“Raising Standards, Transforming Lives”

Overview Our school in context Our project Overcoming challenges Impact:  Outcomes for our students  Outcomes for our school community

Our School in Context Bellshill Academy serves the Bellshill and Mossend areas of North Lanarkshire. Our wider community has a proud industrial heritage and our school is positioned at the heart of this community on the Main Street of Bellshill. Almost 40% of our young people live in the most deprived 20% of datazones across Scotland. Challenges: falling roll; low attainment; low aspirations; poor image – social and economic deprivation.

Our Vision To ‘raise standards and transform lives’ Key successes:  Through partnership working, we have significantly raised the profile of our school in the community.  Across the school community, our young people are more confident, self assured and aspirational. They are proud of their school.  Our staff are committed to school improvement and are supported by rigorous self-evaluation and improvement planning processes.

Our Project Established a Pathfinder Team Developed our Aim: To increase attainment in S5 to 1(or better) at level 6 to 70% of target group by August We decided to focus on this particular group as:  Currently this is the only measure that Bellshill Academy falls below its comparator schools.  Bellshill Academy is below the North Lanarkshire average in this measure.  Raising attainment is a priority in our School Improvement Plan. Developed our Driver Diagram

To increase attainment in S5 to 1 (or better) at level 6 to 70% of target group by August 2014 Parental Involvement & Engagement Standardised process to monitor pupil progress Support material for parental involvement in supporting pupil study Building relationships and increased communication and liaison between parents and school staff Shared pupil/teacher/parent responsibility for planning and achieving weekly targets Progress template to enable planning and progress reporting Promotion of supported study opportunities with parents and pupils. Mentoring planning for 1:1 pupil support. Increasing awareness of attendance statistics among teachers, pupils, parents. Continuous monitoring and sharing data -school attendance and study attendance. High levels of attendance at school & increased engagement in supported study Staff Involvement & Engagement All teaching teams are informed and fully Aware of initial testing work Displaying data and stories of activity for Discussion and awareness Increase teacher involvement as testing Spreads to more pupils Develop and test a study guide aimed at assisting parents Parental workshop Initial information sharing about new process for pupil support Regular contact with parents and 2 way feedback on pupil progress Develop and test approaches to implement monitoring/reporting Test approaches to: Identify and agree priority study topics Plan weekly mentoring Identify supported study opportunities Continuous review of weekly activity Test approaches to increase pupil engagement in school activities: Identify and agree supported study plan on weekly progress template. Mentoring review including individual attendance at and in supported study sessions. Information sharing at staff meeting Test as standing agenda item Quality Improvement board displayed In staff area to share project plan, run charts, survey results etc. Planning – Driver Diagram Theory about activity Theories about what drives leadership for QI for leadership for QI Aim Primary Drivers Secondary Drivers Change ideas

Test Group December 2013 No of Pupils1 No of Parents1 No of Teachers3 January 2014 No of Pupils5 No of Parents5 No of Teachers6 February 2014 No of Pupils10 No of Parents10 No of Teachers10

Documents used in testing Pupil Progress Report PDSA Sheets Pupil and Teacher Evaluations Study Skills Pack for Parents

Pupil Progress Report Progress Report

PDSA Samples AIM Describe your first (or next) test of change: What are we trying to accomplish? Cycle number By whom?When?Where? Cycle number 1 Consult with staff that teach pupils involved in the first two cycles. B McBride L Heffernan December 2013 Conference Room P PLAN List the tasks needed to set up this test of change. How will we do it? By whom?When?Where?  Organise meeting  Distribute materials  Clearly describe the aim and targets of the program B McBride L Heffernan All Staff December 2013 Conference Room Predict what will happen when the test is carried out. What do you think will happen? Staff will provide feedback on the Progress Report. Measures to determine if prediction succeeds. Positive feedback obtained via the Staff evaluation sheet. D DO Describe what happened when you ran the test Initial feedback from staff was very positive. All were clear on what the aims of the sheet are and agree that if used correctly and consistently will have a positive impact on attainment within the targeted group S STUDY Describe the measured results and how they compared to the prediction Initial feedback matches what the group predicted. Clearer feedback will be obtained through the use of the Staff Evaluation sheets. A ACT Describe what modifications to the plan will be made for the next cycle All school staff to be informed at the first available opportunity as pupils have been using the sheet for all their classes and not just the higher classes it was intended for. AIM Describe your first (or next) test of change: What are we trying to accomplish? Cycle number By whom?When?Where? Cycle number 2 Pupils attend a launch meeting to convey the purpose of the Progress Report and the aim of the Pathfinders group. B McBride20 th January Room 58 P PLAN List the tasks needed to set up this test of change. How will we do it? By whom?When?Where?  Discuss the aims of the Progress Report.  Issue the Progress Report  Discuss how the Progress Report will be used  Ensure that pupils are comfortable in giving honest feedback on the Progress Report. B McBride Initial 5 Pupils 13 th January Room 58 Predict what will happen when the test is carried out. What do you think will happen?  Reports completed  Questions and suggestions raised by staff and pupils Measures to determine if prediction succeeds.  Reports completed by Pupils  Positive feedback given by pupils and staff D DO Describe what happened when you ran the test  Positive feedback obtained from the pupils involved  Suggestions given on how the report could be improved  Positive feedback obtained from parents  Questions raised by staff that were not involved in the consultation meeting before Christmas. S STUDY Describe the measured results and how they compared to the prediction The results obtained were positive and in line with the predictions made. Positive feedback given and suggestions made by pupils. A ACT Describe what modifications to the plan will be made for the next cycle  Introduction of times for supported study  Introduction of ‘Pupil Comments’ box  Increasing the number of possible subjects to five to allow all subjects and all levels to be involved.  Reduction in the number of parental signature boxes.

