Dunrossness Primary School

Standards and Quality Report for Academic Year 2007/2008

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 1 Dunrossness Primary School – Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008

This report is produced as part of the process of school self-evaluation to help assure that the quality of education provided at our school is of the highest quality for the children, parents and community we serve. This report will also contribute to Shetland Islands Council Schools Service‛s annual report and to the Scottish Government‛s report on standards and quality in Scottish schools.

The School and its Context

Dunrossness Primary School is situated in the South Mainland of Shetland and is an associated primary of Sandwick Junior High School, Sandwick. Our catchment area includes the communities of Levenwick, Bigton, Quendale, Boddam and Virkie. The school is non-denominational and caters for pupils at all primary stages. The school has a Nursery with provision for 20 children in each session. The roll in session 2007/08 was 113 and 29 children were enrolled in the nursery class.

There were seven full time equivalent class teachers as follows: Primary 1 taught by Mrs Maureen Blyth Primary 2 Miss Valerie Hughson Primary 3 Mr Harry Rose (probationary teacher) and Ms Karen Warner Primary 4 Mrs Helen Moar Primary 5 Miss Theresa Tate (probationary teacher) and Ms Karen Warner Primary 6 Miss Keri Hamilton until Feb. 2008 when Mrs Sandra Hay returned to class Primary 7 Ms Gina Scanlan until October 2007 and from March 2008. Various supply teachers taught the class from October ‘07 to March ‘08.

Additional Support Needs during 2007/08 was led by Mrs Hay as Acting Principal Teacher until February 2008 and then Mrs Andrea Henderson on her return in February from maternity leave. Mrs Hay and Mrs Henderson worked with individual pupils and groups to support learning both in the classroom and by withdrawal to the ASN room.

Nursery provision continued with Miss Fiona Duncan as Nursery Teacher and Mrs Carol Wadley as Nursery Nurse. The Nursery operates in conjunction with the Primary 1 class as our Early Stages Unit and is registered with the Care Commission for 40 pupils over two daily sessions.

The school has a Classroom Assistant, Mrs Violet Casey, two Supervisory Assistants, Mrs Casey and Mrs Jaqueline Jamieson, two full-time ASN Auxiliaries, Mrs Emma Graydon and Mrs Leona Smith and a part-time ASN Auxiliary, Mrs Lee Smith (replacing Mr David Holliday whilst on secondment to another department) who have worked throughout the school with various classes as directed by the school‛s management team. Mrs Kelly Edwards left her role of Clerical Assistant to pursue her studies. This role was filled by Mrs Margaret Tregonning who then left to have a baby and was replaced in January 2008 by Mrs Miriam Birnie. Mrs Edwards was latterly employed as a classroom assistant in the upper stages. The Devolved School Management Officer for the South Mainland Cluster, Mrs Nancy Budge, based in Sandwick Junior High School made regular visits to our school to assist in financial matters.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 2 Mr John MacKenzie, Head Janitor, and Mr Kevin Harper, part-time Assistant Janitor, continued to ensure the school was kept in excellent condition with Mr MacKenzie continuing to take responsibility for many IT tasks and in assisting staff with IT issues. Head Cook, Mrs Edith Hutchison, and Kitchen Assistants, Mrs Jane Flaws, Mrs Kate Goudie and Miss Katherine Henderson prepared and cooked our nutritious and delicious school meals. Mrs Sherry Bowden and her team of cleaners, Mrs Rachel Hall, Mrs Kim Lobban, Miss Louise Mouat and Miss Abby-May Probert kept the school clean and tidy.

Head teacher, Mrs Alex Thorp, left in October 2007 to take up a new post out-with Shetland and Ms Gina Scanlan, P7 teacher, successfully led the school in the role of Acting Head Teacher from this time until the appointment of Ms Lesley Simpson in March 2008. From March 2007 until March 2008, Principal Teacher, Mrs Andrea Henderson, was on maternity leave and her post as Principal Teacher and ASN Teacher was very proficiently covered by Mrs Sandra Hay, P6 teacher.

There are also several visiting teachers and instructors who added value to the children‛s school experience. We enjoyed weekly visits from specialist teachers of art, Ms Fiona Burr (2 days per week); music, Mrs Annalie Irvine since May 2008 (2 days per week); and P.E. and swimming, Mrs Joan Smith (2.5 days per week). All the children in P3 and up had lessons from a peripatetic instructor in knitting, Mrs Marion Poleson (1.5 days per week) and some children also benefited from tuition in piano from Mrs Moira Peterson, traditional fiddle from Ms Eunice Henderson, brass from Mr Roy Hughson, woodwind from Mrs Jane Morton, and most recently, accordion from Mr Peter Wood.

The School‛s Chaplains, Rev. Ian Thomson and Rev. Charles Greig visited periodically and along with other guest speakers, led whole school assemblies.

The school ran a very successful Breakfast Club led by Mrs Kelly Edwards and hosted an Out of School Club in one of the outbuildings. A number of after school clubs were run throughout the year and the school was host to the local Boys‛ Brigade, Girls‛ Brigade and Dunrossness Community Council.

The school has successfully implemented the new Parental Involvement Act, appointed a new Parent Council and continues to have very good links with parents and the community.

A HMIe (Her Majesty‛s Inspectorate of education) visit was carried out 1998 with the report published in September 1998 and the follow up report released in June 2000.

A joint HMIe/Care Commission inspection of the Nursery class was carried out in April 2005 with the report released in August 2005. The Care Commission carried out a further inspection in May 2006.

