Insch School Standards & Quality Report 2018-19
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Insch School Standards & Quality Report 2018-19 1 Standards and Quality Report 2018-19 Context of the School Insch School is a large, rural, mixed non-denominational primary school situated in the village of Insch, Aberdeenshire. We serve a catchment area that is socially and economically diverse. Over the past 5 years the community of Insch has grown significantly. Within the school there are no pupils within SIMD Deciles 1 to 5. 1% are within SIMD 6, 5% within decile 7 and 93% within decile 8 and 9. 6% of our pupils are entitled to FSM and £21,600 was allocated as Pupil Equity Funding for session 2018-19. This will rise again next session to £24,000. The emotional and social needs of our parents and families has also changed and the school has worked hard to meet this changing dynamic. Our school roll now sits at 357 P1 to P7 pupils and 120 Nursery pupils. We have 14 classes. The school is part of the Huntly Cluster and pupils can transfer to The Gordons School, Huntly and Inverurie Academy or further afield. The school’s Journey to Excellence commenced in August 2014. Our SLT consists of Mrs Conner, Head Teacher, Mrs Chalmers and Mrs Stirling, Depute Heads. 1 Early Years Senior and 2 Early Years Lead Practitioners and a Cluster Early Years PT play a pivotal role in leading change in our Nursery. Our committed teaching team of 16 class teachers work collegiately to lead change in our school. This team was initially supported by an ASN Nurture team who worked intensively in the school. This facility is no longer in place however the nurture approach is now being embedded across the school and is supported by an ASL team of 2 part time teachers and 10 part time PSAs who work alongside our teachers and pupils. This year a part time Pupil Support Worker was employed through the school’s Pupil Equity Fund allocation and has supported pupils and families. We work to provide a nurturing, ASD/ dyslexia friendly learning environment. Inclusive practices and an appreciation of diversity is at the heart of our vision, values and aims. Our staffing is supplemented with an art specialist as well as core staff who delivering French, Health and PE. We are supported well by our Parent Council and PTA as well as our valued Parent Volunteers who help provide support and challenge for our young learners in a variety of ways. The effective running of the school is supported by an Administrator, Clerical assistant, Janitor, Cleaners and Catering team. Our pupils engage well with the life of the school through a wide range of pupil led lunchtime clubs and After School Clubs. These enable as many of our pupils as possible to succeed in wider achievements out with the classrooms as well within. At Insch School we celebrate diversity and inspire all our young learners to reach for the stars and achieve their very best. We strive to create an inclusive and nurturing learning community. Quality learning and teaching is at the heart of all that we do. Our child friendly values ensure all pupils know and follow our behaviour expectations. Our Values: Aiming High, Being Safe, Showing Respect, Valuing our Community. Self-evaluation Summary: At Insch School we have led a 4year period of strategic change in response to the changing dynamic of the local community of Insch. This is based on 4 years of thorough self-evaluation across the school, working with parents, pupils, staff and all stakeholders. The vision for the school is ambitious and focuses on improved outcomes for all our pupils. All staff demonstrate that they are committed to the change and embrace the many initiatives that have led to the collegiate nurturing approach we have established in the school. Our 5 main stories summarise our capacity for improvement within leadership and management, learning provision and success and achievements. These are: 1. Developing our Vision, Values and Aims: Reach for Stars. (Leadership and Management) 2. Leadership of Change (Leadership and Management) 3. Meeting Learners Needs (Success and Achievements) 4. Learning and Teaching (Learning Provision) 5. Collegiality and Professional Learning (Leadership and Management) Moving forward our key improvement priorities are to continue to increase attainment across Literacy and Numeracy, further develop the Literacy and Numeracy curriculum, continue to develop the Early Years Nurture approach within nursery and across the school and continue to close the gap of our identified, vulnerable learners using Pupil Equity Funding. 