Education Scotland
Foghlam Alba
Education Scotland, 1st and 2nd Floor, Endeavour House, 1 Greenmarket, Dundee DD1 4QB
t 01382 576700
f 01382 576701
Textphone 01506 600236
e dundee@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
w www.educationscotland.gov.uk
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29 November 2011
Dear Parent/Carer
Greenwood Academy
North Ayrshire Council
Recently, as you may know, my colleagues and I visited and inspected your child’s school.
Throughout our visit, we talked to parents and young people and we worked closely with the
headteacher and staff. We wanted to find out how well young people were learning and
achieving and how well the school supported young people to do their best. The headteacher
shared with us the school’s successes and priorities for improvement. We looked at some
particular aspects of the school’s recent work, including the impact of strategies to raise
attainment, approaches to recognising achievement, partnership working and how leadership
is being developed across the school. As a result we were able to find out how good the
school was at improving children’s education. I would now like to tell you what we found.
How well do young people learn and achieve?
Most young people learn and achieve well in many aspects of their learning in and outwith the
classroom. Overall levels of attainment however are not high enough. Most young people
cooperate well with their teachers. They enjoy working in pairs and groups and being set
challenging tasks. In most classes, they are clear about the purpose of the lesson and about
their own progress. In a number of subjects they are setting themselves targets for
improvement. At S1 and S2, young people are involved in an exciting new project to help
them take more responsibility for their learning. With their teacher, they are reflecting on their
learning and progress and beginning to record their achievements in an electronic portfolio.
Young people could make more progress in their learning if all of these approaches were
used more consistently across the school.
Young people are achieving well in a wide range of sporting, cultural, enterprise and
citizenship activities. For example, the S6 Young Enterprise group achieved national
recognition for producing and successfully marketing a book and DVD on health and
wellbeing for pre-school children. Young people helped the school gain its Eco-Schools
Scotland green flag. Students regularly display their musical talents in and outwith the
school. Senior students contribute very well as buddies, mentors and prefects. They
organise charity events and plan and undertake volunteering activities in the community.
Across all stages, achievements are increasingly being recognised through award schemes
like the Community Sports Leader, Millennium Volunteers and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
scheme.
By the end of S2, the majority of young people are achieving appropriate standards in
reading, writing and mathematics. The school is not yet fully tracking the extent of young
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people’s progress and achievements from P7 to the end of S3. From S4 to S6, young
people’s attainment overall has been consistently below or well below national averages. In
most aspects, it is poorer than in schools serving young people with similar needs and
backgrounds. There are, however, improving signs and evidence of consistently strong
performance in a number of subject areas. For example by the end of S4, almost all young
people are now achieving minimum standards in English and mathematics. Another
improving trend is in the number of young people successfully moving on after school.
In 2011 almost all young people moved into employment, training, further or higher education.
This is above national and North Ayrshire averages.
How well does the school support young people to develop and learn?
While there are clear strengths in how the school supports young people to learn and
achieve, there is scope for improvement. In many classes, staff are providing appropriate
tasks and activities which are motivating young people. They are using information and
communications technology (ICT) more regularly to support learning and make lessons more
interesting. Teachers, however, are not always meeting the range of different needs within
their classrooms effectively enough. Too often, the same tasks are set for all learners which
can mean that some find them too easy and others too difficult. The school is good at
identifying young people who may need additional help. This information could be used more
effectively by classroom teachers. Guidance and Pupil Support staff provide high levels of
support for individual young people experiencing social, emotional or learning difficulties.
They work well with parents and partners to put effective support plans in place, including
good life skill programmes like “Different Class”. These approaches are helping many young
people achieve in school and move into jobs or further training.
The school is improving young people’s learning experiences in line with Curriculum for
Excellence. Staff in a number of subjects are working with primary colleagues in aspects of
this development to make the transition for children more effective. New approaches and
courses are in place in all subjects in S1 and S2 and staff are beginning to take a more joined
up approach to developing young people’s literacy and numeracy skills. The school is
engaging well with a number of parents on new literacy projects. In a few subjects areas,
staff are working more closely together to help young people make more links in their
learning, for example in studying the Holocaust. From S3 to S6 a broad range of flexible
pathways are in place. Staff have also introduced programmes across the school designed to
develop skills for learning, life and work, for example ‘Learning to Learn’ and ‘Leadership’
programmes. The Active Schools Coordinator and other community learning and
development (CLD) staff support the delivery of these and other programmes. A range of
other partners also help to widen young people’s learning experiences.
How well does the school improve the quality of its work?
Overall we are confident that the school will continue to improve the quality of its work.
There is scope to increase the pace of change in developing the curriculum and addressing
aspects of underachievement.
The headteacher and other senior management colleagues have worked hard to improve the
range of young people’s learning experiences. They are encouraging staff to become more
reflective about their practice and have established helpful learning observation visits to
support them in the process. The senior management team actively seek out external
partners to help the school improve young people’s opportunities to achieve more widely.
Staff at all levels are involved in improving the work of the school both within their subject
areas and in whole-school projects. They consult with young people, through the pupil
council and other student committees, on a number of planned changes. The school does
seek parents’ views and are more actively engaging them in recent policy changes and
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development, for example in relation to homework. A parental forum has now been
established to work with the school in developing the curriculum. The school needs to
continue to improve these approaches. It needs to involve all staff, young people, parents
and partners much more effectively in the whole improvement planning process. They need
to be involved in helping to set priorities for improvement. It is also important that staff further
develop their skills in using evidence to identify and address improvements needed in young
people’s learning and achievement. The headteacher and her senior management team,
working with newly appointed faculty heads, now need to provide clearer strategic direction in
continuing to improve the school. Recent changes in the leadership structures have put the
school in a stronger position in moving forward. The leadership capacity has also been
enhanced by a number of other staff and senior students willingly leading events and new
initiatives.
This inspection of your school found the following key strengths.
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Young people participating and achieving in a wide range of opportunities.
High-quality pastoral care recognised strongly by young people.
The commitment of the headteacher, senior management and staff to improving young
people’s learning in and outwith the classroom.
Effective partnership working to widen young people‘s learning and achievement.
We discussed with staff and the education authority how they might continue to improve the
school. This is what we agreed with them.
•
•
Improve approaches to self-evaluation to raise attainment and better meet the needs of
all learners.
Develop a stronger strategic plan for taking forward Curriculum for Excellence involving
all stakeholders.
What happens at the end of the inspection?
We are satisfied with the overall quality of provision. We are confident that most of the
school’s self-evaluation processes are leading to improvements. With support from the local
authority and Education Scotland the school will be able to make the necessary
improvements. Our District Inspector along with the local authority will discuss the most
appropriate support in order to build capacity for improvement and will maintain contact to
monitor progress. Parents will be informed of the extent to which the school has improved.
Mairi Timmons
HM Inspector
Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations, for your
school can be found on the Education Scotland website at
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/ViewEstablishment.aspx?id=8883&type=3.
Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example,
in a translation. You can contact us at enquiries@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to us
at BMCT, Education Scotland, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale
Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.
If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact 01506
600200, or write to us at the above address or e-mail:
feedback@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk.
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