Education Services
Standards and Quality Report
Inverclyde Academy
2015/16
Work Hard, Aim High, Achieve Your Potential
Contents
Page
1. Our School
3
2. Our Vision
4
3. Key Achievements 2015/16
4
4. School Leadership
5
5. Teacher Professionalism
6
6. Parental Engagement
7
7. Assessment of progress
8
8. School Improvement
11
9. Developing our Curriculum
13
10. Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion
14
11. Planning for the future.
2
Our School
Inverclyde Academy is a six year multi-denominational secondary school situated in the south
west of Greenock. The school serves the communities of Wemyss Bay, Inverkip, southwest,
central and the east of Greenock.
The current school roll is 997, our capacity is 1118.
The present compliment of full time teaching staff is 72.8 which includes a school leadership
team of three DHTs, 12 Principal Teachers of Curriculum, and 10 Principal Teachers of Pupil
Support. Session 2014-15 saw the appointment of a new HT.
The school benefits greatly from a strong non-teaching support team comprising; a School
Support Manager, Finance Officer, office staff, technicians, Home Link workers and classroom
assistants. This session the school appointed a librarian.
The school enjoys positive links with parents and carers, associated primary schools and with the
local community. We are well served by a small parent council, and enthusiastic pupil councils.
The school has a very supportive Chaplaincy team who create a positive ethos at each and every
religious observance. Throughout our time we have developed strong community links with a
number of local partners including; Active Schools, Community Learning and Development,
“More Choices More Chances” – a team dedicated to supporting pupils into future destinations,
West College Scotland and Focus West – an organisation that supports senior pupils aspire to
university.
We provide a broad and balanced curriculum leading to a full range of SQA qualifications and
wider achievements. Most pupils continue into S5 and then go on to complete S6. Our Senior
Phase curriculum is supported by courses at the local college.
3
Our Vision:
Getting it Right for every Child, Citizen & Community
In Inverclyde Academy we aim to provide a welcoming and friendly environment, which
celebrates the diversity of our community. We strive to ensure that all pupils are successful
learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors and prepared to
take their place in society. This is achieved through working together with young people, their
families and the community, based on a shared sense of direction. The school communicates
with parents/carers and the local community through regular meetings and information events,
regular newsletters, text messaging, Twitter and the school website.
The vision that underpins all of our work is: Work hard, Aim high, Achieve your potential.
Key Achievements in 2015/16
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A continued decrease in exclusions and referrals
Increase in positive communications with parents
The opportunities offered to young people beyond the classroom.
Increased performance in awards achieved by pupils who attend courses at the
local college
Increase performance in SQA results (AUG 2015) Nat 5 level
Development of Enhanced Transition Policy in partnership with parents, pupils and
associated Primary School colleagues.
Engagement of all staff in planning and developing the school Broad General
curriculum in line with the principles of Curriculum for Excellence.
School achievement of Recognition of Commitment, Rights Respecting Schools
Increased opportunities to celebrate pupil’s success.
Development of Self-evaluation leading to improvement procedures in line with
NIF and HGIOS? 4
Improvement in proceduresand knowledge of all staff relating to the GIRFEC
agenda (wellbeing assessments, Pupil Plans, Wellbeing meetings)
4
School Leadership
The Quality and impact of leadership within schools and at all levels
Evidence we gather:
 Self-evaluation of HGIOS 4 QI 1.3 Leadership of Change
 Number of teachers who are undertaking a leadership role in aspects of the school
improvement agenda
 How staff are undertaking professional development to meet the Standards for
Leadership and Management
 The number of staff both teaching and nonteaching involved in the improvement groups,
such as the finance committee.
The number of staff, both promoted and unpromoted, teaching and support staff, stepping
forward to take on the leadership of various aspects projects or events has significantly increased
and is very good. Many of the whole school improvement groups are now chaired, highly
effectively, by Principal Teachers and unpromoted staff. Aspects of the wider life of the school,
such as our School Fund, Fairtrade, Pupil Council, and Prize-giving, are all led by unpromoted or
support staff.
We have further enhanced the opportunity of our young people to take on leadership roles and to
contribute to the school community. The S6 house captains, Head Boy and Girl, and Depute
Head Boy and Girl creating opportunities for leadership and citizenship. We also created 24/7
year group leaders who arrange short meetings to discuss school improvement opportunities with
the Headteacher on a monthly basis.
Encouraging leadership and engagement at all levels has been a focus this year. In the pupil
cohort we have 4 young people who are members of Inverclyde Youth Council and a further 200
pupils who regularly engage in Youth Connections at Burns Square.
5
Teacher Professionalism
Teacher Professionalism demonstrates the overall quality of the teaching
workforce and the impact of their professional learning on children’s progress and
achievement.
