blogs.glowscotland.org.uk · web viewsession 2017-18 introduction shetland islands council is...

Whalsay School

Standards & Quality Report

Session 2017-18

Introduction

Shetland Islands Council is committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for children and young people so that they have the best start in life and are ready to succeed by following the principles of Curriculum for Excellence and Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC).

Within Curriculum for Excellence, every child and young person is entitled to experience a curriculum which is coherent from 3-18. Those planning the curriculum have a responsibility to work in partnership with others to enable children and young people to make transitions smoothly, building on prior learning and achievement in a manner appropriate to their individual learning needs. This should ensure that young people are well placed to move to positive destinations on leaving school and entering adult life.

We want to know how well we are doing this and how we can improve. We are continuously evaluating what we do and how it makes a difference to our learners. We have been asking ourselves – staff, pupils, parents/carers, and other partners – the questions contained in this Standards and Quality Report. Our self-evaluation is in the pages that follow, along with our main areas for development for session 2018-19. This report is based on the quality indicators in How Good is Our School? 4th Edition (2015) and How Good is our Early Learning and Childcare? (2016)

Progress in the areas we developed in our 2017-18 School Improvement Plan is outlined in the Appendix.

Context of the School

Whalsay School serves the Island of Whalsay. It is a non-denominational school of 169 pupils. The School comprises of 3 separate buildings, Nursery, Primary and Secondary. The School’s refurbishment was completed in 1999.

Primary Pupils move into our Secondary Department where they stay until S4. At this time they transfer to Anderson High School for S5/6, go to College or leave School.

Our School Mission Statement, the core vision for our school, refers to providing a caring, purposeful, happy and safe environment for our pupils and includes a commitment to covering all aspects of each pupil’s development, including their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

We intend to achieve a caring, purposeful, happy and safe environment by:

Encouraging pupils to generate respect for themselves, for others and for education

Making sure our school is well-ordered, stimulating and safe

Providing pupils with a well-balanced curriculum

Stimulating pupils and encouraging them to take responsibility for their own learning

Covering all aspects of each pupil’s development: Physical, Emotional, Social and Academic

Setting realistic and achievable targets

Encouraging open communication between Parents, Pupils, Staff and the Community

The three key questions to address within the Standards and Quality Report are:

- How well do pupils learn and achieve?- How well is the school helping pupils to develop and learn?- How well is the school improving the quality of its work?

The current National Improvement Priorities are:

Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy; Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged

children;

Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing; and Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school

leaver destinations for all young people

The National Improvement Drivers are:

How well do pupils learn and achieve?(Q.I. 2.3 Learning, teaching & assessment; 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equity and inclusion; 3.2 Raising attainment & achievement)

The information below comes from Insight, a tool developed by the Scottish Government to help schools examine their performance. The tool includes a “Virtual Comparator” which is a way of comparing our school to other schools with pupils that share similar characteristics to the pupils at Whalsay School. The charts come from the September 2018 update. Sometimes we have post-results marking reviews submitted and the figures change later in the year. That is not the case this year.

The table below shows our S4 results in both National 5 and National 4 levels over the past three years; specifically the percentage of our pupils who attain 5 qualifications or more at N4 and N5 levels. The figures for 2017-18 show that our performance on this measure exceeds that of our Virtual Comparator.

2015-16 2016-17 2017-18Whalsa

y School

Virtual Comparator

Whalsay School

Virtual Comparato

r

Whalsay School

Virtual Comparator

5 or more at Level 5* 63.64 54.55 57.14 60.71 73.33 58.67

5 or more at 90.91 84.55 100.00 88.57 93.33 80.00

Level 4+

This chart shows the percentage of pupils achieving National 4 and National 5 Literacy and Numeracy in S4. At N4 level we are consistently ahead of our Virtual Comparator. In 2017 we fell behind our Virtual Comparator at Level 5 but we have reversed that trend in 2018. The main way that we did this was to look at how we decided on entry levels and how we could help more pupils to make the step up from N4 to N5.

