Together – in Partnership
Arbroath Academy
Ayr Academy
Holy Rood High
Partnership
Together – in Partnership
Ideas
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Background of each school
Overarching aims
Key questions
Identified Group
Together – in Partnership
Arbroath Academy
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Angus
658 pupils, 60 FTE
29.7% FME
S4 Group
Together – in Partnership
Ayr Academy
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South Ayrshire
598 pupils, 45 FTE
27.8% FME
S5 Group
Together – in Partnership
Holy Rood High School
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Edinburgh
1079 pupils
21% FME
S1&2
Together – in Partnership
Overarching Aims
• To find out ‘what works’ in closing the gap in
educational achievement for young people
living in deprived areas
• To build staff confidence and expertise, share
effective approaches and then try these out
• To encourage staff to learn from each other,
experiment with their practice and monitor and
evaluate change
Together – in Partnership
Key Questions
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Will regular high quality feedback, both oral
and written, result in raising attainment?
Does improvement in attendance result in
improved attainment?
Does providing parents with clear expectations
regarding parental engagement raise parental
aspirations?
Together – in Partnership
Innovation
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School specific plans
2 Day Conference
School visits
Together – in Partnership
School Specific Plans
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Feedback
Attendance
Parental Engagement
Together – in Partnership
Feedback
• Agree a definition of feedback
• Shared practice across school
• Share importance of feedback with parents and
pupils
• Introduce feedback diary
• Include professional learning in cluster plan
Together – in Partnership
Attendance
• Update current school policy to ensure
consistency
• Mentor pilot group of pupils
• Use EPS materials to identify reasons and take
appropriate actions
• Use attendance statistics to show parents the
negative impact of non-attendance
• Use ‘everyday counts’ resource
• Increase administration assistant time
Together – in Partnership
Parental Engagement
• Clarify purpose of Parents’ Evenings for school and
for parents
• Implement procedure for contacting all new
parents by end of 4th week
• Identify parents that are hard-to-reach and
investigate ways to engage with them
• Consider themes for seeking feedback from parents
• Increase parents awareness of twitter and website
• Clarify expectations of new parents and what they
can expect from us
Together – in Partnership
2 Day Conference
Together – in Partnership
Guest Speakers
• Chris Chapman
• Graham Goulden
• Brian McAlinden
Together – in Partnership
Workshop Activities
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Attendance
Feedback
Parental Engagement
Bring one – share one
Please help!
Beyond the key questions of the partnership
Together – in Partnership
Together – in Partnership
Evaluation
• All evaluations were extremely positive
“Something magical has happened here!”
Joan Highton (Pupil Support Leader)
“This has inspired me to stay in teaching”
Perminder Kaur (Supply Teacher)
Together – in Partnership
School Visits
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Share practice on:
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BGE Tracking
New Higher
Numeracy Feedback
Attendance
Use of support agencies
Raising attainment
Together – in Partnership
School Visits
Together – in Partnership
Impact
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What difference is the project making?
What has been achieved overall?
What has been challenging?
What has challenged our thinking?
What still has to be achieved?
Together – in Partnership
What difference is the project making?
• Developing leadership
• Sharing practice – willingness to try something
different
• ‘Critical Friend’ approach
• Increased awareness of SIMD
• Growing awareness of need to take account
of research
• Increase in professional reading
• Staff lifting head to look at bigger picture
Together – in Partnership
What has been achieved overall?
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Strong partnership between the three schools
established
Better connections with parents in identified
group
Improved attendance
Improved self-esteem
Improved knowledge of individual pupil
context
Together – in Partnership
Strong partnership between the three
schools established
Together – in Partnership
Strong partnership between the three
schools established
Together – in Partnership
Attendance
Pupil
SIMD
% at
Start
% After
Difference
Predicted Attainment
A
1
95.83
95.48
-0.35
6 Nat 5
B
1
100
98.49
-1.51
4 Nat 5 1 Higher 1 Nat 4
C
1
100
96.69
-3.31
4 Nat 5 2 Nat 4
D
2
97.72
99.40
1.48
6 Nat 5
E
1
79.17
83.73
4.56
5 Nat 5 1 Nat 4
F
7
85.42
86.45
1.03
6 Nat 5
G
2
85.42
93.67
8.25
5 Nat 5 1 Higher
H
3
86.46
93.98
7.52
6 Nat 5
I
7
89.58
93.67
4.09
3 Nat 5 3 Nat 4
J
2
97.92
98.80
0.88
5 Nat 5
K
1
100
99.70
-0.30
6 Nat 5
Together – in Partnership
Rosenburg Self-Esteem Results
7
6
Frequency
5
4
3
2
1
0
At Start
After
5
1
6
7
1
8
9
10
1
2
11
12
2
1
13
3
3
14
1
1
15
1
2
16
3
17
2
18
4
19
3
20
6
21
3
22
1
3
23
2
24
4
5
25
2
1
26
2
27
1
28
1
29
30
2
Together – in Partnership
Parent Engagement
Together – in Partnership
Parent Engagement
Together – in Partnership
What has been been challenging?
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The geographical distance between the
schools to facilitate school visits
Access to supply cover
Timescales
Prioritising time in a year of implementing new
national qualifications
Engaging parents
Together – in Partnership
What has challenged our thinking?
• Developing an understanding of what ‘closing
the gap’ means
• The value of action research
• Getting it Right for Every Child
• What we mean by ‘parental engagement’
• The purpose of parents’ evenings
Together – in Partnership
What still has to be achieved?
• Increase in research based action and
professional reading
• Feedback resources and Professional Learning
• Attendance launch
• Parental booklet on expectations
• Pilot new format for parents’ evenings
• Expanding partnership to pupils and parents
Together – in Partnership
Any questions