Evidence we gather:
 The range of quality professional learning at Masters Level
 Self-evaluation of schools of HGIOS 4 QI 2.3 Teaching, learning and assessment
 Percentage of teachers who have undertaken career long professional learning as part of
the GTCS professional update process.
 Opportunities for and impact of, professional learning opportunities
Professional development of staff has been a key priority as we have moved towards the
implementation of procedures to support GIRFEC and supported staff to deliver more confidently
the new courses and assessments. Much of the professional development work over the last 2
session has involved networking locally and nationally to help all teachers and managers
understand standards required for the new qualifications, and the wellbeing indicators.
We have at least one teacher in every department that has undertaken development with the
SQA linked to the delivery and assessment of national coursework.
This year we have 3 unpromoted members of staff who have achieved a unit award at masters
level, and 4 members of staff who have been trained in the mentoring of NQTs. Two promoted
members of staff undertook leadership training
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Parental Engagement
Parental engagement focuses on ways in which parents, families and
professionals work together to support children’s learning.
Evidence we gather:
 Feedback from Parent Council Chairs meetings
 Self-evaluation of schools of HGIOS 4 QI 2.5 Family learning and 2.7 Partnerships
 Quality and impact of Family Learning events
 Questionnaires form inspections and validated self-evaluation visits
 Evidence of parental involvement in School Standards and Quality Reports and School
Improvement Plans
The school enjoys positive links with parents and carers,
associated primary schools and with the local
community. We are well served by a small parent
council, and enthusiastic pupil councils.
We offer 12 parental events throughout the year from P6
family sessions, to Curriculum information sessions for
parents of senior phase pupils. In addition we
communicate with parents through a variety of media
including,
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Text messages
Twitter
Facebook
School website
Letters
Parents are invited to support our selfevaluation processes regularly throughout
the year. For example, at the end of each
Parents’ Information evening we have ‘exit
passes’ asking their opinion on a variety of
issues.
The school has a very supportive Chaplaincy
team who create a positive ethos at each
and every religious observance. Throughout
our time we have developed strong
community links with a number of local
partners including; Active Schools,
Community Learning and Development, “More Choices More Chances” – a team
dedicated to supporting pupils into future destinations, West College Scotland and Focus
West – an organisation that supports senior pupils aspire to university.
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Assessment of Progress
Assessment of progress includes a range of evidence on what children learn and
achieve throughout their school career. This includes Curriculum for Excellence
levels, skills, qualifications and other awards.
Evidence we gather:
 The percentage of pupils achieving curriculum levels in literacy and numeracy at S3
 Data from surveys on health and wellbeing
 Senior phase qualifications and awards data
 School leaver destinations
 Wider achievement awards
 Self-evaluation of schools of HGIOS 4 QI 3.2 Raising attainment and achievement
Positive leaver destinations
The percentage of
pupils leaving
Inverclyde Academy
and gaining a positive
destination continues
to exceed the local
and national figures.
Attainment v Deprivation
Data based on pupil school leaver
data, the information shows that
at Inverclyde Academy we are in
line with the national trend across
most of the SMID deciles. It is
interesting to note that our pupils
from the lower SIMD are attaining
slightly above the national trend.
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Breaking this data down to
specific year groups, The data
relating to the S4 (pupils who on
the main are still in the school)
attainment shows that we are
above the National trend across
most of the SIMD deciles.
Improving Attainment for all
Again the data relating to the whole
school leavers group shows that whilst
our pupils are in line with the National
trend for the bottom 20%, our attainment
for the middle 60% and the top 20% is
lower than the national, authority and
virtual comparator group.
The S4 cohort is clearly outperforming the
virtual comparator and the National group
at all attainment cohorts.
Numeracy and Literacy
Focusing on literacy and Numeracy
the whole school leavers data shows
that there is improvement required at
SCQF level 5.
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Alongside certification form the SQA the school also supports some pupils to gain certification
from ASDAN. This year our ASDAN group achieved
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16 Bronze Awards
15 Silver Awards
5 Gold Awards
16 Literacy Awards
Wider Achievement
In addition to the above certification our pupils continue to
succeed in wider achievements.
This year we presented 276 pupils with Saltire awards for
volunteering in the local community; this is marked
increase from last year (239) and equates to 29% of the
authority awards. These volunteers gained certification by
working in local primary schools, youth clubs and taking
the lead in sporting events and activities.
Our participation in the Duke of Edinburgh awards has also
grown with 29 bronze, 2 silver and 37 gold awards
achieved this year.
The Mentors in Violence Prevention programme was
piloted last year in Inverclyde Academy in conjunction with
the Community Learning Development team and is being
successfully run again this session with our senior pupils
preparing and delivering lessons to S1 pupils in PSE about
safety and self-esteem. This is a valuable leadership experience for our seniors and results in
them achieving a Saltire Award. Fifty seniors completed the course last year.