This chart shows how pupils in different income groups (deciles) perform compared with national figures. As you can see, we only have pupils in 2 of these deciles. Those in both the income deciles are well above the national trend. This represents an improvement on 2017 when the upper decile was very slightly below.

This chart shows how the attainment of the lowest, middle and highest achievers compare with our Virtual Comparator, Shetland Schools and National figures. It shows that we are doing very well for pupils in the lowest 20% and the middle 60% and about the same for the highest 20%. In 2017 we were only slightly better for the middle 60% and were slightly below the Virtual Comparator for the highest 20%.

Every year, schools in Scotland collate information on how well pupils are achieving in Reading, Writing, Listening & Talking and Numeracy at P1, P4, P7 and S3 levels.

In Whalsay School, the overall attainment in Literacy and Numeracy in the school is good.

By the end of P1, most pupils achieved early level in Listening and Talking and the majority in Reading and Numeracy. However, only a minority achieved that level in Writing. By the end of P4, all of our pupils achieved first level in Reading, Numeracy and Listening & Talking and the majority did so in Writing. By the end of P7 most pupils had achieved second level in Reading, Writing, Listening & Talking and Numeracy. By the end of S3 all pupils had achieved third level in all of the measures.

Strengths

There is evidence of improving attainment in Literacy and Numeracy at Secondary level. In SQA exams, pupils consistently perform above the national trend whatever their economic circumstances and attainment for all abilities is well above (lowest; middle) or equal to (highest) our VC and Shetland and National figures.

Pupils are engaged in their learning and interact well with each other, staff and visitors. Their work is regularly assessed with feedback and opportunity for reflection given. They regularly set targets for their learning and skill development with their class teacher/Pupil Support teacher. SNSA data is used by class teachers to inform forward planning.

In Secondary, two tracking reports are sent home during the year (to augment the Annual Report and the Parents’ evening). Fleshed out descriptors help parents understand grades and facilitate discussion between pupils and teachers.

E-portfolios have been introduced to S1 in a pilot. Pupils were well engaged in this process and the Blogs they produced reflecting on their learning were well received by parents at the S1 Parents’ Night.

A school spreadsheet with tracking information for attainment and vulnerability was developed and utilised to identify intervention groups in P1/2 and P5. Initial results from these groups show evidence of increasing pupil confidence, attendance and narrowing of gaps in attainment.

The Emerging Literacy programme has identified areas for intervention in the early years which have resulted in a Nursery Rhyme pack lending programme.

Assemblies, newsletters, a school closed Facebook page, the School Open Morning and the re-launched School website are used to highlight pupils’ achievements. Regularly updated displays of pupils’ work are displayed in classrooms and public areas.

The school House system is popular with pupils. There are annual sporting competitions including a Sports Day, in both Primary and Secondary, as well as a merit system with all pupils taking part. Leadership opportunities are also provided by this system for senior Primary and Secondary pupils.

All pupils participate in one or more of a wide range of sporting, musical or other opportunites for wider achievement in the school and almost all in the community. Examples include: the John Muir Award in which all S2 pupils achieved the Explorer award and almost all P7 pupils achieved the Discovery award; Duke of Edinburgh; Saltire; Bikeability; and Young Sports Ambassadors in which all of S3 took part.

Wider achievement opportunities for Secondary pupils on Friday afternoons have been further developed in consultation with pupils to help them skills for learning, life and work. These have included opportunities to run a Community Café, work in the school Polytunnel, Perform at the Christmas Concert, organise a Christmas Party for Secondary pupils, take part in an Art project and producing a School Magazine.

Pupils also assume responsibility for fund raising and charity events like the Blythswood appeal for Shoeboxes, Children in Need and the Christmas Card Delivery Scheme.

Pupils have several opportunities to participate in school trips. For example, P7-3 were offered a trip to Stirling that the majority of pupils participated in. Alternative activities were organised in Shetland for the remaining pupils. The behaviour of our pupils is regularly praised by the public when on these trips or by visitors to the school.

