6 May 2014
Dear Parent/Carer
Coltness High School
North 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
information and communications technology (ICT) for learning, the Coltness Lesson
structure and approaches to parental engagement. 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?
Young people feel safe and well cared for in school. They are helpful and respectful to
each other and to staff and visitors. They behave very well in lessons and
demonstrate great pride in their school through their high standards of dress and
positive attitudes to learning. Young people’s attendance has improved in recent
years and exclusions from school have reduced significantly. Across the school,
teachers consistently use the Coltness Lesson structure, which young people helped
to develop, to plan learning. As a result, in almost all lessons, young people know
what they are learning about and have a good understanding of the tasks they are
required to complete. During most lessons, teachers and pupils review the learning
that has been achieved. When this is done well, young people know the skills they are
developing and their next steps. In most lessons, young people are developing skills
to assess their own and others’ work accurately. They would benefit from more
detailed written feedback from their teachers. Young people increasingly use ICT well
to support their learning, for example by creating animations in S1. Across the school,
young people sometimes take responsibility for their learning and work well in pairs
and groups on challenging activities. The school should look to develop this further to
ensure consistency across departments.
Young people take advantage of the enhanced learning opportunities now provided as
a result of improved facilities in the new school building. Their enthusiastic
engagement in sports and the expressive arts are strengths of the school. Many take
part in out-of-class learning activities and attend community youth programmes in the
evenings and during school holidays. As a result, most young people demonstrate
confidence and achieve well in their chosen interests. Those involved in the annual
Education Scotland
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Transforming lives through learning
Creative Residency experience develop further their skills and talents in art and
design, music, photography and creative writing. An increasing number of young
people achieve national leadership awards through leading activities in the community
and in local primary schools. Young people who act as peer tutors working in subject
areas across the curriculum deepen their own understanding of learning and achieve
the Diana Award for their service to the school. The Sports Ambassadors in S4 and
S6 and the S1 to S6 Sports Council promote healthy lifestyles amongst their peers. All
young people in S3 and S4 have recently gained Heartstart first aid certificates.
Young people readily volunteer to support others in school, within the local community
and further afield. A significant number of senior pupils have achieved Saltire Awards
in recognition of their citizenship activities which include acting as buddies to younger
pupils. A growing number are involved in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.
Parents and teachers see more young people focused on achieving their goals and
willing to try new experiences as a result of the ‘can do’ culture within the school. The
school’s next step is to further develop tracking and monitoring of achievement and to
ensure all young people benefit from these experiences. In S1 and S2, most young
people are developing relevant skills and a subject knowledge in their learning across
the curriculum. Their progress is tracked by individual departments. In S3, most
continue to make good progress with their chosen options. In S4 to S6, many young
people achieve well in national examinations. Young people’s attainment by the end
of S6 has shown some improvement in recent years. However, the school’s overall
performance in national examinations has not shown a consistently improving trend.
We have asked the school to address this through improved analysis of examination
results and further tracking of young people’s progress to ensure they attain as highly
as possible. Most young people achieve positive post-school destinations.
How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
Across the school, young people’s social and emotional needs are very well met. As a
result of the strong personal support they receive, young people feel listened to and
are developing their resilience. The lunchtime nurture facility is highly valued by the
young people who attend. There is scope for this nurture approach to be further
developed to support more young people. Effective partnerships with parents and
specialist staff in, for example, health, educational psychology and the work of the
home partnership support officer, are strong elements of the school’s success in
meeting young people’s needs. Skilled support for learning staff effectively ensure
young people with additional support needs are able to engage well in lessons and
participate in the wide range of out-of-class learning available. The school’s current
approaches to identifying young people with dyslexia are not robust enough. As a
result, a few young people with dyslexia may not be learning as well as they should.
Most class teachers adapt questioning and provide alternative explanations to ensure
all young people make progress during lessons. They need to take more steps to
ensure resources, tasks and activities are planned to meet the differing needs of
learners within all classes. In the majority of classes, there should be a more brisk
pace to learning and teachers’ questioning could be more challenging to stretch
higher-attaining young people. Pastoral and support for learning staff work closely
with associated primary schools to get to know young people before the start of S1.
