St. Angela's Primary School

St. Angela’s Primary School Standards and Quality Report for Session 2012-2013 1 About our Opened in 1977 St. Angela’s Primary School is a semi-open plan school situated school / in Darnley, to the south-west of Glasgow. Its catchment area also covers the centre residential areas of Greenacres, Parkhouse, Parklands Meadow, Southpark and Deaconsbank. Our school is a Roman Catholic denominational school. The surrounding grounds of our school are a combination of hard-surface and greenery and we share a Multi-use Games Area with the Community. Within the building the environment is bright, warm and welcoming. The large entrance hall, nursery class unit, seven class bases and open areas display the work of our children. We also have 2 portakabin units, housing 6 classes. Our school roll for session 2010/2011 is 426. This will increase to 419 in session 2012/2013. Our Primary 1 entry for session 2012/2013 has been capped at 59. The nursery class provision caters for 30, full capacity, part placement children, morning and afternoon. This session the teaching staff (FTE: full time equivalent) totaled 22.0 basic allocation and included the head teacher, two depute head teachers, two principal teacher posts and nursery class teacher. We have 4 Pupil Support Assistants 7and four Clerical Assistants, totalling 100 hours. One of the school clerical staff gives 7.5 hours of support to the nursery class. Both DHTs, Mrs Watson and Mrs Higgins, gave 50% of remit time to Support for Learning. The nursery is staffed by one full time teacher and two Child Development Officers. The head teacher has overall responsibility for the nursery. All classes are timetabled for the use of the multi- purpose gymhall/assembly hall/dining room. From February 2012 our associated secondary school is St. Paul’s High School. We have good relationships with our local Glasgow primary schools in St. Paul’s Learning Community, St. Bernard’s and St. Vincent’s, and pre-5 establishments Woodacre, Thornlaw, Craigbank and Pollok Children’s Centre. Throughout the session there have been various student placements to the nursery and primary classes from a variety of universities and colleges. INTERAGENCY PRO-FORMA 1 2 Our vision, As a Catholic school our vision is to nurture, challenge and achieve within a values and secure, happy and stimulating environment. aims In meeting our aspirations of reflecting these principles and in embracing the principles of young people’s rights as contained in the Children’s Charter for Young People in Glasgow’s Educational Establishments and the Ten Standards for Personal Support we ensure that all pupils: share the values of the Gospel by: Practising our faith Developing our understanding of the Catholic faith Being respectful to people of all faiths love and respect one another by: Being supportive Helping each other to learn Showing tolerance to everyone help each other achieve our full potential by: Creating a fun environment in which to learn Building confidence in everyone Supporting each other to maximise our talents and skills innovate by: Keeping our imaginations alive Inspiring each other Working in and with the community What outcomes have we achieved? 3A Our successes Improvements in performance (Quality indicator 1.1) and achievements The overall quality of improvements in performance is very good. Children learn and achieve very well across all classes and almost all children engage actively and enthusiastically in their learning. The majority of children work very well with each other in pairs and in group activities. Children are confident, enthusiastic and are becoming more skilled in planning and reflecting upon aspects of their own learning as they come to know themselves well as learners. This is particularly evident among some of our younger children who are able to evidence achievement linked to targets set in Personal Learning Plans. An increasing number of children can explain what they need to do next to progress . A few children still require help to be able to do this. Children feel valued, safe and secure in the school and the majority behave well. Children’s attainment in English language is very good. Standards in listening and talking, reading and writing have remained high over recent years and children make consistently very good progress. The introduction of the North Lanarkshire Active Literacy Programme in Primary 1 is having an early, positive impact on the quality of pupils’ writing. Across all stages, children listen attentively to instructions and explanations. They listen well and interact positively with each other in groups, sharing their opinions confidently and willingly. The majority of children read with confidence and enjoy reading. Literacy is promoted very effectively across the school. At all stages, standards of presentation of writing are consistently high. Children write effectively for a range of INTERAGENCY PRO-FORMA 2 purposes. Literacy has been a major priority again on this year’s School Improvement Plan and will continue to be next session as we seek to raise standards further. Standards in mathematics have remained high in recent years. Most children are making good progress. Most children tackle problems confidently and successfully. Opportunities are actively identified to allow children to use these skills more widely in practical situations. We have introduced a programme to further develop children’s skills in mental arithmetic. This programme will be further developed next session. Through a varied programme of curricular and extra-curricular activities all children have the opportunity to experience success and develop their wider achievements. Our Masterclass programme has led to an increase in opportunities for children to achieve. We have focussed on skills development through our Masterclass programme this session. Further development is planned for next session. Children work well together contributing effectively to the school and the wider community developing important skills and attitudes as a result of this engagement. The school improvement plan is having a positive impact on achievement and overall attainment. Our Masterclass initiative has added value to our transition programme. Children from our nursery class regularly work with children from Primary 1 and school staff, both in the nursery class and the P1 classrooms. The focus of Masterclasses has been on skills development. Children are becoming more confident when writing and speaking about the skills they are developing through Masterclasses. As a result of the above this session’s Primary 1 intake settled very quickly. We are linked to St. Paul’s High School and participate in their transition programme, which includes: reciprocal staff visits, induction days and liaison in our Masterclasses. At the end of this session only a small number of our Primary 7 pupils will move on to St. Paul’s, with the majority going on to St. Ninian’s via placing request. Therefore, we ensure that we engage with St. Ninian’s in their transition programme, although at a greatly reduced level. How well do we meet the needs of our school/centre community? How well do we meet the needs of our school/centre community? Learners’ experiences (Quality indicator 2.1) The overall quality of learners’ experiences is very good. Staff know the children very well and provide a supportive, nurturing environment which meets the needs of all children including those who require additional support to achieve and engage. Staff work well together and, in partnership with other agencies, provide high quality learning experiences and ensure all children have the opportunity to engage with the learning. The conduct and attitude of almost all children demonstrates their enthusiasm for learning. Opportunities to work in a variety of groupings (e.g. Masterclass programme) has proved highly motivational for children, all staff and parents. Almost all children demonstrate a responsible approach when working on their activities and tasks. Children report that they feel valued, safe and respected. They have a voice in the school through their involvement in the Pupil Council, various committees and consultations affecting the life and work of the school. Children are confident that their opinions are listened to and considered. All pupils have opportunities to take an active role within the school.. The Vision, Values and Aims of the school have been INTERAGENCY PRO-FORMA 3 reviewed in tandem with Learning Community planning. The process has been designed and delivered to ensure all stakeholder voices are heard. How good is the education we provide? 3B The work and life of our The Curriculum (Quality indicator 5.1) school / The overall quality of the curriculum is very good. centre Staff engage actively with discussion of and developments around the curriculum providing a broad curriculum which engages the learners in clearly defined programmes of study. Opportunities are provided for all staff to share good practice and pilot new initiatives. Planning focuses on face to face meetings between stage partners and members of the SLT. This aligns with planning formats for every curricular area, placing greater emphasis on teachers’ short term targets. Children benefit from learning about local and national issues through their involvement in Fairtrade activities and charity work. Children at the P5 - P7 stages learn French. French is also taught at the Early Level and in Primary 2. The school fully recognises the challenge to ensure continuity and progression for children using experiences and outcomes and regularly reflect on their practice and provision taking account of children’s views and the impact of developments on their learning. Differentiated activities are appropriately evidenced in planning and classroom practice. Planning meetings regularly focus on challenge and application. The SLT look for evidence of challenge and application as part of their regular monitoring activity. The quality of the nursery curriculum is very good. It is firmly based on the interests of the child with staff intervening as appropriate to support and enhance their learning.

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