Dunblane High School
Stirling Council
31 May 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.
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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
Dunblane High School is a non-denominational school which serves
Dunblane and surrounding Kinbuck and Ashfield areas. The roll was
814 when the inspection was carried out in March 2011. Young
people’s attendance was above the national average in 2009/2010.
The headteacher took up post in February 2011 after serving as the
interim headteacher from July 2010. All four depute headteachers
have been appointed since August 2010, with two in acting positions.
The school moved to a new building in November 2007.
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2. Particular strengths of the school
•
Confident and well-behaved young people.
•
Young people’s high levels of achievement.
•
Commitment of staff to improving the school.
•
Quality of relationships between staff and young people.
•
Inspirational leadership of the headteacher.
3. How well do young people learn and achieve?
Learning and achievement
Almost all young people are motivated to learn. They respond
positively to being given responsibility for their own learning. They
work very well together in groups. They learn effectively as a result
of an increasing number of activities that involves them in reviewing
their own and each others’ work. In a few subjects young people
complete learning logs which helps them to reflect on how they
could improve their skills. Continuing to build on this good practice
would ensure that young people have a more consistent
involvement in their learning.
Many young people achieve success in a wide range of activities.
This is contributing to developing them personally and socially for
success in the world beyond school. Young people readily take on
positions of responsibility. These include providing popular activities
such as dance and rugby clubs. Through participation in the Award
Scheme Development and Accreditation Network (ASDAN) Awards
young people at S6 provide peer support for younger pupils. Those
in S4 and S5 are developing personal responsibility through
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reviewing their own level of effort across subjects using recently
introduced ‘Monitoring Individual Effort’ cards. Young people across
the school display citizenship skills through substantial fundraising
for a range of worthy causes. Numerous activities such as musical
and sporting events develop young people’s talents and interests.
High participation levels in annual school shows such as
“We Will Rock You” has helped to develop many young people’s
team-working skills and improved their confidence levels. Many
young people from across all stages have achieved much success
in a wide range of local and national competitions.
Young people at S1/S2 make appropriate progress in their learning
and the quality of their coursework is of a high standard. Overall,
they demonstrate sound knowledge and understanding across their
subject areas by the end of S2. In the last two years all young
people in S3 have been entered for Standard Grade English and
mathematics with almost all achieving a General award or better.
From S4 to S6, attainment in national examinations has been
maintained at a consistently high level over a number of years.
Overall, at these stages young people’s attainment is well above
national averages and much better than schools which serve young
people with similar needs and backgrounds. Young people who
require additional support with their learning are making very good
progress. Almost all young people leave school to go to university,
college, training or into employment.
Curriculum and meeting learning needs
The curriculum is currently being reviewed and developed by the
school. It aims to provide further choices and pathways for young
people to meet their needs as they move through stages. For
example, the school is reviewing how best to ensure continuity and
progression for young people beyond S3 who have already
achieved qualifications in English and mathematics. Teachers are
developing interesting new learning programmes for young people
at S1/S2 in line with Curriculum for Excellence principles. Staff have
introduced a few stimulating projects to help young people make
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links in their learning. The school has begun to take steps to ensure
the development of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing
across curriculum areas. Not all young people in S5/S6 as yet have
a continuing experience of religious and moral education or physical
education in line with national expectations. The school is
continuing to develop curriculum links to enable young people to
build effectively on their prior achievements.
In most classes tasks and learning activities meet the learning
needs of young people very well. Overall, the pace of learning is
brisk and set at a suitable level of difficulty for young people. The
needs of those requiring additional support in their learning are very
well met across the school. The staged intervention approach
ensures the school identifies learning needs well, including those of
more able learners. This is also achieved through working with
associated primary schools and partners including social services,
health and educational psychology. Principal teachers of pupil
support know young people very well and provide high-quality
pastoral care for all young people. Support for learning staff provide
effective support for young people in classes, often with valuable
contributions from support for learning assistants. Principal
teachers of pupil support, in conjunction with subject teachers, are
very effective at developing individualised plans to support young
people. Across the school the quality and quantity of homework is
variable.
4. How well do staff work with others to support young
people’s learning?
The ‘Friends of Dunblane’ Parent Council supports the work of the
school. A new constitution has been drawn up recently to focus its
partnership work further. Commendably it has involved young
people in its meetings. The Parent Council has purchased sports
equipment to develop young people’s health and wellbeing. Parents
receive helpful information in a variety of ways such as in monthly
newsletters. The school recognises the need to review individual
progress reports so that parents receive helpful information on their
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child’s achievements, strengths and areas for improvement at all
stages. A range of positive partnerships enhance young people’s
learning. This includes strong support from Forth Valley College for
young people at S6 completing the Scottish Science Baccalaureate
qualification. Six chaplains from a range of faiths make an effective
contribution to the life of the school, including contributing to the
personal and social education programme. There are appropriate
procedures in place for dealing with complaints.
5. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving
their school community?
Young people feel that the pupil council now has a higher profile and
has a greater voice in the school. The pupil council has secured a
study area for young people at the upper stages. It has also been
instrumental in selecting and supporting the new school uniform.
Staff contribute well to the life of the school, organising numerous
out-of-class activities and providing study support classes. The
headteacher, with the support of staff, has quickly identified and
prioritised important areas for improvement. Staff are increasingly
becoming reflective practitioners and are committed to professional
development. A range of quality assurance approaches is being
used across the school. However, these are not being used in a
consistent way and are therefore not being fully effective. Staff are
sharing good practice across the school and this has led to some
teachers improving practice. Staff across the school now need to be
involved in evaluating wider aspects of the school’s work. The
school seeks the views of young people, parents and staff. It should
now ensure that all views, including those of community partners,
are used systematically in school improvement.
6. Does the school have high expectations of all young
people?
Young people are polite, friendly and are proud of their school.
Almost all relationships between staff and young people are
positive. Teachers have high expectations of behaviour and
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achievement to which young people respond positively. The school
uses a range of approaches to celebrate young people’s
achievements regularly. This includes recently introduced
achievement assemblies. Staff are aware of the procedures in
place to protect young people. Most young people feel safe and
cared for and that they are treated fairly and with respect. The
school has appropriate procedures in place for religious observance.
Young people have a clear understanding of worldwide issues
relating to religious and cultural diversity, sustainability and healthy
lifestyles.
7. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
Senior managers form a strong team and have gained the respect
and trust of young people, parents, staff and the wider community.
The headteacher has successfully shared his aspirational vision for
the school. Staff are committed to achieving this vision. The
headteacher provides inspirational leadership through modelling
strong practice and empowering others. Depute headteachers
provide strong and valued support to staff. They have supported the
headteacher very well in making a number of necessary changes.
Together with staff, senior managers have successfully improved
the ethos and the culture of the school. Principal teachers have
taken on revised remits and are working hard to address the new
challenges that these have brought. High numbers of staff lead or
are members of well-judged working groups. The school has a very
strong capacity for continued improvement.
8. What happens next?
We are confident that with continuing strong support of the
education authority, the school will be able to make the necessary
improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will
make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school
and the education authority will inform parents about the school's
progress in improving the quality of education.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the
school and education authority.
•
Ensure the curriculum provides continuity and progression for all.
•
Continue to develop approaches to self-evaluation and ensure
they are embedded at all levels.
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 Dunblane 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: Marie McAdam
31 May 2011
7
satisfactory
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