Young people with additional support needs benefit greatly from the innovative
Summer Chill programme through which staff, community partners and young people
work together during the holiday period at the end of P7.
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At S1 and S2, young people access a broad curriculum which the staff have
developed using relevant Curriculum for Excellence guidance. Opportunities for them
to increase their literacy and numeracy skills across the curriculum are increasing. In
S1, young people are able to bring learning from different subjects together during
themed weeks focused on health and wellbeing, environmental issues and Scottish
culture. Other aspects of learning such as enterprise, citizenship and ICT skills could
be linked in to subject specific learning more often. We have asked the school to
improve opportunities for young people to apply these skills across their learning.
From S3, young people follow a curriculum mainly focused on working towards
National Qualifications at different stages. As a result, they do not have enough
opportunities to deepen their learning and develop their skills across all the key
aspects of the curriculum. The current options for young people do not ensure that
they can all build on what they have already learned. A small number of young people
in S4 are not able to build on their learning in English and mathematics. The school is
aware of the need to address this within future curriculum developments. Most young
people do not study a modern language beyond S2. Some young people follow
skills-based programmes in school, with local employers and at college. However the
timetable for these skills-based programmes means that the young people involved
miss lessons in other subjects. The school has developed other motivating
opportunities for learning such as drama and the forthcoming polar expedition, through
joint work with partners. We have asked the school to ensure these opportunities are
better linked to other aspects of the curriculum, to ensure progress in young people’s
learning. There is a need for the school and its partners to come together to plan a
range of learning pathways which meet the differing needs of young people from S4 to
S6 and communicate these clearly to parents. As the school develops its plans for the
new 33 period week, we have asked staff to address the important weaknesses in the
curriculum.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
The ethos within Coltness High School is very positive. Staff and partners are
dedicated to improving the life chances of the young people across the community.
Over the past year, with effective leadership from the acting headteacher and her
deputes, staff and partners have continued to build strong relationships across the
school, increase motivation for learning and have secured some important
improvements in teaching and learning. Parents feel welcome and well supported in
helping their children to learn. With the aim of improving young people’s learning
experiences, most staff share their practice across the school and many lead
developments within their departments or across the school as a whole. Young people
have good opportunities to make improvements through the pupil council and through
the feedback they are asked to give to departments. To build on these successes, the
school needs to focus on improving the curriculum and securing sustained
improvements in all young people’s achievements, including attainment in national
examinations.
This inspection found the following key strengths.
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Young people’s motivation to achieve in a range of contexts in and out of school.
High quality pastoral care and positive, mutually respectful relationships across the
school community.
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The Summer Chill P7 to S1 transition programme.
Approaches to improving teaching and learning through the Coltness Lesson
structure.
High levels of staff engagement to provide out-of-class learning and in leading
school improvement.
We discussed with staff and North Lanarkshire Council how they might continue to
improve the school. This is what we agreed with them.
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Improve the curriculum to ensure young people benefit from broad and relevant
learning pathways with appropriate progression routes.
Ensure tasks, activities and resources meet the differing needs of all learners.
Improve approaches to tracking and monitoring young people’s progress to raise
attainment.
Continue to strengthen self-evaluation approaches to ensure a consistently
accurate view of the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
The school needs additional support and more time to make necessary improvements
to the curriculum. Our Area Lead Officer will work with North Lanarkshire Council to
build capacity for improvement and will maintain contact to monitor progress. We shall
ask North Lanarkshire Council for a report on the school’s progress in improving the
curriculum within a year and decide at that time if a further inspection is required.
Parents will be informed of the extent to which the school has improved.
During the inspection, we identified The Summer Chill project as having aspects of
innovative practice which we would like to explore more widely and share with others.
As a result, we shall work with the school and North Lanarkshire Council in order to
record and share this innovative practice.
Patricia Watson
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/Colt
nessHighSchoolNorthLanarkshire.asp
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please contact the administration team on the above telephone number.
If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact us
by telephone on 0141 282 5000, or e-mail: complaints@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
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or write to us addressing your letter to the Complaints Manager, Denholm House,
Almondvale Business Park, Livingston EH54 6GA
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