HARLAW ACADEMY – By Learning and Courtesy



Harlaw AcademyStandards and Quality Report 2017-20181854835215900001752601746250051257201778000200008918575-274828000 513461012954000273050723900055054557785Our vision is to be:ambitious, excellent and the best we can be00Our vision is to be:ambitious, excellent and the best we can be55054554186We aim to respect the rights of young people and encourage them to:participate, improve and enjoy success00We aim to respect the rights of young people and encourage them to:participate, improve and enjoy success56790298002In our relationships and our actions we will show: Respect for People: we consider the health, safety and well being of ourselves and othersRespect for Learning: we are on time, on task, trying our best and achieving successRespect for Community: we have a positive impact in school, locally and in the wider world00In our relationships and our actions we will show: Respect for People: we consider the health, safety and well being of ourselves and othersRespect for Learning: we are on time, on task, trying our best and achieving successRespect for Community: we have a positive impact in school, locally and in the wider world The above statements were developed in consultation with pupils, parents and staff in spring 2018 and are next due for revision in spring 2021.David Innes Head TeacherSeptember 20181.1 Context of the school: Harlaw Academy is a unique school in Aberdeen it does not sit in its own catchment area and around 35% of our pupils are out of zone placing requests from across Aberdeen City. The school is a 6-year comprehensive of around 900 pupils and the following data provides a summary of our very diverse pupil population:11% claim free school meals (although a larger percentage are entitled)27% live in SIMD decile 1-3 (areas of relative poverty)38% live in SIMD deciles 4-735% live in SIMD deciles 8-10 (areas of relative affluence)30% of the school population have English as an additional language (EAL)24% of the school population have additional support needs (ASN)1% of the school population are looked after children (LAC)12% of the ‘out of zone’ population live in Scottish Attainment Challenge communities The school has around 78 teaching staff (full and part time). It has a Senior Management Team of: Head Teacher, four Depute Head Teachers and a School Support Manager. There are also 9 Faculty Head Teachers, 1 Principal Teacher of Pupil Support, 5 Principal Teachers Guidance, a Principal Teacher of Wider Achievement and an acting Principal Teacher Ambition and Excellence (PEF). The teachers are supported by a range of non teaching staff who help learners achieve positive outcomes.The school also employs a part time counsellor and engages a youth work team to supplement our support to children and families. There is an active parent council which incorporates a supportive parent teacher association. Parent evenings are well attended and we use a range of methods (website, twitter, group call, Google classroom) to inform and involve parents in the life of the school. We produce regular progress reposts and actively encourage parents to contact us to raise any concerns they may have. We have developed purposeful links with our Associated Schools Group (ASG) of; Broomhill, Ferryhill, Hanover Street and Kaimhill. Most faculties offer a half day transition event for P6/P7s, there is also a 3 day induction for pupils and regular links for staff. ASG curriculum links are developed by groups planning/moderation in Literacy, Numeracy, Modern Languages and Health/Wellbeing. We are active in shaping the Harlaw Partnership Forum which supports vulnerable youngsters and builds capacity across our catchment area. One of the DHTs has developed extensive links with local businesses whilst our PT Wider Achievement has worked on a wide range of community and intergenerational projects. We are the leading provider of Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Aberdeen City and this leads to a significant contribution by pupil volunteers in their communities. Our active schools/sports leader programme and links with the FP club also have a positive impact across our community.The presumption of mainstream education has seen increasing numbers of youngsters with complex learning and behavioural needs join the school. Many come from ‘out of zone’ and around 12% live in communities which benefit from additional funding through the Scottish Attainment Challenge. Presently there is no mechanism for resources from the home area to support the youngsters who opt to be educated ‘out of zone’. Exclusion and absence rates are currently both higher than we would wish. Almost 25% of pupils have ASN (over 20 are diagnosed with ASD) and almost 30% have EAL. The wide range of needs place significant demands on specialist support and on class teachers. Staff, pupils and families all receive good quality support from; Support for Learning (SfL) staff, PTs Guidance and DHT/Year Head The school was last inspected in August 2010 - . During both February 2015 and March 2018, we invited officers from Aberdeen City Council to undertake a validated self evaluation of the school to help inform further improvements. In February 2017 we were successfully assessed for level 1 of the Rights Respecting Schools Award and in February 2018 we became the first secondary school in the UK to be successfully assessed against for the new Gold award from UNICEF UK. The school undertakes rigorous evaluation but welcomes external evaluations as it helps inform our improvement priorities. The current Head Teacher took up post in January 2013. Since then there has been significant change at all levels in Scottish education. New qualifications were introduced and the school completely changed its curriculum structure to offer a broad general education S1-S3 followed by an S4-S6 senior phase. In S3 