St David’s RC High School
Dalkeith
Midlothian Council
10 February 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. Examples 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
St David’s RC High School is a denominational school which serves
the town of Dalkeith and communities across Midlothian and East
Lothian. The inspection was carried out in November 2008 at which
time the roll was 807. Young people’s attendance was in line with the
national average in 2006/07.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Positive relationships between young people and staff.
•
The help provided by learning support staff for young people with
additional support needs.
•
Strong partnerships with community organisations and partner
agencies which enhance young people’s learning experiences.
•
Innovative curricular developments.
3. Examples of good practice
•
The way the school extends vocational options for a large group of
S5/S6 young people through the ‘Empower Programme’.
•
Innovative use of staffing, including youth work expertise, to extend
curriculum options and to provide very effective support to the most
vulnerable young people.
•
The development of young people’s skills in music and its links in
other areas of the curriculum.
4. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Almost all young people enjoy learning and most feel that the school is
helping them to be more confident. Most lessons are well planned and
well designed and are increasing young people’s motivation to learn.
Teachers are successfully working together across subjects to enhance
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young people’s learning and creative skills. Young people are
becoming more independent learners. In most areas, they receive
effective feedback to help them improve their learning. However, this
quality of feedback is not consistent across the school. Some teachers
have yet to provide sufficient learning opportunities for young people to
take leadership roles and develop responsibility. Young people’s
views about teaching are sought at whole school and departmental
level to help improve learning. They set themselves personal targets
which help them to make good progress in their learning.
Most young people develop their confidence and interpersonal skills
through fundraising events, enterprise activities, activities in several
departments, community radio broadcasting and the school’s own
record company. They also develop their citizenship skills by actively
participating in global and international community developments such
as the ‘Working for Our World’ (WOW) project, the Eco-programme
and ‘My Dream for Scotland’ initiative. Other important skills and
vocational options are being developed well in areas such as
hospitality. The school now needs to gather and record young
people’s wider achievements more formally.
At S1/S2, the majority of young people are attaining appropriate
national levels in mathematics, reading and writing. Their listening and
talking skills are developing well. They are making good progress in
other subjects and enhancing their literacy and numeracy skills
appropriately across the school. At S3/S4, the proportion of young
people achieving at least five awards at Credit level is lower than in
schools which serve young people with similar needs and
backgrounds, and below national levels. At S5/S6, results at Higher
are below the national averages and the school performs less well
than schools which serve young people with similar needs and
backgrounds. The school needs to reduce the numbers of young
people who receive No Awards for certain courses. Young people with
additional support needs are making good progress. A small but
increasing number of young people are gaining qualifications in
vocational education, or achieving recognition for personal
development.
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Curriculum and meeting learning needs
At S1/S2, young people benefit from an appropriate range of courses.
The school has very good links in English and mathematics with its
associated primary schools, but not in all subjects. Young people,
including vulnerable individuals, are well prepared for entering S1 due
to the well-planned transition programme. From S3 onwards, they
have a very broad range of courses to choose from and good
opportunities to progress. Innovative programmes support young
people moving to further education, employment and training, and
promote leadership skills. The school is making its courses more
relevant through helpful external inputs in areas such as enterprise
and citizenship. Staff work closely with each other to extend the range
of courses available to young people at all stages, for example the
‘Empower Programme’. The school needs to increase the time
allocation for physical education at S3/S4 to meet young people’s
needs. The school is making good progress with Curriculum for
Excellence, for example through interdepartmental projects and
external partnerships.
Throughout the school, teachers know young people well. Most meet
the very wide range of learning needs effectively by providing
appropriate courses for all young people. In some lessons, they need
to organise tasks and activities better to challenge individuals. The
school’s innovative support systems, including the youth worker, give
very good support to those who require additional help. Guidance and
pupil support staff provide very effective support for young people who
experience emotional and behavioural difficulties. A few young people
gain from opportunities to learn and to mentor at Saltersgate Special
School. A number also benefit from helpful programmes offered by
community partner organisations.
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5. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s
learning?
Young people benefit from the school’s strong and wide-ranging
partnerships with parents and the wider community, including the
Dalkeith and Newbattle Integration Teams, Midlothian’s Community
Learning and Development service and Newbattle Abbey College and
Jewel and Esk Valley Colleges. Young people’s participation in
voluntary work has increased as a result of links with Midlothian
Volunteer Centre. Parents receive helpful reports on their child’s
progress and informative school newsletters. Essential school and
curriculum information is translated and are available on DVDs for
those parents for whom English is an additional language. The Parent
Council supports parents and the school well and participates in
fundraising events.
6. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
The pupil council has been successful in getting sports equipment and
benches for the school and is producing an anti-bullying policy. Most
staff are making effective contributions to improving the life of the
school. They work well together to improve young people’s learning
and extend their wider achievements. Staff are sharing good practice
in learning and teaching, formally and informally, through working
groups and other projects. Communication across the school about
improvement should be further refined.
Staff are committed to self-evaluation and they review the school’s
strengths and areas for development regularly. Senior managers have
developed helpful approaches to self-evaluation including analysing
examination results and evaluating the quality of learning and teaching
at S1 and S2. They also ask young people and parents for their views.
Many members of staff successfully use a variety of methods to
improve the quality of learning and teaching. However, in some
subjects they have yet to do so. Senior managers need to continue to
monitor the sharing of best practice in self-evaluation and learning and
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teaching. This will help all staff to continuously improve young
people’s achievement.
7. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
The school has a very caring ethos. Almost all young people are
courteous, well behaved and willing to help others. Relationships
between staff and young people are positive and productive. Staff and
young people are aware of equality issues and the need to value
diversity. The school promotes the diversity of religions and cultures
through its religious and moral education programme and international
education projects. The school’s chaplaincy programme provides
regular opportunities for religious observance. Staff are very
committed to meeting the physical, emotional and social needs of the
young people. They understand and implement procedures to
safeguard young people’s health and wellbeing. Healthy lifestyles are
promoted through various subjects, including the school’s PSD
programme. The majority of young people feel that the school
encourages them to make healthy food choices. Most staff have high
expectations of young people’s behaviour, attendance and
achievement. The majority of young people have high expectations for
themselves. Praise is used well by most staff to encourage young
people to succeed and to celebrate their achievements.
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher provides the school with clear direction. She has a
sound understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for
improvement. Senior managers and many staff lead well in their areas
of responsibility, contributing to improving the school through
developing innovative and stimulating learning and teaching
approaches. Many young people are involved in using their leadership
skills to make valuable contributions to the life of the school.
9. What happens next?
We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary
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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.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Improve attainment.
•
Develop more consistent and rigorous approaches to
self-evaluation.
•
Continue to share good practice more widely across all staff to
further improve learning and teaching.
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 St David’s RC High School
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
satisfactory
good
good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Hakim Din
very good
good
10 February 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.