School Inspections

That the Parliament believes that the Scottish Executive’s policy, announced in 2002, that every Scottish school should have a full inspection by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) within the lifetime journey of a pupil at a school, namely every seven years for a primary school and every six years for a secondary school, is the minimum standard which parents, pupils and teaching staff should expect for the maintenance of high quality national standards of teaching and learning and is, therefore, extremely disappointed and concerned that, following research by the Scottish Parent Teacher Council and the Times Educational Supplement Scotland, it has been established that there are 32 Scottish schools that have not had a full inspection by HMIE for at least 17 years and that, while nearly 300 schools are still waiting for their first full inspection report since 1995 or before, some schools have already had two, and believes that the Executive and HMIE should give urgent priority to inspections of those schools that have not yet had full inspection reports since as far back as the 1980s, namely, since 1983: Merkland Special School, East Dunbartonshire, Hillhead Primary School, Highland and Pinewood Special School, West Lothian, since 1984: Kelbourne Special School, Glasgow, since 1985: Mountfleurie Primary School, Fife, Stoneybridge Primary School, Western Isles and Hyndland Primary School, Glasgow, since 1986: Murrayfield Primary School, West Lothian and Tarbat Old Primary School, Highland, since 1987: St Teresa’s Primary School, Dumfries, since 1988: Lismore Primary School, Edinburgh, Canisbay Primary School, Highland, Victoria Park Special School, South Lanarkshire, Crown Primary School, Highland, Coulhill Primary School, Highland, Balloch Primary School, Highland, Roybridge Primary School, Highland, Greenhill Primary School, North Lanarkshire, St Timothy’s Primary School, Glasgow, Hilton Primary School, Highland, Carinish Primary School, Western Isles and St Margaret’s Primary School, Dundee, since 1989: Sciennes Primary School, Edinburgh, Crombie Primary School, Fife, Battlefield Primary School, Glasgow, Cluny Primary School, Moray, Rosehall High School, North Lanarkshire, Barmulloch Primary School, Glasgow, Rosslyn Special School, Fife, Fordbank Primary School, Renfrewshire, Drumoyne Primary School, Glasgow and Carloway Primary School, Western Isles, that following completion of these inspections priority should then be given to the 270 schools that have not had inspections since between 1990 and 1995, by oldest inspection first, that no school that has been inspected since 1995 should, without exceptional circumstances agreed between the Executive and HMIE, be inspected again until this backlog has been cleared, an organised rota that reflects the Executive’s policy is established and a full list of all Scottish schools and the date of their most recent full inspection, and any subsequent follow-up inspection, is posted on the HMIE website.