Aberdeen Grammar School
Aberdeen City Council
6 January 2009
This report tells you about the quality of education at the school.
We describe how young people benefit from learning there. We
explain how well they are doing and how good the school is at
helping them to learn. Then we look at the ways in which the
school does this. We describe how well the school works with
other groups in the community, including parents1 and services
which support young people. We also comment on how well staff
and young people work together and how they go about
improving the school.
Our report describes the ‘ethos’ of the school. By ‘ethos’ we
mean the relationships in the school, how well young people are
cared for and treated and how much is expected of them in all
aspects of school life. Finally, we comment on the school’s aims.
In particular, we focus on how well the aims help staff to deliver
high quality learning, and the impact of leadership on the school’s
success in achieving these aims.
If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the school,
please visit www.hmie.gov.uk. Here you can find analyses of
questionnaire returns and details about young people’s
examination performance. Where applicable, you will also be
able to find descriptions of good practice in the school and a
report on the learning community surrounding the school.
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Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to
include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are
relatives or friends.
Contents
1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. Example of good practice
4. How well do young people learn and achieve?
5. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s
learning?
6. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving their
school community?
7. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
9. What happens next?
1. The school
Aberdeen Grammar School is a non-denominational school which
serves parts of the west end and the city centre of Aberdeen. The
inspection was carried out in October 2008 at which time the roll was
1151. Young people’s attendance was above the national average in
2006/07.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
The high levels of young people’s attainment in S4-S6.
•
Young people’s high standards of behaviour and positive attitudes
to their learning.
•
The commitment of staff to supporting young people’s learning and
attainment.
•
The very wide range of sports, clubs and trips available for young
people.
•
The strong lead given by the headteacher to improving the school.
3. Example of good practice
•
The role of senior pupils in supporting younger pupils with
additional support needs.
4. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Almost all young people work hard and are keen to learn and gain
good examination results. They are steadily becoming more confident
and skilful learners as they progress through the school. Almost all
young people go on to university or college, or are successful in
getting a job, when they leave school. Staff treat young people fairly
and with respect. They support young people very well by helping
them to identify what they are good at and what they need to do to
improve further. In classes, teachers need to provide more
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opportunities to help young people to develop creativity, independent
thinking and skills of working together.
Young people take part in a very wide range of sports, clubs, trips and
other activities. The school formally recognises their success both as
individuals and as part of teams. Those involved in the debating club
have enjoyed very high levels of national and international success.
Many young people have individual responsibilities in the school, such
as supporting younger pupils in class. Young people take
responsibility for running the school soul band and for supporting
younger pupils with a range of additional support needs. Staff do not
do enough to promote healthy lifestyles. The school does not take
fully into account the benefits to young people of their achievements
and experiences in the community.
Achievement in mathematics in S1/S2 has been steadily improving
and is now very high. Achievement in reading and writing in S1/S2
has also improved but still varies from year to year. Levels of
achievement from S4 to S6 have been very high for the past five years
and are consistently well above national averages. Staff have made
improvements to performance in some subjects. Young people with
additional support needs are making very good progress, but staff
need to keep track of how well they are doing.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
Young people study a suitably broad range of subjects which meets
their needs very well. Staff have made a very good start to planning
what needs to be done to introduce the national programme
Curriculum for Excellence. They have looked closely at existing
opportunities to develop young people’s literacy and numeracy skills
across the curriculum. Teachers do not make sure that lessons at
S1/S2 build on young people’s learning in primary school. The school
has been increasing the range of courses available at S3 to S6. It has
introduced successful Skills for Work courses for a small number of
young people at S3. At S5/S6, the school offers a very wide range of
courses, particularly at Advanced Higher level. Through links with
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Aberdeen College, young people can study sociology and psychology.
Those in S5/S6 can take part in enterprise projects and challenges
related to oil exploration and development. These projects have
developed valuable partnerships with major oil companies and other
businesses.
Across the school, teachers ensure that the learning needs of most
young people are well met. Teachers give good support to those who
are having difficulties with any aspects of their work. They need to
make more use of teaching approaches which challenge young
people’s thinking. Staff involved in the pupil support teams are very
effective in identifying young people who have additional support
needs, including those for whom English is an additional language.
They plan and discuss the support for these young people carefully,
and make sure that important information is shared with teachers.
However, staff do not check carefully enough on how successful their
support has been, and what progress the young people are making.
The school needs to continue to monitor the effectiveness of
arrangements for supporting classes in S1/S2, particularly for young
people who speak very little English.
5. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s
learning?