Areas for Development

Redeployment of staffing and closer monitoring of pupils’ progress in Primary to tackle inconsistencies in attainment in the annual teacher judgement survey.

Streamlining of Primary folios to make them more manageable for staff and pupils and involve parents more. Extension of E-portfolios to S2/3.

Gather feedback from pupils, teachers and parents about how Secondary tracking is working in practice.

Explore ways of promoting reading with targeted pupils in Primary and Secondary, using Accelerated Reader where appropriate.

How well is the school helping pupils to develop and learn?(Q.I. 1.2 Leadership of learning; 2.2 Curriculum; 2.4 Personalised support; 2.5 Family Learning; 2.7 Partnerships; 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equity and inclusion

Whalsay School is a nurturing and supportive environment and is good at helping pupils to develop and learn.

Strengths

The Nursery Department is well resourced and uses play to enable pupils to learn and develop through activities that are regularly chosen by pupils themselves. Parents have daily contact with Early Years staff which enables them to raise any concerns and have them addressed quickly.

The views of pupils are sought through Pupil Councils the Eco Committee and initiatives like Junior Road Safety Officers. The school has promoted health and wellbeing through a healthy tuck shop, Fruity Friday and the Daily Mile.

Weekly Support for Learning Meetings and the School’s tracking and monitoring system ensure that interventions are targeted at pupils in most need of support

Parents and Carers are encouraged to be involved in the life and work of the school and frequently support school trips and help lead initiatives in the school like the Eco group. The Parent Council is very well supported and active in raising funds to augment school resources.

Whalsay School has many long-standing and successful partnerships with local colleges, the local Care Centre, SIC Youth Work, Skills Development Scotland. The school has run a successful Rural Skills programme which is open to all pupils in Shetland and recently relocated this programme to a new croft on the island. This year saw the consolidation of the Community Cafe project with one event per term. This has involved partnership working with the Care Centre, Dimentia Scotland, the Heritage Centre and the local Charity Shop. It is giving pupils an opportunity to develop a range of skills for learning, life and work. The school were successful in attracting significant funding for this venture from the Food for Thought initiative run by Education Scotland.

Staff have been introducing the use of Health and Wellbeing indicators (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, Included) with pupils and these are used in the school tracking sheet to identify individual and group needs. Most pupils describe assess themselves positively in terms of the SHANARRI outcomes.

Pupils who have additional support needs are well supported in the school and their needs are regularly reviewed. The school works in partnership with fellow professionals like the Speech and Language Therapist to ensure that needs are met.

A Nurture Room is set up in Primary and has been well used throughout the year. PIN incidents have reduced by a third this year (17 down to 11) and the Nurture Room has been an important part of the school’s strategy for managing behaviour.

Most pupils have good attendance (over 90%) and are punctual.


Continued use of Pupil Equity Funding to close identified attainment gaps with targeted pupils

Promote parental engagement in learning across the school through the adoption of the Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy

Continue to develop and augment existing partnerships with employers to promote skills for learning, life and work

How well is the school improving the quality of its work?(Q.I. 1.1 Self-evaluation for self-improvement; 1.3 Leadership of change)

Whalsay School is committed to improving the quality of its work through self-evaluation, moderation activities and staff development.

Strengths

All of our Secondary teachers participate in local Subject Development Groups with some assuming the responsibility for chairing. Teachers have been involved as SQA nominees and several have participated in marking duties. There is participation across the school in regular moderation activities at school and local level.

The school working time agreement, planned staff meeting time and professional review and development programme are examples of collegiate working in the school.

Secondary staff use Insight (the government’s tool for reflecting upon attainment across all schools) as part of the school’s self evaluation. This has led to changes in practice and presentation decisions for SQA courses and improvements in the percentages of pupils achieving 5 N5 awards and N5 Literacy & Numeracy.

In Primary a group of teachers and DHT have formed a maths working group to develop maths progression. Some teachers in Primary and Secondary piloted the use of Sumdog with their classes. This has increased motivation of pupils and given staff valuable tracking information about progress in Numeracy.