The school‛s devolved controllable budget for the financial year 2007/08 was £22248.14.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 3 Priorities and Targets from Previous Report. The priorities and targets taken from the previous report fed into the self-evaluation materials used to inform the School Development Plan (SDP) for 2007/08. These priorities were taken forward over the year. An appendix outlines the progress on targets from 2007/08 and gives a summary of the School Development Plan for 2008/09

How Evidence was gathered. Evidence for this report has been gathered from a wide variety of sources including parental feedback, Parent Council members, pupils and staff of the school, pupils‛ performance in National Assessments and PIPS Assessments, pupils‛ class work, teachers‛ plans, assessments and reports and quality assurance observations in the classroom. The school‛s annual audit based on the Quality Indicators (Q.I.s) in “How Good is Our School?” has also been used to provide evidence for this report.

We had objective sources of evidence from QIO visits throughout the year.

This year‛s Standards and Quality Report is based around the new quality indicators from ‘How Good is Our School 3?‛, part 3 of HMIe‛s ‘Journey to Excellence‛ series and the new benchmark for performance measurement in Scotland‛s schools.

Progress on the Key Areas

1. Key Performance Outcomes 1.1 Improvements in performance. 1.2 Fulfilment of statutory duties.

How are we doing and how do we know? Our attainment was very good during 2007/08 but was affected by the staffing changes experienced by the school during the year and thus was not as high as was previously hoped. National assessments were administered to validate teachers‛ judgements of their pupils‛ abilities and figures show that 87% of children attained or exceeded the minimum 5-14 levels in reading with significant numbers having achieved above the minimum. In maths, the school figure was 84% with some excellent results in particular classes. The school percentage for writing was, like the national trend, a bit lower with 75% achieving the minimum level and again better results in some year groups than in others. As individuals could be identified from the results, we can only look at the whole school figures but there were classes within the school where 100% of the children in the class attained or exceeded the minimum 5-14 level required.

Some pupils with particular learning needs have specific targets set for them - Individualised Educational Programmes (I.E.P.s). These set out very clear targets for the individual child to attain, who is responsible for the targets, how the targets will be achieved, etc. All children with I.E.P.s have made very good progress towards meeting their targets with some exceeding expectations. If your child has an I.E.P., it will have been discussed with you during your parent interviews or within your child‛s progress report.

Baseline assessment of all Primary 1 pupils was undertaken using PIPS (Performance Indicators in Primary Schools). Children entering school can be given this assessment at the beginning and the end of Primary 1. Raw scores are recorded and sent to Durham University where national

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 4 standardisation takes place. The scores sent back give a value-added assessment for each child after their first year in school and enable us to compare our progress against that of other schools in Shetland and nationwide. Our results show we are achieving above the national average.

Attainment, particularly in the basics of reading, writing and mathematics is a high priority in all that we do but over this year with changes to education through ‘ A Curriculum for Excellence‛, we have ensured that achievement in its wider sense is given high priority in the planning of learning activities for individual pupils, classes and the whole school. Ensuring teaching and learning activities promote and nurture the Four Capacities – Successful Learners, Effective Contributors, Responsible Citizens and Confident Individuals has challenged our methods of delivery and resulted in changes in what and how we teach.

Visitors to the school regularly comment on the enthusiasm, confidence and good behaviour of our pupil population. Pupils at all levels of the school regularly exercise responsible citizenship and leadership. Pupils in Primary 6 and 7 completed a play-leader programme taught by the Active Schools Coordinator for the South Mainland, and led playtime games and activities for children in the lower primaries at playtime and lunchtime. Pupils also exercised democracy in their election of the Eco-school Committee, the Healthy School Committee and more recently in the Pupil Council. The school was successful in attaining our first Eco Flag and in gaining Health Promoting School status through the work of these committees.

Pupils and staff have achieved success in many other aspects of learning such as musical exams, sporting accomplishments and through courses and certificates achieved. Successes and achievements are celebrated at monthly Celebration Assemblies, a Celebration display in the school and at the end of this report.

Priorities in our School Development Plan (SDP) have had a measurable impact on improving the achievement, well-being and experiences of all learners at the school.

The devolved budget was used to fund improvements prioritised in the SDP and a number of outside sources of funding were utilised including Study Support Grants, Lottery grants and Youth Music Initiative funding. Additional central funding was used to continue to provide the Breakfast Club once National Priorities Funding ceased in March 2008 and to purchase some musical instruments.

Every effort is made at all times to ensure that the school and staff comply with and actively engage with all statutory requirements. Staff have attended training regarding Child Protection, Fire Risk management, Legionella management, the Additional Support for Learning Act and the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act and used this to inform and change their practice.

What are we going to do now? Ø Improve standards of attainment particularly in writing. Our targets for the year are high with an expectation that 92% of pupils will achieve or exceed the minimum levels in both reading and maths and that 88% will achieve or exceed these levels in writing; Ø Introduce tracking systems; Ø Develop opportunities for leadership throughout the school for pupils and staff; Ø Attain our second eco schools flag;

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 5 Ø Continue to use the school budget to best effect and make good use of outside sources of funding for particular projects to improve specifics including building community enterprise partnerships.

