Taylor High School
Motherwell
North Lanarkshire Council
22 March 2011
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
Taylor High School is a denominational school which serves the village
of New Stevenston and the surrounding villages of Newarthill, Carfin,
Holytown, Cleland and the Jerviston area of Motherwell. The roll was
682 when the inspection was carried out in February 2011. Young
people’s attendance was below the national average in 2009/2010.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Strong leadership of the headteacher and senior management and
active contribution of all staff to the positive climate for learning and
a strong Catholic community of faith.
•
Polite, courteous and well-behaved young people, who are highly
engaged in their learning experiences.
•
The impressive achievements of many young people in a wide
range of activities across the school.
•
Impact of high-quality teaching strategies and information and
communications technology on the quality of learning experiences.
•
Contributions of young people to the life of the school community.
3. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Almost all pupils are very motivated, well-mannered and are
developing confidence in themselves as learners. They are keen to
answer their teachers’ questions and enjoy working together in pairs
and groups. Almost all young people feel they are treated fairly and
that their teachers show them respect. Young people are encouraged
to take responsibility for their learning, for example through
investigations and in the performing arts. High-quality feedback by
most staff is very effective practice. This needs to be shared more to
ensure greater consistency across the school. Learning through
technology is a very strong feature throughout the school. Young
people create and produce quality work in the music recording and
technologies design studios. In almost all classes learners share their
ideas and opinions and assess their own and each other’s work. As a
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result of these approaches almost all young people are developing
knowledge and understanding well. The school should continue to
build on this practice to develop opportunities for all young people to
lead and take greater ownership of their learning.
Young people are gaining confidence and developing skills for life
through a very broad range of activities for personal achievement.
Leadership programmes such as the Leadership Academy are helping
young people to improve self awareness, teamwork and
communication skills. In the senior school, young people gained
coaching and presentation skills through the Scottish Qualifications
Authority (SQA) leadership award. Young people develop teamwork
skills through outdoor education programmes. There is a very high
level of achievement through participation in the performing arts.
Young people demonstrate their skills as performers in public events
such as concerts, assemblies and charity events. In sports, many
young people achieve well in a wide range of activities, including
football, athletics, gymnastics and dance. Some young people gained
coaching qualifications in a variety of sports. A few young people take
part in The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. The school should
begin now to put in place a monitoring system to track all young
people’s achievements.
By the end of S2, most young people achieve appropriate national
levels in reading, and the majority do so in writing and mathematics.
The school needs to know more clearly how young people are
progressing from prior levels of attainment in English, mathematics
and other subjects. At S4 to S6, results in national examinations are
broadly in line with or below national averages. The number of young
people gaining three awards at Higher level has improved. The
number gaining at least one Advanced Higher is above national
averages and much better than in other schools which serve young
people with similar backgrounds. Young people receiving additional
support in their learning are making appropriate progress.
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Curriculum and meeting learning needs
The curriculum reflects the school’s vision to help young people
become successful learners. Staff provide young people with a very
broad range of experiences to develop the skills and values needed for
life, in and beyond school. Staff are reviewing and developing the
curriculum within subjects and across the school to meet the principles
of Curriculum for Excellence and a broad general education in S1 to
S3. Building on this strong start, the school should continue to
increase the pace of change. For example, staff need to begin using
the school’s support materials produced to assist with the development
of young people’s skills in literacy and numeracy. The school has
engaged with staff, pupil groups and the Parent Council to implement
curriculum change and innovation. Staff understand their
responsibility for developing young people’s literacy, numeracy and
health and wellbeing. There is scope to involve parents, learners and
partners further in the next phase of curriculum development. Young
people study a broad range of subjects from S1 to S6. Current course
programmes provide appropriate progression and opportunities for
specialisation and choice. At S4, young people are supported to make
career and future learning choices through an accredited work
experience programme. Course provision is extended further through
school-college partnership agreements. Partnerships with local
businesses and community groups also enhance the curriculum. Most
young people are provided with the required two hours of good-quality
physical education per week.
Staff know young people very well and positive relationships between
young people and teachers are a feature of almost all classes. Young
people feel they are safe and cared for and almost all are well
behaved. Tasks and activities are set at an appropriate level and
many teachers provide a variety of effective approaches to supporting
individual needs. A very strong team of pupil support staff work very
well together to support vulnerable young people and families. Clear
support plans are in place and appropriate long-term and short-term
targets are set. Staff offer a wide range of study support classes. The
school, in consultation with staff, should continue as planned, to
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develop a mentoring approach to supporting young people. This will
ensure that most staff will have a direct role in supporting young
people, helping them to meet their learning targets. Staff should
continue to address the decrease in attendance.
4. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s
learning?
Young people are very well supported in their learning through the
work of a range of agencies. Productive partnerships with over thirty
local businesses are contributing to work experience and enterprise
activities very effectively. Home-school partnership work is supporting
young people in developing their learning. Parents receive helpful
progress reports about their children’s work through informative written
reports and parents’ evenings. The Parent Council is very supportive
of the school and value the help given by the senior management
team. The school receives few complaints and staff respond promptly
to any concerns. The school works very effectively with its associated
primary schools to support transition for P7 to S1.
5. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
Young people are very proud of their school and are keen to contribute
to school improvement. Young people and staff are extremely proud
of the school’s participation in Pope Benedict’s open-air Mass at
Bellahouston Park where they exemplified a very high standard of
musical performance. Support staff contribute well to the use of
technology such as when assisting with the film-making competition.
Older learners assist in clubs for younger learners as part of
developing their leadership skills. Staff are reflective about their work.
The use of the detailed school improvement plan has improved young
people’s learning experiences. Senior managers visit classes, sample
young people’s work and analyse attainment information. Staff are
heavily involved in a variety of voluntary activities. Increasing numbers
of staff are contributing to school working groups to drive forward
improvement.
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Staff and young people are highly committed to raising aspirations,
and supporting and celebrating achievement.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
Relationships between staff and young people are very positive.
Young people are very well-behaved, polite and helpful. The
headteacher, senior managers and staff have set high expectations for
young people’s behaviour and the school provides a nurturing,
supportive and aspirational environment. Young people’s successes
within and outwith the school are celebrated widely. This includes
through annual celebrating success ceremonies, daily assemblies,
very high-quality displays around the school and regular
representation in the local press. All learners engage in a range of
activities which help them to understand and appreciate diversity and
equalities. Most young people feel that they are treated fairly and with
respect. The school’s chaplain works well with the school to support
religious observance and pastoral care.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
The headteacher is highly respected by staff, young people and the
local community. He demonstrates a clear vision to maintain and
improve a high performing school in line with Curriculum for
Excellence. He is supported by a very committed senior management
team whose leadership, enthusiasm and readiness to encourage
innovative practice help drive the school forward. Senior managers,
principal teachers and other staff in the school are leading important
ongoing improvements very effectively. Staff make a positive impact
on ethos, improvement and creativity. The school has a high capacity
for continued improvement.
8. What happens next?
The school provides a very good quality of education. Therefore, we
will make no further visits in connection with this inspection.
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The education authority will inform parents about the school’s progress
as part of the authority’s arrangements for reporting to parents on the
quality of its schools.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the school
and education authority.
•
Continue to build on the good practice in self-evaluation to ensure
continuous improvement.
•
Take forward their plans to improve further the tracking and
monitoring of young people’s progress.
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 Taylor High School.
Improvements in performance
Learners’ experiences
Meeting learning needs
very good
very 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
22 March 2011
7
very good
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 2011
HM Inspectorate of Education