Auchenharvie Academy
Stevenston
North Ayrshire Council
2 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
Auchenharvie Academy is a non-denominational school which serves
the towns of Stevenston and Saltcoats (south). The roll was 704 when
the inspection was carried out in January 2010. Young people’s
attendance was below the national average in 2007/2008 but is
showing signs of improvement. At the time of the inspection the
headteacher had been in post for around eleven months.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Commitment of staff and young people to raising aspirations,
supporting and celebrating achievement and working to improve
the school.
•
Young people’s wider achievements and the pride they take in their
school.
•
The impact of strong community partnerships on young people’s
experiences.
•
The benefits for all young people from the high quality of care and
welfare shown by all staff.
•
High quality leadership provided by the headteacher, senior and
middle management staff and many other members of staff across
the school.
3. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Almost all young people are motivated to learn and behave well in
class. They are keen to answer their teachers’ questions and enjoy
working in lessons. Young people respond particularly well when they
are engaged actively in their learning, including when they participate
in volunteering activities and in the wider community. Young people
are encouraged to take responsibility for their learning, for example
through investigations and research topics. Learners would benefit
from more of this type of learning, particularly in work that involves
more than one subject. In most classes, young people use information
and communications technology (ICT) to develop their independence
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in learning. Staff are developing the use of ICT to ensure greater
consistency across the school. In most classes learners share their
ideas and opinions and have begun to assess their own and each
other’s work. The school should continue to build on this practice to
make young people even more aware of their strengths and
development needs as learners.
Young people achieve success in a very broad range of activities for
personal and wider achievement. For some, this includes the
confidence to demonstrate their skills as performers in public events
such as school shows, assemblies and charity events. They develop
their understanding of culture by attending a variety of theatre and
other educational events. In sports, many young people achieve well
in a wide range of activities, including basketball, football and the
school’s annual sponsored walk. Young people develop a range of
personal and social skills by working with others. A significant number
of young people take part successfully in the Duke of Edinburgh’s
Award scheme. The school has begun monitoring the achievements
of a few young people through a successful local pilot project. They
are ready to extend this, to ensure that every learner develops a broad
range of skills.
By the end of S2, the majority of young people make appropriate
progress in their learning. The majority of young people attain
appropriate national levels in reading, writing and mathematics. At S4,
the school’s performance at Standard Grade has improved but is still
well below national averages. At S5/S6, the school performs well
below national averages and less well than schools which serve young
people with similar needs and backgrounds. The school is actively
taking steps to improve the performance of all learners. Young people
receiving additional support in their learning make good or very good
progress towards agreed targets. Staff are aware of the importance of
increasing levels of attainment.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
The staff provide young people with a broad range of experiences to
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develop the skills and values needed for life, in and beyond school. As
part of the school’s developments within Curriculum for Excellence,
staff are encouraging young people to engage fully in their learning, to
have high aspirations and to achieve in all they do. Young people’s
choice is limited in some aspects of the curriculum. For example, in
S5/S6 the structure of the curriculum does not effectively meet the
needs of all young people. The school has recognised the need to
broaden opportunities available at this stage and are working to
achieve this. Most young people are provided with the required two
hours of good quality physical education per week.
All staff understand their role in supporting pupils with additional
support needs. Staff know the young people and understand their
learning needs well. They provide tasks and activities well-matched to
young people’s needs. The pace of learning is generally brisk and
overall staff provide young people with appropriate challenge. Young
people appreciate the wide range of study support classes. To further
support learners in S1, senior pupils act as buddies. In S4 and S5
young people have access to mentors who assist them effectively to
achieve targets. The school plans and provides very effective support
for pupils with specific learning difficulties. Parents and young people
are involved in setting appropriate targets for pupils and staff review
these regularly. The school effectively supports young people to move
into positive destinations after school, with a notably increased number
going on to further education.
4. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s
learning?
The school has effective partnerships which allow young people to
gain skills for life and work. These include North Ayrshire Volunteer
Centre (NAVC), Skills Development Scotland, James Watt College
and the Fire Service. NAVC is an active partner in the “Apprentice
Challenge” project. Parents of senior pupils expressed particular
satisfaction in the way their children take part in parents’ evenings,
discussing their progress and how to improve. They would like to see
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this kind of partnership happen at earlier stages. Young people would
benefit from the continued involvement of parents and the wider
community in the school’s improvement agenda and its work to raise
aspirations. The school receives few complaints and staff respond
promptly to any concerns.
5. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
Young people are proud of their school and are keen to contribute to
school improvement. Senior pupils do this by taking on responsibilities
as prefects, buddies, paired-reading helpers and in a range of
committees. The school has identified the need to involve young
people more fully in leadership roles and decision making. Staff and
young people are committed to raising aspirations and celebrating
achievement. Staff contribute very well to the school’s community.
They provide a variety of voluntary activities after school and at
lunchtimes. These activities increase young people’s confidence and
raise awareness of citizenship. Almost all staff are also contributing to
school working groups to drive forward improvement. Staff are
dedicated to improving their school. They reflect regularly on their
practices and review the work of the school. They use the information
gathered to identify priorities for improvement. Teachers share good
practice with one another. The headteacher values young people’s
views which he uses to influence improvements.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
The headteacher and staff have extremely high expectations of
behaviour, attendance and coming to school on time. They have
taken action to increase levels of attendance and reduce late coming,
with very positive results. This work should be continued. Young
people are responding well to these high expectations. Young
people’s successes within and outwith the school are celebrated
widely, for example through awards ceremonies, daily assemblies, and
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with regular articles in the local press. Relationships between staff
and young people are very positive and almost all young people feel
they are treated fairly and with respect. Young people have sufficient
opportunities for religious observance. The school promotes and
celebrates diversity and mutual respect through the work of the
religious, moral and philosophical studies department and in personal
and social development programmes.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher has shown inspirational leadership and is respected
by staff and young people. He is highly supportive towards the school
community. He has set very high standards for the school ethos.
Senior managers, principal teachers and other staff in the school are
taking forward effectively important ongoing improvements. They now
need to explore fully how day-to-day learning and teaching can further
improve young people’s success in qualifications. The school is well
placed for continuous improvement.
8. What happens next?
The inspection team was able to rely on the school’s robust selfevaluation. As a result, it was able to change its focus during the
inspection to support further improvements within the school.
We are confident that the school will be able to make the necessary
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.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Continue to improve young people’s attendance and achievement
at all stages.
•
Continue to involve the whole school community in raising
expectations and aspirations, to help all young people achieve their
full potential, in and beyond the school.
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 Auchenharvie Academy.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
satisfactory
good
very good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.
The curriculum
Improvement through self-evaluation
HM Inspector: Aileen Monaghan
2 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