PERTH HIGH SCHOOL
Standards and Qualities Report
2013-2014
Peter Flood, Headteacher
Values Statement
At Perth High School we are committed to providing each
young person with the opportunities, confidence and the
skills to fulfill his or her potential as a learner and as a
leader, in an environment in which each person feels
respected and nurtured.
School Values:
School Aims:
Resilience,
To create a positive ethos
Equal Opportunities
Ambition /
Achievement
To support pupils in becoming
competent, responsible
individuals
Respect for Self and
Other
To provide a quality service in
terms of teaching, learning and
attainment
Shared Leadership
To provide a balanced curriculum
To make effective use of school
resources
S1-3 Attainment: Curriculum for Excellence is a national initiative
to move Scottish Education into the 21st Century. In Perth High
School, we are encouraging our pupils to increasingly develop
higher order skills such as analysing, evaluating and creating, as
well as the lower order skills of remembering or merely acquiring
knowledge. In addition, our pupils are developing their skills and
experiences by making links across a wide range of curricular areas,
through, for example enterprise. Subject departments are also
working to improve pupils’ literacy skills by, for example, asking
pupils to work on extended writing tasks and by taking a school
wide approach to investigations. By the end of S3, most pupils will
be secure in the Third Level in both English and Mathematics as
well as in their other subjects.
% of relevant S3 roll who
are secure at the Third
Level or better in:
Perth High School
Writing
79%
Reading
82%
Listening and Talking
82%
Mathematics
77%
S4 Attainment: New examinations known as National 3, 4 and 5
were introduced in session 2013 – 2014. These replace Standard
Grade and Intermediate 1 and 2. The new examinations are more
demanding and expect higher standards from pupils. There are a
greater number of internal assessments testing different skills and
knowledge, as well as final exams for most pupils.
% of relevant
S4 roll
attaining by
the end of S4:
Perth High
School
Perth High
School
2012
2013
5 @ Standard
Grade
Foundation /
Access 3
100
100
5 @ Standard
Grade General
82%
5 @ Standard
Grade Credit
41%
Perth High
School
2014
93%
*TBC
91%
88%
* TBC
50%
46%
5@
National 5
In Perth High School we maintained our previous performance,
with 46% of our pupils achieving passes in 5 National 5
qualifications or better. * Final results for those achieving National
4 (and some National 5) awards in this year’s diet are still being
calculated by SQA.
2014
Pupils at the London Eye - London Trip 2014
S5 Attainment: We are delighted that our attainment in S5
indicates considerable improvement in our three and five
year trends.
% of relevant
S4 roll attaining
by the end of
S5:
Perth
High
School
Perth
High
School
2013
2014
1 @ Higher
55%
62%
3 @ Higher
35%
42%
5 @ Higher
17%
20%
The 2014 value
is the highest
since 2007 **
**
**
This session will see the introduction of the new Higher,
designed to articulate better with the National 5
qualification. Most, but not all departments in Perth High
School will introduce the new Higher this session. All
universities and colleges will continue to accept both the
old and new Highers and will see them as of equivalent
value.
Annual Sailing Trip to Cumbrae 2014
In addition, we strive to ensure that our pupils also possess
the so-called ‘soft skills’ such as organisational skills
punctuality, reliability, leadership and excellent
communication skills.
% of
relevant S4
roll
attaining by
the end of
S6:
Perth High
School
5@
National 5
60%
67%
1 @ Higher
59%
65%
3 @ Higher
48%
46%
5 @ Higher
36%
32%
1@
Advanced
Higher or
Better
28%
30%
2013
Perth High
School
2014
The 2014
value is the
highest since
2007 **
**
The 2014 value for this course
is notably better than the
expectations for these pupils
based on the value for 5 @
Standard Grade Credit in 2012.
Over the past five years we have embarked on various
initiatives to improve both the pupils’ experiences and their
attainment. We believe our strategies are working and are
rightly proud of these results. However, we will always
continue to strive to make further improvements at each
and every level across the school and for all our young
people.
