Learning community inspection
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education
Inspection of the learning community
surrounding
Beeslack Community High School
Midlothian Council
27 April 2010
We inspect learning communities in order to let those who use services and the
local community know whether learning communities provide appropriate learning
opportunities and help learners in their development. We are also interested in
how community and voluntary groups are helped to contribute to making
communities better places to live and work. At the end of inspections, we agree
ways in which staff and volunteers can improve the quality of learning for young
people and adults and how the impact of community and voluntary groups can be
further developed.
At the beginning of the inspection, we ask managers and staff about the strengths
of the learning community, 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 join other activities which young people, adults and community
groups are involved in. We also gather the views of learners, active community
members and staff. 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
provision locally.
This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of
learning and development provided. We describe how well learners are doing
and how good the learning community is at helping them to learn. We comment
on how well staff, learners and groups work together and the difference they are
making in the learning community. Finally, we focus on how well the learning
community is led and how leaders help the learning community achieve its aims.
If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the learning community,
please visit www.hmie.gov.uk.
Contents
1.
The learning community
2.
Particular strengths of the learning community
3.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
4.
How well are communities developing and achieving?
5.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
6.
Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
7.
What happens next?
1. The learning community
The learning community of Beeslack Community High School includes the town of
Penicuik and the surrounding villages of Auchendinny, Roslin and Bilston.
Penicuik is the largest town in Midlothian with a population of around 14,500
which is also served by another secondary school. It has a high proportion of
older people and the second highest number of young people in Midlothian aged
between ten and fifteen. Two areas, Eastfield and Ladywood are classified as
areas of deprivation. Free school meals uptake is lower than the national
average.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Well targeted community-based adult learning provision.
•
Some examples of innovative community capacity building.
3. How well do participants learn and achieve?
The Community Learning and Development (CLD) Service and their partners are
delivering good quality programmes for adults and communities to achieve and
progress. Community-based adult learning (CBAL) programmes are well-targeted
to support marginalised groups. Midlothian Adult Literacy and Numeracy Initiative
(MALANI) routinely collates performance information to show where progress is
being made. Literacies provision in Penicuik is responsive and reflects the current
demand for the service.
The number of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) learners
remains stable despite many learners returning to their country of origin and the
recent publicity drive continues to attract new learners into provision.
CLD staff gather information about participation in youth work although it is not
currently being used to plan or target provision. Almost all programmes for young
people are recreational and are not directed towards those who need it most.
There are too few opportunities for young people to achieve accredited awards.
A few young people are gaining Youth Achievement Awards through their
involvement in the Penicuik Youth Forum. Projects receiving funding from Fairer
Scotland Fund are successfully setting targets and measuring progress. Similarly,
the Regeneration Team is using data well to assess performance against planned
outcomes. There is a need to fully record and assess the impact of capacity
building activity.
1
Young people
A few projects and initiatives are having a positive impact on young people in
Penicuik and the surrounding area. Penicuik Youth Forum is well established and
is playing a growing role in local decision making and promoting change across
Midlothian. Members are developing self-confidence and a range of core skills.
Though their involvement in Midlothian Youth Platform, members are contributing
to a range of important research projects leading to a greater understanding of the
needs of young people locally and nationally. However, although membership
numbers are healthy the numbers of young people active in the forum needs to
increase significantly to ensure sustainability and represent effectively young
people in the area. The Hack Pack is a high quality project that is having a
significant impact on participants, although numbers are low. Staff are highly
motivated and participants are growing in self-confidence. Staff are developing
communication and Information Communications Technology (ICT) skills whilst
making a valuable community contribution. Roslin Youth Club is playing a
positive role in engaging young people and reducing the levels of anti-social
behaviour in the village. The Activities Programme run by CLD offers a good
range of recreational and skills development opportunities for young people.
However, its impact is limited and young people do not recognise benefits beyond
a basic level. Midlothian Young Peoples Advisory Service (MYPAS) drop in
health clinic and health awareness sessions provide valuable resources for young
people facing health issues.
Young people would benefit from increased use of accreditation and awards
which recognise their personal achievements and contribution to the community.
Partnership work needs to be further developed in order to provide a sharper
focus on key national agendas. CLD partners are not yet sufficiently focusing
their activities on the high number of young people already identified as not
progressing from school to positive destinations.
Adults
A wide range of high quality adult learning opportunities is available in the
Beeslack learning community. The Community Based Adult Learning programme
(CBAL) is effectively targeted, inclusive and supportive. Staff are very committed
and engage well with learners. Most learners and all ALN/ESOL learners, are
involved in negotiating and developing their learning programmes. The Bilston
Parents’ Group is well supported by CLD Service staff and group members are
producing a local newsletter. Members are also actively involved in taking
forward local issues with a wider community focus. Most learners are very
enthusiastic about their learning experiences and many have increased their
confidence, self esteem and improved their mental health and well-being. A
majority of learners have progressed to further opportunities such as accredited
learning, further education, training, volunteering and employment.