The Nursery teacher led Bookbug Sessions in school and the local community and put Puppet/Rhyme packs to Nursery pupils as part of our parental engagement strategy. Feedback from parents indicated growing confidence in helping children with early literacy skills.

The majority of teachers in the school have participated in the Co-operative Learning Teacher Learning Community, some as leaders, and evidence of the impact of this has been seen in observed lessons.

Members of teaching staff have participated in leadership courses like Middle Leadership and In Headship.

Parent Council and teaching staff have participated in an audit of Parental Involvement/Engagement in the school and a school strategy has been drafted.


Use a series of staff meetings and consultations to build consensus of the school community around Values and Curriculum Rationale.

Develop a Numeracy Strategy for the school, widening access to Sumdog and introducing SEAL Maths in lower Primary.

Consult with the school community on the draft Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy ahead of adopting it.

Moderation activities focused on Health and Wellbeing.

Summary of this year’s School Improvement Plan (see Appendix 2 for detail)

Improvement Priority 1: Developing Shared Values, Vision and Curriculum Rationale

Our key areas for development to take this priority forward are:

Target: To review and develop our shared vision, values and aims and ensure they are relevant to the school and community.

To review and develop our curriculum rationale and ensure that is shaped by the shared values of the school and community.

To engage staff in discussion about the role of the teacher, particularly with regard to promoting equity.

Improvement Priority 2: Closing the Attainment Gap


Target: To provide additional support to close attainment gaps in literacy/numeracy between our most and least disadvantaged children.

To support pupils with aspects of personal, social and emotional wellbeing.

Improvement Priority 3: Raising Attainment and Achievement


Target: Improvement in levels for numeracy across the school

Implement strategies for improvement of numeracy across school

Increase parental confidence/mindset towards numeracy

Appendix 1Progress made with the areas for development in our School Improvement Plan Session 2017-18

Improvement Priority 1: Raising Attainment & Achievement

Target: Improvement in levels for Reading, Writing, Talking & Listening across the school;Strategy identified for improvement of Numeracy across the school

Satisfactory progress was made in this area.

Evidence indicated:

There was consolidation of practice with the Northern Alliance project in terms of developing intervention groups in P1/2 funded by PEF. PEF was also used to fund Nursery Rhyme Puppet packs for Nursery pupils to promote early literacy through Parental Engagement. SNSA results for Literacy in P1 were disappointing relative to Numeracy and the Teacher Judgements at this level showed that fewer pupils were achieving the Early Level milestones than in previous years.

Accelerated Reader was extended to pupils in S3 (as well as P4-S2). Pupils read a total of 666 books which amounted to over 23 million words – both up on last year. The help of Secondary Parents was enlisted with this through 2 letters and promotion of the scheme in school reports and Parents’ nights. This brought about small improvements both in pupil engagement and performance with two classes narrowing the gap between chronological age and reading age and one class maintaining the gap. In Primary 3 out of 4 classes saw improvements of reading age relative to chronological age and in all of these classes reading age was ahead of chronological age.

Data has been collected across the school on Numeracy twice in the past year to give an overall picture. Moderation Activities have been run in both Primary and Secondary focusing on Numeracy. Some staff have undergone SEAL training. Pilot projects have been run in S1/2 and P5/6 (and later P7) using Sumdog. This has been highly motivating for pupils and has given staff useful information about pupil progress and the ability to tailor Numeracy work for individual pupils.

All affected staff have had training in SNSA. Data from the first round of assessments was used to inform forward plans for Term 4 and teacher judgements. Teachers were consulted on the usefulness of the data and the response to this was mixed. Opinions were also sought on the timing of assessments and a consensus emerged for Secondary to be completed in Term 1 and Primary in Term 3.

Further Work required (if any):

Re-deployment of Primary staff and closer monitoring of pupils’ progress in Primary to tackle inconsistencies in attainment in the annual teacher judgement survey.

Monitor Baseline Northern Alliance data in P1 for evidence of impact of strategies used in Nursery (Nursery Rhyme Puppet packs).

More extensive use of Northern Alliance Emerging Literacy strategies in P2 through engagement of class teacher.

