The school

St Patrick’s Primary School is a denominational school with a nursery class. It serves the town of Coatbridge. The roll was 409, including 102 in the nursery, when the inspection was carried out in January 2011. The school draws a significant proportion of its roll, approximately 40 per cent, from placing requests. Children’s attendance was below the national average in 2008/2009.

Particular strengths of the school

• Polite and friendly children who are willing to learn.
• Children’s learning experiences in the nursery.
• The approaches to developing children’s skills in reading.
• The success of all staff and partners in supporting and extending children’s learning.

The following areas for improvement have been agreed with the school and education authority:

• Ensure that all senior promoted staff are providing a strong lead for learning.
• Strengthen approaches to self-evaluation for improvement so that there is consistently high-quality learning and teaching across the school.
• Provide tasks and activities that meet the needs of all children and enables them to make appropriate progress.