While CLD Service staff and partners work well together, there are benefits to
having a more coordinated partnership approach to planning. Learners are proud
of their achievements and almost all participated in the Midlothian Celebration of
Learning. Over fifty MALANI learners contributed to the collection of stories in the
2
publication ‘A Day in My Life’. ESOL learners work well together and an
innovative peer mentor support system utilising the skills of intermediate ESOL
learners is in place to help beginners. Attending classes is helping literacies
learners in their personal and family lives. Some are gaining nationally accredited
units. MALANI is working with partner agencies to plan and target new provision.
‘Midlothian Student Voices’ is an innovative project to include learners’ voices.
There is scope to further promote this opportunity for adults in the Beeslack
learning community.
4. How well are communities developing and achieving?
Community groups and organisations are delivering high quality services in
response to local need. The Roslin Community Voices Network (RCVN) is
conducting comprehensive local consultations to help improve services.
Volunteers are now more confident and active and are learning to negotiate with
council officers and elected members. Following a newsletter article produced by
RCVN, 20 people have joined the Roslin Climate Action Group to help reduce
their carbon footprint. They are now researching options for food production and
sustainable energy. The Glencorse Association are learning practical and
personal skills through commissioning a survey to re-build their village hall.
Group members are more active and confident. Funding for the project is now
secured and an action plan is in place. They are very well supported by CLD
Service and Regeneration Team staff.
Penicuik Youth Forum is influencing local decision making through links with the
Penicuik Community Development Trust. Five young people from Penicuik are
helping to influence change in Midlothian and have recently met with the Chief
Executive of the Council. The Penicuik First Responders are effectively training,
supporting and developing volunteers. In conjunction with the Ambulance
Service, over thirty active volunteers are helping to save lives by administering
first aid following 999 calls. Several are progressing on to further training and
employment. Volunteers successfully train young people at Beeslack Community
High School as part of the Heart Start initiative. Members of the Penicuik
Community Education Association (PCEA) are learning important skills. They are
more confident and are effectively managing three community buildings. By
administering a small grants fund, local groups are accessing funds to improve
community life. The majority of community groups are working well together.
However, others are frustrated by the lack of consultation about local decision
making. Groups need to work more closely together to improve communication
and reduce duplication.
5. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
CLD providers use some appropriate methods to gather feedback from
participants. Staff gather information on the quality of services provided through
observation, direct feedback from young people and parents and by the use of
questionnaires. This is used well in adult learning to inform improvements and
establish new programmes. The Adult Learning Implementation Plan is being
used effectively to track progress. However, CLD youth work staff need to
3
improve the range and use of evaluation methodology. Overall, youth work
planning lacks direction and should focus more on outcomes and impacts.
Volunteering could be further developed to support the youth and children’s work
programmes and there is potential for closer working with the Midlothian
Volunteer Centre. Youth workers would benefit from more regular opportunities to
meet together to help plan and improve services.
Many volunteers are active and skilled. By participating in RCVN, Glencorse
Association and PCEA, they are delivering a good range of services and
improving community life. Community newsletters in Auchendinny and Roslin are
keeping the community well informed about the progress of plans to improve
services. The partnership agreement in place with MYPAS is leading to effective
services being provided for young people. The Penicuik Community Liaison
Group has considerable potential to improve outcomes for young people but it is
at an early stage of development.
Some providers are using effective methods to report to stakeholders. These
include Penicuik Community Development Trust and PCEA. Midlothian Youth
Platform regularly reports on progress to young people as well as funders the
wider community and key stakeholders. CLD Service staff are not yet
systematically reflecting on their practice and there are insufficient links to
planning processes. The CLD team plan is too general and lacks a focus on
outcomes. Staff work plans are overly descriptive and are not clearly focussed on
outcomes. There is scope to improve and embed joint self-evaluation with
partners.
6. Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
There are some important strengths within the learning community in the areas of
adult learning and support for communities to learn and achieve. However, the
lack of agreed shared processes for self-evaluation, planning and data gathering
is hampering further development particularly in youth work settings. There is
some strong and very effective partnership working, particularly between CLD
Service staff and the Regeneration Team. This is leading to very good outcomes
for communities. The CLD Service and their partners are not yet clear about their
strengths and areas for improvement.
4
7. What happens next?
There are significant improvements needed and CLD providers do not yet have a
good understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement. We will
therefore revisit the learning community to check on progress within one year of
publication of this report.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority
and its partners.
•
Agree and implement a vision for work with young people based on key
priorities.
•
Improve and embed outcome-focused planning and evaluation.
•
Improve data collection and analysis to demonstrate progress and inform
planning.
Quality indicators help CLD providers and inspectors to judge what is good and
what needs to be improved in the work of the learning community. You can find
these quality indicators in the HMIE publication “How good is our community
learning and development? 2”.
HMIE checks five important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish
CLD provision is doing. Here are the results for the learning community
surrounding Beeslack Community High School.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Sheila Brown
27 April 2010
5
satisfactory
weak
very good
very good
satisfactory
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
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