectorate of education (HMIe) report.

The report, released this week, shows that in all 15 categories assessed, the school was rated either Excellent or Very Good.

And when asked by inspectors for their views on the school, neither parents, pupils or staff could think of anything that could be done better.

Inspectors particularly praised the pupils', parents' and staffs' pride in the school and its "outstanding ethos".

Head teacher Myra Hamilton said: "I am delighted that the hard work and dedication of our staff team, parents, pupils and members of the Houston community have been recognised in this very positive report."

"We are all very proud that the report is a reflection of the high quality educational experience which we provide for our children in both the school and nursery class."

John Rooney, Renfrewshire Council's director of education, said: "I am delighted that this report recognises and endorses the very significant efforts of the staff at Houston Primary School and Nursery in providing the highest quality of education."

"I am sure that the teachers and pupils will take great pride in their outstanding achievements and can look forward to the future with much confidence while continuing to pursue further improvement."

Key strengths identified in the report were:

• Outstanding ethos in the nursery and school, based on strong values and high quality pastoral care
• Partnerships with parents and the wider community
• Excellent leadership and management skills of the head teacher and promoted staff
• Enthusiasm for learning of nursery children and school pupils
• The approaches of the school and nursery class to self-evaluation and the hard working staff team committed to continuous improvement
• Teachers use of information and communications technology (ICT) to create stimulating lessons

Press release: Wednesday 19 March 2008