MILNE's HIGH SCHOOL Standards and Quality Report 2018

MILNE’S HIGH SCHOOL Standards and Quality Report 2018

A community where the individual matters and expectations are high

This report will be produced annually in March and refers to the previous session (2017-18). This is in line with our improvement planning processes and many mechanisms for self-evaluation as a school.

Milne's High School provides comprehensive education from first to sixth year (aged 11 to 18 years). In addition to young people from Fochabers itself, the school zone includes Mosstodloch, Lhanbryde, Garmouth, Spey Bay, Kingston and Urquhart as well as smaller communities stretching towards the area surrounding Portgordon and Buckie.

Essentially, the catchment area includes a large part of the eastern area of Moray's rich agricultural land involving farming, forestry and plant nursery developments as well as a range of industry including Baxters of Speyside which is less than a mile from the school. The school roll is presently 395.

The local communities within the area are active supporters of the school and its underlying values. This is very much appreciated and where possible reciprocated through links between the school and the community.

The Senior Management Team consists of a Head Teacher, three Depute Head Teachers and an Acting Depute Head Teacher who is leading the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) agenda. In addition, there are eighteen Principal Teachers, nineteen Class Teachers and twenty-three members of support staff. The staff are known throughout the authority for their collaborative working and positive approach to improving education and as such the strong team ethos with almost all undertaking leadership roles.

Earlier this session, the school received a visit from the local authority and as a result a ‘one year on from inspection’ report is available on our website. This standards and quality report is a summary of the key aspects of our ongoing self-evaluation.

Our vision, mission and values are currently under review by the school community.

School Priority 1: Improve the consistency of high quality learning and teaching NIF Driver HGIOS?4 QIs Assessing of Children’s progress QI 2.3 Learning, Teaching and Assessment Moray Priorities: Learning and Teaching Performance Information Progress and impact: There have been improvements in learning and teaching as evidenced through learning visits. Effective assessment has been used to plan next steps leading to more robust monitoring and tracking of young people’s progress in all departments. This has been utilised in different ways to support student attainment. For example, in Maths, Chemistry and Modern Languages, the data is analysed and used to increase parental contact and set the agenda for tutorials. The English department utilises the information to bridge the gap between the BGE and Senior Phase and in Music, HE, design and technology, the weekly target setting leads to individual planning for pupils to enjoy bespoke learning programmes. All departments are part of a moderation programme in school or with the local authority and this is leading to more accurate tracking termly in the BGE and monthly in the senior phase which is increasing department record keeping of the impact of interventions and leading to stronger parental engagement. As an example, the Science team note that there is greater confidence and robust information about pupil progress as they have worked together to agree standards and support colleagues to improve. 90% of parents who responded to our survey reported that staff knew their child well, that they were satisfied with the quality of teaching and that they received helpful information about how their child was progressing. A substantial focus on improving the consistency and quality of learning conversations has meant that young people are more directly involved in planning, leading and evaluating their own learning. Learning conversations have led to many improvements including those in Art and Biology where courses have been substantially re-designed to raise expectation and challenge. The Business Studies, Geography, Modern Studies and History departments have all undergone major re-development in the BGE to prepare for the rigour required in the Senior Phase whereas in PE and Physics the main focus has been on real personalisation and choice for young people to lead and direct their learning.

Next steps: Although staff report a significant change in young people setting their own targets, further consolidation is required as too many young people report that they would like greater input in setting targets and developing independent learning skills. Next session will focus on full implementation of the moderation strategy to increase the reliability of tracking and confidence in declaring achievement of a level data in the Broad General Education (S1-3 phase). Specific aspects of the learning and teaching strategy will receive particular focus such as pace and challenge in the BGE as well as the requirement to increase pupil enjoyment by making young people greater participants in their learning. We will continue our focus on profiling and learning conversations leading to improved outcomes by adopting the Moray Council profiling tool.

Tel: 01343 820611 School Priority 2: Ensure that the curriculum is designed to raise attainment for all NIF Priority Improvement in employability skills HGIOS?4 Qis and sustained, positive school leaver QI 2.2 Curriculum destinations for all young people Moray Priorities Curriculum

Progress and impact: We have developed a new Curriculum Rationale in conjunction with our associated primaries to ensure we maximise the time afforded by the move to a 33 period week to offer opportunities for all. Departments have continued to make amendments to senior phase courses in line with SQA changes and to ensure that we offer as many progression routes as possible such as National 3 Design and Technology. We have continued to build upon the many strong links with local businesses and have led many initiatives to continue the agenda of Developing the Young Workforce by making good use of our unique context. Examples of this are the Modern Languages links with the Scottish Dolphin Centre, VisitScotland and the Gordon Castle and the HE department link with Baxters for the interdisciplinary soup challenge. Furthermore, the Farmers’ Market involving 240 primary pupils continues to offer valuable opportunities to apply learning in a different context. On the other hand, we encourage experiences out of our context and have students attending events at Aberdeen University, the Glasgow School of Art as well as recognising that we are a rural location and therefore invite in many specialists in Science, Music, Health, Language, Art and Technology to mention a select few. Additionally, we offer students the opportunity to travel to other countries such as a recent trip for S1/2 to Paris and 23 students undertaking World Challenge in India in the summer of 2018. We continue to be supported by local authority initiatives and we were delighted when Jennifer Walker in S6 recently won the national Career Ready STEM award in London. Our PT Maths co-ordinated a career pathway planning event in November which was attended by over thirty employers and was well received by parents and pupils, and is to be continued on a bi-annual basis. There has been significant re-development in the ASN department to develop numeracy through precision teaching, the development of Personal Achievement awards, bespoke PSE for students and tutorials to improve experience for students with Dyslexic tendencies. We continue to meet the challenge of providing as full a curriculum as possible and in some cases such as RMPS where we offer certificated courses in RMPS and Philosophy which can be challenging even in a larger school.

