18 December 2012
Dear Parent/Carer
Calderglen High School
South Lanarkshire Council
Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I inspected your child’s school.
During our visit, we talked to parents and young people and worked closely with the
headteacher and staff. We wanted to find out how well young people are learning
and achieving and how well the school supports young people to do their best. The
headteacher shared with us the school’s successes and priorities for improvement.
We looked at some particular aspects of the school’s recent work, including the
impact of partnerships, how innovation is key to developing new ways of working,
skills development, approaches to developing health and wellbeing, tracking young
people’s progress, and leadership. As a result, we were able to find out how good
the school is at improving young people’s education.
How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement are of particularly high quality. The school community
exemplifies high expectations, support and mutual respect. Young people feel very
secure and know that staff value their views. As a result, they work together
extremely well. They engage willingly in challenging discussions and
problem-solving tasks. The school is helping them become independent thinkers.
They make very good use of an impressive range of information and
communications technology to research and present their ideas. Most are aware of
their progress in learning through effective feedback from staff and are becoming
skilled in assessing their own and each other’s work. The school’s strong emphasis
on skills for the future has made young people very aware of their strengths. They
experience rich learning through clubs, visits, excursions and residential courses
where they learn teamwork, for example. They demonstrate a keen understanding
of their responsibilities as global citizens through performing at local events and
fundraising extensively for charities. A number of young people were inspired by
working as sports leaders in a South African school through the British Council
International Inspirations Programme. At all stages, young people are confident and
mature in their approach to the many innovative learning opportunities in classes and
beyond.
Young people are developing skills for life and work exceptionally well, particularly
leadership, communication and social skills. Those at S6 are valued buddies to their
peers at S1. The school develops young people’s leadership skills systematically
from S1 onwards through year group pupil councils and focus weeks on, for
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Transforming lives through learning
example, presentation skills. High numbers of young people perform and achieve
extremely well in an outstandingly wide range of sporting and cultural activities, often
achieving great success in local and national competitions. Their many and varied
achievements are recognised in school and beyond. For example, young people’s
photography work was displayed at the Olympic village and a few young people are
to present their own films on aspects of health and wellbeing at an international
conference in Hungary. Young people are justifiably proud of their school.
Young people from S1 to S3 are progressing well through the broad general
education. They are responding very well to challenging learning in relevant
contexts. They have a particularly clear understanding of how to maintain mental
and physical wellbeing. Young people achieve very well in national examinations
and the school performs as well as, or better than, schools which serve young
people with similar needs and backgrounds. Those who require extra help to learn
are making good progress. Almost all young people move on to further study,
employment or training on leaving school. The school recognises achievement very
well, including through a range of accredited awards. Staff have plans in place to
increase the number of such awards still further.
How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
The school has developed highly effective ways of ensuring all young people have
the support they need to achieve well. The innovative ways in which the curriculum
provides opportunities for young people to develop skills and knowledge are sector
leading. Lessons are well planned, move at a good pace and are appropriately
challenging. Staff are skilful in adapting teaching approaches to suit individual
learning needs. They know young people very well, monitor their progress and are
alert to any issues. There is very effective communication between support for
pupils staff and class teachers. The school works extremely well with a range of
partners, including parents, to prevent concerns arising. For example, the
Chaplaincy Team works with the school to provide workshops where young people
have time and space to reflect on personal matters. Young people support each
other very well in classes and a large number work very effectively to support young
people in the campus partner establishment, Sanderson High School.
The broad general education is based firmly on developing skills for the 21st century
through inspiring and innovative real-life contexts. This is underpinned by a very
strong focus on health and wellbeing. A key feature is the effective way in which
planned learning opportunities across and outwith the school build on and develop
young people’s skills. The school is forming increasingly effective links with its
associated primary schools to ensure a successful start for young people entering
S1. At S2, young people are highly motivated by themed projects about the future
which develop skills in literacy and numeracy. Young people at S3 enjoy further
opportunities to achieve through ambitious ‘master classes’ which ensure they
continue to experience a broad curriculum. The school has extensive links with
partners who provide exciting learning contexts. For example, young people have
been working on telephone “apps” through Dogfish Mobile Ltd and Gaelic learners
benefit from links with BBC Alba. From S4 to S6, the school provides a wide choice
of courses which meet the needs and interests of young people. Notably, a good
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number of young people at S5 are enjoying learning real-life skills in areas such as
cosmetology or electronics, using school facilities.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
Staff use a range of ways to evaluate constantly the work they do and the difference
it makes to young people’s achievements. As a result, senior managers know the
school very well and plan innovations with confidence. Teachers’ continuing
professional development is very effective in supporting the school’s key priorities
and staff share their learning well. Surveys, class visits and research by Microsoft
Partners in Learning have helped focus improvements where they are most needed.
The school monitors young people very carefully, putting in place additional support
as appropriate. Staff are beginning to find ways of tracking young people’s skills and
achievements through the broad general education. Leadership is a powerful
feature of the school. Young people at all stages are developing leadership skills
and playing an important role in school improvement. All staff are supported in
leading aspects of the school’s work. The deputy headteachers provide highly
effective leadership, earning the respect of parents, staff and pupils. The leadership
of the headteacher is outstanding. He is very highly regarded and has nurtured the
sense of community exemplified by the motif ‘We are Calderglen’. His very high
expectations and vision for the future have created a forward-thinking school which
inspires young people to learn and develop skills for the future.
This inspection of your school found the following key strengths.
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The invaluable contribution of partnerships and innovation.
The school’s holistic approach to health and wellbeing.
The impact of leadership at all levels across the school.
The outstanding leadership of the headteacher.
A community which works together to inspire learners and shape their future.
We discussed with staff and the education authority how they might continue to
improve the school. This is what we agreed with them.
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Continue to develop approaches to self-evaluation to raise attainment.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
We are very satisfied with the overall quality of provision. We are equally confident
that the school’s self-evaluation processes are leading to improvements. As a result,
we will make no further evaluative visits in connection with this inspection. During
the inspection, we identified aspects of innovative practice which we would like to
explore further in order to share the practice with others. As a result we will work
with the school and local authority in order to record and share more widely the
innovative practice. We will ask the school, in discussion with the local authority, to
let parents know the outcome of the innovative practice visit(s).
Fiona A Pate
HM Inspector
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Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations,
for your school can be found on the Education Scotland website at
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/school/primsec/Ca
lderglenHighSchoolSouthLanarkshire.asp.
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for
example, in a translation. You can contact us
at enquiries@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT, Education
Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA.
If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact
01506 600200, or write to us at the above address or e-mail:
feedback@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk.
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