EDUCATION & CHILDREN’S SERVICES
IMPROVEMENT PLAN
2015 - 2016
FOR
Meiklemill School
Aberdeenshire Council Education & Children’s Services
“Our vision is for an Aberdeenshire in which everyone is able to develop the skills and
confidence needed for learning, life and work.”
Meiklemill School
Meiklemill Primary has an ethos where everyone is valued and
respected, where strengths are recognised and encouraged and
the highest standards of attainment are aimed for.
We are a school where children learn the values of respect,
equality, commitment and responsibility and work hard to
achieve their full potential.
In Meiklemill School our vision is the driving force behind all our improvement activity.
Education & Children’s Service’s Quality Improvement Framework, is the overarching
strategic management tool which directs and supports school improvement in
establishments across Aberdeenshire. At the heart of the framework is the belief that self
evaluation in each school drives improvement and all improvement is aimed at delivering
positive outcomes for children and young people.
“Self evaluation is a reflective, professional process through which schools get to know
themselves well…Improvement Planning builds on that self knowledge by involving us in
understanding and valuing the best of that which already exists, deciding how good we
can really be, and identifying the best way forward.
The Journey to Excellence Part 4: Planning for Excellence, HMIe, 2007
Self-evaluation is an on-going process and involves all stakeholders, including our pupils.
It is reported annually to parents/carers in our Standards and Quality Report.
Education & Children’s Service Improvement Cycle
Self evaluation to find out
where you have to go
Review/
Re-affirm vision
Identify
priorities and
specify
outcomes
Self evaluation to
ensure
stakeholders
commitment
Self evaluation
to determine
impact
Check to
ensure impact
Take action
Self evaluation to monitor
and determine progress
Page 2 of 12
The priorities for improvement contained in the Improvement Plan for 2014 – 15 reflect this
process and the priorities identified locally and nationally.
Page 3 of 12
Improvement Plan
Improvement Priority No.
1
Curriculum Rationale
Intended Outcome (s) / Impact
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Actions / Lead member of staff
Work with staff to review structure of Curriculum.
Explore capacities, contexts, principles,
entitlements, learning, teaching and assessment
approaches and establish what this all looks like in
Meiklemill School for Meiklemill children.
Construct curriculum map and rationale statement.
Include and review GIRFEC and Self Evaluation
approaches ensuring they are at the heart of our
rationale.
Pupils will also develop their understanding of the
curriculum and will create their own definitions of
what different parts of the Curriculum mean. This
will feed into Meiklemill Curriculum Map.
Ensure parents are informed, involved and have
opportunities to contribute to Curriculum Rationale.
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Headteacher lead staff development time.
Headteacher lead assemblies
Class teachers lead sessions with pupils to enable
pupil voice and allow pupils to be involved in the
creation of the Meiklemill School Curriculum Map.
Timescales
Begin working
with pupils and
staff immediately.
Aim to have basic
curriculum map
and structure built
by January 2016.
Full Curriculum
Rationale by June
2016.
How will you measure success?
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Finished product of Curriculum Map and Rationale
Staff, pupils and parents should be able to articulate what the aims of our curriculum are, and what the curriculum looks like at
Meiklemill School
Page 4 of 12
Improvement Plan
Progress Check / Comments / Next Steps
Date:
Date
Page 5 of 12
Improvement Plan
Improvement Priority No.
2
Curriculum Development
Intended Outcome
Sexual Health Education
As a staff, work together to audit where we are with regards sexual
health education, and create a programme of work which spans from
Nursery to P7. Invite parents to curricular evening to ensure they are
informed / involved.
Active Literacy
 Audit where we currently are with active literacy approaches.
 Establish next steps.
 Work in stages to progress active literacy approaches across
the school community.
Mental Maths
 Establish what current approaches and resources are in place
to enable and develop mental agility skills.
 Work collegiately develop agreed progression and approaches
to mental agility.
Social Studies / Science / RME
 Review current projects planned throughout the year.
 Ensure breadth of experiences across curricular areas.
 Make links across curricular areas and explore carefully
planned IDL opportunities.
Actions / Lead member of staff
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Headteacher will lead development
work at inservice
Staff will provide information for
parents at curricular evening in
November.
Timescales
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November
2015
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Ongoing
throughout
the session
HT lead audit activities
Teaching staff to engage with active
literacy literature and approaches.
Staff to work in stages in moving
forward with next steps.