Explore ways of promoting reading with targeted pupils in Primary and Secondary, using Accelerated Reader where appropriate.

Extend the use of Sumdog to all Primary classes and train staff in how to use it effectively.

Develop the use of SNSA and Sumdog data to inform and measure the impact of PEF interventions.

Improvement Priority 2: Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children

Target: Support parents of targeted pre-school children in helping their children with pre-reading skillsSupport offered to all parents of pre-school children to promote learning at homeProvide additional support to close attainment gaps in literacy/numeracy between our most and least disadvantaged children

Good progress was made in this area.

Evidence indicated:

Sessions were run for parents of Pre-school children incorporating Bookbug and promoting strategies for improving learning at home.

Sessions were held for Nursery parents launching Puppet/Rhyme packs that they could use with their children at home. These packs were exchanged every fortnight throughout the term. In feedback, parents were 100% positive about their value and confidence in using them. They also reported increasing child interest in books and rhymes. The Renfrew word study used as a baseline assessment with Nursery pupils.

Northern Alliance Emerging Literacy Project screening was used to identify early attainment gaps and PEF used to fund 2 intervention groups with pupils in P1/2. Early results from the phonological awareness screen indicated that the target group were catching up with their peers.

An intervention group was set up for P5 children focusing on Literacy and Numeracy with the group timetabled for 3 sessions per week between October and June. In Literacy all of the participants have achieved Level 1 and closed the gap with their peers. In Numeracy not all of the group achieved Level 1 this year but there are increased levels of confidence. We have seen improved attendance for nearly all the pupils in the group.

A Nurture Room was set up in Primary and has been well used throughout the year. PIN incidents have reduced by a third this year (17 down to 11) and the Nurture Room has been an important part of our strategy for managing behaviour.


Continue Bookbug and Nursery Rhyme/Puppet packs into next session if possible using own resources (PEF money needs to be used for targeted rather than universal interventions).

Explore intervention strategies to help Nursery pupils with gaps highlighted by Renfrew Word Study.

Continue to fund intervention groups using PEF resources in P1/2 where Northern Alliance screening identifies gaps.

Use the School Tracking spreadsheet to identify any attainment gaps and, in consultation with staff, devise intervention strategies to attempt to close the gaps.

Continue use of Nurture Room and resource it appropriately.

Improvement Priority 3: Tracking, Monitoring and Assessment

Target: Begin implementation of Shetland Strategy for Tracking, Monitoring and Moderation.Implement changes to assessment arrangements for National SQA courses


Evidence indicated:

An audit was carried out in Secondary of existing practice for folio work. A pilot project was then developed with S1 pupils posting examples of their work and reflections on it in a Glow blog. This blog was made available to parents at the S1 Parents’ night and was well received. Pupils/parents are able to access this blog at home and there is a facility to print off the Folio should it be required.

We have tracked pupils in the BGE across the school for Literacy and Numeracy through teacher judgements twice per year. The judgements indicate if the pupil is on track for the next BGE level by P1, P4, P7 and S3 respectively. We have supported staff in becoming more familiar with Numeracy Benchmarks through Moderation events in both Primary and Secondary. This information will be used, in conjunction with other data collected, to identify gaps and plan interventions.

SHANARRI self-assessments have been introduced for all pupils in Terms 1 and 3. The results of these are monitored at Support for Learning meetings. Almost all pupils self-assess themselves positively against all the indicators. However, in a small number of cases further conversations with pupils/parents and interventions have been planned as a result of these assessments. The SHANARRI data is recorded on the new School Data Tracking spreadsheet along with other vulnerability criteria and attainment data. We have not contributed to progress on a cluster-wide tracking system as we do not have transition relationships with any other school (apart from AHS).

Teachers have attended Subject Development Groups and used their own professional development time to familiarise themselves with the changing arrangements for N5 SQA exams. Subjects chosen for verification activities this session were all approved. All subject teachers successfully negotiated the changes in assessment arrangements for N5 and made good judgements about entry levels with all but two presentations resulting in a passing grade.


