Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
We aim to be a school full of people who see learning as a good thing and
who work together to learn and to improve their skills.
We will put our best efforts into everything that we do. We will aim high and
try to constantly improve our performance by looking at what we have
already done.
We will make special efforts to make sure that everyone feels cared for and
well supported.
We want everyone in the school to be happy and making healthy choices for
their lives.
We will learn about, investigate and participate in the world beyond the
school gates and the world beyond Lochaber.
attainment gap between the most deprived and most affluent pupils in the school.
The school is developing its own criteria, working on an individual basis, to address
this issue.
For the last three years the School Improvement Plan has been dominated by the
introduction of new SQA courses and by the development of our Health & Wellbeing
courses and our scheme for Universal Support.
Standards of attainment have been sustained and a slight underperformance of the
middle 60% has been improved through our focus on the progress of targeted
individuals.
Our learners are motivated and eager participants in their learning. They are actively
involved in their own learning and development and show increasing skills as
learners. In almost all classes, high quality feedback makes them aware of their
progress and strengths as learners. They are responsible and contribute actively to
the life of the school. In our school, learners are treated with equality, fairness and
respect. Almost all, including those at risk and vulnerable, have progressed well and
make very good progress from their prior levels of attainment and wider
achievement.
Learners tell us that they are very satisfied with the schools provision; they feel that
they are valued, but are looking for a more effective Pupil Council and more
consultation on the way they learn
The quality of learners experiences is good. Almost all staff successfully create a very
positive and inclusive environment for learning. Pupils of all levels of attainment and
at all stages work enthusiastically and cooperatively with their teachers.
Learners feel safe, nurtured, healthy, achieving, active, included and respected. A
significant number of pupils report that the school should do more to promote healthy
eating and should, also, review its handling of bullying incidents.
They relate well to one another and respond positively when given the opportunity to
work in pairs or in small groups. Almost all teachers provide pupils with helpful
feedback that assists them to plan the next steps in their learning. They help pupils
become more responsible for their learning through planning and assessing some
aspects of their own work. Almost all staff work to provide more consistent
opportunities for pupils to be independent learners.
Our developments are:
o Extend opportunities for pupils to talk about their progress in learning and
next steps and work to offer pupils more opportunities for taking
responsibility for their own learning.
o Plan to encourage pupils to be actively involved in the development as well
as the evaluation of learning and teaching.
o Continue to provide more opportunities for pupils to contribute to
community/society through the Health & Wellbeing programme and other
areas.
o Continue to develop learners literacy and numeracy skills appropriate to the
curriculum area through existing Literacy and Numeracy groups.
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2. How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
5.1 The Curriculum
5.3 Meeting learning needs
The rationale and design of the
Tasks, activities and resources
curriculum
Identification of learning needs
The development of the curriculum
The roles of teachers and specialist
Programmes and courses
staf
Transitions
Meeting and implementing the
requirements of legislation
Our curriculum was developed in 2010 with a clear rationale based on shared values.
It was designed to promote challenge, enjoyment, breadth and depth, progression,
relevance, coherence, personalisation and choice in learning for all pupils. It took
account of local circumstances, and local and national advice. It leaves scope for
teams and individual teachers to introduce well-considered innovations to meet the
needs of learners.
We develop and refresh our curriculum on a regular basis, involving all staff. For
future developments we need to take more account of the views of parents and
learners. Staff teams reflect on the range and quality of experiences for learners, the
impact of these and the outcomes they achieve. We have planned carefully in making
curriculum innovations, adaptations to meet needs, and opportunities for choice and
specialisation, although we recognise that we need to make further progress with
vocationally based courses, particularly in the Senior school.
Our programmes and courses are challenging, relevant and enjoyable, although in
some knowledge based subjects, they do not feature sufficient explicit development
of skills.
We respond to, and meet, the needs of learners. Timetabling supports progression
within curriculum.
The curriculum provides most pupils with broad and balanced learning programmes.
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The school should broaden its consultation with parents beyond the Parent Council.
The school has been creative in maintaining its curriculum while reducing staffing in
line with its falling roll and cuts in council funding. The school has consulted staff on
changes to the curriculum and is developing improved approaches to extend learning
opportunities for all pupils. The roll will continue to fall for a number of years and
consultation with parents will be crucial during this period.
Particular features of the curriculum include the following.
o Provision for a separate Health & Wellbeing course and Individual Personal
Support
o Almost all pupils in S2-S6 are offered a range of courses that provide
appropriate opportunities for choice and progression.
o Exit points from S3 that allow pupils to progress to Higher in S4
o There is a range of Open and Distance Learning courses for the Senior school
which form a valuable function in extending the breadth of the curriculum.
o All subject areas have programmes of work S1-S3 with experiences and
outcomes mapped and embedded and assessment is based on National
Frameworks of Assessment.
o Curricular links with associated primary schools are not well established. Recent
changes to the management structures of the local primary schools will
facilitate progress in this area.
o Links with partners for vocational education have been slow to develop, but
there has been good progress on partnership working with West Highland
College, in the last year.
o Ensure that all course promote and monitor the development of skills for life,
learning and work.
Our key strengths are:
We match the learning activities to the needs of individual learners and groups with
differing abilities or aptitudes. Our tasks, activities and resources provide appropriate
support and challenge to enable all learners to maximize their progress. Our courses
and programmes meet the varying needs of almost all learners. The pace of learning
is appropriate for individuals in most courses, although the school continues to closely
review the expectations associated with BGE courses.
We identify, review and evaluate learners needs. We do this through working closely
with our learners, their parents and partner services. In the next session, the school
will develop strategies to respond to a greater range of needs in response to the
intake of new learners.
We take positive and proactive steps to ensure that factors, such as the learning
environment, family circumstances, health or disability, or social or emotional factors
which may hinder learning are promptly identified and addressed effectively. At
present, the school lacks a promoted member of staff to coordinate advice and
support to staff and individual learners and to contribute towards meeting learning
needs. This gap will be addressed early in the new session.
Individualised education programmes and coordinated support plans contain
appropriate learning targets for our learners. We involve parents and learners well in
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