CONSULTATION ON REQUIREMENTS FOR PROVIDING INFORMATION FOR
PARENTS AND CARERS ABOUT THEIR CHILD'S SCHOOL i. Capability Scotland welcomes the opportunity to respond to this public consultation.
Ii Capability Scotland is one of Scotland’s leading providers of employment, education and support services to disabled people, their families and carers. The organisation’s direct service provision is combined with campaigning, consultancy and advice to ensure that the organisation functions as an ally of disabled people as they strive to gain full equality, choice and control in their lives.
Our vision is that Capability will be a major ally in supporting disabled people to achieve full equality and to have choice and control of their lives by 2020.
Our mission is to transform people’s expectations of what is possible and ensure that disabled people achieve equality. The organisation aims to achieve this by:
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Becoming the first choice for innovative personalised and sustainable services, which provide the necessary support so that disabled people can enjoy the same human and civil rights as everyone else.
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Forging strong and effective relationships through working with a range of organisations within the public, private and voluntary sectors concerned with disability.
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Exerting effective influence which ensures that laws are passed which give disabled people equal human and civil rights and that attitudes are changed through campaigning, education and information.
Capability’s core values are:
Sensitive and responsive: while ensuring that disabled people are at the centre of all we do, we will address the concerns of all our stakeholders.
Choice and excellence: we will ensure that all of our staff are committed to providing the best options possible.
Dignity and respect: we will strive to ensure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

Openness and transparency: we have a responsibility to be accountable to stakeholders.
Teamwork and partnership: we work in a co-ordinated and complementary way internally and externally.
Name / Organisation
Gavin Smith
Capability Scotland
Head Office Westerlea
11 Ellersly Road
Edinburgh
EH12 6HY gavin.smith@capability-scotland.org.uk
Permissions
I am responding on behalf of Capability Scotland.
Do you agree to your response being made available to the public (in Scottish
Government library and/or on the Scottish Government web site)?
Where confidentiality is not requested, we will make your responses available to the public on the following basis. Please select one option only.
Yes, make my response, name and address all available.
We will share your response internally with other Scottish Government policy teams who may be addressing the issues you discuss. They may wish to contact you again in the future, but we require your permission to do so.
Are you content for Scottish Government to contact you again in relation to this consultation exercise?
Yes.
A number of different groups may have an interest in this consultation. Which of the following best describes your role when completing the consultation?
Capability Scotland Policy and Campaigns Department.
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Information
2 a) What information do you think your own school should provide you with?
Please select as many as apply.
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School contact details - Yes.
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Names and roles of staff - Yes.
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School values - Yes.
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Policies on issues like anti-bullying, discipline, equal opportunities, school uniform, homework, transport, school meals - Yes.
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Ways you can communicate with the school if you have a worry about your child or school - Yes.
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The curriculum – subjects your child will be doing and skills they’ll be learning - Yes.
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Assessment approaches – how the school assesses your child’s progress and achievements – Yes.
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Reporting
– how you will receive reports on your child's progress -
Yes.
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Activities – after school activities like clubs and groups - Yes.
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Support for pupils
– how to access additional support for learning, how the guidance system works - Yes.
Additional support for learning is a key featu re of Capability’s schools, Corseford in
Renfrewshire and Stanmore House in Lanarkshire. We offer a proven alternative to mainstream placements, providing an unrivalled depth of expertise in education, care, therapy and technology. Both schools aim to maxi mise pupils’ potential and emphasise each child’s individuality through appropriate educational and therapeutic programmes.
Pupils have input from a range of on-site professionals including Speech and
Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physiotherapy. These are all essential aspects of additional support for learning and are invaluable in supporting pupils to achieve their full potential.
Feedback about the support available for disabled pupils in mainstream schools has highlighted issues that sch ool handbooks could help address. “Support” is often illdefined
– the school handbook should define what support is and how it is delivered.
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Is the support available 1:1 for particular pupils, or also for the wider class? Is the support ‘floating support’ which covers more than one class? If so, this often presents continuity issues, particularly relevant when working with autistic pupils.
Support staff who often work well with particular pupils often do not follow children through different years of their education, again raising continuity issues. Another issue is around the nature of the support offered
– parents often say that Learning
Support Assistants have little specific disability training.
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Opportunities for parental involvement - Yes.
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School performance – standards of achievement, learning and teaching - Yes.
However, due to the small pupil numbers and the specialist approach of Capability schools, it can be difficult to compare with other schools.
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School attendance rates - No.
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School budget - No.
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Feedback from any surveys of parents or learners during the year - No.
We think that this information would be better presented on our schools website rather than in the school handbook.
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School inspection reports - Yes.
These could be summarised in the school handbook, and links given to the full reports on our schools website.
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School achievements e.g. Eco award, Health accreditation - Yes.
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How pupil achievements are recognised, celebrated e.g. weekly news, certificates at assembly, work displayed on monitors - Yes.
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How you can complain if you need to - Yes.
2 b) Thinking again about the information you would like your own school to provide you with
Please indicate which 10 things you feel are your top priorities. Select up to 10 options only. If you don't have as many as 10 top priorities, just select as many priorities as you have.
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School contact details - 1
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Names and roles of staff

