Excellent praise from inspectors

The report praised the school for having “friendly, articulate and polite young people who contribute actively to the school and wider community” and “the active contribution of all staff to the very positive climate for learning”.

It also noted the “outstanding attainment” in s4-s6 and “the strong sense of partnership between all members of the school community”.

The school received the top rating of ‘excellent’ for making improvements through self-evaluation.

Head teacher George Cooper was singled out for praise of his “leadership of improvement and change”, and the report noted how he was well respected by the whole school and supported by the complementary skills of the senior management team.

Mr Cooper said: The recent and most positive inspection report from Education Scotland affirms the significant achievements of our outstanding young people and encourages our dedicated staff and supportive parents to continue to work collaboratively to ensure success.

“In particular, the inspection team recognised that the school’s self-improvement programme has had a consistently positive impact and this is due to the sterling efforts of staff who aim to do the very best for our pupils.

“To be given the rarely-awarded accolade of excellence following a period of increasing expectations in Scottish education is tribute to the collective efforts of all.

“We are all duly proud of the recognition.”

Former Convener of Education, Councillor Eric Gotts, welcomed the report. He said: “This is a fantastic report which recognises the tremendous hard work and commitment of the Head Teacher and his team and praises the behaviour and attitude of the young people who attend Bearsden Academy. The report highlights the effective leadership of the Head Teacher and the articulate and polite young people who contribute actively to the school and wider community.”

The report described the school as supporting young people to achieve very high levels of attainment consistently from S4 to S6 with steady improvement in key national measures over a number of years. Each year, a significant percentage of young people leave school having achieved outstanding success in national qualifications at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher level.

He added: “As well as praising the leadership and academic attainments, the report also highlights the positive contribution pupils make to the life and ethos of the school. Young people ‘litter pick’ around the school, support staff to run clubs, such as the sculpture club and participate willingly in important school committees.”