School Improvement

Addressing Workload

To help reduce workload/duplication of recruitment of teachers to primary schools we piloted an Improved recruitment processes including bulk interviews.

To ensure we appoint the best Head teachers we continued to develop our internal assessment centre.

Maintained effective terms and conditions through developing and implementing 4 further LNCT agreements during the period.

Breakfast clubs

To support pupils from low income families, and our commitment to health and wellbeing we reviewed and extended Breakfast Club provision.

Introduction of Chromebooks

Providing fit for purpose devices to staff and pupils has helped to engage pupils and improve staff confidence in using technology.

After an initial centrally funded purchase of ~350 devices, establishments have gone on to purchase over 1000 devices themselves. (A sure sign that they see value in Chromebooks). ~80% are used on a daily basis. May 2016 additional investment was provided by council to increase the chromebook estate, providing a chromebook for all P7 aged pupils.

The Education department also initiated a pilot in St Michael's Primary School where PC's were replaced by Chromebooks, resulting in both improved performance and significantly reduced operating costs. Feedback received from St Michael's suggests this model would be suitable for all primary schools.

A survey of stakeholders has shown that:

• 100% of respondents agreed that the focus on learning through STEM Hubs has given learners more opportunities to develop literacy skills.
• 100% of respondents agreed that the focus on learning through STEM Hubs has increased pupil engagement in learning, commenting that pupils are “extremely motivated” to the STEM Challenge approach and that it has “encouraged pupils to take a more active role in their learning”.
• 100% of respondents agreed that the focus on learning through STEM Hubs has given learners more opportunities to develop collaborative skills. “Problem Based Learning approaches have their foundations in working collaboratively; they are the backbone of our STEM curriculum planning”.
• 90% of respondents agreed that the installation of a STEM Hub has developed learner confidence in applying skills learned in other contexts. “Pupils have used numeracy and literacy skills to help them work through science and technology activities.”

Improvement Framework

The local authority has a more robust framework in place for support and challenge. Schools and centres report that this provides them with an opportunity to work in partnership with centrally based staff on identifying a clear agenda for change and improvement.

25 establishments received a Validation Visit in 2015-2016, 88% of them receiving a rating of 'confident' or 'very confident' from their visit.

A planned programme of validation visits, leadership for learning and improvement visits for all establishments 3-18 has resulted in our continued 100 % positive HMIe inspections in our establishments.

External Inspection

In session 2015-16, 3 establishments were inspected by Education Scotland. They received the following:

Partnership working

Supporting 700 senior phase pupils to develop key employability skills through our partnerships with over 200 employers.

Increased employer engagement in Broad General Education through the facilitation of links for primary school careers fairs and STEM activities. Primary school pupils became 'Robertson's Reporters', visiting a construction site to learn about key skills and jobs with our partnership with Robertson Construction. Community benefits from the new Bellsmyre shared campus also allowed pupils to be part of the construction legacy both through site visits for primary pupils as well as work experience placements for senior phase students.

Development of "Inspiring Learning Spaces" bid to Scottish Government which incorporated our WDC Principles of Primary School Design.

Success of the bid which formed the basis of our plans for projects relating to new builds, refurbishments and re-purposing of existing learning spaces.

This year saw the opening of Lennox Primary school, and the refurbishment of St. Ronan's Primary in a new location.