School Standards & Quality Report for Session 2017/8 and Improvement Plan for Session 2018/19

Summary for Parents

All schools are required to write an annual Standards and Quality Report. This document reflects on progress made with priorities over the course of the previous session and makes evaluative comments about key aspects of the school. We are also required to prepare an Improvement Plan which sets out our priorities for development over the course of the next session. Both documents are available in full on our website:

Paper copies are available on request from the school office.

This report is a summary of these documents which we issue to parents. We hope you find it useful and informative.

 Standards and Quality Report

Please note the term ‘Virtual Comparator’ is used as a measure of success in this report. It is a way of comparing the performance of all pupils at our school with a group of pupils, taken from around Scotland, who have the same backgrounds as those of our school. This gives a fair way of comparing our own performance to that of a similar group of pupils, so that we can see where performance is strong and where it might be considered as needing improvement.

Improvements in Performance

Standards of attainment continue to be good and compare very well with results in Edinburgh and across Scotland. We continue to monitor attainment to seek ways in which pupils can be supported to achieve their very best.

In S1-3 our young people have made very good progress in their Curriculum for Excellence courses. Almost all of the young people in S1, 2 are currently judged to be working well within their learning in Level 3 in all subjects. In S3 the majority of young people are working within level 4 and this leads to them presenting within National 5 subjects in S4.

Our results at the end of S4 continue to be good. The majority of measures across the school have been sustained or improved with positive trends and are above our Virtual Comparators.

We also continue to have good results within our senior school. We judge attainment in S5 and S6 to be good.

Areas for improvement on which we will focus this session are improving outcomes for the highest attaining pupils in S1-

Literacy & Numeracy: Most of our young people attending St Augustine’s school attain literacy and numeracy at level 5 by the time they leave. This is above our Virtual Comparator. We work closely with partners to attain this, in particular with those who do not attend the school.

We work hard to promote an ethos of achievement across our senior school and almost all young people responded very well to our challenge. These young people have been well rewarded and the number of our leavers moving on to Further and Higher Education continues to increase. We have also opened up a wider number of academic and vocational options for all young people. Our tracking scheme is embedded across S1-6 and ensures all young people know exactly what they are currently working towards, currently working at and what strategies they need to employ to ensure success.

Positive destinations after school are very strong and are consistently well above our Virtual Comparator. Almost all young people who left in the 2017/18 session are currently in a positive destination.

Wider achievement also continues to be an area of strength, with pupils being presented for a wide range of vocational and volunteering awards, as well as engaging with programmes such as JET (Jobs, Education and Training), Foundation Apprenticeships, Career Academies and the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative. Opportunities to perform, participate and compete in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, such as Sports, Arts, Music, Dance, and to participate in travel opportunities, are many and varied.

 Learners’ Experiences

Most young people are motivated and actively engaged in their learning. Young people’ views on learning and teaching are regularly sought and most feel that they are making good progress with their learning. Extensive curricular and extra-curricular programmes, along with many opportunities for excursions out of school, provide a range of experiences to challenge and engage pupils, increasing confidence and broadening horizons. Vocational courses are increasingly available, delivered through school or in partnership with other providers, and the school has an excellent record of supporting pupils into positive destinations, including further and higher education. Young people are encouraged to demonstrate leadership at all levels and achievement is celebrated at every opportunity, through the bulletin, newsletters, the website, twitter, postcards, assemblies, notice boards, performances and at two awards ceremonies every year.

We have a model to facilitate pupil voice and this in an integral part of our school improvement. Our Pupil Parliament meet regularly and feedback to Senior Management Team. Plans for changes are created collegiately and this is fed back to the whole school.

Meeting Learners’ Needs

Young people are regularly assessed for learning needs; strategies and resources, including access to ICT, are put in place to address barriers to learning. Specialist staff are deployed effectively, and the school works with parents and many partner agencies to ensure young peoples’ needs are met. Getting it Right for Every Child, a national framework designed to ensure the needs of all children are met continues to be used in the school.

Curriculum

Our curriculum model and subject variety continues to be developed to meet the needs of all young people. Additional course options continue to be added year on year such as Career Academy, Foundation Apprenticeships, Sports Leaders, Electronics, (extracurricular and in school including group), JET (Jobs, Enterprise & Training work placement).
Improvement through Self-Evaluation
As a school we are committed to improvement through self-evaluation. Data is regularly and rigorously monitored; views of stakeholders are sought through surveys and focus groups; classroom observation takes place regularly. The conclusions from these activities have been used to develop improvement strategies and target support.

 Improvement Plan

Over the next session we will be working within the CEC Strategic Priorities for Schools 20162019.

1. Improvement in children and young people’s attainment/achievement, particularly in literacy and numeracy.
2. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people.
3. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing.
4. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people.
5. All schools and establishments should engage in professional learning programmes for all staff in relation to promoting accessibility and equalities, with particular regard to children and young people with autism.
   Detailed action plans have been developed for each of these priorities.