S6 Attainment: The new examination system will be fully
in place with the introduction of new Advanced Higher
qualifications in session 2015 – 2016. Increasingly school
performance will be judged on the cumulative
qualifications a pupil has at the point at which they leave
school, be that S4, S5 or S6. Schools will also be judged on
the percentage of their pupils who leave school to positive
destinations such as university, college, training places or
employment. Perth High School has an excellent track
record in seeing its pupils leave with a wide range of
cumulative qualifications as illustrated below.
Schools’ Poetry Competition 2013-14
Achievements
Charities
During the last school year our pupils have continued to
make a huge contribution
to charities by fund raising
and helping to promote the
vital work of these
charities. These efforts
have given our young
people an increased sense
of their contribution as
citizens in improving the
lives of others. Last year the pupils raised over £12000,
supporting a variety of charities:
Maggie’s Centre, Cancer Research, MacMillan,
Sports Relief, Poppy Scotland, Readathon,
Bongani High - South Africa, Unicef.
Attendance
Our attendance figures for 2013-14 are shown below:
% attendance – 92.27%
% Authorised Absence – 4.29%
% Unauthorised Absence – 3.4%
The Perth High Experience
We have continued to make very good progress with
The Perth High Experience. Starting at the beginning of
S1, each pupil is guaranteed opportunities to partake
and be accredited in :
“I learned that I am able to work ogether in a team to
get the tasks done”.
“I came up with ideas when we were working on the
rope challenge and I spoke to people that I didn’t really
know. I surprised myself!”
“I really enjoyed it, although I had never made my bed
before!”
“I tried hard on every challenge and I learnt new faces”
As our pupils begin S2 we have been building our
database of pupils’ successes and new challenges. We
are now recognizing those achievements with the
Bronze and Silver Awards.
The development of the market garden with the
Viewlands community Group, business and community
partners to provide fresh and organic vegetables and
herbs, allowing us to achieve our aim of making pots of
soup in the HE department from our own home-grown
produce.
Positive Destinations
We aim to have each pupil achieving a positive
destination on leaving school.
Higher Education: 40.2% - Further Education: 23.6% Training: 2.2% - Employment: 27.2% - Voluntary: 0.7% Activity agreement: 1.1% - Unemployed seeking: 4.3% Unemployed not seeking: 0.4% - Not known: 0.3% Total: 100%
Blood Donation Service
In September 2013 over 90% of our S1 pupils spent two
days on a Residential trip to Comrie Croft, delivered
team building, problem solving skills and having fun:
We continue to make an outstanding contribution to the
Blood Donation Service, being the first school in Perth
and Kinross to host such an event. This year 87 pupils
and 15 staff volunteered in an amazing day. We
managed to donate 54 units, one more than last year.
As with our other charity work, our aim is to help young
people to see how they could make a significant
contribution to the lives of others. Stephen Park, one of
“Before I went to Residential I only knew one person in
my class. After the Residential I now know everyone in
my house and I stop and talk to them”.
Volunteering
Outdoor, Enterprise, Residential/International,
Skills and volunteering Experiences.
our janitors received an award for donating fifty units of
blood.
A large number of pupils have taken up many excellent
opportunities to be involved in volunteering, a large
number of which are shown below:
58 pupils took part in ‘Get Involved’ 2013
10 pupils volunteered in assisting in school sports
5 pupils volunteered in community sports clubs
28 pupils took 53 courses during the SSCP in
June 2014
8 pupils completed the Community Sports
Leadership Award course in the October holidays
S1 Residential 2014
Six pupils completed their First Aid Certificate
Six pupils assist with the Badminton Club
Six pupils have trained and help in the Dance
Leader programme
Nine pupils have trained and help with CSLA
“By doing Bronze D of E I feel I have changed as a
person…I have started to feel more comfortable around
new people, I’ve learned that working as a team is
essential, and I’ve realized that being mentally tough is
more important than physical strength”.
Three pupils completed Intro to Netball Umpiring “I left with a smile. I have finished Silver without a
and Level 1 Hockey Umpire Award.
problem. I thought I had limits of how far I could go but
Our pupils also trained as young choreographers, with the right training it turns out that I can do it if I
really try”.
Dance Leader and Tennis Leader.
