St Andrew’s RC Secondary School: Glasgow City Council
St Andrew’s RC Secondary School was inspected in November 2012. Inspectors noted the
following features of improvement through self evaluation which contributed to the school
receiving an evaluation of “excellent” for Q.I. 5.9.
Evaluations take account of the context of the school and these features are just part of the
overall approach the school takes to improving young people’s learning experiences and
achievements.
Improvement through self-evaluation
As part of the school’s Vision for Excellence, staff have worked together very well in groups
and made very effective use of Appreciative Enquiry approaches to help them identify some
important school strengths and areas which they would like to improve. These groups,
appropriately, have focused on aspects of school life which directly impact on pupils’
learning experiences. Working in these groups provides staff at all levels with very good
opportunities to take responsibility and leadership for improving key aspects of school life.
Senior staff respond very well to address the issues which are raised.
The sharing of good practice by staff is firmly embedded across the school. All teaching
staff participate in a programme of lesson observations. Many speak highly positively about
the impact of lesson observations on their subsequent practice. This programme of
observations, together with further focused support strategies, has led to improvement in
learning experiences across subject areas. In some cases, staff have enlisted the support of
young people in sharing good practice with their colleagues, for example, in encouraging
greater use of cooperative learning strategies.
Heads of departments and faculties regularly monitor young people’s jotters and other
written work. As a result, young people are successfully encouraged to maintain high
standards, for example, in the presentation of their work.
Staff make focused and highly reflective use of QIs in their self-evaluation of the work of
departments and faculties. The How Good Is Our Department/ Faculty analyses prepared
by PTs provide clear evidence of strengths and areas for improvement. They are
consistently evaluative and provide a commendably thorough analysis of young people’s
performance in national examinations. Departmental/faculty Standards and Quality Reports
provide clear statements about the quality of young people’s learning experiences and
achievements.
Members of the Senior Leadership Team provide very strong support and challenge for their
linked departments and faculties. Collated How Good Is Our Department/ Faculty and
Standards and Quality Reports provide a clear evaluative overview and provide appropriate
influence for whole school analyses and documents.
As a result of the wide range of self-evaluative approaches, staff are able to identify many
improvements which impact positively on young people’s learning experiences. These
include the consistent used of cooperative learning approaches and using assessment to
develop young people’s learning.
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20 February 2013
Staff mentors and class teachers make a very strong contribution to arrangements for
monitoring the progress of young people at S4 and S5. Twice weekly meetings with mentors
during tutor time and weekly inputs by class teachers to the STARA database provide very
regular updates on pupils’ progress. Parents are kept well, and regularly, informed about
their child’s progress. As a result of the information gathered, staff have a very good
knowledge of their pupils and provide a range of supportive mechanisms and approaches.
In October 2012, all departments and faculties carried out “learner conversations” with young
people at S1. The involvement of a substantial number of young people’s involvement in
focus group discussions about their learning provided helpful feedback on strengths and
areas for improvement in every faculty area. Staff have used these comments to plan
further improvements in young people’s learning experiences.
In May 2012, senior staff collated the helpful suggestions which young people at S4 to S6
made in every subject area, using a common format, to identify common elements and to
influence each subject’s improvement plans for the forthcoming session.
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20 February 2013