Learning community inspection
A report by HM Inspectorate of Education
Inspection of the learning community
surrounding Arbroath High School
Angus Council
9 March 2010
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.hmie.gov.uk. Where applicable, you will also be able to find
descriptions of good practice in the learning community and, in many instances, a
report on the secondary school closest to the learning community.
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
The Arbroath High School learning community in the West of Arbroath town
comprises the catchment area of the school and its seven partner primary
schools. Arbroath West has some communities which face significant social and
economic challenges. Outwith the town of Arbroath, the learning community
covers smaller communities including, Carmyllie, Colliston, Arbirlot and
Inverbrothock.
2. Particular strengths of the learning community
•
Strong partnerships in community learning and development (CLD) that result
in high quality programmes and achievements.
•
High levels of volunteering in the community.
•
The range of youth work provision, particularly the focus on disadvantaged
groups such as young people with learning disabilities.
•
The support for older learners provided by the Angus Gold project.
•
Adult Literacy and Numeracy provision that makes a significant difference to
learners in providing skills and helping them to progress to further learning and
employment.
3. How well do participants learn and achieve?
CLD Service (CLDS) staff and partner organisations make very effective use of
information from a range of sources to plan their work. There is a well organised
team plan that sets clear targets for progress and is regularly monitored. Almost
all of the targets have been achieved and in some cases, exceeded. There is
sustained growth across all areas of CLD activity in West Arbroath and numbers
of participants are increasing. There is an extensive range of high quality
programmes to meet this demand. There is a strong focus on work with
disadvantaged groups, such as young people with learning disabilities. The
provision meets local priorities such as enabling young people and adult learners
to make considerable progress in their learning. As a result, many now enter
employment or further study. Partners from the local volunteer centre provide
very effective means for local people to become volunteers and contribute to their
community. Numbers of volunteers and awards for volunteering activities are
increasing. The Integrated Children and Young People’s Services Partnership
(ICYPSP) has begun to take a joint approach to planning and measuring progress
against national targets but this work is still in the initial stages.
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Young people
Young people gain substantial benefits from their involvement in activities
provided by CLD partners. Young people at risk of missing out on learning
achieve successful results and progress to college and some to university. Young
people with learning disabilities in the Noisecrackers Club make substantial gains
in confidence, skills and are less socially isolated. Large numbers of young
people are involved in volunteering and in national award schemes. They make a
significant and responsible contribution to their local area, for example, in beach
clean-ups, attending the ICYPSP, as hospital radio presenters and as mentors for
other young people in the Angus Connect project. Almost all young people who
work with Tayside Council on Alcohol, in both the Witches Project and the Boys
Group, make positive changes to their lifestyles and some become volunteers
with the project. However, there is a need for more opportunities for young
people’s views to be heard in local community planning structures.
Adults
Adult learners involved in family learning, better writing for work and Angus Gold
projects gain useful new skills in literacy and numeracy, parenting and local
history studies. Learners attending the Learning Shop with significant literacy and
numeracy needs achieve a range of successful outcomes such as return to
learning, entering university and winning national adult learner awards. Learners
in the Volunteer Centre Angus significantly gain in confidence in the volunteering
projects through well designed learning activities. As a result, increasing numbers
gain volunteering awards, contribute to their local community and move on to
further study at higher levels. Learners in the Angus Gold project, have now
developed a range of citizenship and leisure programmes for the over 50’s in the
local area. They have contributed to the development of a discount card for
services and their work has resulted in increased participation in community
councils and in local and national elections. They have started exercise and
walking classes for older adults to improve health and stop older people becoming
socially isolated. However, while numbers of adults involved in family learning is
high, family learning for parents whose first language is not English is still in an
early stage of development.
4. How well are communities developing and achieving?
CLDS and partners provide good information, training and practical support that
enables local people to become involved in their community. As a result, people
involved in local groups bring a confident and well-informed approach to
strengthening their community. The work of volunteers is highly valued and the
relationship between volunteers and staff of partner organisations is productive.
The members of the Angus Gold Forum are effective in representing the views of
older people. The Arbroath Area Partnership has made impressive
improvements to the community with new community festivals and services for
disadvantaged groups. They raise significant funds, for example, to develop
youth provision and an imaginative cliff top safety project that results in swifter
responses from the emergency services. The Volunteer Centre Angus offers a
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wide range of ways for local people to contribute to their community that are
increasingly recognised with awards. Almost all participants in The Volunteer
Academy successfully progress to employment from their volunteering
experiences. Young people with Angus Connect act as effective and trained
mentors to support other young people. However, residents in a few
neighbourhoods in West Arbroath would benefit from greater support. The
Timmergreens Action Group is beginning to build on initial work to create better
services in their area. There is a need to strengthen the ways in which young
people from local schools and youth projects can become involved in both the
Arbroath Area Partnership and the ICYPSP.
5. How effective are providers in improving the quality of services?
CLDS staff and partners make effective use of a range of methods to take
account of learners’ views and gaps in services. This has resulted in new
provision, for example, for young people with learning disabilities. All staff are
focused on outcomes and can demonstrate impact with increased numbers of
participants, increased grant funding and award programmes. There is a strong
focus on self-evaluation by CLDS staff and partners, which is carried out on a
regular and systematic basis. CLDS and their partners in the ICYPSP are starting
to undertake joint self-evaluation to make improvements, but this is still at an early
stage of development. CLDS and most partners report back to stakeholders
individually and the quality of some reports is variable. There is a need to
continue to develop a collective approach to self-evaluation. There is a need to
report on progress that will focus upon the experience and views of the learner.
6. Does the learning community have a clear sense of direction?
CLDS staff and partners demonstrate very strong leadership of learning in West
Arbroath. There is good leadership and high levels of commitment in local
projects. As a result, there are high levels of trust and strong partnerships in the
area. Leadership development is being further supported by good training and
development and by offering learners an opportunity to contribute through
volunteering. There is a clear team plan to guide CLDS staff activity. The work
and leadership of the local voluntary sector enables staff across the partnership to
learn from each other and respond positively to change in their communities.
There is still further work and training needed to develop team leadership in the
Timmergreen area where community planning structures are still developing.
7. What happens next?
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.
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We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority
and its partners.
•
Develop and extend approaches to joint self-evaluation with partners.
•
Continue to extend the range of accredited award programmes with partners
to focus on under-represented age groups.
•
Develop a coherent, joint and systematic approach to marketing provision and
reporting to stakeholders.
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 Arbroath High School.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on adults
Impact of capacity building on communities
Improving services
Managing Inspector: Philip Denning
9 March 2010
4
very good
very good
very good
very good
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 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 2010
HM Inspectorate of Education