Education inspectors are satisfied with the improvements being made at a secondary school in Airdrie after concerns were raised in a report published last year.
Airdrie Academy was visited by the education inspectorate in April 2025 at which time a number of improvements were called for.
The inspectors recently made a return visit to determine whether their concerns from that time were being met, and have written to pupils’ families with their findings.
One aspect of this was the approach to monitoring and evaluating the work of the school in areas such as attainment and inclusion, and found clear progress had been made, with the head teacher working well with senior staff to clarify their responsibilities, resulting in better support for principal and class teachers.
This has translated to improved learning for pupils, with more consistent teaching and planned activities for pairs and groups, while the correct levels of learning have been set which makes lessons more enjoyable.
Regular staff meetings are taking place where pupils’ progress is being reviewed with access to improved data including a whole school tracking system, while staff also have improved understanding of additional support needs.
Improvements were also found in lesson planning, with many lessons now beginning with activities designed to help pupils recall previous work and settle in, with the purpose of lessons clearly explained, with several teachers providing real life contexts.
Teachers are also making good use of questions to check knowledge and understanding, with some doing this very well to help pupils think more deeply about topics in addition to also being able to choose from more options in their learning.
The inspectors found the lessons to be “more active, well-paced and suitably challenging”, while teachers were offering useful feedback and some also providing self and peer-assessment especially for seniors.
These improvements and others were seen to be paying off in terms of attainment, with clear improvements in literacy and numeracy, with almost all pupils gaining at least SCQF level 4 awards.Improvements were also seen in S4 to S6, with more pupils gaining awards.
Overall, the inspectors consider the school to have made good progress so there is no need for additional visits in relation to the original inspection.
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