Douglas Academy
Milngavie
East Dunbartonshire
Council
30 March 2010
HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to
let parents1, young people and the local community know
whether their school provides a good education. Inspectors also
discuss with school staff how they can improve the quality of
education.
At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the headteacher and
staff about the strengths of the school, what needs to improve,
and how they know. We use the information they give us to help
us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we
go into classes and join other activities which young people are
involved in. We also gather the views of young people, parents,
staff and members of the local community. We find their views
very helpful and use them together with the other information we
have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education.
This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the
quality of education in the school. We describe how well young
people are doing, how good the school is at helping them to learn
and how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff,
parents and young people work together and how they go about
improving the school. We also comment on how well the school
works with other groups in the community, including services
which support young people. Finally, we focus on how well the
school is led and how staff help the school achieve its 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 from young people, parents and staff, and
details about young people’s examination performance. We will
not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns
are so small that they could identify individuals. Where applicable
there will also be a report on the learning community surrounding
the school.
1
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. How well do young people learn and achieve?
4. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s
learning?
5. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving their
school community?
6. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
8. What happens next?
1. The school
Douglas Academy is a non-denominational school which serves the
town of Milngavie and surrounding villages in East Dunbartonshire.
The school incorporates The Music School of Douglas Academy, a
national centre of excellence in music. Drawing young people from
across the country, entry to The Music School is by audition. The roll
was 988, including 45 in The Music School, when the inspection was
carried out in February 2010. Around a quarter of those attending The
Music School are accommodated in Dalrymple Hall. Young people’s
attendance was in line with the national average in 2008/2009.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
A strong ethos and welcoming environment for learning.
•
The confident young people and their very positive relationships
with staff.
•
Young people’s attainment and achievement.
•
The care shown by staff to meet young people’s needs and to
provide high-quality learning experiences.
•
The very wide range of experiences provided for young people to
achieve success in sports and cultural activities.
•
Leadership of the headteacher and across the school.
3. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Young people are highly motivated and determined to do well. They
are friendly, respectful and confident learners. Young people work
well individually and engage very well in group activities in most
subjects. They are developing very effective communication skills
and informed attitudes. Young people respond well to the very wide
range of learning experiences to learn in and out of the classroom.
Relationships between young people and teachers are very
positive. Almost all young people enjoy their learning and feel
valued and well supported in school. In many lessons they discuss
and evaluate their learning but this is not yet consistent across the
school.
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Across the stages, young people participate in a very wide range of
activities to help them develop their skills and confidence. Large
numbers of young people develop important team-working skills by
taking part in choirs, orchestras and other musical groups. Many
young people learn new sporting skills during regular activities and
in residential experiences. A wide range of other activities, for
example, debating and foreign visits help young people to develop
confidence in communication skills. At S6, young people contribute
well to the school and community. Some help younger learners in
classes. The active eco group helps to ensure that young people
are aware of important sustainability and environmental issues.
Staff should build on existing good practice to ensure that all young
people consistently receive credit for their achievements through
accredited award programmes.
At S1/S2, most young people achieve very well and reach
consistently high standards in reading, writing and mathematics.
Over recent years, young people’s attainment in English and
mathematics has improved. In almost all subjects, young people
are making good progress in classwork. Young people’s attainment
at S4 is consistently well above the national average. It is much
better than schools which serve young people with similar needs
and backgrounds. Young people receiving additional support or at
risk of missing out make sound progress. Young people’s
performance in music has been consistently high. By the end of S6,
young people’s attainment remains consistently well above national
averages and is much better than in schools serving young people
with similar needs and backgrounds. Young people achieve very
well at Advanced Higher in a wide range of subjects.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
The school provides young people with a broad range of courses
and activities. Young people are given very good opportunities to
develop a wide range of skills, to show leadership and to act
responsibly. The Music School provides young people with very
good opportunities to develop their musical abilities. Across the
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school, staff should develop more consistent approaches to help
young people build on their previous learning at primary school. At
S1, the recent “Holocaust Memorial Day” helped young people to
link their learning well across different subjects. At S3/S4, staff
provide young people with appropriate chances to develop skills for
work. At S5/S6, arrangements with neighbouring schools and local
colleges provide young people with a wide range of choices. In a
few subjects, young people’s choices, in moving from S4 to S5, are
more limited. Staff should continue to develop the curriculum in line
with Curriculum for Excellence. At some stages, the school does
not yet provide young people with enough planned high-quality
physical education and religious and moral education.