2 Improvement Plan Priorities 2018-19 Strategic priorities Current Targets QI & GIRFEC Curriculum Design and • Teacher group to work on what we already have ACHIEVING Refresh - To refresh our and select what is to remain, what is to go. A clear curriculum design to be out exercise. Then identify new areas of study that relevant to today’s learners. link to Es and Os that are relevant to today’s learner. Consider historical, economic, geographical and scientific localised topics. Increase Whole School • Weekly Maths timetables to be reviewed and time ACHIEVIN G Numeracy Attainment – to for teaching maths increased. INCLUDED develop quality of maths • Focus on developing mental agility across the RESPONSIBLE learning and teaching school by: through Numeracy Mastery • Increasing use of Sumdog across school. Teachers programme and moderation will improve use of analytical element of program to work in school and in pinpoint pupil develop areas. cluster. We will adopt • Increasing mental maths agility focus and rote proven learning and learning in all classes. teaching methods that have • Learning and teaching is supported by using impact on raising attainment Aberdeenshire Frameworks for planning and e/g/ Sumdog, consistent use benchmarks for assessment throughout the school. of Numicon, holistic • Children are supported and challenged in their assessment approaches. learning through appropriately matched group work and class activities where appropriate. QA activities to check this. • Learning Visits in all classes will focus on effective learning and teaching in numeracy and mathematics. Develop Family Nurture • Target pupils identified using data from SIMD, FSM, SAFE approaches that close gap attendance, lates, ASN levels. Link to PEF funding. INCLUDED for individual learners. • New Pupil Support Worker is employed using PEF RESPECTED funding. Advert. Sept. 2018 to work with target RESPONSBILE pupils. NURTURED • Staff tackle difficult conversations with parents/ stakeholders confidently and action planned appropriately. • Nursery to continue with Nurture approach to work with and develop families. Embed across school. Embed digital • A progression of Technology skills is created and SAFE technologies across the implemented to ensure children are taught focussed RESPONSBILE school to ensure skills. There is continuity throughout the school – ACHIEVING consistency of highly skilled this is shared, understood and followed. staff who are confident in • Staff learning is deepened in both iPads and delivering lessons using Laptops and skills revisited regularly to continue a technology that are highly more focused approach. Greater confidence levels motivated and purposeful. exist across school. • Pupils lead learning across school using Digital Leaders. DL training to continue and skills taught to other pupils 3 Method of Gathering Evidence – The following evidence has been used to evaluate the key work of our centre: Children’s learning stories (P1 to P7) and interactive learning diaries in nursery. Self evaluation – views of children, parents, staff & community partners and Validated Self-evaluation trio school Authority level. Assessment, moderation – local and Cluster SNSA assessments and other digital data analysis e.g. Sumdog assessment. Features in local media Learners’ evaluations of their learning experiences Parental questionnaires, surveys, focus groups and interviews Minutes of meetings: Pupil Council, Parent Council, Staff meetings, Partner agency meetings Improvement plan progress Monitoring of learning and teaching: quality assurance visits Attainment and achievement conversations throughout the year Parents evaluations of workshops and information sessions Parents evaluations and consultations re policy & practice Parental Attendance database Disclosed parent helpers database Children’s Attendance SIMD information, FSM data Data from School Improvement Partnerships Transition conversations with Annie’s Nursery and follow on Academies. Class to class transition guidance. Nursery Care inspectorate report (Oct 2018) Moderation at school and cluster level. Information from partners such as educational psychologist, social workers, health visitor, school nurse. Observation of practices with learners and staff, and by managers through, for example learning visits and learning walks where the focus is on the experiences of the users. How good is our leadership and approach to improvement? (1.1, 1.2, 1.3) 4 Evaluation: 5 NIF Priority: School Priorities Closing the attainment gap between QI’s: 1.1 Self-Evaluation for Self-improvement the most and least disadvantaged • Collaborative approaches to self-evaluation children • Analysis and evaluation of intelligence and data 1.3 Leadership of change • Developing a shared vision, values and aims relevant to the school and its community NIF Driver(s) Local Improvement Plan LIP - Expected Impact & outcomes Teacher professionalism School improvement Vision, values and aims that all stakeholders embrace and live by. Parental engagement Self-evaluation