Our senior pupils also
engaged in the Young
Enterprise competition and
won the regional heat for
Inverclyde and
Renfrewshire. At the
Scottish finals the director of
the group (an S6 pupil)
achieved the overall award
for Young director of the
year.
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School Improvement
The overall quality of education provided in Inverclyde and our effectiveness in
driving further improvement.
Evidence we gather:
 Inspection and validated self-evaluation evidence.
 Feedback from Parent Council Chairs meetings
 DM minutes
 Self-evaluation of schools of HGIOS? 4 QI 2.3 Teaching, learning and assessment and
3.2 Raising attainment and achievement
 Standards and Quality Reports and Improvement Plans
The staff team are fully involved in self-evaluation and we are progressing well in this area of our
work. The process of reflection and self-evaluation helps ensures that our improvement plan,
together with local and national guidelines provides a framework for continuing development in
the school.
We provide an annual summary of pupil achievement in exams to all stakeholders and make
excellent use of electronic tracking and reporting systems to identify our learner’s strengths and
areas of underperformance. Last session all staff received training in the use of INSIGHT
information to analyse subject results and PTs are now able to support their staff in analysing the
results of their own classes. This year, we repeated the training and also invited teachers to a
session with Jill Pringle (Education Scotland).
The school has a detailed quality assurance calendar which reflects the Quality Indicators and
general principles laid out in How Good is Our School? 4 to regularly monitor and evaluate
aspects of the school’s provision. These processes include analysis of attainment and
achievement data, visits to classes by Principal Teachers and Depute Head Teachers, and the
monitoring of both pupils’ work and the standard of the learning and teaching within the school.In
addition, as detailed on the school calendar, DM must include discussing of Tracking and
Monitoring, and Moderation once per month.
The self-evaluation working group have been actively involved in the development of the school
procedures this year to bring in line with HGIOS?4 and the National Improvement Framework.
The Head Teacher, and link Deputes, meet with Principal Teachers to discuss the analysis of
exam results data results and department/faculty improvement, and points for action are
identified as/if appropriate. As part of the quality improvement calendar, Deputes also meet with
the Principal Teachers of their link departments/faculties (in a group situation) on at least 4 other
occasions to share good practice, discuss the progress of the departmental improvement plans,
including the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, and the monitoring of pupil class work,
home learning etc., to support continuous improvement.
In Inverclyde Academy, learning observation and sampling of pupil experience is undertaken by
members of the Senior Leadership Team, Principal Teachers and class teachers.
The pupil voice is very important in our self-evaluation process, at department and whole school
level.
As a staff team we share good practice within the school and increasingly with partners in other
secondary schools and our associated primary schools. We will continue to develop this aspect
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of our work. We plan to improve how we track the progress of each young person to ensure the
best possible outcomes.
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The development of our Curriculum
Evidence we gather:
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Self-evaluation of schools of HGIOS 4 QI 2.2 Curriculum and 3.3 Creativity and
Employability
Learning pathways offered to our pupils
Evidence of skills for learning, life and work
Evaluation of Developing the Young Workforce
Our curriculum continues to evolve in line with the national guidelines of Curriculum for
Excellence.
The school operates on a 32 period week plus registration basis.
Broad General Education
All pupils in S1 – S3 follow a Broad General Education (BGE), covering 8 curricular areas
including Expressive Arts, Health & Wellbeing, Languages, Mathematics, Religious and Moral
Education, Sciences, Social Subjects and Technologies. Across the school, we have used CfE
Experiences and Outcomes (Es and Os) effectively to improve many programmes and learning
approaches. As a result, children receive a broad and balanced curriculum which not only
develops their skills and increases their knowledge but promotes understanding.
We encourage outdoor learning, had have worked in partnership with CLD, the local rangers, and
the Royal Horticultural Society.
Throughout S3, there is a well developed programme of pupil support which includes 1-to-1
meetings to assist pupils and their parents and carers with course choices for National 4 and
National 5 awards. We adhere to national guidelines and ensure that pupil choices result in their
best chance of success.
Our Senior Phase (S4-S6) offers young people opportunity for specialisation leading to
qualifications. Young people aged 15 plus have a wide range of opportunities to experience
learning and achieve qualifications to the highest possible level during their senior phase. In line
with the needs of our pupils, this year we have developed two new courses for inclusion in the
Senior Phase: Higher photography and Nat 5 Sound Technology.
Our options model in the Senior Phase is a pathways model and gives the pupils free choice
across all subjects, rather than the traditional columns model. In this session only 3 pupils did
not receive their final choice and this was due to lower numbers.
We have further developed this process this year and for June 2016 the Senior Phase classes
will be mixed year group classes, enabling pupil to progress at the appropriate level regardless of
their age.