Duke of Edinburgh
Sporting Excellence PE
During 2013-2014 our pupils have completed 3500 hours
Our pupils have achieved excellence in a wide range of
of volunteering from Bronze, Silver & Gold candidates.
sports including Pupils chose a placement that is specific and of interest
Sport
Achievements
to themselves. In the previous session, it was 2691
Badminton
P&K Badminton Tournament –
hours. Our pupils
U16 Girls’ Doubles and Boys’ Singles
have volunteered
winners.
in youth Clubs ,
U19 Girls’ Singles winner.
Ship & Splash
Basketball
S1/2 Douglas Bader Basketball
Tournament winners;
(helping disabled
Scotland U15 Basketball Player (Junior
children),
Female Sports Personality of the Year)
Duke of Edinburgh Participants
residential homes
Cross Country
P&K Cross Country Championships – 2nd
for the elderly,
place
Curling
Hay Trophy – Runner’s Up Team
litter picking, the cat shelter, dog walking (PADS),
working in charity shops, fundraising , coaching,
Fencing
Scottish Schools’ Fencing
Championships – Sabre Team – Silver;
teaching & leadership activities with other young
U14 Scottish Fencing Champion; U14
people.
nd
In addition, staff & parents volunteered a total of
230 days and nights to support the pupil through
expeditions:18 Qualified Leaders (staff,
ex-pupils, parents).
30 Assistants (staff, ex -pupils, senior pupils,
parents), 8 staff volunteers and parents are
currently training for Lowland Leader Award and
5 staff, parents and senior pupils are training for
DofE Assessor . Three of our S6 pupils gained
the prestigious Saltire Summit Awards , one for
200 hours and the other for 500 hours.
Duke of
Edinburgh
Number who
completed in
2013-14
Number of current
participants 20142015
Gold
26
30
Silver
29
42
Bronze
61
75
Total
116
147
The Impact
“ Inside, I felt so happy and really did not want this
experience to end but to last for another few days”.
Football
Gymnastics
Hockey
Kayak
Motor Racing
Snooker
British Fencing Championship - 2 place
U15 Scottish Schools’ Football; U18
Scottish Schools’ Football
Scottish Schools’ Gymnastics – Level 3
winners
S1/2 Regional and Local Hockey League
Champions; S3/4 PKC Indoor Hockey
League winners
British Junior U12 Kayak Champion
Knockhill Formula 125 Champion &
Melville Motor Club Formula Champion
Scottish U18 Snooker Champion
School Trips
We continue to offer a wide range of National and
International experiences. In November a group of
physics students and their teachers made what has
become an annual visit to Cerne in Switzerland to learn
about the Large Hedron Collider.
During December we were delighted to host a teacher
and six of her students from our partner school in South
Africa, Bongani High School. As in previous years, our
visitors were overwhelmed by the generosity of their
host families and Perth High School. This was a
particularly poignant visit as Nelson Mandela had died
recently. Twenty three students and four staff made the
return trip in February to the Northern Cape.
Some of our other trips have included a very successful
London theatre experience, a hockey tournament to
Barcelona, a joint music and history tour of Austria, a
trip to Euro Disney with the Technology Department to
study engineering structures and forces as well as a local
visit to see the work of constructing the new Forth
Bridge. Our annual sailing coaching course to Cumbrae
continues.
Musical Achievements
During 2013-14 our pupils participated in a wide variety
of events and performances - Last post and Reveille at
Castle Huntley for Remembrance service, playing at
Christmas lunch for Perth over 50’s club, the Annual
Christmas Concert, St. Ninian’s Cathedral 7pm,
Christmas assembly, Staff Panto 7pm Assembly Hall, a
performance of Burns Songs at Deans at Let’s Eat Perth.
The Creative Life of the School
Drama Department Perth High School
The Drama department has had a very successful year,
ending on a high with the appointment of a second full
time drama teacher. Specific ventures and
opportunities are listed below.
Various soloists, duets and groups performed at Perform
in Perth achieving excellent results. Our pupils
performed at the Festival of the Arts Lunchtime Concert,
St. John’s Kirk.
