Inspection of the learning community
Inspection of the learning community surrounding James Hamilton Academy
East Ayrshire Council
21 April 2009
Contents
1.
About the report
2.
The learning community
3.
Particular strengths of the learning community
4.
Examples of good practice
5.
How well do participants learn and achieve?
6.
How well does CLD help the community to develop?
7.
How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
8.
Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
9.
What happens next?
1. About the report
This report tells you about community learning and development (CLD) activities
in the communities surrounding James Hamilton 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.
2. The learning community
The learning community around James Hamilton Academy includes the
communities of Onthank and New Farm Loch in Kilmarnock.
According to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, the area is not amongst
the most deprived in Scotland. The proportion of jobless people is 2.2% above
the Scottish average but 1% below the rest of East Ayrshire.
3. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Commitment of operational staff.
•
Effective local partnerships.
•
Evolving culture of self-evaluation by operational staff.
•
Improving use of performance data to inform planning.
•
Effective public reporting through annual standards and quality report.
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4. Examples of good practice
ALLIES – Ex offenders and people with housing and addiction problems.
Engaged in effective health, first aid, basic cooking and food and hygiene
programmes.
Silverwood Savings/Credit Union Project – primary school pupils running savings
scheme in partnership with the local credit union.
By visiting www.hmie.gov.uk you can find out more about these examples of good
practice.
5. How well do participants learn and achieve?
There is a strong and developing commitment to performance management within
the CLD Service. The CLD performance management group meets quarterly to
review performance. Performance is well monitored and identified issues
addressed effectively. Benchmarking between CLD teams and a new learner
database (Help at Hand) have recently been introduced. This aims to improve
interpretation of local data and potential gaps in programme provision. These
initiatives are at too early a stage to demonstrate impact. Helpful, regular
progress reporting to the community planning partnership is taking place. The
Kilmarnock North and Northern Area CLD plan progress report demonstrates
some success in achieving agreed targets. There is a strong commitment to
engaging young people in East Ayrshire Youth Awards. Participant numbers are
increasing. However, scope remains to make better use of data gathered and to
improve target setting. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award completions are low. The
CLD service recognises the potential to develop further use of other national
accreditation awards.
Young people
Young people have access to a wide range of activities and learning
opportunities. They are regularly included in the development of activities and
projects. Creative methods are used to ensure marginalised groups are involved.
Outreach staff are successfully providing young people with information and links
to other services. CLD staff are working well in partnership with a range of
partner organisations, community and voluntary groups. Staff from North West
Youth Project, CLD and Community Safety effectively work together to engage
young people through initiatives such as the Youth Express. Peer Education and
Youth Outreach are actively developing joint projects with local staff. CLD staff
have very supportive relationships with young people.
Young people are successfully developing core and technical skills such as radio
presenting and scriptwriting. All young people stated that they feel more confident
as a result of their involvement in groups. Accreditation is mainly limited to the
East Ayrshire Youth Awards and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Ten young
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people involved in the Young People’s Lottery Fund Panel achieved success in
Participative Democracy. Participant evaluation is standard for all projects.
However, it focuses more on course content rather than individual outcomes. The
introduction of more evaluative sessional recording sheets would enhance future
planning. Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) are beginning to be introduced more
widely, as is a nationally recognised progress measurement system. However
links within the local learning partnership between James Hamilton Academy and
CLD are limited.
Adults
Learners benefit greatly from an increasing range of learning opportunities
responsive to individual needs. A number of opportunities specifically target the
participation of disadvantaged and ethnic minority individuals and groups. Almost
all learners describe themselves as having gained confidence with the majority
progressing to further learning. A variety of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) learning opportunities are used effectively to encourage
progress towards accredited learning through European Computer Driving
Licence (ECDL) and Learndirect Scotland Learning Bytes. Active support is given
to learners who have the potential to progress to becoming tutors, with examples
demonstrated within ICT, Gaelic and Essential Skills.
CLD staff are working well in partnership with a range of partner organisations
and community groups to develop learning opportunities. However, more active
involvement of schools will support the inclusion of parents and families.
Monitoring and evaluation does not fully capture the broader benefits reported by
participants. As a result, outcomes for learners are not fully recognised. All
learners receive the offer of guidance interviews and an ILP. Although guidance
is taken up by some learners, very few ILPs exist beyond the Essential Skills
Project and European Social Fund (ESF) Employability programmes.