the school introduced a degree of personalisation by offering ‘curriculum pathways’ and specialism in some curriculum areas. The senior phase curriculum offer is expanded through consortia arrangements with other schools, a city campus arrangement and partnerships with other providers including North East of Scotland College. The school ICT infrastructure was upgraded to provide faster and more reliable ICT which some staff are now using to develop Google classroom and ‘open the learning’ beyond the school.Since session 2016/17 there have been particular challenges with both staffing and finance. This session we were short of staff in English, Maths, Science, and Art. At one time the savings from staff shortages could be used to improve other areas of our provision but this is no longer possible. As a result we have been less able to; upgrade classrooms, improve the fabric/decoration or replace damaged furniture/equipment/textbooks. This is a major concern as we are in an old Victorian building being used by over 1000 people every day and by community groups outwith this time. The school updated its vision statement in Spring 2015 and revised this again in Spring 2018 (see front cover). The vision will be updated again in Spring 2021. The school also has identified a set of 3 year priorities (shown on the next page). These offer a broad direction of travel and provides a degree of stability to our annual planning and day to day work. A new set of 3 year priorities, to cover 2019-2022, are due to be developed in spring 2019. Over 90% of pupils leave for a positive destination although we hope to see still more move into positive destinations and, whilst recognising the value of non advanced college courses, apprenticeships, training and direct employment we feel more could go on to destinations offering Higher level qualifications (University or HNC/HND). Our S3 CfE data for literacy and numeracy is improving although our SQA results could be further improved. Areas with good SQA results include PE, Modern Languages, Business Education. In terms of wider achievement we had several notable achievements in 2017-18 including:being the first secondary school in the United Kingdom to be successfully assessed for the new Gold UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award. gaining a Silver Award from Sport Scotland for our work in promoting participation in sportreaching the latter stages of a number of national football tournaments, winning the S3 regional trophy and having two seniors represent Aberdeen who won the regional trophyperforming with distinction at the UK rowing finalsgaining 88 Duke of Edinburgh Awards (13 gold, 28 Silver and 41 Bronze)being short listed for 7 awards in the Aberdeen City Children and Young People Awardsgaining 3 Anne Frank Award nominationstraining a group of My World of Work Ambassadors and taking part in the Career Ready Programmeentering a business partnership with Radisson Park Inn and working with them and DYW North East to deliver on a number of specific projects1.2 Transformational change/improvement priorities: August 2016 – June 2019The notes below were produced in discussion with staff, pupils and parents in spring 2016. They set our broad priorities for the 3 year period August 2016 – June 2019. We report progress annually and will work with parents, pupils and staff to set a new 3 year plan in spring 2019. The broad 3 year priorities we set in spring 2016 were: Relationships and ethos: Develop open and respectful relationships and support an ethos in which people feel able to contribute to a safe, supportive and successful school.Personal support and inclusion: Provide universal support for all learners and targeted support to those who face barriers to help ‘close the gap’.Participation and involvement: Provide opportunities for pupil and parental involvement and reach out to families who most need support to access education. Encourage pupils, parents and staff to play a role as leaders of learning and champions of school improvement.Opportunities: Offer opportunities to meet a range of needs and help individuals to develop skills for; learning, life and work. Ensure our pupils leave to a positive post school destination. Learning: Ensure teachers know their pupils and help them to learn in a safe, active, purposeful environment. Learning experiences will be varied and will relate to life beyond school. Share learning intentions and targets with pupils and provide feedback on progress to ensure pupils receive support/challenge appropriate to their needs.Attainment: Encourage high levels of attainment for all pupils. All staff will promote attainment in literacy and numeracy. Pupils will agree attainment targets and families will be supported in helping to achieving/surpassing these. Achievement: Promote opportunities for wider achievement through participation in a range of curricular and extra-curricular activities. Help pupils develop skills and experiences for school and later life. Citizenship: Promote positive links with our local/wider community to support opportunities for our pupils. Encourage pupils to make a positive contribution to their community as active global citizens.School leadership and school improvement: Leadership will improve outcomes for all learners with a particular focus on ‘closing the gaps’ caused by disadvantage. Support the professional review and development of staff. Use performance information to inform decisions and report on impact. Develop open and collegiate processes for self-evaluation and school improvement.The 3 year plan ensures our annual plans and day to day work are guided by a ‘direction of travel’ which links to the National Improvement Framework, delivery plan and to local improvement priorities.1.3 High Level Review of School Improvement Plan 2017/18 Priority 1: Our plan for people – Attending, contributing; better