The Boys’
Our S3 classes Choir
were involved performed at
the Sports
in Onstage at
Personality of
Dundee Rep
the Year
Theatre,
Boys’ Choir
awards
meaning that
(SPOTY ). The
they had the
opportunity to Ceilidh Band performed at NHS Go 4 Gold event at Bells’
Rock Challenge 2014
sport centre and continues to be in great demand
devise and
perform on the throughout this year, fund raising for our South African
partnership. Our orchestra showcase its talent in
main stage in Dundee Rep in front of a 500
spectacular style at our annual school prize giving.
strong audience.
We produced our first ever Staff pantomime which
was a roaring success for the Drama/Music
Department.
ROCK CHALLENGE : We successfully qualified to
the Scottish Finals in our second year of entering
and won many specific awards including awards
for Positive Inclusion, Excellence for
choreography, Excellence for costuming
character, Excellence for stage use, Excellence
for Entertainment, Excellence in Performance
Skill and Performers Choice. And we took FIRST
PLACE in the Dundee Heats.
Art and Design
The Art Department enjoyed many successes this year.
Spirit of Youth Award for self portrait
PKC Christmas card
competition winner
Scottish Game and
Wildlife Trust
Competition winner
Royal Scottish Academy
Painting Highly
commended for two
pupils: self portraits
S3 pupils sold landscape paintings in aid of the
Maggie Centre, Dundee
Learning
During 2013-2014 we have continued to work hard on
improving the quality of learning and teaching in our
class rooms which overall is very good, with evidence of
excellent practice in
many areas.
Having gathered evidence
from extended focus
group discussions with
each year group, our
pupils tell us that their
teachers provide a wide
range of interesting and
engaging activities. They regularly work in groups, with
partners and as a whole class. The pupils also benefit
from the use of IT for research and investigation. They
are also developing their employability skills through
communication in solo and group talk as well as working
with others on collaborative tasks. We are continuing
to develop our use of personal learning planning from
S1 to S6, with a focus on developing literacy, numeracy
and health and well-being skills.
The introduction of the National examinations in S4 has
been very successful, incorporating a greater level of
challenge for our pupils. They report that they feel
better prepared for the pace and difficulty of the
learning involved in S5 courses.
“The teachers are quite serious. They take pupils’
From the pupils:
opinions into consideration. They help us by spending one
“ I have gained confidence with my leadership role this
to one time”.
year and I feel rewarded when I know I have helped
“ We work in groups a lot- it is good because we can help others”
each other”.
“ “it is good to be able to share experiences and
Leadership
encourage younger students to become involved”
Pupil council:
In 2013 -14, the Pupil Council has expanded from a
small council only 6 senior members to an amazing 60
members including all year groups. We have worked
together to create more leadership opportunities for
pupils to develop themselves as individuals and these
roles include positions within the Pupil Council, Personal
Support, Eco group and many more.
“I got the chance to meet new people and got the great
feeling of being able to help them”
“It was good to get to know the younger pupils in the
school and help them to enjoy themselves”
Consultation Process
In order to complete this report, we consulted with the
pupil council, pupil and parental focus groups, staff and
community partners. In addition, we analysed data on
achievement and attainment. We also drew on evidence
from class room visits.
We have also established links with the wider
community, enabling new opportunities for pupils to
become involved and try something new. On a practical
basis, pupils have helped with the planning and design of
the new food kiosk ‘The Lunch box’ and contributed to
improving food services by providing feedback regarding 
new products.

Funding information on the Pupil Council is available
on our website and on the noticeboard in the junior

concourse.
HWB buddies: 143
Literacy Buddies: 193
Numeracy Buddies: 163
To raise attainment through targeted support for
key groups of pupils
To ensure that all pupils have significant personal
achievements, including leadership opportunities
To develop a Rights Respecting School

To develop literacy, numeracy and health and well
-being skills

To use the most effective learning and teaching
approaches with our pupils

To work in partnership with our pupils, parents,
business and community partners to make
learning relevant and exciting
Last session we trained:
Peer Buddies- 120 trained
Summary of Improvement Priorities: 2014-2016
Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) - 38
Pupil Council 2013-14
2013-2014 Head Team