2. Impact on Learners 2.1 Learners‛ experiences 2.2 The school‛s success in involving parents and carers.

How are we doing and how do we know? Pupils are motivated and keen to learn. In consultation sessions and in written feedback, they report that they enjoy lessons, understand what they are learning and are happy in school. Classroom observation and work scrutiny provides evidence of our pupils‛ motivation to learn, the high expectation of teaching staff and the quality of feedback pupils receive. With the embedding of Assessment is for Learning throughout the school, there is more verbal feedback to pupils, increased understanding of targets, assessment criteria and next steps in learning. Regular use of techniques such as tickled pink/green for growth, peer assessment, no hands up, traffic lighting, WALT and WILF in evident throughout the school. Work in this area has been led by Ms Scanlan and Mrs Hay who have enthusiastically promoted AifL throughout the school and who have produced an excellent presentation on the work completed in the South Mainland cluster during this academic year that we hope to add to our recently developed school web-site. Work on AifL will continue next year with the development of a new collegiate group who will be working with materials bought from Learning Unlimited through Associated School Group AifL funding.

Recently, all permanent teaching and management staff completed training in Cooperative Learning techniques delivered by Mrs Chris Ward and financed by the Schools‛ Service. This new methodology has enthused all our staff who have put the training into practice with almost all pupils having taken part in lessons taught using this rationale. This will be developed further over the following years through staff development activities and sharing of good practice with other schools and links into work on developing the four capacities in all our children.

Pupils have been encouraged towards more independence in their learning particularly in the upper stages where personalisation and choice, proven motivators, are utilised to great effect in environmental studies and in homework projects, for example.

Levels of attendance are generally high with absences due mainly to illness, to children taking part in sporting events on the U.K. mainland and to family holidays during term time. There has been no evidence of truancy and no exclusions from school.

Uptake in the various after-school clubs has been high with attendance to holiday activities run by the Active Schools team during the Easter holidays being the best in Shetland.

Parents and the wider community have played vital roles in supporting pupils and the work of the school over the year with involvement in school events and activities, the forming of the new Parent Council, assisting with work in the school grounds and the polytunnel particularly over the holiday periods when a rota of volunteers kept all the produce well-watered, helping during trips, at after school clubs and during fundraising events. Parent Council assisted in improving the openness of the school to all by providing refreshments and conducting a survey at the parents‛ evenings in March. Parent volunteers have been used in some classes and we hope to extend this next year by inviting parents to help out with activities during Golden Time. Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 6 Parents received termly information regarding curricular work and homework for each class, had two formal meetings with class teachers, received 3 written termly reports on their child‛s targets and progess towards meeting the previous term‛s targets and a final comprehensive end of year report. Parent meetings were very well attended and parents were welcomed into the school. The Head Teacher has an open door policy which is regularly taken up by parents wishing to share information regarding their children, changing circumstances and concerns. Any complaints and concerns are dealt with as timeously and sensitively as possible.

What are we going to do now? Ø Continuing to develop AifL throughout the South Mainland cluster; Ø Embedding Cooperative Learning techniques; Ø Increasing pupil participation in planning of learning; Ø Improve consultation throughout the school community; Ø Increase parental participation in school and learning through the Parent Council.

3. Impact on Staff 3.1 The engagement of staff in the life and work of the school.

How are we doing and how do we know? Staff in our school are highly dedicated and hard-working individuals who have shown great commitment to the pupils in our care throughout the year. Staff have brought their personalities and interests into their teaching and created exciting and challenging learning activities, creative and informative displays and provided wide-ranging and stimulating opportunities for children in their classes and throughout the school. Examples include the wide range of Eco-school work, the building of a full size Pilot whale, whole school Rainforest display, water cycle animations, Health week, Christmas drama and musical activities and philanthropy work.

Staff meetings are very well attended and allow consultation, discussion and focussed working on curricular and welfare matters. Agreement to increase the number of meetings for teaching staff over 2008/09 to allow collegiate work on implementing Curriculum for Excellence will help us drive this forward together. A timetable for these meetings has been produced in line with the timescales in our School Development Plan. Meetings with other groups of staff have been planned for next year too with monthly meetings for the Nursery team and for the ASN team agreed. Regular meetings with the instrumental staff and with the playground staff have also begun. These meetings have been effective in achieving a willingness to work together to improve the experiences of our learners and the rest of our school family. Almost all aspects of school-life are consulted on with staff influencing and supporting change to improve the quality of learning and teaching and school experience for all.

Some members of staff have been keen to take forward certain developments and have begun to work on these. For example, Mrs Graydon has led the development of the school library as a learning resource and with the help of Mrs Leona Smith has transformed it into a bright and welcoming learning area. Pupils will be accessing the library for an extended period of time weekly next year and will be able to change their Accelerated Reading books daily with assistance from Mrs Graydon if required. Another example is the new school website which is being regularly updated by Mr MacKenzie who has recently delivered staff training in Contribute software through which the website is created and managed.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 7 All teaching staff and some support staff have engaged in relevant professional development with great success including training on asthma management, the ASN Act and the Integrated Assessment Framework (IAF). Mrs Hay and Ms Scanlan successfully took on management and leadership roles during the year, led the Associated Schools Group for Assessment is for Learning, produced a PowerPoint presentation to share with other schools and mentored our two probationary teachers to full registration by the GTC Scotland. Mrs Hay and Ms Scanlan also attended training on assessment and recording in French. Miss Duncan, Mrs Blyth, Miss Hughson, Mrs Moar, Mrs Hay and Mrs Scanlon attended Cooperative Learning training, Miss Duncan attended Child at the Centre 2 training and Mrs Henderson attended Child Protection Training. Ms Simpson served on a number of working groups including the SIC ICT Strategy Group, the Blueprint for Shetland Schools group, LNCT Management Time Working Group and chaired the authority Head Teachers‛ Meetings with Mr Brian Wishart for the academic session. Mrs Morton and Ms Simpson currently sit on the Service‛s Music Festival Working Group. All teaching staff have been developing their IT skills especially in the use of the interactive whiteboards that are now in all of our classrooms including the ASN base. Mrs Birnie has undertaken Phoenix training and in house training in various procedures and practices from our DSMO.