behaviour, better learning National Improvement framework (NIF) priorityNIF Driver Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracyClosing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged childrenImprovement in children and young people’s health and wellbeingImprovement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young peopleSchool leadershipTeacher professionalismParental engagementAssessment of children’s progressSchool ImprovementPerformance Information How Good is our School 4: Quality Indicators Self-evaluation for self-improvementLeadership of learningLeadership of changeLeadership of management and staffManagement of resources to promote equity2.1 Safeguarding and child protection2.2 Curriculum2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment2.4 Personalised support2.5 Family learning2.6 Transitions2.7 Partnerships3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion3.2 Raising attainment and achievement3.3 Increasing creativity and employabilityActions - what we set out to do: Improve attendance and review policies/ practices relating to pupil safety/wellbeing including: child protection, attendance, anti-bullying, drugs and knife crimeFurther develop our work on ‘bounce back’, growth mind set, resilience, restorative approaches and rights respecting schoolsUse de-escalation, restorative and rights respecting approaches to set the climate for learning and behaviour Develop consistent approaches to managing/ recording incidents and introduce alternatives to exclusion at class and whole school levelDevelop approaches to praise, celebrating achievement, positive behaviourEncourage pupils, parents, staff to contribute to school initiatives and improvementReducing excessive workload burdens on staff and pupilsImpact and outcomes – what we achieved and the difference it has made on outcomes for young peopleReviewed policies to better manage/record safeguarding, anti-bullying and child protection issues. In both the QIO assessment and the Gold RRSA assessment almost all pupils reported they felt safe at school. In separate surveys almost all parents confirmed this. Attendance remains something we wish to improve.Gained the Gold Rights Respecting Schools Award. Some staff use restorative approaches and we use bounce back/resilience approaches in PSE. The language of UNCRC and SHANAARI is used by most staff and by some pupils. It is helping build resilience and develop ‘growth mind set’ in some areas of the schoolSome staff use restorative/rights respecting approaches to set the climate for learning. This is keeping more pupils in class and on task. This work needs to be extended and made more overt.Some departments use Seemis to record behaviour incidents and this needs rolled out to all staff. We have started to take steps to reduce exclusions and offer alternatives where possible. As a result some pupils are in class and participating more regularly. Further work to reduce exclusions is required.We have introduced more opportunities to participate and more events to recognise wider achievement. Few staff currently use Seemis or the house system to record praise/promote positive behaviour/participation. We have further developed our approach to pupil representation at a whole school level. All pupils are in the pupil forum, there are multiple class reps and pupils have autonomy over a budget. Most pupils can articulate how they have been involved in school improvement. We have also developed the Parent Council with ‘themed’ sessions which were well attended. More is required to engage with the wider parent group.We are keeping our systems ‘light’ in terms of paperwork so as to maximise the focus on learning. Some staff report this is helping manage workload but many still have to fully engage with this approach.Next Steps – what we need to do nextContinue to improve levels of attendance and punctualityDevelop alternatives to exclusion, promote restorative approaches and reduce exclusionsImplement, monitor and refine the new policy on promoting positive relationships and behaviour Work with the parent council to further involve parents in supporting learning, aspiration and improvementPriority 2: Our plan for learning - Learning and teaching, attainment and achievementNational Improvement framework (NIF) priorityNIF Driver Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracyClosing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged childrenImprovement in children and young people’s health and wellbeingImprovement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young peopleSchool leadershipTeacher professionalismParental engagementAssessment of children’s progressSchool ImprovementPerformance Information How Good is our School 4: Quality Indicators Self-evaluation for self-improvementLeadership of learningLeadership of changeLeadership of management and staffManagement of resources to promote equity2.1 Safeguarding and child protection2.2 Curriculum2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment2.4 Personalised support2.5 Family learning2.6 Transitions2.7 Partnerships3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion3.2 Raising attainment and achievement3.3 Increasing creativity and employabilityActions - what we set out to do: Adapt our courses/assessments to meet requirements of SQA (S4-S6) and national benchmarks (S1-S3)Work with Primary colleagues to develop the pace and challenge of pupil experiences (P7 to post school)Make our learning approaches and intentions more ‘visible’ and use google classrooms to make learning more accessible from homeEnsure learning is adapted to suit the needs of our learners and helps towards their future intentions Sustain our focus on raising attainment in all curricular areas and in relation to literacy, numeracy, H&WBUse performance data to inform improvement at class/faculty/school levelSet aspirational targets