Education Scotland issued its report on Arcadia Nursery School at King’s Buildings today. The school is housed in a purpose-built ‘free play’ environment designed by Malcolm Fraser Architects, and although it is on the University of Edinburgh King’s Buildings campus, any children may enrol there.
The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) gave the building the Wood for Good/Forestry Commission Scotland Award for the Best Use of Timber and the winner of Zero Waste Scotland’s Resource Efficiency Award at their recent awards ceremony.
Opened only in 2014, the school is now so popular that it has a waiting list system.
This was the first time Education Scotland had visited the nursery and the inspectors had some positive comments and suggestions:
* Happy, confident children who are enthusiastic learners.
* Warm, nurturing relationships between staff, children and families.
* Enthusiastic, hardworking and committed staff.We discussed with staff and the education authority how they might continue to improve the early learning and childcare setting. This is what we agreed with them.
* Continue to improve the curriculum to ensure all children’s learning is challenging enough and builds on children’s prior knowledge and experiences.
* Continue to develop approaches and skills in assessing and recording children’s progress.
* Ensure self-evaluation activities focus more on learning, teaching and impact on children’s learning.
You can read the full report here.
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