We welcomed staff from Brae, Sound, Sandwick and Bell‛s Brae Schools in Shetland to share good practice whilst our staff visited Anderson High School, Bell‛s Brae, Ollaberry and Scalloway. We also had visits to our Early Stages Unit from the TAC team and two Head teachers from South Lanarkshire to learn from our experiences.

What are we going to do now? Ø Ensure whole school cohesion in delivery of Curriculum for Excellence; Ø Use cooperative learning techniques throughout our teaching and in staff meetings; Ø Work together as a whole school in a variety of contexts starting with Golden Time; Ø Further develop leadership throughout the staff team.

4. Impact on the Community 4.1 The school‛s success in working with and engaging with the local community. 4.2 The school‛s success in working with and engaging with the wider community.

How are we doing and how do we know? The local community and environment is used to great effect to enrich the learning experiences of our pupils. By providing a wide variety of hands-on, active learning opportunities, focusing on real- life situations and utilising the expertise of the parent group and wider community, we have enhanced the overall learning environment of our pupils.

Members of the local community are actively involved with our school. Pupils have visited local amenities such as the Shetland Croft House Museum, Sumburgh Airport and Quendale Mill, various habitats throughout the South Mainland to carry out environmental science work and local churches and businesses as part of their curricular work. A wide range of community representatives have been involved in delivering lessons, giving practical advice and facilitating learning from life. Examples include Mr Tony Mockford teaching a course in First Aid to Primary 5 and Primary 7, Mr Gerry Bigelow leading Primary 7 on a visit to the archaeological site at Quendale and showing Primary 4 what being an archaeologist meant in relation to his group‛s Shetland finds and the class‛s Egyptian topic.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 8 We have recently, in conjunction with the Ness Learning Centre, arranged a series of parent/child workshops to take place in the school but led by the NLC staff and have an open day planned to increase awareness of what the centre can offer for adult learners. The first of these workshops, using Photostory 3 software, was very well attended and we look forward to hosting more of these sessions in the future.

Our learners have visited a wide variety of sites in Shetland throughout the year to add value and meaning to their classroom experiences. These range from a visit to the World War 2 museum, The Cabin, in Vidlin to a trip to Scalloway Fisheries College and Scalloway Castle as part of a tourism topic where Primary 5 were the teachers/tour guides for our nursery and Primary 1 children to a guided tour of the wind generators at Burradale as part of a climate change topic.

School events are always very well attended by not only families of children at the school but the wider community too. Residents of Overtonlea Care Centre were welcomed to the school to enjoy the children‛s Christmas performances. Our instrumentalists visited the Centre at Christmas to play carols for those attending the day care facility as well as those clients living in the centre and the staff. In June, Mrs Irvine and Mrs Hay accompanied Primary 6 to Overtonlea to sing songs from the 1940‛s that they had learned as part of their WW2 project and to spend time with the clients who had lived through these difficult times. This visit was highly successful and greatly appreciated by all and will be repeated next year.

We have assisted Shetland College in placing two HNC students throughout the year and we have welcomed work experience students from both Sandwick J. High and Anderson High School.

A Planning Group of Shetland Recreational Trust staff and the South Mainland School Cluster along with Active Schools staff have met regularly and planned sporting activities for the South Mainland through the year during and after school and for over the holiday periods. This group has also had representation from the South Mainland Youth Leader linking with Youth Services and provision.

Through our self-evaluation, we have identified that we need to develop more links with other schools and communities in other areas of Shetland and beyond. Our School Development Plan explains the ways we intend to do this including linking with Whiteness and Brae primary departments to share good practice, exploring the possibility of linking with a school in France and we are currently waiting to be twinned with a school in the Tamil Nadu region of southern India through connections with the British Council.

What are we going to do now? Ø Engage with the wider community through the Parent Council to extend the field of our involvement; Ø Increase links with other schools in Shetland; Ø Increase links with other schools and communities out-with Shetland.

5. Delivery of Education 5.1 The curriculum. 5.2 Teaching for effective learning. 5.3 Meeting learning needs. 5.4 Assessment for learning. 5.5 Expectations and promoting achievement. Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 9 5.6 Equality and fairness. 5.7 Partnerships with learners and parents. 5.8 Care, welfare and development. 5.9 Improvement through self-evaluation.

How are we doing and how do we know? The curriculum in Dunrossness Primary School follows national advice contained in the 5-14 Guidelines, ensuring that pupils are taught English Language (and French at P6 and P7), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Expressive Arts, Religious and Moral Education, Personal & Social Development, Health Education and Information & Communication Technology. Over recent years, it has also been a requirement to include citizenship and enterprise within the curriculum. As the new Curriculum for Excellence (CFE) outcomes were released, we have been using the draft outcomes in our planning and beginning to break away from 5-14. These outcomes have all been released now and are available on the Learning and Teaching Scotland website at www.lts.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence.

Teaching and learning continue to be monitored by the Head teacher in a number of ways including classroom visits. These occur on a formal basis 2 times per year, and help to spread good practice throughout the school. The Head Teacher regularly teaches each class on a rota basis to allow class teachers to consult with the ASN teacher. This opportunity allows monitoring of classroom management, behaviour and ethos. Jotters and pupils‛ work are also monitored regularly by the Principal Teacher and the Head Teacher. Mrs Christine Geldard from the Education Authority monitors the work of the nursery twice during the year and Mrs Maggie Spence, QIO, visits the school termly to monitor the quality of specific aspects of our work.