for pupils so they know; the level they are working at and towards, the skills they are developing and how to raise their attainmentSimplify assessment/recording and review our approach to reportingGuide pupils into aspirational pathways, leading to high attainment and opportunities for wider achievementImpact and outcomes – what we achieved and the difference it has made on outcomes for young peopleAll departments have introduced new N5 courses and are developing new Highers. Most have also looked at aligning their BGE courses to benchmarksDiscussion with departments and Primaries around ‘gradient of learning’. Increased pace in BGE is reflected in improved CfE levels for literacy and numeracyAlmost all departments are using Google classrooms to make learning more accessible. Most are also using learning intentions and success criteria to frame the learning. Most lessons are satisfactory/good but there is a need to develop higher order skills and to inject more challenge and engagement in the learning.Tasks need to be more differentiated and both pupils and staff need to be able to articulate with more clarity and consistency the level a pupil is working at, their next steps, and where this will lead. Pupil voice and choice in classes needs to be developed more fullySome progress has been made in some courses but the overall attainment still has room for improvementThere is an urgent need for robust tracking data which will lead to more effective interventions to raise attainment for individuals, departments and across the schoolIn some cases there are clear systems to moderate assessments, track progress and inform next steps. These approaches need to be developed across the school so that all pupils and staff have a consistent understanding of the individual learner journey and the overall ambition to raise attainment and achievementFollowing feedback the school returned to full reports for all year groups. We need to develop this so that pupils, parents and school systems get key information inform decisions and help raise attainmentSome departments have developed curriculum pathways to help signpost ‘next steps’, there is also a whole school approach to signposting which this year has led to fewer course changes post timetable change. Next Steps – what we need to do nextFurther work to develop progression and pace through BGE and into the senior phaseProvide more challenge and support, develop higher order skills and give learners greater voice/choice.Open the learning through sharing intentions and standards, effective feedback and use of ICTFocus learning conversations on raising attainment, skills development, next steps, learner pathways and positive destinations/career aspirationsUse performance data along with tracking and moderation to set targets and improve attainmentPriority 3: Our plan for community; citizenship, achievement, involvement – Citizenship, participation, partnership and opportunityNational Improvement framework (NIF) priorityNIF Driver Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracyClosing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged childrenImprovement in children and young people’s health and wellbeingImprovement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young peopleSchool leadershipTeacher professionalismParental engagementAssessment of children’s progressSchool ImprovementPerformance Information How Good is our School 4: Quality Indicators Self-evaluation for self-improvementLeadership of learningLeadership of changeLeadership of management and staffManagement of resources to promote equity2.1 Safeguarding and child protection2.2 Curriculum2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment2.4 Personalised support2.5 Family learning2.6 Transitions2.7 Partnerships3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion3.2 Raising attainment and achievement3.3 Increasing creativity and employabilityActions - what we set out to do: Promote higher levels of participation from pupils in class and across the schoolReplace activity week with a range of curriculum enrichment eventsEmphasise sustainability, equality/diversity and the rights of children locally/globallyPromote awareness of the local area and of other countries/cultures eg through excursions, visits and links with other schools/organisations Support parental involvement in learning and to seek their support in raising pupil attainment and wider school lifeDevelop links within our learning partnership to support the curriculum and increase opportunities for pupils/families Work with secondary schools and our associate primaries to plan coherent and enriched learning experiences for pupilsStrengthen our partnership with Aberdeen City Council and other organisations to develop opportunities/employabilityImpact and outcomes – what we achieved and the difference it has made on outcomes for young peopleThere has been an increase in opportunities for pupils to participate and for pupils to represent the school or have their views listened to. Pupils have improved aspects of the school and feel a greater sense of agency and influence school improvement Insufficient progress has ben made in developing the curriculum enrichment events in the school although the introduction of 6 half day visits for Primary pupils has helped the P7/S1 transitionThe school gained Gold RRSA but the impact of this has to be deepened and extended so that UNCRC is ‘known’ and ‘lived’ in the actions of all pupils and staff and is seen in improved attendance, relationships and achievement. Work on sustainability, equality/diversity and sustainability needs emphasis and co-ordinationSome individuals/departments have developed links with the local community and arranged visits/visitors to enhance the learning experiences for pupils. This needs to be developed to fully exploit the opportunities on our doorstep.Over the session