Extension of folio work through Blogs to S2 and S3. Further refinement of data collected for Whole School Tracking Spreadsheet and use

of information to inform planned interventions.

Improvement Priority 4: Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce

Target: All pupils across the school have opportunities to develop skills for learning, life and work and the school’s high performance with regard to positive school leaver destinations is maintained.


Evidence indicated:

Planning meetings of Secondary staff have taken place to develop Wider Achievement opportunities for pupils. In the first half of the year pupils worked in their year groups on: planning the Christmas Party (S4); planning and running an event on Internet Safety (S3); writing and performing a play for the Christmas concert (S1/2); and a Science project on Rockets (S1/2). In the second half of the year pupils have worked in mixed age groups on the Community Café, Polytunnel, School Magazine, Music Performance and Art Project designing cartoons. At the end of each activity, pupils were given the opportunity to reflect on and record the skills that they had developed as a result and their progress was certificated by the school.

Business and community links have been developed particularly through the Community Café but also through the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative.

The local STEM adviser has visited the school three times during the year and delivered practical workshops to upper Primary and Lower Secondary groups.

Primary staff have had a twilight session from SDS on the DSYW agenda. Primary staff have made good use of community links to promote careers learning, for example the P3/4 trip to the Zephyr (Pelagic fishing boat), the visit of Frankie’s fish and chip shop staff and the Cupcakes at Fernlea (joint project with the Care Centre).

The Rural Skills programme has successfully negotiated a move to a new croft. SQA approval for this move was sought and granted and the course was successfuly verified at the end of the year. Applications to the course have increased with the majority of next year’s recruits from outside Whalsay.

The CDT teacher has introduced an after school Engineering Club for Secondary pupils.


Explore the possibility of accreditation for work done in Wider Achievement. Continue to develop inter-generational links through our relationship with the Care

Centre.

Improvement Priority 5: Develop Strategy for Parental Involvement and Engagement

Target: Audit and Review Parental Involvement and Engagement in the SchoolIdentify and consolidate good practice in this area and develop new strategies to increase Parental Engagement in pupil learning


Evidence indicated:

An Audit of practice in the school was carried out by staff and the Parent Council against the 6 types of parental involvement identified by Epstein and referred to in the Review of Parental Involvement Act. The audit indicated that there was a lot of existing good practice in this area but that support and information given to parents could be more consistent and planned across the school.

Parents Council was consulted on the School Handbook which was felt to be very informative but required a Contents page. In the light of this, the Handbook was updated.

A new school website on Glow has been developed. Information is now more up to date and new stories are updated more regularly. Primary classes are in the process of setting up their own class blogs. The class blogs already established have received good feedback from the Parent Council.

A Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy has been drafted and will go to the Parent Council for comment in November.

Parent volunteers have been recruited to assist with Early Years classes (P1 and P2/3). Feedback from parents on this experience was positive. For example, “I have enjoyed being a parent helper immensely, having gained a better understanding of what my child and the class are doing and how they are getting on” and “my child loves when I come in and is so proud when I arrive”.


Consult with Parent Council and Staff on Draft Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy.

Incorporate advice from parents about the new website – regularly updated with same contact as closed Facebook page, regular topic updates for each class.

Appendix 2: Standards and Quality Report

Factors Influencing the Improvement Plan

School factors

Changes in the Senior Management Team with the Depute Head Teacher opting to come back from parental leave on a job-share basis. The teacher who was covering the parental leave has been appointed to the other half of the job-share.

Local authority factors

Schools and Quality Improvement Service Plan 2018-19

National factors

National Improvement Framework which focuses on:

o improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy;o closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children;o improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing; ando improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people.

Curriculum for Excellence (see diagram below) Getting it Right for Every child (GIRFEC) Education (Scotland) Act 2016 How Good Is Our School (4th Edition)

School Aims

Our School Mission Statement, the core vision for our school, refers to providing a caring, purposeful, happy and safe environment for our pupils and includes a commitment to covering all aspects of each pupil’s development, including their physical, emotional and social wellbeing.

