A “RAPID” action plan has been put in place at a rural Borders primary school after “important weaknesses” were identified there.

Education Scotland inspectors visited Broughton Primary School and Nursery Class in October last year, talking to parents/carers and young people and working closely with the headteacher and her staff.

In the category ‘leadership of change’ the school was rated ‘weak’, the report stating that the headteacher had worked with staff to develop a school improvement plan but that it “does not focus on areas which require prompt attention to improve outcomes for children” and that a more “rigorous approach” was needed.

When members of Scottish Borders Council’s Education Sub-Committee met this week they were told that a series of further actions had been taken since October to improve standards with “better approaches to teaching and learning”.

Headteacher Carn Peaston admitted it had been a difficult and challenging period since the report was published and thanked school staff, pupils and the wider community for their support.

She said: “Broughton Primary prides itself on being an inclusive and nurturing school, providing support not just for pupils but for their families.

“The inspectorate team identified our key strengths. Broughton is a friendly, welcoming environment, across the school and the nursery. There are positive relationships across all members of the school community, all staff are caring and considerate in their interactions with children.

“We created a robust action plan that addressed the four key priority areas. Priority one is to improve the leadership of change in the school and nursery. The headteacher, me, is required to ensure that the key improvement priorities are identified through robust self-evaluation and addressed in a rigorous manner.

“Priority two was to improve the overall quality of learning and teaching and to better all children’s needs, this will help to raise attainment in literacy and numeracy across the school.”

Better planning and assessment across the school were the two other improvement areas identified.

Inspectors will return for a further Inspection of the school within one year.

The headteacher added: “I am confident that when the HMIE team return we will be able to evidence the progress required.”

The sub-committee endorsed the improvement plan.