Inspection of the learning community
surrounding Linlithgow Academy
West Lothian Council
29 April 2014
Transforming lives through learning
1. Context
Community learning and development (CLD) partners within the area of Linlithgow
Academy were inspected by Education Scotland during February 2014. During the
visit Education Scotland staff talked to children, young people and adults. We
worked closely with local CLD managers, CLD providers, partners, paid staff and
volunteers. We wanted to find out how well partners are improving the life chances
of people living in the community through learning, building stronger more resilient
communities and improving the quality of services and provision. We also looked at
how well, paid staff and volunteers are developing their own practices and how well
partners, including schools are working together.
2. How well are partners improving learning, increasing life chances,
promoting and securing wellbeing?
Partners are starting to work together to help improve life chances for young people
and adults. Linlithgow Academy performs well against its comparators and
nationally. Almost all young people are attaining well. The school ranks highest in
West Lothian in terms of young people moving into positive destinations. Many
young people are building life skills through participation in sport. A few young
people are gaining first aid certificates and are learning how to lead sports activities
with younger children. Effective targeting by partners to identify young people most
at risk of disengaging from school is beginning to make a difference for example PX2
and Romance Academy. Targeted interventions in Bridgend village have identified
territorial issues between young people. Partners are now developing a response.
Effective targeting of youth crime and anti-social behaviour has contributed to a
reduction in recorded crime in Linlithgow. Performance data produced for The
Lounge youth facility shows positive increases in participation from the previous
year.
The gathering and analysis of performance data is not well developed. Partners are
not yet able to demonstrate progress against targets consistently. Whilst plans at a
corporate level are in place, there is little impact yet at learning community level.
Partners are at an early stage of responding to the national CLD strategic guidance
and CLD Regulations. A few voluntary organisations, for example the Linlithgow
Heritage Trust are performing well against their targets set out in their Funding
Agreements. The impact of volunteering is not captured well in terms of the benefits
to individuals and the local community.
Young people are growing in confidence and improving life chances through a range
of groups and activities. These complement their formal learning experiences in
school. Participants in HYPE (Helping Young People to Engage) are developing
important employability skills. Young people attending Motiv8 now have better social
and communication skills and can travel independently. The Project Rwanda Group
helps young people gain valuable life skills such as an increased understanding of
cultural issues and team work. Linlithgow Young People’s Project (LYPP) helps
young people achieve through effective work with Linlithgow Academy. There is a
growing range of accreditation to help young people to achieve such as The Duke of
Edinburgh’s Award, Dynamic Youth Awards and first aid. Community Sports
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Leadership Awards help a few young people improve wellbeing. Partners would
benefit from tracking this more effectively to ensure appropriate progression for
young people. There is a good focus across the learning community on developing
skills for employment through Activity Agreements and HYPE. However, partners
should integrate national guidance from Curriculum for Excellence across provision
for young people better. Opportunities for young people to reflect better on their
learning is not yet fully embedded.
Adult learning is limited across the learning community. Following recent welfare
reforms, partners have focused on information and communications technology (ICT)
to improve life chances for adults. A few learners are now improving access to
employment as a result. Volunteer buddies are helping jobseekers to set up email
accounts and carry out on-line job searches. Most learners are now more confident
in their use of computers. Participants in the Monday ICT class who are retired or
not seeking work are now less isolated and make better use of social media. Further
opportunities for adult learners to become more involved in their communities would
help to enhance progression. Work with parents could have a higher profile.
Linlithgow is a strong and resilient community. A large number of volunteer-led
community organisation are planning and delivering high quality services to the
community. Volunteers are active and skilled. The Fair Trade Steering Group
successfully work with schools to broaden understanding about the impact and
importance of fair trade. Burgh Beautiful develops and maintains local gardens and
green spaces and is improving the local community as a result. West Lothian Family
History Society’s volunteers deliver high quality support to community members.
The Canal Society’s enthusiastic and committed volunteers attract high numbers of
visitors to Linlithgow. In 2013, they were awarded a business excellence award for
tourism. Community groups work well together informally to share knowledge and
codeliver activities. This could be formalised in future to ensure coherence across
the learning community. Management committees in Winchburgh and Bridgend are
working well with the Council to improve facilities. The recently established
Linlithgow Development Trust has audited community need. They are working with
the Council to transfer ownership of land for a community hub and sports facility.
Health checks for voluntary groups are carried out by link officers from the Council.
This is providing a robust picture of how well organisations are performing.
However, there is scope to support local sports groups better to plan for
sustainability. Progression pathways for volunteers could be clearer and accredited
training for young volunteers would help develop knowledge and skills further. Some
groups in the rural villages of Bridgend and Winchburgh could be supported better by
partners to influence local decision making.
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3. How well are partners working together and improving the quality of
services and provision?
Partners are at the early stages of working together to improve the quality of
services. Ward Action Plans are providing a good summary of local priorities for
Linlithgow. Achievements are reported and future actions identified. The Linlithgow
Youth Issues Group is developing a strategic vision, but there is no clear time line for
producing an action plan. A few partnerships such as the Activity Agreement
Steering Group and the Senior Phase Strategic Planning Group are starting to
influence the direction of travel. There are now opportunities to develop a joint
approach with Linlithgow Academy to plan for the Senior Phase of Curriculum for
Excellence. Almost all partners are using tools to gather feedback from participants
and a few can demonstrate how this is leading to improvement. LYPP conduct
robust evaluations of their activities and use this well to plan future learning for
young people.
Partners are beginning to evaluate outcomes, although this is not yet consistent. In
some cases outcomes are insufficiently focused on improvement. Self-evaluation is
not well understood or embedded across the learning community. Joint
self-evaluation across partners requires significant work. Training and workforce
development operates well at an informal level and there are a few examples of
partners working well together. Partners are not yet clear about how their work
contributes to the Single Outcome Agreement. Almost all staff across partners are
supported to identify personal development needs. However, this does not yet take
cognisance of the changing national policy framework. CLD staff and partners would
benefit from visiting other local authorities to help them shape their vision for the
future.
This inspection of learning and development in the learning community surrounding
Linlithgow Academy found the following key strengths.
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The range of positive outcomes for young people and some adults.
Effective and active community groups.
Good approaches that support young people into positive destinations.
We discussed with partners how they might continue to improve their work. This is
what we agreed with them.
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Build a clear and agreed approach to self-evaluation that leads to improvement.
Stronger focus on ensuring that local learning programmes are reflective of the
emerging national policy agenda and the Single Outcome Agreement.
Support community organisations to build a vision for the area.
Clearer progression routes for adults and young people.
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4. What happens at the end of the inspection?
There are significant improvements needed and partners do not yet have a good
understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement. Our Area Lead Officer
along with West Lothian Council will discuss the most appropriate support in order to
build capacity for improvement and will maintain contact to monitor progress. We
will request a further report on progress within one year of publication of this report.
We will then decide if any further inspection activity is required.
Sheila Brown
HM Inspector
29 April 2014
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Additional inspection evidence, such as details of the quality indicator evaluations,
for this learning community can be found on the Education Scotland website at
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/inspectionandreview/reports/othersectors/com
munitylearninganddevelopment/LinlithgowAcademyLC.asp .
If you would like to receive this report in a different format, for example, in a
translation you can contact the administration team on 01506 600381.
If you want to give us feedback or make a complaint about our work, please contact
us by telephone on 0141 282 5000, or e-mail:
complaints@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to us, addressing your letter to
The Complaints Manager, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, 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.
Crown Copyright 2014.
Education Scotland
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