A small Catholic primary school was celebrating yesterday after being given the best-ever report by inspectors in Scotland.
A small Catholic primary school was celebrating yesterday after being given the best-ever report by inspectors in Scotland.
St Mark's Primary in Barrhead, which is in East Renfrewshire near Glasgow, was given 11 "excellent" ratings by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) - more than any other school in the country.
Patricia Kennedy, St Mark's headteacher, said the success of the school, which serves a mixed catchment area covering both deprived and affluent areas, was down to the efforts of staff to give pupils the education they would want for their own children.
"If St Mark's does have a secret for success, it's simply that everyone on the staff thinks about the sort of education we would want to provide our own children, which would be the best possible," she said.
"The report is a tremendous tribute to the work of everyone at St Mark's as well as all of our pupils, our staff and parents, parish and community."
Hugh Henry, the Education Minister, visited the school yesterday to congratulate staff on their achievement.
He said: "We want all schools to be excellent schools, and St Mark's is a great example of just what can be achieved. You can only achieve results like this with a team effort, where everyone is involved.
"That's why I'd like to congratulate the headteacher, every member of staff, parents and pupils for all their efforts and wish them well for the future as they go on to even greater things."
St Mark's, which has 264 children, covers the Auchenback and Springhill areas of Barrhead with 22% of pupils from deprived areas and qualifying for free school meals.
The school has proved so popular with parents that around one-third of the school roll comes from outside the catchment area.
St Mark's earned the top "excellent" rating for teaching, pupils' learning experiences, attainment in English language, pastoral care, climate and relationships, expectations and promoting achievement, equality and fairness, partnership with parents, the leadership of the headteacher and leadership across the school.
The remaining four categories - structure across the curriculum, attainment in maths, meeting pupils' needs and accommodation and facilities - all scored "very good".
Pupils were praised for being friendly, confident and well behaved, while inspectors said that the broad and well-balanced curriculum provided excellently for their spiritual, personal and social development.
Mary Montague, East Renfrewshire's education convener, said: "It is sometimes claimed by people outwith East Renfrewshire that we can't help doing exceptionally well because we are a caricature of a leafy suburb.
"Here is a primary school which serves a mixed catchment area, with a wide variety of housing types and social backgrounds, and it has outperformed schools in more affluent parts of our area and elsewhere.
"Its success has much more to do with the high quality of the work at St Mark's and the backing we give all of our schools rather than postcode or social factors."
The report means that St Mark's now tops Our Lady of the Missions Primary School, in Thornliebank which is also in East Renfrewshire.
The primary took the title of Scotland's best school last year after getting nine "excellent" marks in its HMIE report.
Bishop Philip Tartaglia, the Bishop of Paisley in whose diocese the school is situated, said: "St Mark's is the embodiment of successful Catholic education."