Tests carried out The Pupil Progress Report was tested initially with 1 pupil. The project was scaled up to 5 pupils and then to 10 pupils. Pupils engaged fully in the process and provided extremely informative and positive feedback. Parents tested the Progress Report. 10 Teachers tested the Pupil Progress Report, which was aimed at standardising the process teachers use to monitor pupil progress. The Pupil Progress Report was tested and amended throughout the 2 cycles following feedback from pupils, parents and teachers. Parents tested the Study Skills booklet. The response from the parents was exceptionally positive.

How did we know change was an Improvement? The number of Highers our pupils achieved. (SQA Exam Results) The number of Highers pupils were on track for in comparison to the predicted number of Highers based on individual UPS. (Pupil Tracking) S5 Attendance rate. (Attendance Figures) The percentage of students involved who complete a progress report each week. (Percentage Compliance Data) Attendance rate at supported study sessions. (Supported Study Registers) Percentage of students in the population receiving 1:1 mentoring sessions as planned. (Mentoring Registers) Survey of personal pupil progress. (Pupil Evaluations) Survey of parental satisfaction related to information sharing and engagement. (Parent Evaluations) Survey of teachers related to experience of using the Progress Report. (Teacher Evaluations) Number of teaching staff actively involved in mentoring/establishing progress reporting systems with students and parents. (Teacher Evaluations/Progress Reports)

Our Learning and Our Data

Our Challenges Resources – especially staff cover Time Staff and Student commitment/participation Parent commitment When parents and schools work together, our young people do better.

Impact Anticipated outcomes for our students To improve overall % of 1+ Higher awards 5 students were in the original group There were 26 pupils in our wider target 1+ Higher group Our target was to increase attainment in S5 to 1 (or better) at level 6 to 70% of the target group by August 2014

4 out of 5 of the original group achieved 1 Higher More than 70% of our wider target group of 26 achieved 1 Higher Best ever whole school performance at 1 Higher

Significant improvement in S4 results with students using mentoring approach based on improvement science methodology.

“The Pathfinder lets me and my parents know how I am doing in school and what they can do to help me if I need it. It has also helped me focus in class. This will help improve my grades and allow me to achieve my dream of becoming a Paramedic.” (Katie Jamieson) “I feel much more involved helping my daughter with her school work. We have worked on mind mapping together and organised her study area at home. Now I can really help and support her through her exams.” David Jamieson (Parent)

Impact – whole school community This session the project, based on student mentoring, has been rolled out to involve a larger number of pupils and teachers. All of S4-6 are involved (300 students, included in SIP) Parents have attend Study Skills workshops led by our Home School Partnership Officer. (Included in School Calendar) Parent Council have established a Parent Working Group and on line Parent Forum to support parents of students in S Our Tutor Time programme, Lifeskills, has incorporated the Pupil Progress sheet, based on pupil self evaluation. This is currently being piloted with S4. The Improvement Science methodology is currently being used in another whole school project aimed at improving learning experiences in the classroom. (Included in SIP)

Moving Forward – Next Steps Our aims this session: 60% of the S5 cohort capable of achieving 3+ Highers will achieve this target by August % of the S4 cohort achieve 5+ National 5 awards by August Pupil Monitoring and Tracking. Study group mentoring programme. Data Analysis. Testing Partnership working – Parental engagement/improved communication.

Working together to ‘raise standards and transform lives’

Bellshill Academy Raising Attainment in S5