Staff use many successful strategies for meeting young people’s
learning needs. In almost all classes, teachers set tasks and
activities at the right level of difficulty. Teachers explain work well
and make good use of questions to check and develop young
people’s learning. Support for learning staff provide very positive
support for young people and teachers. They identify young
people’s needs very effectively and work skilfully in helping young
people with additional support needs. Support for learning staff
share information well and provide teachers with helpful advice.
Appropriate support plans are in place for young people with
additional needs. Targets set within these plans, in a few cases,
need to be clearer. Staff with pastoral care responsibilities know
young people very well and provide very effective care and advice.
Residential staff and tutors provide accommodated Music School
pupils with very positive support.
4. How well do staff work with others to support young
people’s learning?
Staff work very well with others to support young people’s learning.
A wide range of partner agencies provides strong support. These
include the educational psychologist, social workers and residential
staff at Dalrymple Hall. Partnerships with parents are very positive.
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Almost all parents are happy with the school and feel it is helping
their children effectively to develop confidence. Most feel well
informed about the progress of their children. Parents feel that
arrangements for them to give their views have improved. A few
would like to have more regular opportunities to share their views.
Most parents and young people feel that staff are good at dealing
with any concerns or complaints. The Parent Council has
appropriate opportunities for discussing important school priorities.
It is working well with staff to support information events for all
parents.
5. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
Staff and young people work very well to improve the school
community. Most members of staff work together in Teacher
Learning Communities to share and discuss good practice in
teaching and learning. Most staff contribute effectively to the wide
range of well-attended school activities. Many young people show
care for others in the school and wider community. Almost all staff
feel that they have good opportunities to be involved in developing
the school’s priorities. Senior managers and principal teachers
monitor young people’s attainment and progress very effectively.
Any areas for improvement are identified and addressed.
Arrangements for identifying strengths and weaknesses in learning
are strong across the school. Staff should extend approaches to
seek the views of young people, parents and partner organisations
to identify areas for further improvement.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all young
people?
Staff and young people have very high expectations of success,
based on a culture of high attainment and achievement and a very
positive ethos. Young people feel strongly encouraged to do their
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best and are treated fairly by staff and by each other. Behaviour
across the school is very positive. Staff are aware of child
protection procedures. Young people feel that the school
encourages them well to make healthy lifestyle choices. Staff use a
wide range of ways, including regular assemblies and concerts, to
acknowledge and celebrate young people’s achievements. Staff
have successfully reduced the number of young people being
excluded from school to below the national average.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher provides very high-quality leadership. He has
shared his vision for improvement and inclusion effectively and has
gained the respect of parents, young people and staff. The
headteacher has judged the pace of change well. He works
successfully with his deputes and staff to lead and encourage
important improvements. Together, they have maintained very high
standards of attainment and achievement. School ethos has
improved. Staff feel well supported and are very willing to take
responsibility, for example, by leading working groups. They
maintain very positive relationships with young people. The school
has a very strong capacity for continued improvement.
8. What happens next?
The inspection team was able to rely on the school’s robust
self-evaluation. As a result, it was able to change its focus during
the inspection to support further improvements within the school.
The school provides a very good quality of education. Therefore,
we will make no further visits in connection with this inspection. The
education 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 school.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the
school and education authority.
•
Continue to improve aspects of the curriculum in line with
national guidelines and advice.
•
Continue to develop the role of young people, parents and
community partners in the school improvement process.
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 Douglas Academy.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
very good
very good
very good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Alistair Brown
30 March 2010
7
good
very good
When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our
readers can see clearly what our judgments mean.
excellent
very good
good
means
means
means
satisfactory
weak
unsatisfactory
means
means
means
outstanding, sector leading
major strengths
important strengths with some areas
for improvement
strengths just outweigh weaknesses
important weaknesses
major weaknesses
If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an
electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a
different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to
comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us
at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT,
HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business
Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service
for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the
line will not connect you to a member of staff.
You can find our complaints procedure on our website
www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints
Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
Crown Copyright 2010
HM Inspectorate of Education