We intend to achieve a caring, purposeful, happy and safe environment by:

Encouraging pupils to generate respect for themselves, for others and for education

Making sure our school is well-ordered, stimulating and safe

Providing pupils with a well-balanced curriculum

Stimulating pupils and encouraging them to take responsibility for their own learning

Covering all aspects of each pupil’s development: Physical, Emotional, Social and Academic

Setting realistic and achievable targets

Encouraging open communication between Parents, Pupils, Staff and the Community

Our Learning Aims

We will respect and care for each other.

We will listen to each other and appreciate our differences.

We will agree on classroom rules and teacher expectations will be shared with the pupils.

We have high expectations of behaviour.

We aim to make formative assessment an integral part of the learning and teaching process throughout the school, including sharing learning intentions, success criteria and learner’s being given constructive feedback.

Pupils and staff will work together to create an enjoyable and purposeful learning environment.

We endeavour to meet each of our pupils’ learning needs, supporting and challenging appropriately.

We aim for positive interactions within our school community with praise and encouragement being given when appropriate.

We aim to set regular homework which will support and consolidate learning.

We endeavour to instil a positive attitude to lifelong learning

How pupils were consulted and involved in decisions

Pupil council meetings with PT Pupil Support and Head Teacher Pupil feedback on learning and teaching in subject departments and following School Reports Views of pupils expressed in PSE classes and Pupil Support interviews

Strategy for parental engagement

Existing practice on this includes:

Engagement with the Parent Council on issues affecting the school like staffing, local authority policies, national initiatives and changes to the curriculum

Interaction with parents at regular Parents’ Evenings that are very well attended Regular correspondence with parents by email and letter (for those who prefer it), through School Facebook Private Group and through

the new school website Bi-annual newsletters updating parents about events, achievements and changes in the school Feedback slips received from parents on receiving annual Pupil reports The use of Parent Volunteers to support learning particularly in Early Years classes The promotion of Emerging Literacy skills through parental engagement, for example through Nursery Rhyme/Puppet Packs and

Information sessions related to the Northern Alliance Early Literacy project. Development of a Draft Parental Involvement and Engagement Strategy which will be consulted on and fully adopted during this

session.

Priority 1 Developing Shared Values, Vision and Curriculum Rationale

NIF Priority Target: Relevant to all Key driver: School Leadership / School Improvement

Quality Indicator(s): 1.3, 2.2

Target: To review and develop our shared vision, values and aims and ensure they are relevant to the school and community.

To review and develop our curriculum rationale and ensure that it is shaped by the shared values of the school and community.

To engage staff in discussion about the role of the teacher, particularly with regard to promoting equity.

School’s current position: The school already has a mission statement and learning aims. The intention will be to revisit this as well as exploring our school community values and developing a more explicit curriculum rationale.

Desired Outcomes

School Values identified and promoted

Curriculum Rationale developed by and shared with school community

Staff has engaged in debate about the role of the teacher and is familiar with the Local and National Guidance on promoting equity

Implementation Process (Actions)

Pupil, Parent and Staff Surveys

2 Staff meetings

Pupil, Parent and Staff focused discussions

2 Staff meetings

Publication of School Values and Curriculum Rationale

2 staff meetings

By whom

HT

SMT/Staff

HT / Staff

SMT / Staff

SMT

SMT / Staff

Time Scale

Sept

Sept/Oct

Oct

Nov / Feb

June

April / May

Resources Monitoring

Self-assessment of QIs from HGIOS 1.3 at beginning and end of process (by staff)

Self-assessment of QIs from HGIOS 2.2 at beginning and end of process (by staff)

Feedback from pupil and parent focused discussions

School Improvement planning and PRD cycle 2019/20

Evaluation:

Has the school community been able to agree shared school values?

Has the school community been able to develop a shared Curriculum Rationale?

Have staff engaged with professional discussion on the role of the teacher?

Evidence (How do we know?)