School values - 2
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Policies on issues like anti-bullying, discipline, equal opportunities, school uniform, homework, transport, school meals - 3
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Ways you can communicate with the school if you have a worry about your child or school - 4

The curriculum – subjects your child will be doing and skills they’ll be learning - 5

Assessment approaches
– how the school assesses your child’s progress and achievements

Reporting – how you will receive reports on your child's progress - 6

Activities
– after school activities like clubs and groups

Support for pupils – how to access additional support for learning, how the guidance system works

Opportunities for parental involvement - 7

School performance – standards of achievement, learning and teaching

School attendance rates

School budget

Feedback from any surveys of parents or learners during the year

School inspection reports

School achievements e.g. Eco award, Health accreditation - 8

How pupil achievements are recognised, celebrated e.g. weekly news, certificates at assembly, work displayed on monitors
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How you can complain if you need to - 9
My own idea, please specify:
Health and Therapy provision. Capability school pupils have input from a range of onsite professionals including Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Physiotherapy. These are all essential aspects of additional support for learning and are invaluable in supporting pupils to achieve their full potential.
Q3. How would you most like to receive information about your school? Please select one option only.
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My own printed copy of the 'school handbook'
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An online 'school handbook', for me to see at anytime. - Yes. We think this would be the most effective option.
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A website such as Scottish Schools online, which provides key information about my school and other schools in Scotland
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Information afternoon or evening
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"One stop shop" providing key information and reports about my school
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Other, please specify
Information about schools across Scotland is currently available online. The next question asks you whether you would like your school to provide you with information about other schools
Q4. Do you think your school should provide you with information about: Please select one option only:
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Your school only
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Your school and other schools in the council area
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Your school and other schools across Scotland - Yes.
We think this would be the most effective option.
Part 3: Who should decide what information you get
As part of this consultation we want to know if you want all schools to be required to provide the same set of information or if you want your local authority or your school to be able to provide different information if they wish.
If local authorities and schools get more freedom in deciding what information they provide, this allows for greater flexibility to meet the needs of local parents, teachers and pupils, but will mean that the information provided may vary across
Scotland.
The information that schools provide can be divided into two key types:
- information on how the school functions (policies on attendance, uniform code, homework procedures etc)
- and school statistics (e.g. attendance rates, leaver destinations, exam results)
Q5a) Thinking firstly about information on how your school functions (policies on attendance, uniform code, homework procedures etc), how much flexibility or standardisation do you want? Please select one option only
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Guidelines should be provided by the Scottish Government so all schools provide the same core set of information
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A core set of information decided on by the Local Authority, which is standard to all schools within the Local Authority
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
Each school to have complete flexibility to decide on all information to include
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Each school to decide, in consultation with parents/Parent Councils, on all information to include
– Yes.
We think this would be the most effective option, as this would take account of the specialist service provided by our schools.
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Don't Know
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Other, please specify.
Q5 b) Thinking now about school statistics (e.g. attendance rates, exams results etc) how much flexibility or standardisation do you want? Please select one option only

Guidelines should be provided by the Scottish Government so all schools provide the same core set of information

A core set of information decided on by the Local Authority, which is standard to all schools within the Local Authority

Each school to have complete flexibility to decide on all information to include – Yes.
We think this would be the most effective option as this would take account of the specialist service provided by our schools. We think it would be counter-productive to have a standardised approach – it is difficult to compare data from our school due to specialist nature of the service provided and the lower pupil numbers.
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Each school to decide, in consultation with parents/Parent Councils, on all information to include
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Don't Know
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Other, please specify
Part 4 Final Comments
If you have any further comments about information for parents that you would like to see provided by your School, please tell us.
We have no further comments.
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Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this consultation. If you require any further information please do not hesitate to contact:
Gavin Smith
Policy Adviser
Capability Scotland
Head Office Westerlea
11 Ellersly Road
Edinburgh
EH12 6HY
Tel: 0131 337 9876 gavin.smith@capability-scotland.org.uk
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