6. How well does CLD help the community to develop?
Community members are confident, skilled and active in their local community.
CLD staff provide effective support to individuals and groups. New Farm Loch
Community Council recently celebrated its 40th anniversary and is actively
campaigning for a new youth facility. Onthank Residents’ Association represents
its members well and is campaigning on environmental and community safety
issues affecting the area. North West Kilmarnock Environment Group has made
significant difference to the physical environment. Onthank and New Farm Loch
Community Associations use their experience and local knowledge well to deliver
services and activities that meet community needs. Many members of these
groups, however, are long serving and there is limited evidence of new member
recruitment. East Ayrshire Council, including CLD, provides strong and consistent
support to a productive network of voluntary organisations providing services to a
wider area. Services delivered are of a high quality and respond to priority needs.
However, further work and better use of management information is required to
demonstrate the impact these organisations are making on the learning
community inspected. Innovative solutions such as the Silverbank Primary
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School Credit Union Project have the potential to make a long-term impact on the
community.
7. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
The annual CLD Standards and Quality Report is of good quality and written in an
informative and accessible style. The CLD Plan and Young People’s Community
Learning Plan are effective methods of reporting to stakeholders. The service
makes good use of recent inspection experience and reports to promote
self-evaluation by staff. ‘Measuring Improvement’ training has been delivered to
partner agencies. Partners are at in the early stages of introducing
self-evaluation. The CLD service is making good progress in improving services.
Staff use a standard individual worker action plan and a good variety of tools and
methods to evaluate programmes, gather feedback and measure impact. Not all
staff, however, use these to a consistent standard. They require further support in
the use of Learning Evaluation and Planning (LEAP) and evaluative language.
Analysis of management information data and trends is being used to inform
service improvement, although the extent of this is limited at present.
8. Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction?
CLD providers work well together at a local level. The Promoting Community
Learning Action Plan acts as the key strategic driver locally for CLD partners.
There is a good partnership ethos in place. CLD staff are actively engaged in
work with the Council of Voluntary Organisations (CVO) and Volunteer Centre.
The Peer Education Project provides effective flexible support through a range of
local initiatives. Joint training on literacies had taken place. The local learning
partnership enjoys productive links with local primary schools. Opportunities exist
for youth work partners to better share practice and reduce duplication.
9. 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.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority
and its partners.
•
Improve relationships within the local learning partnership between James
Hamilton Academy and the CLD service.
•
Develop progression opportunities for young people through use of
nationally accredited awards.
•
Ensure a more consistent focus on improving outcomes for learners.
•
Improve use of management information to identify need and target
resources.
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”.
The 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
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 James Hamilton Academy.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Stewart Maxwell
21 April 2009
5
good
good
good
good
good
How can you contact us?
HMIE has responsibilities to evaluate the quality of pre-school education, all
schools, teacher education, community learning and development, colleges and
local authorities. We also publish reports of interest to the public and
professionals about services for children and evaluate child protection services.
From this extensive evidence we are able to give the professional advice needed
to support the development of educational policy.
For more information about the work of HMIE, including examples of good
practice and links to Journey to Excellence, please visit our website at
www.hmie.gov.uk.
To find out more about inspections go to www.hmie.gov.uk. Please contact the
Business Management and Communications Team if you require any of our
information available in 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 to Business
Management and Communications Team, HM Inspectorate of Education,
Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston
EH54 6GA.
Our complaints procedure is available from Rona Littleproud, HM Inspectorate of
Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way,
Livingston EH54 6GA or phone 01506 600258 or from our website at
www.hmie.gov.uk.
If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our complaints
procedure, you can raise a 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 the SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also
telephone 0800 377 7330, fax 0800 377 7331 or email ask@spso.org.uk. More
information about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website
www.spso.org.uk.
Want to join us?
In addition to HMI, inspection teams often include people who are not HMI but are
involved directly in education. They are called Associate Assessors and most
work in community learning and development. Most inspection teams also
include a member of the public called a Lay Member. More information about
how you can become an Associate Assessor or Lay Member is available at
www.hmie.gov.uk.
Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education