Next steps: Our evaluations of student attainment using the Insight tool have highlighted a need to continue to visit our curriculum pathways to ensure that all learners are able to enjoy pathways bespoke to their needs. We recognise that there is a need to further improve support, advice and coursing programmes to support young people to make aspirational choices and follow appropriate pathways. Numeracy in the BGE will receive special focus next session to guarantee that we prepare our young people to be more successful in the senior phase, particularly at SCQF level 6 and one aspect will be to introduce a programme of activities, funded by the parent council, where parents and young people can learn together. School Priority 3: Self-evaluation for the whole community as a key driver for self- improvement

NIF Driver HGIOS?4 Qis School Improvement QI 1.1 Self-evaluation for self-improvement Moray Priorities: Self-evaluation for self- improvement

Progress and impact: We continue to evaluate regularly using a range of data, people’s views through focus groups/ surveys and our observations of practice including learning visits and moderation of pupil work. We have improved communication across the school community with the implementation of a communication strategy and have witnessed noticeable impact of the Student Voice Ambassadors in evidencing the difference made by students giving their views.

Next steps: Recent parental surveys and focus groups highlight that there is a need for parents to understand how their views have been taken into account. This will be part of a strategy to involve more parents outwith the parent council. There is a need to re-visit our self-evaluation procedures and this will be undertaken by Principal Teachers and the Senior Leadership Team. Email: [email protected] How well does the school support young people to develop

School Priority 4: Develop the leadership capacity of the school community

NIF Driver HGIOS?4 Qis School Leadership Teacher Professionalism QI 1.3 Leadership of Change Parental Involvement Moray Priorities: Leadership at all levels Progress and impact: The introduction of a specific staff leadership programme has facilitated opportunities for staff to lead in many areas, thus building capacity for future school leadership. This session saw many colleagues move on to promoted positions and many staff successes including Mr Thomson, PT Physics being awarded “Leading STEM Educator”. Our parent council continues to be strength of the school in terms of continuing school improvement. A recent pupil focus group evidenced the difference made by the re-branding of the Student Voice Ambassadors and the “you said /we did” feedback format. Student leadership was evident by the group of S2 students who won £3000 for Logan’s Fund through YPI and the five enterprise groups raising almost £1000 for various charities.

Next steps: There is a need to continue to develop pupils leading their learning in class and on a whole school basis, particularly leadership within the BGE. The implementation of the new shared vision, mission and values will be an opportunity to develop the school community’s understanding of the importance of equity and its link to excellence.

Visit us on the web: www.milneshighschool.org.uk How well does the school improve the quality of its work? School Priority 5: Wellbeing and raising attainment as the responsibility of all

NIF Priority HGIOS?4 Qis Improvement in attainment, particularly in QI 3.2 Raising Attainment literacy and numeracy; Closing the attainment gap between the most QI 3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and and least disadvantaged children; inclusion Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing Moray Priorities: Supporting Learners Attainment & achievement NIF Driver Performance Information Progress and impact: There has been a substantial improvement in overall results with last session’s S4 and S5 producing the best results on record for National 5 and Higher, with many department results consistently well above local and national averages. The revision of coursing expectations coupled with work undertaken by a school improvement group assisted by an external provider, MindsetUK, has initiated the development of a more aspirational culture and this can be seen in many developments such as the Pupil Support Team’s initial re-development of the PSE programme. Students continue to excel in sport and music and this session has witnessed some of our young people winning national competitions such as Rory Milne who won a Blue Peter competition in January, thirteen S3 students in English who had their poetry published as part of a national competition, Emily Dale who came second and qualified for the British Skating Championships, despite potential life changing injuries and many students succeeding as winners in the Maths UKMT junior challenge. We even have international winners, including our S1 pupils who won the International Schools Cookbook competition competing with schools from around the world. Recent feedback has demonstrated that wellbeing is understood as the responsibility of all and embedded in the school ethos. The introduction of the 33 period week has facilitated the introduction of a timetabled period of Wellbeing and Attainment, where young people work with a key adult who can develop their understanding of the link between wellbeing and attainment. We are a more inclusive environment with exclusions falling by 60% from last session, mainly as a result of the work undertaken by the PEF agenda which has created a whole school strategy to ensure flexible pathways for all learners and brings together the work of many initiatives including nurture, the Rights Respecting School award and the development of a relational behaviour management policy.

Next steps: The attainment of our top 20% of learners still remains a cause for concern as their tariff points would indicate similar youngsters are performing better in other schools. Literacy and numeracy at Higher level (level 6) remains a priority for improvement. Therefore, there is a need to continue the rigour of coursing, monthly tracking and attainment review to ensure that our young people are aspirational and motivational to achieve their very best. This will form an ongoing review and improvement to ensure that young people receive the right advice and support for making choices. We will continue to make improvements to pupil support care arrangements and will especially focus on improving the school community’s understanding of our response to bullying. We will continue to build upon the PEF work and further develop wellbeing & attainment to ensure that all young people are supported into a positive destination.