Inspection of the learning community
Inspection of the learning community surrounding Portlethen Academy
Aberdeenshire Council
25 August 2009
This report tells you about community learning and development (CLD) activities
in the communities surrounding Portlethen Academy. It complements a separate
report on the school. We explain how well people involved in community learning
activities do in a wide range of experiences, and the quality of learning activities
on offer to them. We describe how communities can influence decision making
and how they can respond positively to their own issues. We also talk about how
organisations work together and how they improve lives in local communities.
Finally, our report looks at the vision for the area, and how well all organisations
and the community are working together to achieve it.
If you would like to learn more about our inspection, please visit
www.hmie.gov.uk. Where applicable, the website contains analyses of
questionnaire returns and descriptions of good practice in the centre.
Contents
1.
The learning community
2.
Particular strengths of the learning community
3.
Examples of good practice
4.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
5.
How well does CLD help the community to develop?
6.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
7.
Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
8.
What happens next?
1. The learning community
The learning community around Portlethen Academy includes the town of
Portlethen and the villages of Newtonhill, Muchalls, Cammachmore, Marywell,
Findon and Banchory Devenick.
The proportion of jobless people in the area is substantially below the Scottish
average and lower than the rest of Aberdeenshire Council area. A large
proportion of those in employment commute to Aberdeen. Portlethen Academy is
located within a new building with integrated community facilities including a well
resourced community library, a family centre, a community learning centre,
community meeting space, a swimming pool and sports facilities. A community
schools network has been established to provide a forum for partner organisations
and services to plan their work together in the area. There is a strong level of
volunteering in the area and local community newsletters distributed to
households provide helpful information about the activities of local groups and
organisations.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Confident young people value their involvement and are keen to make a
difference.
•
CLD provision valued by stakeholders.
•
Impact on wider achievement in the school.
•
Quality of local facilities and resources.
•
Impact of community volunteers, groups and organisations.
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3. Examples of good practice
•
Safe on the Net: a group of young people are engaged in peer leadership.
They have developed skills and knowledge on aspects of internet safety and
child protection. They provide training and awareness raising workshops for
young people and staff.
•
The Portlethen Action Team are a group of young people engaged in local
community action. They have helped to design and develop the use of the
Porty Cabin - a local youth facility. They are now working with younger age
groups to develop their use of the facility and extend membership of the
management committee. They are working to improve representation of
young people through establishing a local youth council.
By visiting www.hmie.gov.uk you can find out more about these examples of good
practice.
4. How well do participants learn and achieve?
There are some high quality learning and development activities in the area
especially those involving work with young people. Increasing use of
achievement awards and accreditation is helping young people to make progress.
Some grant funded local groups and organisations make good use of information
to demonstrate progress against intended outcomes. Partner organisations value
the contribution of CLD providers to important improvements such as reductions
in levels of crime and the fear of crime. Overall there is too little use of data to
analyse need, measure performance or report on trends over time. Monthly
performance data collected is limited to levels of participation and does not
include information on what has been achieved. Plans are not sufficiently
outcome focused or specific. Opportunities for adult learners are not sufficient to
meet local needs. There is a need for CLD partners to improve planning through
collectively setting targets and identifying measures to assess performance.
Young people
Young people benefit from a very good range of well designed learning
programmes. The Safe on The Net group demonstrate effective leadership
development and active learning through delivering their workshop about Internet
safety to schools and other youth groups. They have become members of the
National Advisory Panel for the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre
(CEOP). Young people taking part in activities influence planning and make well
informed decisions. Those involved in Portlethen Action Team are very active
and influential. They have taken responsibility for the design and development of
a local youth facility the Porty Cabin and feel a sense of responsibility and pride in
their achievement. They have clear views on how they intend to build on this
progress. Youth workers have positive relationships with young people and
provide very effective support. They are well respected by the participants.
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Young people are gaining confidence, developing skills and progressing as
successful learners. Many are volunteering within the local community and are
able to apply skills gained to improve other areas of their lives including aspects of
family and community relationships. Growing numbers of young people are
benefiting from achievement awards. There is a strong contribution to youth work
developments in Portlethen Academy and local primary schools. Those taking
part in Baby Think It Over are able to describe how they have developed maturity
and now think more carefully about their lives. The Momentum Project has
enabled young people to develop skills and consider issues around road safety.
