St Ninians High School School of Ambition
St Ninian's High School
School of Ambition
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St Ninian's High School
Laura Reynolds

Principal Teacher - Schools of Ambition

Almost four years ago St Ninian's High School was nominated by East Dunbartonshire Council to represent the authority as a potential School of Ambition. St Ninian's was already an excellent school with a very positive ethos and outstanding results in Modern Languages. This formed the focus of our successful bid to become one of Scotland's 52 Schools of Ambition.

The School of Ambition project has been of great benefit to the pupils and staff in the school and to my own personal development as it has allowed both pupils and staff to take forward the "can do" attitude which already existed in the school.

As Principal Teacher School of Ambition and Modern Languages Teacher, I have been involved in the following initiatives;

  • Attendance at Centre of Confidence and Wellbeing seminars on child psychology as part of my remit to improve pupils' confidence.
  • Production of 10 P.S.E. lessons on promoting confidence and accurate optimism in conjunction with Psychological Services.
  • S1-4 benchmarking of pupil confidence.
  • Learning Game activities for S1-5.
  • Participation in selection process for Columba 1400 Ambassadors Leadership Programme. The model of St Ninian's Pupil Ambassadors Academy is now being rolled out across East Dunbartonshire.
  • North Atlantic Symposium 2006 & 2007 - collaboration with other Schools of Ambition to improve pupil confidence and ICT skills.
  • Spearheading video-conferencing, webcaming, blogging and podcasting with partner primaries.
  • Enhancement of Primary/Secondary French Liaison using new ICT and contacts in France.
  • Organisation of S1 Languages Day 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009. Now extended to include all partner primaries.
  • Pupil presentation at the National Modern Languages conference based on work completed during S1 Languages Day 2006 & 2007.
  • Organisation of French Immersion Excursions to Paris 2007 & 2008 and assistance in organisation of Spanish Immersion to Malaga 2008.
  • Preparation of pupils to visit Japan 2008
  • Participation in extended video editing CPD course.
  • Production of a short TV debate on the future of Europe in French which won a Europe wide competition.
  • Involvement in the Euroscola European Parliament visits 2005-7.
  • Delivery of a seminar at the Scottish Learning Festival based on the S6 visit to European Parliament.
  • Participation in Modern Languages and Work Advanced Higher Training Day.
  • Extensive Action Research evaluating School of Ambition at St Ninian's High School.

I am very aware that good communication with pupils, parents and the wider community lies at the heart of the School of Ambition Programme's ultimate success. I have been involved in developing the following strategies to ensure we are listening to and involving all stakeholders in the programme.

  • Clearly articulating the vision and detail of the School of Ambition implementation plan to all members of the school community and wider community.
  • Regular meetings of the School of Ambition Core Group and extended Steering group, consisting of staff, pupils, parents and local councillors.
  • Input at Steering Group and PTA meetings.
  • Updating progress towards achieving targets in the School of Ambition Programme via the school website, our dedicated SoA website and school newsletters.
  • Regular input at assemblies, school and pupil councils.
  • Sharing methodologies from the Assessment is for Learning Project with partner primaries to ensure continuous development of cluster planning in Modern Languages conducive to progressive and challenging transition programmes.
  • Ensuring the increased number of Foreign Language Assistants play and active role in a greater number of classes.
  • Developing global citizenship through links with pupils in other countries. In Modern Languages, I am currently working on the Passeport Santé project looking at citizenship and health with a school in Amiens, France.

I am also aware of the benefit afforded to my teaching from having enhanced staffing in the Languages Department, which has been funded by School of Ambition. This has allowed for a full programme of co-operative teaching in S1 & S2 classes and maximum class contact with assistants in certificate classes. Classes can be split in to smaller groups to work with the co-op teacher or assistant on projects as diverse as blogging, video conferencing, podcasting and webcaming. It has also been useful for reinforcing speaking practise, conducting speaking tests and taking small groups to the library to type up written work based on speaking tasks. As speaking practice is particularly difficult in large classes, the extra teacher and smaller group sizes have been very effective in increasing attainment and pupil confidence.

As PT School of Ambition, I have been impressed by the initiative and endeavour of all staff across the school community. The Senior Management Team encouraged an ethos of devolved leadership where any member of staff could bid for funding. Ultimately, the involvement and enthusiasm of all staff has secured the success of the programme. This is evidenced by the wide ranging contributions from all departments to our new St Ninian's High School SoA website.

Importantly, although the funding period is drawing to a close, many of the initiatives are sustainable due to investment in software, hardware and staff training. I feel privileged to have been involved with Schools of Ambition and witness the real benefits to pupils and staff that the programme has provided.