22 January 2013
Dear Parent/Carer
St Andrew’s RC Secondary School
Glasgow City 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
innovative approaches to learning and teaching, the effect of partnership working on
how well some vulnerable young people succeed and new opportunities to improve
skills for learning, life and work. 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 exceptionally high quality. Young people enjoy
lessons and are highly motivated to achieve in everything they do. They are
justifiably proud of the school and feel safe and well respected by staff and each
other. The behaviour of almost all young people is exemplary. They find it very easy
to talk to staff if there are any problems and are confident that staff will help them.
Young people are self-assured and take part in numerous conversations about their
learning. They understand clearly what they are good at and what they need to do to
improve. They demonstrate increasing responsibility as they contribute to the many
high-quality opportunities to make decisions about learning and teaching. Almost all
young people's experiences are enhanced through a comprehensive range of clubs,
visits and residential activities provided by teachers and partners who use the local
community and beyond to extend and enhance high quality learning. These include
challenging tasks which build confidence and lead to awards. For example, young
people in the senior drama club develop the skills to run workshops in primary
schools on anti-sectarianism. Overall, young people take a mature attitude to their
learning and what they want to achieve. They are actively engaged in how and what
they learn which helps them to develop a resilience which enables them to cope with
challenging learning activities.
The range and quality of achievements of many young people are outstanding. The
opportunities to achieve are well-planned and enable young people to link and apply
their learning from across the school. Almost all young people feel they are
successful and are developing a range of skills for life and work. Leadership skills
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Transforming lives through learning
are given a high priority and young people take the initiative and develop a 'can do'
attitude. For example, the chamber choir regularly performs at high-profile public
occasions in Glasgow. Almost all young people in S1 and S2 undertake work which
leads to the Key Steps Award. This work helps them to develop the ability to work in
a range of teams. Commendably, young people take the lead in developing their
learning by participating in the Pupil Voice Strategy. The outcomes of this helps to
develop learning across the school and involve young people in creative thinking.
The level of success in sporting and cultural activities is exceptionally high. For
example, the team taking part in the World Marathon Challenge broke the Scottish
record to win. The achievements of young people participating in the SRU School of
Rugby are also extensive. Young people develop presentation skills through
participating in lunchtime activities run in partnership with the Cranhill Beacons Art
Project. They hone their performance skills by participating in and often winning
local and national festivals and competitions. They are aware of the needs of others
and raise large amounts for a number of local and international charities. Young
people’s many and varied achievements are recognised and celebrated across the
school and community.
Almost all young people from S1 to S3 are progressing very well with their learning
through the broad general education. Their literacy and numeracy skills are
improving through being used in a range of relevant contexts. They are very aware
of the importance of physical and mental health. At S4 to S6, the school performs
much better than schools which serve young people with similar needs and
backgrounds. There is improvement in how well young people perform in national
examinations and the school continues to prioritise further improvements in
attainment. Those who require extra help to learn are making very good progress.
The progress of vulnerable young people is outstanding. Very high numbers of
young people have their achievements recognised through an excellent range of
accredited awards. Almost all young people leave school to go on to further study,
employment or training.
How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
Staff are very effective in helping young people to develop and learn. They know
young people very well and adapt teaching approaches to suit the needs of
individual pupils. This would be even further enhanced with increased access to
specialist knowledge to support a few children with specific learning needs. Almost
all lessons are motivating and challenging with high expectations of what can be
achieved. Staff monitor young people's progress very well and act swiftly to ensure
nobody falls behind. The wide range of partners with which the school works is
exceptional. These partnerships are providing young people with opportunities for
their high aspirations to become reality. For example, young people have increased
their confidence through taking part in the Strathclyde University Summer Academy
and have gone on to higher education. Young people benefit from the caring and
supportive atmosphere in the school which is based upon a strong Catholic ethos.
Staff have developed a very good broad general education for young people. In S2,
'master classes' provide opportunities for stimulating learning through real-life
contexts. Young people's skills in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing are at
the forefront of teachers' planning and are blended well with the knowledge and skills
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of each subject. Skills for learning, life and work are being developed across the
school and accredited through Dynamic Youth awards. From S1 to S3, the
curriculum is broad and relevant with appropriate opportunities for young people to
specialise in some areas. From S4 to S6, the school provides very good
opportunities for young people to progress in a range of qualifications. Partners
provide a variety of well-planned opportunities for young people to enhance their
learning and gain valuable experience. For example, links with an international hotel
chain enables young people to participate in the authority’s culinary excellence
programme.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The school’s approaches to evaluating and improving the quality of its work are
outstanding. Staff and partners consistently monitor their work and make
improvements. Senior managers know the school very well and use planning very
well to deliver innovative approaches to learning and teaching. Commendably,
young people are involved in all aspects of improving the school and teachers
frequently adjust their practice from the feedback they receive from pupils. The
sharing of good practice is firmly embedded across the school and staff learn from
each other continually. The school has recently improved opportunities for teachers
to develop their own professional learning. Across the school, staff monitor the
progress of young people consistently and use the information to target next steps in
learning. The approaches to tracking young people from S1 to S3 are effective
across departments and enable staff to monitor the progress of young people very
well. Leadership across the school is clear and effective. Young people of all ages
are empowered to lead in many ways and play an important part in school
improvement. Teachers successfully lead many aspects of the school’s work. The
principal teachers and senior leadership team provide strong leadership and take
forward improvements efficiently and effectively. The visionary and inspirational
leadership of the headteacher has earned the respect and support of young people,
parents and staff. His high expectations support a culture of ‘only the best will do’.
The school is in a very strong position to continue to improve.
This inspection of your school found the following key strengths.
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Young people who aspire to be the best they can, supported by staff dedicated to
meeting their social, emotional and spiritual needs.
Outstanding expectations for young people’s achievements.
Learners’ experiences leading to resilient, happy and well-adjusted young
people, with a range of skills for life and work.
Strong relationships and tolerance built upon the school’s strong, Catholic ethos.
The impact of leadership at all levels across the school in particular, the
inspirational leadership of the headteacher.
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 the curriculum and build on current approaches to support a
few young people with specific learning needs.
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What happens at the end of the inspection?
We are very satisfied with the overall quality of provision. We are very 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).
David Gregory
HM Inspector
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/St
AndrewsSecondarySchoolGlasgowCity.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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