Education Scotland
Foghlam Alba
Learning community inspection
A report by Education Scotland
Inspection of the learning community
surrounding Kinross High School
Perth and Kinross Council
20 December 2011
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.educationscotland.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
Kinross and the surrounding villages have a population of around 13000. The
area is largely rural with a larger than average number of working families living in
the area. Although deprivation is very low, there are issues relating to isolation
and access to services for those living in the rural areas. The Loch Leven
Community Campus which opened in 2009, provides a range of high quality
facilities for secondary school pupils and the community.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
A strong and vibrant community.
•
Very effective integrated working as a result of co-location in the community
campus.
•
Very good learning and support programmes.
•
Highly motivated and committed staff.
3. How well do participants learn and achieve?
Young people and adults have access to a very good range of high quality
learning opportunities. Staff work effectively to include the most vulnerable
learners. As a result, learners build their confidence and develop their life skills
well. Community learning and development (CLD) staff make good use of the
Insight Outreach (I/O) Management Information System for recording information
and reporting on outcomes. Links to Curriculum for Excellence experiences and
outcomes are at the early stages of development. Participation rates in adult
learning, parenting and family learning have increased. The number of young
people successfully gaining awards has increased. The number of community
members participating in activities in the community library based in the campus
has grown significantly. Further development of I/O will provide more detailed
information on learner outcomes, progression and trends. This should include
information on the impact of partnership programmes and an ability to use
information gathered to compare performance against comparator authorities.
Young people
Young people have access to high quality programmes and activities provided by
a wide range of partners. Integrated working across the learning community has
led to highly effective, targeted provision to support vulnerable young people.
Young people engage in a wide range of accredited learning programmes and
gain confidence and develop important life skills. Young people have good
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opportunities to contribute effectively to their community through volunteering.
Participants develop leadership skills, communication skills and increased
tolerance and understanding of others. As a result of very good personal support
and active participation in programmes, young people are moving onto
employment and further learning. They are developing new interests and have
raised aspirations for the future. Young people enjoy positive relationships with
CLD staff and feel that staff listen and respond to their needs well. Young people
have very good opportunities to participate in media, sport, web design, and
music activities. They gain confidence and new skills which they are able to use
in other situations. The Youth Information Point, Web project, and Health Matters
Group support improvements in health and wellbeing. Young people are more
aware of issues including drugs, alcohol and sexual health and are able to make
well-informed choices. There is scope to strengthen the active involvement of
young people in decision making. Further development in the use of Curriculum
for Excellence experiences and outcomes and partnership planning in relation to a
broad general education and senior phase is now needed.
Adults
Almost all adult learners are becoming more confident and successful as a result
of their participation in high quality learning programmes. Learners feel included
and respected and have positive relationships with staff. Provision is effectively
targeted on vulnerable individuals and families. Some learners are securing
employment as a result of their learning and others are using their new skills and
abilities at work. Some learners have become more active in the community.
Effective partnership programmes are resulting in a range of opportunities for
parents to develop their skills and confidence in parenting. Parents in family
learning programmes develop their confidence and skills in supporting their
children’s learning. Those learners involved in computing courses have
developed their skills and confidence. Some learners are using their skills to
study the history of their families or to further their learning through accessing
information. Literacies and English for speakers of other languages learners have
an individual learning plan, which helps them take responsibility in planning their
learning and assists in measuring progression. Some learners progress on to
other learning opportunities or volunteering. Learners are improving their
communication, reading and writing skills. Adult learners would benefit from
increased opportunities to share experiences, network and influence service
improvement. Further development of volunteering opportunities to support
learners should be considered.
4. How well are communities developing and achieving?
Strong and active community organisations and groups are effectively supporting
local people and benefiting their communities. Groups are active and influential
and are well supported by skilled and well-motivated volunteers. Very strong
community engagement has helped develop better communication and stronger
partnerships with the local community. Further work to develop partnerships,
networking and sharing ideas has been very effectively supported by CLD staff.
Groups have benefited from training opportunities, for example in funding. Staff
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have established strong partnerships which have led to a better uptake of high
quality resources particularly in the campus location. They recognise the need to
continue to develop this to maximise all aspects of the community campus facility.
Effective partnerships have been developed with local older residents through
partnerships with the local Daycare centre. Older people are now benefiting
socially from accessing the campus facilities including the library. Positive
partnerships have been developed through engaging with the local Traveller’s
group. This has included opportunities to build relationships through site visits
which has in turn helped to identify particular needs. CLD staff now recognise the
need to continue to develop their work through reviewing their vision, purpose and
intended outcomes and where necessary streamlining the range of partnership
groups.
5. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
CLD staff use a wide range of highly effective approaches to gain feedback from
participants and stakeholders on the services they provide. Staff are using a
range of very good methods to plan and evaluate the impact of programmes.
Staff reflect on their practice and review outcomes regularly. This includes the
use of effective peer support and challenge. The local CLD plan has clear targets
and links to the CLD strategy and Council’s single outcome agreement. The I/O
system has resulted in improved approaches to self-evaluation and reporting.
Staff have access to very good training and professional development
opportunities resulting in improvements in practice and services. More formal
approaches to reporting to stakeholders should now be developed. CLD
providers, in partnership with the school should take forward plans to improve joint
planning and self-evaluation.
6. Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
CLD partners are committed to working together to implement priorities and
improve services. Self-evaluation is now embedded in practice with management
information continuing to develop. Planning is effective and clearly aligned to
local and national outcomes. Managers across the learning community and
campus are clear about next steps to build on progress made. They are in a good
position to develop a shared vision and priorities through a programme of joint
continuous professional development, joint planning and self-evaluation.
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7. What happens next?
The inspection team was able to rely on the high quality self-evaluation provided
by the learning community. CLD providers have a good understanding of their
strengths and areas for improvement and communities are achieving very well.
As a result we have ended the inspection process at this stage.
We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the local authority and
its partners.
•
Further development and use of the I/O Management Information System.
•
Develop joint planning and evaluation across partnership programmes.
•
Continue to develop the use of Curriculum for Excellence experiences and
outcomes and joint planning for a broad general education and senior phase.
•
Improve systems for reporting on improvement to stakeholders.
Quality indicators help CLD providers and inspectors to judge what is good and
what needs to be improved in the learning community. You can find these quality
indicators in the HMIE publication “How good is our community learning and
development? 2”.
Education Scotland evaluates five important quality indicators to help monitor the
quality of learning communities across Scotland. Here are the results for the
learning community surrounding Kinross High School.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Anne Gibson
20 December 2011
4
good
very good
very good
very good
very good
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 ww.educationscotland.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 enquiries@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk or
write to us at BMCT, Education Scotland, 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 or alternatively you can
contact www.educationscotland.gov.uk to our Complaints Manager, at the
address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.
Crown Copyright 2011
Education Scotland