DHT to lead development work in
establishing where we are and where
are going next with regards mental
maths.
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February
2016

HT lead staff during development
time to review current projects and
learning contexts.
Staff to work together in stages to
ensure breadth, and to bundle es and
os for IDL.

November
2015
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Page 6 of 12
Improvement Plan
How will you measure success?
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Programmes of work in place for sexual health education.
Evidence of active literacy approaches in classrooms (focus for SMT lesson visits term 2)
Agreed approaches, pedagogies, tools and resources for mental maths across the school.
Through planning for learning, ensure there is a breadth of experiences, and that pupils have the opportunity to build capacity in
relation to all learning outcomes across social studies, science and RME.
Evidence of focused and planned interdisciplinary learning opportunities for our young people.
Progress Check / Comments / Next Steps
Date:
Date
Page 7 of 12
Improvement Plan
Improvement Priority No.
3
Assessment, Tracking, Profiling
Intended Outcome
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Actions
Refine and review attainment tracking system to
ensure that all pupil attainment is recorded
effectively.
Ensure regular attainment target setting and
review is in place.
Establish current assessment approaches
(formative and summative) which provide
assessment evidence.
Build on assessment approaches to continue to
evidence wider pupil achievement and attainment.
Continue to develop my learning yearbooks by
refining structure and by supporting pupils in
contributing to these more independently.
Introduce online profiling this session.
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HT to review current attainment data
HT to work with staff to refine current attainment
trackers to ensure they meet our needs.
Staff to ensure all attainment data is accurate.
Staff to ensure attainment targets and review of
targets is regular
HT to lead staff in working together to identify
current assessment approaches and establish next
steps.
Staff to plan for slight re-structure of yearbooks
and begin to promote independent contributions.
HT to lead staff through introductions of online
profiling.
Timescales
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August
2015
September
2015
September
2015
December
2015
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Ongoing
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June 2016
How will you measure success?
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Consistent and robust attainment tracking in place.
Wide range of agreed assessment approaches adopted across all stages.
Wide range of assessment evidence to back up attainment data
Yearbooks which evidence all 4 contexts of the curriculum
Pupils make a start to their online profile
Progress Check / Comments / Next Steps
Page 8 of 12
Improvement Plan
Date:
Date
Page 9 of 12
Improvement Plan
Improvement Priority No.
4
Vision, Values and Aims
Intended Outcome
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Actions
Review and rebuild school aims with support of
entire school community.
Work with pupils, staff and parents to establish our
values – what do we stand for at Meiklemill?
Rights Respecting School – establish working
group, build level 1 action plan and begin working
towards RRSA.
As well as RRSA, consider other pupil working
groups and committees which could be
established in order to create more opportunities
for pupils to contribute to the ethos and life of the
school.
 SMT to work with staff, pupils and parents and
gather suggestions and ideas for schools aims and
values.
 Parents can share their ideas in the school hall
during October parents’ evening.
 SMT to collate ideas and construct new school
aims.
 HT to support RRSA Committee which will be
formed in October and led by member of teaching
staff.
 Staff to share ideas for other working groups and
consider best approach for establishing these this
session.
Timescales
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November
2015
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October
2015
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November
2015
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November
2015
How will you measure success?
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Revised school aims constructed which all stakeholders have contributed to.
Establish Meiklemill School Values, again which all stakeholders will have contributed to.
Rights Respecting School Committee formed.
RRSA Level 1 Action Plan created and progress made towards RRSA.
Agreed approach and progress with regards establishing other working groups and committees which will provide more
opportunities to contribute to the ethos and life of the school.
Page 10 of 12
Improvement Plan
Progress Check / Comments / Next Steps
Date:
Date
Page 11 of 12
Improvement Plan
Improvement Priority No.
Intended Outcome
5
1 + 2 Languages
Actions
Timescales
How will you measure success?
Progress Check / Comments / Next Steps
Date:
Date
Page 12 of 12