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Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion
Evidence we gather:
 Monitoring pupil who have Individual Pupil Plans
 Levels of attendance
 Number of exclusions and referrals
Engaging with Community Learning Development, we
have ensured that the pupils of Inverclyde Academy
have knowledge regarding a number of concerning
issues. We have explored the dangers of cyberspace,
with 172 S1 pupils, 179 S2 pupils and 226 S3 pupils
discussing how to keep themselves safe online.
Through various programs we have explored the
dangers of drugs and alcohol with 148 S2 pupils, 163
S3 pupils and 182 S5 pupils, covering topics such as
substance misuse and the associated dangers.
All of our pupils now have a national entitlement card.
Pupil attendance in Inverclyde Academy remains at
91.6%, however this could have been higher if the
inclement weather in December had not affected
attendance due to transport issues.
The school has received recognition this year for its
journey towards becoming a Rights Respecting School
by achieving a strong Level 1. This has actively
involved every department in the school using rights –
based lessons incorporating UNCRC articles and
elements of global citizenship. We have gone through the consultation process towards forming
our Whole School Charter involving staff, pupils and parents in presentations, workshops and
questionnaires. This has been a major step forwards for our school. Our Charter has been
launched at assemblies and plans are in place to build in sustainability in promoting it and
moving the school forward to Level 2.
This change in culture alongside our growth of knowledge relating to GIRFEC has had a great
effect on the ethos of the school. Referrals from teachers regarding the behaviour of pupils has
fallen from 5196 to 3473, a 33% reduction. In parallel to this, exclusions from the school dropped
from 264 openings, to 180 openings; a drop of 32%.
We have piloted and implemented Wellbeing Plans for appropriate pupils this year following the
training of all PT Pupils Support staff. The pupils are now supported by specific targets linked to
their wellbeing assessment. All staff in the school have been involved in discussions about
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adapting the national wellbeing indicators to suit the needs of our pupils and are now using them
to contribute to wellbeing assessments and target-setting. We are currently auditing and
customising the Health and Wellbeing - Responsibility of All document for our school.
Each we send GIRFEC alerts out to all staff updating confidential information on pupils with
additional support needs and giving strategies to help meet the needs of our pupils as
appropriate. We have also introduced a quiet “nurture” room for pupils who require quiet time.
This has been very successful.
Our “On Track” facility has been reviewed and new procedures introduced to ensure departments
are more involved in the adapted learning process for each pupil and restorative practice is
taking place before the pupil return to class.
All of these processes as well as our Toe by Toe and Literacy Toolbox programmes, Social Skills
and Self-Esteem groups, CLD, Art Therapy and Gardening Projects are designed to support
pupils who experience barriers to their learning. Pupils in the senior phase are now successfully
completing personal learning pathways involving work/college placements to enhance their
learning. We are currently in the process of providing SQA Leadership classes to continue to
meet the needs of all our pupils.
Our monthly Merit Roll of Honour has successfully increased the number of merits gained by
pupils across the school for showing responsibility and citizenship in many ways. Names are
published each month and certificates and badges are awarded at assemblies. Twice each year
a whole school Merit activity is scheduled for those pupils on the Merit Roll of Honour and
through this they can enjoy the fruits of their efforts throughout the year.
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Planning for the future
The following plan can be seen in more detail in the School Improvement Plan 2016/17
Priority
No.
1
Promoting learning and achievement
Expected outcomes for learners which are measurable or
observable
Positive relationships underpin the ethos, culture, vision and values of the
Inverclyde Academy community. RRSA Level 1 achieved
All of the young people in Inverclyde Academy are supported through appropriate
opportunities to achieve across all contexts of learning.
Lead
responsibility
Timescales
Senior Leadership
Team, D McCahill,
C Leckie, P
Crosby, B Connell,
P Murray, L Bruce
August 2016 to
May 2017
Senior Leadership
Team, Pupil
Support team
August 2016 to
May 2017
Senior Leadership
Team, P Smith, , G
Stewart, C Leckie
August 2016 to
May 2017
All learners enjoy high quality learning experiences across all context of learning
and are actively engaged in their learning.
2
Supporting young people
Staff will have a shared understanding of Wellbeing and the Responsibility of All
to promote and support it.
Improvements in attendance and reduction in late-coming
Effective tracking of pupil progress in Experiences and Outcomes and skill
development informs individual learner profiling and planning for future learning.
Consistently providing high quality feedback to all learners –using data – which
supports effective learner conversation when reviewing progress and planning
and setting learning targets.
3
Improving the quality of our work
The schools commitment to quality improvement includes a
range of partners in contributing to planning for and evaluating quality of our work.
The Quality of provision for, and experience of, our people continues to improve.
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