The Head Teacher also monitors the quality and content of teachers‛ planning termly and the Record of Work for each class at the end of each term along with a variety of other aspects of school-life to ensure the standard of learning and teaching in the highest we can achieve. This helps with our self-evaluation and ensures that aspects of learning and teaching such as provision of active learning, personalisation and choice and Assessment is for Learning are being developed in all our classrooms.

Due to the working practices within the Early Stages Unit, our nursery children are very familiar with the Primary 1 classroom and staff so there is no further need for transition activities except to ensure parents are aware of and happy with the arrangements for starting school. To this end, Ms Simpson and Mrs Blyth held an evening meeting to welcome this group of parents to the school, to show them the materials the children would be using, explain how aspects such as early reading, phonics and numeracy would be taught, give advice as to how parents could help their children with their learning and to invite questions. Most parents attended this meeting, and engaged with the staff. The meeting concluded with a tour of the whole school which parents found useful and interesting as some of them had not been to some parts of the school since they had attended as pupils themselves.

Parents of pupils beginning nursery were offered a Home Visit from Miss Duncan and Mrs Wadley prior to their child starting nursery to allow the children to meet the staff in the safety and comfort of their own home. The uptake of these visits was high and feedback was very positive.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 10 Primary/Secondary liaison continued with Guidance and ASN staff from Sandwick Junior High School visiting Dunrossness on a number of occasions. Enhanced transition procedures were put in place for pupils who we identified as being likely to benefit. These were very successful and involved the pupils visiting the General Room and ASN base in Sandwick weekly supported by a member of our staff team.

Our Primary 7 children visited the secondary departments there on Wednesday mornings during last term to partake in a range of lessons from Science to French. The South Mainland Cluster took part in three projects aimed at assisting transition as well as introducing a programme of increased transition activities to allow staff in primary to shadow Secondary 1 pupils and for Secondary English and Maths staff to shadow P7 pupils in each of the cluster‛s associated primary schools.

One project based around improving thinking skills using CASE materials involved Ms Scanlan teaching a set of science lessons to Primary 7 which would then be completed in Secondary. The second project involved mapping skills taught in Primary 7, then added to by visits from Mr McLeman from the Secondary department and backed up by a day at the Voxter Outdoor Centre for all Primary 7 pupils across the cluster when they put their skills into practice supported by teaching staff from the three schools. This was a highly successful day and is now a set part of our transition programme. The third and newest project involved the children keeping a diary of their personal thoughts prior to and during their transition visits to Sandwick. This was then continued when they moved onto secondary school. This project will be evaluated by the staff concerned and the pupils who took part before we decide to repeat it next year or not.

All classrooms are now equipped with an Interactive Whiteboard with a Smart Board in P1 to P5 and Promethean ActivBoards in P6 and P7. A Class in a Box suite of 24 wireless connected laptops has been ordered and will be financed through the SIC ITC budget. We envisage this will greatly improve the pupils IT and research skills throughout the school.

The learning climate throughout the school is stimulating and challenging with most pupils focussed on their class work. Some pupils need a little more support to sustain concentration and attention at times and it is hoped that the level of support staff will be maintained next year and targeted towards these pupils.

Additional Support for pupils was constantly reviewed and utilised to best effect. The timetable was modified regularly after consultation between staff to ensure pupils‛ needs were being met. I.E.P.s were produced for pupils with specific learning needs.

The school took part in a pilot project in multi-agency working in the South Mainland. The project involved trialling the I.A.F. or Integrated Assessment Framework which is being brought into other local authorities in Scotland. This is a process with associated paperwork that should lead to better joined-up working for children with various needs and their families. We have opened a number of these in the South Mainland and are, on the whole, very positive about the pilot. This pilot will end in March 2009 although the process will continue for those who have an IAF.

Our classroom assistant and ASN auxiliaries have provided invaluable assistance in supporting all the children‛s learning, raising attainment and in improving the quality of the children‛s school experience.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 11 Continuing work on formative assessment has taken place as described above re Assessment is for Learning.

Parents are provided with a comprehensive report annually, three shorter termly reports, two evening parent appointments, an open day and many other opportunities to informally receive information regarding their children. A home-school diary is provided for all children as a vehicle for 2-way communication between home and school. By P5, we expect pupils to take more ownership of their school experience and share this with their parents. We developed guidelines for the use of this diary after comments received at the Parents‛ Evenings in March 2008. Parents were provided with a wide variety of information letters throughout the year. At the end of each term, we produced a newsletter written by pupils and staff about their work, visits and visitors we had welcomed. These were very well received by all.

It is our policy to create a positive learning environment within classrooms, by setting high standards for achievement and by motivating pupils by the regular use of praise and reward systems. Promoting positive behaviour and rewarding good work has two benefits in that it gives clear encouragement to those receiving the praise and it also shows others in the class an example of what is expected of them. A variety of methods to achieve this are incorporated into all teachers‛ classroom management and the school as a whole. Everyone takes responsibility for maintaining a high standard throughout the school. This will be further developed next session with the introduction of whole school Golden Time as a behaviour incentive.

All our staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the care and welfare of the children in our school and are fully aware of the updated Shetland Islands Council Interagency Child Protection Procedures. Mrs Henderson and Mrs Simpson have recently attended refresher days.

The school operates within a climate of mutual trust and respect, for adults and children alike. The pupils are frequently praised by visitors to the school and when out on excursions, due to the positive attitudes and high standards of behaviour expected and displayed as well as the smart uniform that adds to our school identity.

