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Schools of Ambition
St Ninian’s High School
Response on behalf of the Local Authority
St Ninian’s High School has used its status as a School of Ambition to create a positive ethos of high expectations and achievement throughout the school. Young people in the school are encouraged and expected to have a”can do” attitude with high ambitions. There has been a significant impact on all staff and pupils as a result and there is widespread evidence or increased levels of attainment and achievement. Both 5-14 and SQA results have improved with, for example, in 2008 the number of 5 or more Awards at SCQF Level 6 by the end of S5 rising to 19%. HMIE in their inspection of the school in November 2007 recognised that one of the school’s key strengths was “the effective implementation of the School of Ambition initiative, and the consequent effects on staff and pupils’ motivation.” The report went on to award the school 3 Excellents and 10 Very Goods against the Quality Indicators used in the inspection confirming the high level of achievement in the school. The school has managed to sustain this success while being decanted to temporary accommodation until a new school building is completed in 2010. The following has been achieved:
1. Make the school more lively, diverse and colourful for pupils.
The local authority recognises the commitment of the headteacher to the school and to the development of distributed leadership and as a result of this he school has many development groups in which staff voluntarily participate. These provide very useful vehicles for progressing key developments and enhance staff development opportunities. In 2006 the school’s Investor in People status was reviewed and confirmed. The school was awarded accreditation as a Health Promoting School in recognition of the extent to which the promotion of good health permeates school life. David Miller, an English teacher in the school won the UK Secondary Teacher of the Year Award and Secondary Teacher of the Year at the Scottish Education Awards. The local authority arranged for David to deliver a CPD session on Active Learning for practitioners across the authority at an Open Door twilight event held in the school. The school won the Scottish Education International School Award 2008 and one member of staff is the International Education Masterclasser for the authority and disseminates his expertise across the St Ninian’s HS cluster and across all schools in East Dunbartonshire .
2. Change behaviour and attitudes to education.
The English department has been involved in an intervention pilot with the support of the Local Authority. The intervention pilot involved English teachers working closely with primary colleagues to develop strategies to improve reading and this has brought about improvements in reading and writing in particular. This was shared with the whole school and has resulted in many of these approaches being used in other departments. The local authority QIOs and staff from other schools have attended these intervention days. All departments have carried out an audit of formative assessment techniques using the audit tools provided by Learning and Teaching Scotland. Assessment is for Learning strategies are now being developed in all departments. The school’s values and aims provide a framework for raising expectations and promoting achievement and are regularly reinforced at weekly assemblies. These are also displayed prominently on commercially produced banners and motivational posters which enhance the environment of the school. Examples of pupils’ achievements and good work are displayed throughout the school and this builds pupils’ self-esteem. The anti-Sectarianism cross curricular initiatives with Kirkintilloch High School and with two neighbouring primary schools, non-denominational and denominational was very successful. There are pupil led Art and Design initiatives to highlight awareness across the whole authority of domestic abuse and violence against women. PSE lessons on pupil confidence have been written by the school for future authority dissemination
3. Broaden ambitions of pupils.
The school encourages leadership development of staff and pupils through in-service day activities for staff and pupil participation in programmes such as the World Challenge, Columba 1400 Ambassadors Leadership Academy and Euroscola European Parliament Debate. The local authority is considering how best to disseminate to other schools in the authority the good practice achieved by the school in leadership development. All pupils participated in confidence-building activities provided by external educational consultants. As part of Euroscola, 6th year students were awarded the European Union Award and this was presented recently at the Scottish Parliament. S3 pupils participated in the Summer Academy , usually based in Glasgow , in Barcelona . Staff and pupils actively participated in several high profile events and publications organised by the local authority to exemplify excellent practice such as the Enterprise in Education showcase and magazine and the Active Learning Good Practice Event. The school was also invited by the local authority to showcase good practice to a wider audience of how they have broadened pupils’ ambitions by mounting a display on behalf of East Dunbartonshire Council as part of the Local Authority Village at the Scottish Learning Festival in 2007.
4. Enhance level of pupil engagement with education.
Each year, a number of themed days are held whereby a complete year group spends a full day or part of a day working on a particular theme, such as Food, Modern Languages, Sci-Fun, Maths Puzzles and Art and Design. All departments structure lessons for S2 pupils for a week around the theme of Money and Finance. Cross-curricular meetings have taken place to look at decluttering the curriculum and the published draft outcomes from a Curriculum for Excellence. ICT is used extensively in learning and teaching to develop interactive teaching approaches and involve pupils in their own learning and assessment. This includes use of interactive whiteboards, Activote classroom response systems, Content Generator software and use of wireless keyboards. Extensive use of laptop computers has been introduced in English, Modern Languages and Science.
- Produce respectful, responsible, global citizens who become effective contributors to society.
The school encourages pupils to participate in all aspects of school life, through initiatives such as the Pupil Council, Sports Leaders and Buddying. Activities connected to the GOALS project provide additional support to pupils aspiring to University. There has recently been an enhanced role for the Pupil Council and for prefects. The Reach for the Stars initiative provides a termly reward for S1 and S2 pupils’ achievements. Pupils are rewarded for being positive, caring, responsible and prepared. Rewards are also available for attendance, timekeeping and behaviour and a team of staff led by a Principal Teacher have specific responsibility for the management and development of this scheme. This initiative promotes an ethos of achievement and contributes to the school’s commitment to producing responsible young people. The school promotes Enterprise Education through a wide range of enterprise activities and won an award of £5000 to be used to develop a major enterprise activity with a local business and the Art and Design and Business Education departments. The Scottish Council for Development and Industry's 'Determined to Succeed Award for Outstanding Partnership Working with a School(s) 2008' was awarded to Boo Boutique for its partnership with St. Ninian's High School in recognition of their excellent work. There are opportunities for pupils to develop the skills of active citizenship through fundraising initiatives and global links such as the India APD partnership (Association of People with Disabilities) and there are curricular links with Japan, China, France and Spain . The school has been selected to host a Confucius Classroom, one of only eight hubs in Scotland, which will benefit all schools in East Dunbartonshire . The school won the International Schools Award at the Scottish Education Awards 2008 in recognition of its achievements in this area. HMIE stated in their report that “The school had a very welcoming and positive atmosphere. Relationships were very strong at all levels. Staff and pupils were proud of the school and morale was very high. Pupils displayed high levels of responsibility and concern for one another.” At the 2008 Scottish Learning Festival the school delivered presentations on ICT, Enterprise and the links between Schools of Ambition and Curriculum for Excellence. Whole School engagement with India Week has been emulated across the authority using the model with different countries.
Gordon Smart
Quality Improvement officer, East Dunbartonshire Council
11.12.08
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