Parents are very supportive of the school. Individual parents and the
Former Pupils’ Club support the school’s activities well. The school
keeps parents well informed about its work, including the teaching of
sensitive health matters. Some parents do not feel that they get
information on their children’s progress promptly enough. Individual
staff from specialist agencies, including those from the English as an
additional language and Hearing Impaired services, give valuable
support to young people. This effective working needs to be extended
to ensure that all agencies are fully involved in meeting young people’s
additional support needs. A range of partner agencies give very good
support to developing young people’s wider experiences. The school
needs to work more closely with local community learning and
development workers to ensure the most benefit for young people.
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6. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
Staff are involved in working groups to help improve the school. Many
teachers willingly share their expertise with other members of staff to
spread good practice. Senior pupils are responsible for organising
clubs or supporting young people with additional support needs such
as autism spectrum disorders. They act as buddies and give in-class
support. Young people do not feel they have a chance to give their
views or have any real influence on improving the school. They do not
see the pupil council as having any impact. Parents do not feel
sufficiently involved in making decisions about changes to the school.
Over the past few years, staff have worked hard to improve the way
they evaluate how well the school is doing. Senior managers observe
lessons and lead staff in reflecting on young people’s experiences.
Teachers have begun to set targets for young people’s attainment, and
to monitor their progress. This has led to clear improvements in young
people’s learning and achievement. It has also highlighted where
further improvements can be made. The school needs to continue to
develop its culture of improvement and ensure that all staff show their
commitment to it across all their work.
7. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
School staff, parents and young people have very high expectations of
behaviour and achievement. As a result of these shared expectations,
young people achieve very highly across a wide range of contexts.
Their success is well celebrated, including some of their achievements
which take place in the community. The school has suitable
arrangements for religious observance, including arrangements for
young people from different faith backgrounds. Staff do not make all
young people aware of the different faiths and cultures of the school
community, and do not celebrate these. The school has appropriate
arrangements to make sure that young people are kept safe. It
promotes healthy lifestyles through the personal and social education
course, but needs to do this more widely across the school.
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8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
Aberdeen Grammar School has been recognised for some time as a
school where young people reach very high levels of attainment.
Since taking up post, the headteacher has worked hard to make sure
that these high attainment levels, and the wider achievement of all
young people, are as high as they can be. Overall, senior managers
and most staff share this commitment. New procedures to evaluate
the school’s work have had a positive impact on the quality of some
courses. They have also identified where further improvements can
be made. This approach to school improvement is not yet fully
embedded in the school, and does not always lead to actions which
will have a clear impact on the learning experiences and achievements
of young people. The whole school community, including parents,
partners and young people themselves need to work together closely
to ensure that high standards are maintained and further
improvements are made.
9. What happens next?
We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary
improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will
make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school and
the education authority will inform parents about the school’s progress
in improving the quality of education.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Ensure that the views of young people, parents and staff are fully
taken into account in future school developments, especially when
developing Curriculum for Excellence.
•
Ensure that steps taken to evaluate the quality of education result
in a discernible impact on young people’s learning and
achievement.
•
Improve the links between the school and community learning and
development staff so that young people can have access to the
widest possible range of activities, and formally recognise as many
of these as possible.
Quality indicators help schools, education authorities and inspectors to
judge what is good and what needs to be improved in the work of the
school. You can find these quality indicators in the HMIE publication
How good is our school?. Following the inspection of each school, the
Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three important quality
indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish schools are doing.
Here are the evaluations for Aberdeen Grammar School.
Improvements in performance
very good
Learners’ experiences
good
Meeting learning needs
good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
good
Improvement through self-evaluation
satisfactory
HM Inspector: Brian Stewart
6 January 2009
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To find out more about inspections or get an electronic copy of this
report go to www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact the Business
Management and Communications Team (BMCT) if you wish to
enquire about our arrangements for translated or other appropriate
versions.
If you wish to comment about any of our inspections, contact us
at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or alternatively you should write in
the first instance to BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm
House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA.
Our complaints procedure is available from our website
www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can write to our Complaints
Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our
complaints procedure, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish
Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent
and has powers to investigate complaints about Government
departments and agencies. You should write to SPSO, Freepost
EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also telephone 0800 377 7330,
fax 0800 377 7331 or e-mail: ask@spso.org.uk. More information
about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website
at www.spso.org.uk.
This report uses the following word scale to make clear judgements
made by inspectors.
excellent
very good
good
satisfactory
weak
unsatisfactory
outstanding, sector leading
major strengths
important strengths with some areas for
improvement
strengths just outweigh weaknesses
important weaknesses
major weaknesses
Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education.