All pupils and staff have had opportunities to give their opinions of our work, what they think is good and what we need to be better at as well as the chance to give their thoughts as to how we can do this.

All teaching staff worked in groups on a broad-brush audit of all our work before coming together to discuss our strengths and development needs. Through this exercise, parental and Parent Council consultation and work done in all the classes with all pupils, the priorities for the next year and beyond were identified and developed into our School Development Plan.

What are we going to do now? Ø Complete audit of current practice w.r.t. CfE; Ø Establish a whole school programme for science and social studies with relevant cross- curricular links prior to working on RME and Health and wellbeing outcomes; Ø Create a scheme for planning which incorporates CfE yet allows scope for teacher individuality in planning and teaching; Ø Continue to expand active learning opportunities for all; Ø Involve pupils in planning of learning; Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 12 Ø Continue to promote formative assessment throughout the school; Ø Develop whole school Golden Time and involve all staff in delivering activities.

6. Policy Development and Planning 6.1 Policy Review and Development 6.2 Participation in Policy and Planning 6.3 Planning for Improvement

How are we doing and how do we know? There has been little policy development throughout the year with the school adopting Schools Service policies as they are issued.

We are committed to communicating, consulting and engaging with staff teams, learners and parents and are developing systematic arrangements for this. Staff, learners and parents are confident in contributing ideas, expressing concerns and making suggestions. Recent consultation opportunities have included a questionnaire in Nursery, Tickled Pink and Green for Growth at Parents‛ Evenings, workshop consultation, work in classrooms, questionnaires for support staff, visiting specialists and instrumental instructors, staff meetings and broad brush audit.

We have a clear and well-understood cycle for improvement planning which has learning and teaching as the prime consideration. Self-evaluation and Planning for Improvement utilised the six- point scale from HGIOS3 and the Quality Indicators in How Good is our School 3? Progress on the School Development Plan is attached as an appendix to this document.

What are we going to do now? Ø Early Years: to link the new document ‘The Child at The Centre 2‛ to the Care Standards to evaluate our work; Ø Revise nursery policies as required; Ø Audit school policies and prioritise policy development over a three year cycle.

7. Management and Support of Staff 7.1 Staff sufficiency, recruitment and retention. 7.2 Staff deployment and teamwork. 7.3 Staff development and review.

How are we doing and how do we know? As previously indicated, staffing has been an issue throughout 2007/08 and it is hoped that a period of stability will now ensue.

Due to cuts in our teaching staff by the SIC, we will be introducing composite classes for the first time in 2008/09. This will mean splitting a class to form two composite classes.

Support staff and ASN staff are deployed to primarily meet the needs of the pupils and to ensure all teachers receive support with tasks such as photocopying. ASN timetables are reviewed and changed termly to ensure those with the greatest need receive the most help.

The Head teacher covered classes to allow meaningful consultation between class teachers and the ASN teacher. A short minute of each meeting ensured that all involved in the learning and teaching of each class were kept informed and aware of each other‛s responsibilities. These minutes were Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 13 shared with the Head teacher who was then able to follow up concerns, discuss these with the relevant staff and involve outside agencies when necessary.

We have established a collaborative and collegiate approach to our work. An ethos of team working and professional engagement is evident within our school. Staff are mutually supportive of each other. Staff briefings take place every Friday morning, are very well attended and prove to be an excellent avenue for two-way communication about issues and events for the week ahead. The information discussed is then given in paper form to other groups of staff not present at that time such as the office staff, kitchen staff, cleaning staff and instrumental instructors. This ensures that everyone is able to see at a glance what is happening in the school. All staff take responsibility for communicating, consulting and sharing information with colleagues.

All teaching staff and nearly all our support staff have received a professional review meeting. Our staff review process identified the strengths and skills of all staff and tried to meet their development needs. Staff development was well planned, matched to identify individual and school needs and drew on local opportunities. Our staff were aware of the aims and priorities for staff development and how these related to review and school improvement. Staff learning and professional development is collaborative and collegiate with our staff coming together throughout the year to share understanding and engage in joint staff development on common priorities and practices.

What are we going to do now? Ø Manage the effects of composite classes in the school; Ø Source innovative and exciting projects which link to staff review and development needs that will also have a positive impact on pupils and other members of staff; Ø Evaluate staff development activities and assess the impact on learning and teaching.

8. Partnerships and Resources 8.1 Partnerships with the community, educational establishments, agencies and employers. 8.2 Management of finance for learning 8.3 Management and use of resources and space for learning. 8.4 Managing information.

How are we doing and how do we know? The Parent Council has supported the school well. We have involved members in supporting our communication tree for emergency school closure and at evening events in helping with refreshments. The Parent Council also helped in planning a Gardening Day during the Easter break in the school grounds and with end-of-term discos for P1-4 and P5-7 which proved to be very popular with the pupils who have asked they become annual events. The Parent Council organised a highly profitable and successful Sunday Teas in the Bigton Hall during June raising £850 for the School Fund. Minutes of meetings were displayed in the local shops and also now in the entrance foyer of the school on a dedicated Parent Council notice board.

Transition and enhanced transition arrangements are well embedded between our school and Sandwick J. High school. This year, the links were even greater due to an increase in joint working on transition projects between the cluster schools as previously described.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 14 The school has maintained very effective links with a number of health service, social work and educational professionals. These services work together very well in Dunrossness Primary to support our pupils and often meet with pupils and parents within the school to deliver their services.

Although we work well within the community, we need to develop ways to work with a wider range of community partners and to ensure the school plays an important and integral part in the vitality of and the bringing together of all the South Mainland communities we serve.

