HM Inspectorate of Education
1st Floor, Endeavour House, 1 Greenmarket, Dundee DD1 4QB
t 01382 576700
f 01382 576701
e hmi.dundee@hmie.gsi.gov.uk
w www.hmie.gov.uk
6 September 2011
_____
___
Dear Parent/Carer
Broughton High School
The City of Edinburgh Council
As you will be aware, HM Inspectors of Education recently visited and inspected your child’s
school. Throughout the inspection we talked to a considerable number of young people and
worked closely with the headteacher, staff and partners.
How well do young people learn and achieve?
Most senior pupils learn and achieve well. In S1 to S4, overall, young people could achieve
better.
Young people are beginning to experience activities which engage them more in their
learning. Team building, group work and discussion are helping them gain confidence.
Increasingly, young people, along with their teachers, are providing learners with helpful
comments on coursework and discussing how to improve. More of this type of learning will
help them become more independent and responsible so they can achieve the best they can.
Young people are contributing to and learning in the community through for example the
allotment project and the democracy programme. Staff meet the care and welfare needs of
young people very well. As a result, young people feel safe and well supported. They would
like to have more of a say in how to improve the school.
Young people achieve very well in a range of creative arts, sport and citizenship activities.
Young people in The City of Edinburgh Music School and the specialist dance and football
provision achieve extremely well in their areas of specialism. The school has received the
prestigious Steinway School of Excellence Award. Young people across the school benefit
from the resources and visiting specialists that the specialist provision brings. As a result,
many achieve very well in a range of performing contexts. Some have achieved outstanding
success in regional and national music and dance competitions. The quality of young
people’s art and design work at all stages is remarkable as illustrated by their work at the
recent Hatwalk Exhibition and Fashion Show. Senior pupils have achieved well in sports
leadership and in filmmaking. They enjoyed great success including in the Edinburgh
International Film Festival. The school should extend the range of ways to celebrate and
accredit young people’s achievements.
At S1 and S2, young people’s literacy skills, particularly in reading, are improving. They are
making variable progress in other aspects of their learning in S1 to S4. Improvements are
needed to ensure all young people achieve higher standards. At S5 and S6, young people
achieve well at Higher and Advanced Higher level and in line with schools serving young
people with similar needs and backgrounds. The school is working well to improve the
number of young people progressing to higher and further education, training and
1
employment when they leave school. Almost all young people in The City of Edinburgh Music
School go onto study in their areas of choice.
How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
The school supports young people to develop and learn well. Teachers across the school
need to extend the range of approaches they use to support all young people in their learning
more effectively.
Staff support young people well to meet their personal, social, emotional and learning needs.
Young people appreciate the strong pastoral support from class teachers, guidance and
senior staff. Support for learning staff work well and increasingly effectively to identify
learners’ needs. The school provides good specialist support for individual learners. Young
people with English as an additional language are very well supported. Staff work well as a
team and with partners from a range of agencies to support young people. Effective
partnerships include with Pilton Youth and Children’s Project, the school community police
officer and Volunteer Scotland. These are helping to improve how young people develop and
learn. The Parent Council actively supports the school. Staff need to continue to encourage
a wider group of parents to participate in the work of the school and to support their children’s
learning. Teachers are aware of the range of different needs in their classes. They do not
consistently take account of these differences in the ways they plan and deliver lessons.
Teachers are making steady progress in implementing Curriculum for Excellence and are
developing plans for taking this work forward. Young people in S1 and S2 have increasing
opportunities to make links in their learning and to develop enterprising and problem solving
skills. The curriculum from S3 to S6 provides a broad range of flexible provision to meet the
needs of different young people. The City of Edinburgh Music School provides individual
programmes matched to each music student’s needs. This allows increased time in music
while maintaining breadth of study. The school should continue to develop approaches to
literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing across the curriculum. It should continue to
improve progression in learning including through better curriculum links with primary schools.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
Overall we are confident the school will continue to improve the quality of its work.
The school is developing an extensive range of approaches to self-evaluation which are
beginning to lead to improvements. Senior staff know the school’s strengths and areas
requiring attention. Staff need to ensure that they continue to take action and focus on
improving the quality and consistency of learning and teaching and meeting learning needs.
The school gathers regularly the views of staff, young people and parents. Improved
communication will help them see how their views are taken into account. A few young
people take on positions of responsibility and leadership within the school including through
the pupil council. More young people and partners should be involved in contributing to
improvements in the life and work of the school. The headteacher and the senior
management team lead the school very well. Teachers are increasingly taking on leadership
roles including through the learning and teaching groups. These are making a strong
contribution to developing an ethos of professional learning and improvement. As a result of
these effective arrangements the school is well placed to improve further.
2
Our inspection of your school found the following key strengths.
•
•
•
•
•
The leadership of the headteacher.
Approaches to care and welfare and support for learning keeping young people safe and
included.
The impact of the specialist provision on young people’s achievements especially in
creative arts, sport and citizenship across the school.
Teachers’ engagement in working groups and developing approaches to improving the
school.
The school’s place in the community and partnership working.
We discussed with staff and the education authority how they might continue to improve the
school. This is what we agreed with them.
•
•
Develop approaches to meeting learning needs of the wide range of young people in order
to improve attainment.
Increase expectations and improve consistency in learning and teaching.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
The inspection team is confident in the overall quality of provision, the school’s self-evaluation
processes, and that these are leading to improvements. As a result, we will make no further
visits in connection with this inspection. The local authority will inform parents about the
school’s progress as part of the authority's arrangements for reporting to parents on the
quality of its schools.
Mary Hoey
HM Inspector
6 September 2011
Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations, for your
school can be found on the HMIE website at
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/ViewEstablishment.aspx?id=6647&type=3.
You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you
can contact our Complaints Manager at HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House,
Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA. or by
telephoning 01506 600259.
3