Harlaw Academy 

Simplified Standards and Qualities Report 

Session 2025-2026:

Harlaw Academy is a large school in Aberdeen of almost 1200 young people that has been teaching students for over 100 years in the current building and is located near the River Dee. The school building was designed by a famous Scottish architect named Archibald Simpson.

The school has a motto: "By Learning and Courtesy." This means they focus on good manners and learning. The school wants to improve teaching, help students do better, and create a positive environment.

The head teacher started in June 2024. There are also other important teachers and staff who help run the school. They work together to make the school better.

In 2019, inspectors visited the school and found some areas that needed improvement. They suggested three main things:

1. Make sure the school focuses on the most important improvements.

2. Improve the quality of teaching and make learning more interesting.

3. Keep track of students' progress and help them do better.

The school has been working on these suggestions. They have created groups of teachers to work on different improvement plans. They also have regular meetings with students and parents to keep everyone informed.

The school has made some progress. For example, more teachers and students feel positive about the school. They have also improved communication and involvement with parents.

The school has a plan for the next few years. They want to continue improving teaching, help students achieve better results, and create a safe and respectful environment for everyone.

Harlaw Academy in is focused on improving leadership, teaching quality, student wellbeing, and attainment through targeted plans aligned with inspection feedback and school priorities. The school is embedding distributed leadership, revising its curriculum, enhancing learning and teaching frameworks, and strengthening tracking systems to support student progress and engagement.  Highlights from the School's 25-26 Improvement Plan are included below:

·         Leadership improvement and staff morale: Distributed leadership through staff working groups has increased staff and pupil morale significantly, with over 90% staff engagement and clearer leadership roles, alongside plans to enhance leadership development and communication transparency.   

·         Learning, teaching, and assessment enhancement: A revised Learning and Teaching Framework is being embedded, with staff action plans driving pedagogy improvements, peer observations supporting development, and plans to formally relaunch the framework with resources and pupil feedback tools to increase engagement and lesson quality.   

·         Wellbeing, equality, and inclusion focus: The school is embedding a Courtesy Charter to promote respect and safety, improving pupil support planning and reducing exclusions, while aiming to enhance staff consistency in restorative practices and increase wellbeing through targeted support and policy refreshes.   

·         Raising attainment and achievement: New tracking systems are in place to monitor student progress, with curriculum adjustments such as reducing S4 courses to six to deepen learning, efforts to lower high No Award rates, and plans to expand vocational pathways and staff training in data use for interventions.   

·         Curriculum development: The school is addressing curricular overload by reducing subjects in S4, reviewing BGE progression, diversifying senior phase pathways, and enhancing vocational options, aiming to reduce No Awards and improve progression alignment and pupil satisfaction.   

·         Leadership of change strategy: Actions include maintaining trust through consistent leadership visibility, expanding working groups, revising pupil leadership forums, and increasing parent and pupil involvement in school planning with clear feedback mechanisms and policy tracking tools.   

·         Learning and teaching actions: The school plans to reintroduce formal lesson observations, strengthen questioning and oracy skills, expand peer observations, and link professional development to planning time, aiming for increased engagement and higher-quality lessons.   

·         Wellbeing and inclusion outcomes: The Courtesy Charter launch, refreshed policies, and targeted support aim to create a respectful and safe environment, with goals to increase student retention in senior years, improve positive destinations, and reduce incidents of anti-social behavior.   

SQUIP 2024-2025 PODCAST