Developments on the SDP are costed and requisition items are ranked by necessity. Monthly budget monitoring assisted by the Devolved School Management Officer, Mrs Nancy Budge, has ensured full use was made of the allocated budget in good time. Funding is sought from outside sources whenever possible.

Our school is very well resourced with up-to-date and well-maintained tools for learning, particularly with regard to IT resources. Resources need to be managed centrally to avoid unnecessary and expensive duplication and to ensure they are used well to achieve best value.

Our school buildings, including our swimming pool, are secure, safe and maintained to a high standard. Health and safety aspects of accommodation and facilities have been regularly scrutinised with any hazards identified and addressed through risk management. We have implemented relevant health and safety legislation and have been responsive to new initiatives, policies and procedures as necessary.

Our school, including classrooms, social areas, corridors and playgrounds, provides a safe, enjoyable and stimulating environment for learning, social and leisure activities. We have appropriate spaces for classes, staff, storage, display and learners‛ social provision. However, some areas for learning have yet to be developed to their full potential, particularly the outdoor areas, the computer suite and library. We have yet to fully meet statutory duties on accessibility for disabled users and are awaiting work to begin on provision of lifts to ensure all parts of our buildings are accessible to all in our community.

Classroom and corridor displays of learners‛ work fully support learning and teaching, provide opportunities to celebrate learning and help us to share our learning with other pupils, staff, parents and visitors to the school.

We continue to use Phoenix as the information management system for the school within the Schools Service. This system is used to collect data regarding attendance, assessment and personal details for all pupils and staff.

What are we going to do now? Ø Welcome and utilise new Parent Council to enhance all aspects of school; Ø Work through the IAF towards better joined up working with partner agencies; Ø Develop ways to work with a wider range of community partners to bring together all the South Mainland communities we serve; Ø Pursue outside funding for a variety of projects; Ø Improve specific areas of the school to provide stimulating and interesting learning and leisure spaces; Ø Meet statutory duties on accessibility for users with disabilities with provision of lifts.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 15 9. Leadership 9.1 Vision, values and aims. 9.2 Leadership and direction. 9.3 Developing people and partnerships. 9.4 Leadership of improvement and change.

How are we doing and how do we know? Our vision, values and aims is an important area for development in 2008/09 as there is a pressing need to explore the vision and values for the school and its community in the light of all our recent changes not least with the shift in thinking about education and pedagogy being driven forward through the Curriculum for Excellence. This will involve consultation of all stakeholders and will lead to a common purpose throughout the school and community which is central to all the work we all do. The aims of the school will link with the Curriculum for Excellence, the four capacities and the principles behind them.

We strive for continuous improvement in all aspects of school life. Staff regularly enrich the learning and teaching in their classrooms with ideas, resources and educational research they bring to staff meetings and to their practice from planned development time or from their personal CPD.

Formal monitoring and evaluation of learning and teaching has taken place with classroom and Record of Work monitoring, work scrutiny, tracking and national assessment monitoring. This cycle will be completed during 2008/09 with new methods of monitoring forward planning to evaluate the impact of initiatives such as AifL, CFE and active learning on the attainment and experience of the pupils.

A School Development Plan was formulated from the priorities identified in the self-evaluation exercises and in consultation with stakeholders and shared with Parent Council and school staff. Priorities for the next three years were set. Each priority is accompanied by a fully costed and resourced detailed action plan. A summary is included with this report although the full SDP is available from the school on request or is available on the school website.

The school practises democratic systems throughout, helping to maintain good teamwork and collegiality. All staff contribute to developing and improving the school and the experiences of those within it. A programme of team meetings has been organised for 2008/09 to help ensure groups of staff have an opportunity to work together and to voice their suggestions, ideas and concerns.

This is a time of great change in Scottish education making it both an exciting time and a challenging time for us all. We have embraced Curriculum for Excellence in our school and look forward to further developing our plans in the new school year, improving the experiences we provide and facilitate for our learners and staff and implementing the creative ideas into innovative practice.

What are we going to do now? Ø Adapt School Aims in line with Curriculum for Excellence ; Ø Improve the quality of consultation with stakeholders; Ø Embed Cooperative Learning into our practice including how we work as a staff;

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 16 Ø Give all staff the freedom to think creatively about curriculum design and assist the development of new methods of planning and delivery of exciting learning experiences whilst always ensuring attainment and wider achievement are improved; Ø Continue to develop Assessment is for Learning, CFE and the use of new technologies as appropriate for our learners and teachers. Achievements and Special Events.

Many of our successes and achievements have been mentioned in the body of this report. This section summarises those not already acknowledged and gives an idea of the range of visits the learners have made out of school through the year as well as the variety of visitors we have welcomed into the school to enhance the children‛s learning. This list is not exhaustive and we apologise if anyone has been inadvertently left out.

Mrs Angela Hopwood supported Early Stages staff in improving oral hygiene and promoting correct methods of tooth-brushing.

Mrs Maria Miller taught dialect singing throughout the nursery and school helping children with pronunciation and meaning of dialect words and the songs themselves.

Mr Martin Rickard helped P4, P5 and P7 with team building activities giving the children opportunities to problem solve in unusual scenarios.

Ms Joy Duncan assisted us when we found ourselves without a music teacher by taking the children for weekly lessons in African singing and drumming. This work was then recorded using funding from the Youth Music Initiative to produce a CD with the help of Mr Fraser Mouat. This CD should be ready for sale in November 2008.

Mrs Alex Thorp led a well attended programme of Number Box sessions for parents in the school.

