Clydebank High School
West Dunbartonshire
Council
9 December 2008
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.
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. 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
Clydebank High School is a non-denominational school which
serves Clydebank and the surrounding area. It is a new school,
formed from a merger with Braidfield High School in 2006, and will
move into a new building in 2009. The inspection was carried out in
October 2008 at which time the roll was 1390. Young people’s
attendance was in line with the national average in 2006/07.
2. Particular strengths of the school
•
The positive impact of the new vision and values on
relationships, behaviour and the climate for learning across the
school, well supported by the campus police service.
•
Successful use of self-evaluation to improve the school.
•
The positive impact of the pupil support team on young people,
particularly on those with additional support needs.
•
The skilful management of the merger of Clydebank and
Braidfield High Schools, drawing on the best practice from each.
•
The high-quality direction provided by the headteacher, senior
staff, and many other staff across the school.
3. Examples of good practice
•
The development of the school’s new vision and values.
•
The stimulating learning experiences through cross-subject work
for many young people in S2.
•
The impact of ‘The Big Ship Café’ on young people’s skills.
4. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Most young people are well motivated and active in their learning
and respond well to their teachers. They enjoy a number of
opportunities for working with each other and developing
high-quality teamwork. In many lessons young people enjoy
learning to work and think independently, and to influence what
and how they learn. The majority of teachers explain clearly to
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young people what and how they are learning and give useful
feedback to help them improve. These good practices now need
to be further developed across the school.
An improving blend of learning in and out of class, including more
widely in the community, is helping young people to learn to lead,
think and plan independently and creatively. Some of the best
examples at the moment include the media group, eco group, Big
Ship Café, paired reading and buddying. Young people are
developing their literacy skills well across several subjects. They
contribute responsibly to school life by helping to organise a wide
range of clubs, sports teams and musical groups. Senior staff
recognise that many more young people need to benefit from
these wider opportunities and are taking steps to encourage
more of them to take part.
At S1/S2, the majority of young people achieve appropriate
national levels in reading and mathematics. Less than half do so
in writing. Young people are making good progress in listening
and talking. Standards have varied in recent years, but with
overall long-term improvement. In a range of other subjects
young people are making good progress in classwork. At S3/S4,
young people’s achievement in examinations is broadly in line
with that in other schools where young people have similar needs
and backgrounds, but is well below national averages. After the
merger, results in examinations were low in 2007 but they
improved significantly in 2008 following decisive action by staff.
Young people at S5/S6 perform well below those in schools
which serve young people with similar needs and backgrounds,
and also well below the national average. Too many fail to gain
an award in the subjects they have studied. The school’s
improved approaches to tracking young people’s progress,
however, are presently showing encouraging signs of
improvement. The proportion of young people excluded from
school has been above the national average but has gone down
over the last year.
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Curriculum and meeting learning needs
The school is developing its curriculum very well in line with
national advice on a Curriculum for Excellence. A variety of
courses and projects motivate young people and help develop
their skills, particularly in literacy and health and wellbeing. The
school is working creatively towards offering young people two
hours a week of physical education. Teachers offer stimulating
experiences in addition to the traditional curriculum, including
camps in chemistry/biology and mathematics. Young people who
wish to study more practical, skills-based courses have good
access to practical programmes. All young people in S6 expect
to take part in community service to develop their citizenship
skills. The school uses innovative approaches to meet the needs
of all including low achieving young people. For example, a rota
of short courses helps them make progress in modern languages,
home economics and art.
Most teachers give young people suitable tasks and resources.
Teachers are using additional support and mentoring to help
raise achievement. The pace and approach to learning mostly
meets learning needs well. Many teachers use ICT well to make
lessons interesting. Pastoral care and support for learning staff
enable young people with additional support needs and difficult
home circumstances to learn very well. They help other teachers
to identify and meet young people’s needs. More now needs to
be done to build on these strengths, and on young people’s
learning at primary school, to improve achievement at all stages.
5. How well do staff work with others to support young
people’s learning?
Staff work well with others to support young people’s learning.
Strong links with a local college have increased young people’s
choice of courses. Good links with the wider community enable
young people to develop their citizenship and work skills, for
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example through visiting the Scottish Parliament and work
experience. Pastoral care and the climate for learning have
improved through the very positive partnership with community
police. Teachers link well with primary class teachers to help
young people transfer confidently to S1. A transition teacher is
having a positive impact in S1 by building on the way young
people learn in primary school, but generally staff do not yet build
well enough on young people’s earlier learning. The school is
working hard to maintain and improve its good partnership with
parents, including the School Board. This has been recognised
by a third Chartermark award. The school has a good approach
to addressing concerns and gives clear feedback to parents on
how staff have handled any issues raised. Most parents are
happy with the school and feel their children enjoy learning,
although a significant number would like to be better informed
about their child’s progress.
6. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
Staff are strongly committed to improving learning and
achievement for young people. Through strong self-evaluation,
they can clearly explain the school’s strengths and areas it needs
to improve, based on sound evidence. This has enabled staff to
improve the school. For example, they make very good use of
results in examinations, young people’s views, and visits to
lessons to identify priorities and plan action. The pupil councils
have contributed well to important improvements at the school,
including learning activities and approaches in lessons. Staff
now need to build on these sound approaches to ensure that all
parents and young people are confident that their views are
sought, valued and used to improve learning.
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7. Does the school have high expectations of all young
people?
The school’s new vision and values are helping to raise
expectations of what young people can achieve. Behaviour,
relationships and learning approaches are all improving well,
although more needs to be done in some areas of the school.
Staff and young people are mostly very positive about the school.
Staff treat young people with care, dignity and respect and most
respond well. They take young people’s pastoral needs seriously
and support them very well. Catering staff have worked hard to
introduce healthy eating options and to promote uptake. Staff
expect young people to do their best and treat one another fairly.
Most young people work to the best of their ability and take
account of each other’s needs. The school has appropriate
arrangements for religious observance.
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The school has a clear sense of direction, based on raising
expectations and improving achievement. The headteacher with
the senior management team are developing the leadership skills
of staff as they move the school forward. Increasingly, teachers
are leading new, creative and stimulating approaches in lessons
and helpfully sharing these with their colleagues. A number of
young people show initiative and leadership in a range of
projects. The way staff and young people are being encouraged
to develop their leadership skills is a key strength across the
school.
Staff and young people are excited about moving into the new
school building and determined to use it to take the school
forward and further raise expectations and achievement.
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9. What happens next?
The school’s self-evaluation is leading to improvements in young
people’s learning. As a result, the inspection team was able to
change its focus during the inspection to help the school plan to
improve even more. HMIE will make no further visits following
publication of this report. The education authority will let parents
know about the school’s progress. It will do this as part of its
normal arrangements for reporting on the quality of its schools.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the
school and education authority.
•
Improve young people’s achievement further, particularly at
S5/S6.
•
Continue to improve learning and teaching by sharing good
practice more consistently across 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 Clydebank High School.
Improvements in performance
satisfactory
Learners’ experiences
good
Meeting learning needs
good
We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the
school.
The curriculum
very good
Improvement through self-evaluation
very good
HM Inspector: Graham Norris
9 December 2008
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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 2008
HM Inspectorate of Education.