6. Enhancing pupil experiences
In addition to expanding the curriculum, many schools decided to take action to address very specific challenges or circumstances facing the pupils in their school. For some this was targeting extra support for some groups of pupils who were under-achieving, others developed a more generic approach to develop pupils' confidence and self esteem. Here learning has been promoted by finding mechanisms to encourage achievement and by addressing some underlying issues resulting from deprivation. What the activities share is that they are innovative, effective and have made a tangible difference to the pupils' lives and outcomes.
Research Support Team, School of Ambition |
Doon Academy - Emotional health and wellbeing
The Doon Learning Partnership (consisting of Doon Academy and its four associated Primaries) lies within an area of multiple deprivation, and increasingly, guidance staff are encountering a growing number of pupils presenting with mental health and wellbeing issues. Staff felt they lacked the expertise to deal with these and the school appointed a full-time School Nurse dedicated to the mental health and emotional wellbeing of the children.
The postholder's work was divided into 50% preventative work and 50% mental health and emotional wellbeing support to children with difficulties. Preventative work has included developing a programme, "Looking after our Feelings" for primary schools, and participation in the Doon Learning Partnership's integrated support team. "As well as making a difference with individuals, our whole school has benefited though her contributions to the Integrated Support Team, the training of staff and awareness raising in school."
Head Teacher, Doon Academy
The most common cause of mental and emotional difficulties were as a result of loss, chaotic family lifestyles, emotional and physical neglect. In the first 24 months of the post, out of 953 pupils, 107 (11.23%) were seen by the nurse, indicating the extent of the problem. Schools in the learning community have found the support extremely effective, "This support is invaluable to all the primary and secondary schools in helping troubled youngsters… Schools alone cannot support all our pupils…"
Head Teacher, Patna Primary School
Children needing one-to-one support are assessed initially by gathering information on home, school and social life, and a plan of action is formed in partnership with the child. The nurse uses a range of support tools, including talking and drawing therapy but also has referred a number of children on to other agencies, such as CAMHS, Young Carers, and the GP. "The nurse has managed to engage some of our most vulnerable young people … and has kept many of our pupils within their home, school and community."
Member of Integrated Support team
Hawick High School - Girls of Ambition
Hawick High School set up its Girls of Ambition programme to address the problem of female under-performance in the school. The school's results in 2005 showed boys outperforming girls in 11/18 Standard Grades, an outcome in reverse of the national trend. It was thought that this may be caused by the predominance of male culture in the town, and one of the goals of the Girls of Ambition is to encourage young women to raise their aspirations and to change expectations.
The girls of the school came up with a number of projects to promote girls' ambition and aspiration including a special female achievers award, time-out zones for girls, girl-only classes, and a girl-only homework club. An after-school computer club for girls ( CC4G) has been introduced which encourages first-year girls to take up ICT, and a popular "Creative Fashion" course, where female students work with Home Economics and Art to design and produce clothing has been established. The highlights of this course are the annual fashion show where the girls model their creations.
The array of positive encouragement for girls has produced some remarkable attitudinal improvements, "We feel that Girls of Ambition has benefited us in so many ways by boosting our confidence and giving us the inspiration to aim higher in life and achieve at our highest ability."Girls at Hawick High School"This project has transformed the attitude of girls in the school … there now exists a culture where girls are aware of their own abilities and have the confidence to achieve ..."Enterprise Development Manager, Scottish Borders Council
Girls' attainment also has improved dramatically. In 2008, girls out-performed the boys in 13/18 Standard grades, their participation in Standard Grade Physics has increased from 32% to 45% whilst Standard Grade Computing rose from 36% to 57%. The number of girls achieving 5 or more awards at SCQF level 6 by the end of S5 has increased from 3% in 2005, to 14% in 2008.
So successful have the improvements been that the project will no longer focus exclusively on girls, but has become "Students of Ambition".
Springburn Academy - Supporting higher attainment and ambition for S5 and S6 pupils
Springburn Academy is sited in a community with multiple deprivation and a primary challenge is overcoming the lack of ambition, and low expectations that can be found in some pupils and their families. To raise aspirations, a number of Advanced Highers are now offered in the school, and S5 and S6 year pupils are introduced to university environments through Focus West (G.O.A.L.s programme). Strong partnerships have been forged with local universities who offer direct support to the pupils. Caledonian University helps the students with their UCAS personal statements and hosts revision days. Strathclyde University provides mentoring, information and guidance early in S6, as well as access to a Virtual Learning Environment. Parents' evenings are also held at Caledonian University, with parents encouraged to attend study seminars to help them support their young people.
To help S5/S6 year pupils achieve their potential, pupils suggested a mixture of practical operational supports and more learning-focused help. Operational support now in place includes keeping the school library open (and supervised) three days a week for 2 hours in the evening, and having lap-tops available for home use. Additional learning support includes: individual tuition from staff, revision days, study weekends and importantly a course on Learn 2 Learn (L2L). This course, targeted at S1/S2 and S5/S6 pupils is based on a commercially available package, adapted to suit the needs of the school. It reinforces the principles of good learning and teaching, and is delivered by a team of teachers. A knock-on effect is that teachers are now planning and teaching lessons across the curriculum using the 4-stage cycle and active learning strategies used in the course. "We believe that Learn to Learn is a key element in helping us raise attainment and achievement."Head Teacher, Springburn Academy
The interventions are having a positive impact, with the majority of pupils in S1/S2 indicating that they use L2L techniques in other subjects, as well as outside school. Since 2005, exclusion rates across the school have dropped significantly and attendance rates raised by 3%. The exam results for S5 and S6 pupils have improved with a 7% raise in those achieving five Highers, and a vast increase from 3% to 13% over 5 years in those going into Higher Education.
St Paul's High School - Mapping and celebrating achievement
Pupils from St Paul's High School are challenged by high levels of social deprivation. In order to motivate and engage pupils in danger of disengaging, St Paul's High School has put a special emphasis on learning outside the classroom. A particular aim was to widen horizons and to raise aspirations and ambitions. Activities and interventions undertaken included, enterprise and citizenship field trips and international study visits, out-of-hours clubs and the development of a health and fitness suite.
As pupils' achievements from the "Learning Beyond the Classroom" initiatives developed, it became necessary to maintain a central record of pupil achievement. The aim of this was to capture and quantify the ethos of achievement which recognises the full span of pupils, learning in a way that does justice to them. This was done by establishing an Access database which is updated on a daily basis by a dedicated member of staff. Information is gathered from the SEEMIS system and also from staff passing on information.
The database records the range of activities undertaken, including: pupils' trips out of school, their involvement in projects in school, their extra-curricular activities and details of Citizenship, Leadership and Enterprise activities. It has recently been expanded to allow pupils' achievements outside of school to be included, and it contains details of any merit, pastoral and academic certificates given to them at award ceremonies. The database also enables an achievement certificate to be created for each pupil, allowing celebration of success where appropriate.
The mapping process has been very successful, and the system is continuing to evolve. The next step now underway is looking at ways for pupils to use the record to identify what skills they have built up and to determine what activities they would benefit from next. This will be done through Personal, Social, and Health Education.