A Kilmarnock secondary school has been ranked ‘satisfactory’ by Scotland’s education watchdog.

St Joseph’s Academy was handed the rating by Education Scotland following an inspection in October.

The results were published in a dossier recently where the school was labelled ‘satisfactory’ across the board on issues including leadership of change; learning, teaching and assessment; raising attainment and achievement; ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion.

The report details that the school teaches 685 kids and that attendance is below the national average and exclusion is above the national average.

Head teacher Joseph Kane has been at the helm for almost two years and the report highlighted his leadership as a strength.

It said: “He has provided much-needed stability and has established a firm basis from where improvements can be made.

“He has quickly gained the confidence of the school community and is starting to drive forward change.”

Praise was also heaped on staff: “Staff show a strong commitment to improving learning and teaching which is leading to a more consistent approach across the school.”

Effective partnership working is also helping to develop young people’s employability skills too, the report stated.

A number of areas for improvement were also raised in the report.

“Increase the pace of learning and provide tasks and activities set at the right level for young people,” it read.

“This should be supported by better use of assessment to plan the next steps in learning for all young
people.

“Develop more thorough approaches to help young people overcome difficulties in their learning across the school.

“This should ensure that all young people can access the curriculum more effectively and help them to feel more included in the life of the school.”

The report also added that staff need to continue to raise attainment for all young people.

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