After school clubs over the course of the year included dance, athletics and netball.

The whole school took part in the Voar Redd Up cleaning lots of different areas around the school, nearby coastal reaches and roadside verges.

The main fundraiser of the year was the school Coffee Evening which raised well over £1000 for school funds due to the hard work of the school staff, learners and parent volunteers.

Staff also held a Macmillan Coffee morning during break-time and also raised £100 for Macmillan Cancer Support through an eco-friendly Christmas card project.

‘Send a Cow‛ workers visited school, held a public meeting and gave a presentation on their work in Africa to P5, 6 and 7 before speaking with P3 pupils about their enterprise project which was growing plants in recycled containers to sell at our Sunday Teas to raise funds for ‘Send a Cow‛.

Primary 5 successfully completed a philanthropy enterprise raising money to donate to RSPCA and to adopt a pack of endangered wolves.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 17 Active Schools Coordinator, Mr Jake Williams supported the school well in training our playleaders, providing cycling training for P6 and Club Golf coaching for P5 as well as helping us plan and deliver a very successful Health Week in May 2008. Some of the activities offered are listed below: Ø Pete Richardson took P6 on an outdoor adventure Ø Jake Williams gave talks on healthy diet and helped make smoothies with the pupils Ø Nursery and P1/2 did a sponsored Pedal Push to raise money for Barnardos Ø Staff enjoyed a session of Pilates after school Ø Angela Hopwood encouraged good oral hygiene, Ø Dogs against Drugs visited all classes up to P6 Ø Maria Leask taught traditional dancing Ø Leona Burgess gave a talk and demonstration about germs and hand-washing Ø P7 went to ‘Choices for Life‛ at Clickimin Ø Shona Manson from ‘Mind your Head‛ told the children about the ‘Spiggie Fun Run‛ and about mental health awareness Ø Jenny Gilmour taught a drugs and alcohol awareness slot with the Drugs Box with P6 and P7 Ø Karaoke session with pupils and staff to reduce stress and improve wellbeing Ø Eco-competitions were run to promote saving energy. We also took part in Walk to School week with most of the school walking to school from the Boddam Playing Fields where we arranged for the busses to drop the children. This was very enjoyable due to the fine spell of weather that week.

We launched our school website on 23rd May 2008 and are continually adding to the resources available on it, using it as a tool for celebrating success as well as for informing parents and the community about our work.

During Science and Technology Week in May, we visited a variety of workshops brought up from the Scottish Mainland and funded by the Schools Service. Nursery, P1 and P2 went to Jammin‛ Fitness workshops in Sandwick, P2 and P3 enjoyed a circus workshop, P4, 5, 6 and 7 children worked on energy in Light Fantastic workshops and P4 -7 enjoyed in-school Shell workshops building buggies. All these activities were stimulating, challenging and gave the children practical and active experience of science.

Nursery and Primary 1 attended a musical production by Scottish Opera called “The Undersea World of Bubble McBea” in Clickimin. The production was excellent and fitted into our seashore topic very well.

Pupils attended various sports days out including tag rugby, cross-country, badminton, table tennis, hockey, football and netball tournaments in our school and at Sandwick, Brae and Clickimin and the South Mainland Sports Day at Sandwick Junior High. Pupils were then picked to represent the South Mainland at the County Sports in Lerwick where the team did very well indeed. Individual pupils have excelled at their chosen sports and have represented Shetland in football, swimming, hockey and cross-country events on the Scottish Mainland. A number of our pupils have represented their clubs and Shetland in a variety of horse-riding events throughout the U.K.

School Sports Day, organised by Mrs Joan Smith, was attended by a large crowd of parents and well-wishers and thoroughly enjoyed by the children and staff. The sportsmanship of the children was commented on by visitors.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 18 Nursery, P1 and P5 visited Sumburgh Head, Sumburgh airport, Scalloway castle and NAFC together with P5 acting as tour guides for the younger children.

Visiting drummers gave a demonstration on Parents‛ Open Day when we also held the Premier of our previous year‛s P7s film animation of ‘Beowulf‛. This was followed by an informal concert by our instrumental pupils, refreshments and an opportunity to celebrate our successes and let parents and friends of the school wander from class to class to view the wonderful displays of work throughout the whole school. Classes visited Up Helly Aa, Shetland Amenity Trust, Sumburgh RSPB Reserve, Andy‛s Cabin in Vidlin, Shetland Museum, Crofthouse Museum, Waste to Energy Plant, the wind turbines at Burradale, Lerwick meteorological observatory, Laaward Beach, Quendale Mill, the dig at Brew with archaeologists from Maine USA and other local places of interest to add to their educational experiences.

Visitors not already mentioned included Ms Frances Tait from the Shetland Dialect project, Mr Gordon McCracken, Ms Keri Hamilton from Christian Youth Camp, Mr Chris Dyer, archaeologist, Mick Clifton and his Recycling Roadshow, Mrs Karen Medley and Mrs Kirstie Anderson to help with Health and Wellbeing topics, Mr Tony Mockford to train P5 and P7 in First Aid, Ms Helen Moncrieff to lead the RSPB Great Bird Watch, PC Ian Brown to teach the children about road safety and his job as a policeman, Mr Matthew Lawrence ballet instructor and Mrs Hilda Middleton with her ‘Make Do and Mend‛ activities.

We would like to extend a huge ‘thank you’ to all the above and to the many more individuals who have played a wide and varied role in helping to provide our pupils with a diverse and enjoyable educational experience.

Dunrossness Primary School Standards and Quality Report 2007/2008 October 2008 19