we developed our approach to Parent Council meetings and this increased the numbers attending. We also brought in a new system for booking appointments and again this helped attendance. Our PEF work also began to open up ideas for better engaging with ‘hard to reach’ parents. We played a significant role in developing the ASG and the Partnership forum. As a result we have established meaningful, supportive, purposeful and trusting relationships across the community. Due to re-structuring at Aberdeen City Council our partnership with them has stalled although partnerships with Park Inn and other local companies have picked up. All of S3 had a visit to Park Inn and we continue to engage with DYW North East, although again staff changes there have made continuity difficult. We are involved in Career ready and have trained My World of Work Ambassadors to support DYW in the school Next Steps – what we need to do nextContinue to develop the opportunities to participate across the school and build more opportunities for this to happen within the classroomDevelop a set of ‘entitlements’ for our pupils which will offer enrichment, identity and raise aspirations, including visits to places of employment, culture, leisure and interests in the local areaContinue to build on the Gold RRSA and emphasise UNCRC, Global Goals, diversity and sustainabilityWork with parents and partners to engage more with the communities we serve and build opportunities for our pupils to learn, achieve, contribute and move onto positive destinations. Use the parental engagement strategy to work with PC to further focus our work around engaging with families1.4 Core Quality Indicator (QI) self-evaluations for 2017/18: This section provides a self-evaluation ‘score’ for the core QIs. Quality IndicatorSchool Self-Evaluation*1.3 Leadership of change4 Learning, teaching and assessment43.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equity and inclusion43.2 Raising attainment and achievement31 = Unsatisfactory, major weaknesses2 = Weak, important weaknesses3 = Satisfactory, strengths outweigh weaknesses 4 = Good/strength, areas for improvement5 = Very good, major strength 6 = Excellent, sector leading1.5 School improvement statement for 2018/19:The section summarises what and how we plan to improve in session 2018/19.Leadership of change (QI 1.3) is currently good. We plan to improve this in the following ways; We have consulted on a revised vision statement and linked this to updated approaches to staff, pupil and parental engagement. Our improvement plan has been re-designed in consultation with pupils and staff. It will ensure all improvements come from a single focus and it will provide detail of impact for 12 key themes. DHT remits and our approach to validated self evaluation (VSE) have been reviewed to ensure a clearer focus on the improvement themes linked to the core QIs. We will track core data and use this to measure impact and report outcomes. The approach will lead to further policy review which will engage the school community in critical enquiry and improvement methodology.Learning and teaching (QI 2.3) is currently good. We plan to improve this by; engaging with staff and pupils to define excellent teaching/learning and work towards achieving this in almost all lessons. We will challenge learners and increase opportunities to develop higher order skills. We will use a range of approaches, including the use of ICT, to broaden and deepen learning. We will involve learners in identifying learning intentions and success criteria. Teachers will use core data to inform planning and will monitor and report on learner progress. Learners will know the level they are working at, what they need to do to improve and where their learning will take them in the future. We will seek to involve parents in learning and make additional provision for learners facing barriers to learning and progress. Wellbeing, equality and inclusion (QI3.1) is good and in some respects very good. We plan to improve this by; continuing to revise and monitor the implementation and impact of our safeguarding policies. We will seek to reduce exclusion and improve attendance alongside this we will introduce a new relationships (positive behaviour) policy and monitor its implementation/impact. We will work with our ASG and parents on wellbeing. We will continue to raise awareness of Children’s Rights and the Wellbeing indicators to help staff to meet individual needs and to make provision for those who face barriers to learning and progress. We will review our approach to EIT to link more closely with accessing in school and wider support. Our Guidance and SfL staff will monitor the delivery of universal and targeted support for all learners. We will monitor how additional posts/resources (eg around PEF and partnership forum) help ‘close the attainment gap’ for particular groups of vulnerable learners. Raising attainment and achievement (QI 3.2) is satisfactory. We plan to improve this through our updated vision etc and the new format of the raising attainment plan. We will provide further training for staff on Insight and on the use of core data to set individual and group targets. We will review our courses and programmes to increase the gradient of learning and will make learning more ‘visible’ so that all learners know the level they are working at, what they need to do to improve where their learning will lead them. We will regularly monitor attainment and participation of pupils. We will pay particular attention to raising levels of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum. Moderated assessments will support teacher judgements and help inform pupils and parents of next steps in learning. Learning conversations will focus on; learning, skills and raising attainment and achievement. ................
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