Overall, young people are making very good progress through their involvement.
They are enthusiastic participants in activities and developments. Young people
are confident individuals and effective contributors. They report that their views
matter and that they have a voice in their community. More effective needs
analysis in the area would help youth workers ensure that their resources and
programmes were appropriately targeted.
Adults
A limited adult learning programme is meeting some needs in the area. Parents
of young children are developing confidence and skills and are able to share
experiences together in group settings with health visitors. Family learning and
opportunities are provided through PEEPS (Parents as Partners in Early
Education). This is helping to improve literacy and build confidence. Parents of
teenagers report that they have received good support from a Time Out For
Teenagers course. Working for Families funding has been used to help individual
parents to progress on to employment. Those taking part in English for Speakers
of Other Languages (ESOL) are making good progress and this is helping their
employment opportunities. Adults in need of support to address domestic and
family issues benefit from taking part in a sensitively managed group. Providers
do not make good use of data to help plan adult learning work. There is limited
adult literacy and numeracy provision in the area. There is some recreational
provision for adults but opportunities to gain qualifications are limited to a few
college outreach classes in computer skills. There is no consistent or planned
provision of adult guidance across the area. Tracking of progress made by
learners is not sufficient. Providers need to improve their access to information to
enable better planning and targeting of resources.
5. How well does CLD help the community to develop?
Most members of community groups are active, confident, skilled and effectively
engaged in local decision making. There is a strong commitment within
Newtonhill and Portlethen communities to improve local services and facilities.
The Newtonhill and District Village Association has been successful in gaining
funding to improve and manage the Bettridge Centre. As a result they have been
able to increase the range of local recreational, sports and arts opportunities for
young people and adults. A well organised community-based Duke of Edinburgh
Award programme is managed by highly committed volunteers. This is enabling
growing numbers of local young people to gain awards. Residents are well
informed through well produced, high quality community newsletters produced by
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volunteers, including the Clochandighter, the Newsey and the Newtonhill
Directory. Members of community groups and organisations report that their
involvement has had a beneficial impact on their lives. Young people and
members of community organisations receive very good support to progress to
additional roles and responsibilities, including volunteering, leading community
initiatives and paid employment. Community networks and partnerships across
the area have a good understanding of local needs. A need for local advice
services resulted in the development and registration of a new Citizens Advice
Bureau. Young people, adults and community groups take an active part in local
community planning. They helped to organise a recent Planning for Real event.
They value the role of the North Kincardine Community Development Group as a
forum for influencing local priorities. The role of the North Kincardine Community
Development Group is valued as a forum for influencing local priorities.
Members of community groups in local villages would benefit from more
opportunities to share their knowledge skills and experience across the area. This
would help volunteers and groups to act together on issues of common concern.
6. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
Staff apply a range of effective self-evaluation methods within individual projects
and activities. Good account is taken of participants’ views to plan development
and improvement. Staff reflect on their practice and consider the impact of their
work through regular supervision. Local residents and community organisations
are kept informed of progress through informal reports in community newsletters
and to community council meetings. The Community Schools Network provides a
good basis for services and partner organisations to begin to evaluate and plan
work more effectively together. Analysis of need is not sufficient. For example,
information on the levels of skills and qualifications in the local adult population is
not known by providers. Planning overall is not systematic. Team and area plans
are not specific, time framed or measurable. There is a need to set targets for
improvement. There is too much reliance on informal reports of progress and too
little attention paid to evaluating the wider outcomes of CLD activity in the area.
7. Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
Partners work together effectively in the area. A stronger shared vision of what
needs to change and improve would help all involved to work more effectively.
The Community School Network and other local forums provide a good basis for
partners to improve joint planning and evaluation. Strengthening planning,
monitoring, evaluation and performance reporting will enable providers to better
improve services.
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8. What happens next?
There are some important improvements needed, but because CLD providers
have a good understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement, and
communities are achieving well, we have ended the inspection process at this
stage. We will monitor progress through our regular contact with the education
authority.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority
and its partners.
•
Improve planning and performance reporting to enable better assessment of
progress against outcomes.
•
Review adult learning provision and ensure that needs in the area are
understood and addressed.
Quality indicators help CLD providers 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 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 Portlethen Academy.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Pete Hamilton
25 August 2009
5
weak
very good
satisfactory
very good
satisfactory
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 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education