Whalsay School Values and Curriculum Rationale statement

Staff re-assessment of HGIOS Qis 1.3 and 2.2; Feedback from pupil and parent focused discussions

Participation numbers from meetings and group feedback generatedSMT minutes

Priority 2 Closing the Attainment Gap (PEF Action Plan)

NIF Priority Target: Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children

Key driver: School Improvement; Parental engagement; Assessment

Quality Indicator(s): 2.5, 3.1, 3.2

Target:

To provide additional support to close attainment gaps in literacy/numeracy between our most and least disadvantaged children.

HWB Support pupils with aspects of personal, social and emotional wellbeing.

School’s current position:

Attainment gaps in literacy/numeracy have been identified and teacher judgements/assessments indicate pupils who are not on-track to achieve expected CfE level; PEF resources will be used to try to close these gaps.

School staff aware of personal, social and emotional issues with individual pupils. Some pupils express concerns when completing their SHANARRI wheel.

What data/evidence informs this priority?

Interventions Expected Impact Measures Resources and Cost £4,800

Actual Impact

Gaps in Emerging Literacy and Phonics Assessments.

Increased support in class from teacher/LSW/ASN teacher.

Supplement phonics scheme with workbooks.

Supplement reading scheme with online resource.

Parents and carers encouraged to support with learning at home.

Strengthen emerging literacy skills and increase confidence with phonics to support achievement of early level.

Tracking and assessment (Emerging Literacy Assessment and Phonics)

Staffing:

Emerging Literacy Resources

Jolly Phonics Workbooks (£118)

Reading Eggs (£150)

Teacher Judgements identify a small group of pupils in S1 who have not achieved expected CfE level in P7 in Numeracy and Literacy.

Increased support in class from teacher/LSW.

Focused support on Sumdog and Accelerated Reader

Group to be secure at First Level and making good progress towards Second Level

Tracking & assessment using teacher judgement, Sumdog levels and Accelerated Reader data

Staffing:19 weeks x 4 hours

Teacher Judgements Increased support in class from Strengthen numeracy and Tracking and Staffing:

Priority 3 Raising Attainment and Achievement

NIF Priority Target: Improvement in attainment Key driver: Performance Information, Teacher professionalism, Parental Engagement

Quality Indicator(s): 2.3, 3.2

Target: Improvement in levels for numeracy across the school

Implement strategies for improvement of numeracy across school

Increase parental confidence/mindset towards numeracy

School’s current position: Teacher judgment in June 2018 indicated a decline in pupils achieving early level for numeracy. P5/6 and S1/2 piloted Sumdog last session and teachers saw from the pupils diagnostic tests, increased mental ability as well as improvement in all areas of numeracy. Sumdog is self-regulating so pupils were motivated and in turn confidence improved. School has purchased TeeJay for second level to implement this session.

Desired Outcomes

To raise numeracy skills across the school

Implementation Process (Actions)

Sumdog Extension of Sumdog across the BGEPurchase 10 kindles to support targeted early year pupils accessing SumdogEncourage home engagement through discussion at parents’ night

TeeJay MathsIntroduction of TeeJay maths at second level

Maths CPDCPD opportunities training for staff

SEAL Maths Introduction of SEAL with Primary 1

Improve parental mindset towards maths Revise numeracy bookletDevelop numeracy page on school or class blogsMaths Day/week – explore use of numeracy in everyday life – jobs, around the home etc

Secondary inter-disciplinary Fishing

By whom

Teaching staff SMT

Teaching staff

Teaching staff

Teaching staff

DHT/ Teaching Staff

Secondary

Time Scale

By October

By March

October

By March

By March

By May

Resources

Sumdog

Kindles

TeeJay 2a&b

Ten framesLacing numbersDouble sided counters

Monitoring

Class teacher/SMTContinued twice yearly tracking of Numeracy progress across the school and use of this data.

End of unit assessmentsClass teacher feedback

Class teacher/SMT PRD feedback

Class teacher/SMT

Parental feedback

Class teacher/SMT

blogs.glowscotland.org.uk · web viewsession 2017-18 introduction shetland islands council is...

Documents