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Standards and Quality

Report

Braidbar Primary School

2016-2017

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Standards and Quality Report 2016-17

Context of the School

Braidbar Primary School is a non-denominational school serving the Giffnock area of East Renfrewshire. First established in 1976, the school plays an important part within the community and approximately 42% of our pupils come from out with the catchment area. The associated high school is Woodfarm High and the cluster primary schools are Giffnock, and Thornliebank Primaries. We have 85% of our new Primary 1 pupils transferring from our Nursery Class. Close transition links are also fostered with the other early learning and childcare settings from where our pupils transfer. The capacity of the school is 420 with a 50:50 capacity in the Nursery class. The present roll is 203 of which about 42% are pupils from multi-ethnic backgrounds and 42% are from out with the school catchment. Pupils are organised into 9 classes. The teaching complement for the school session 2016-17 is 13.2 FTE in line with national advice. This comprises the Head Teacher, 1 Depute Head Teacher, 12 class teachers (full-time, part-time, job share), 0.7 FTE Additional Support for Learning teacher and 1 newly qualified teacher. Additionally, the school benefits from the input of 2 music instrumental teachers; strings and brass. Pupils in certain stages also benefit from weekly lessons from a music specialist who teaches the children in partnership with the class teacher. Braidbar Primary implements an inclusive policy, which is supported by 4 Pupil Support Assistants and 1 Bilingual Support Worker who support children in their learning and help them to develop necessary life skills. The school also has one office manager, 2 clerical assistants, 1 janitor, 4 cleaning staff and 3 catering staff. The school is very well supported by its parents and has a very committed and active Parent Council. Parents are welcome and encouraged to become involved in the life of the school. Links with other agencies, schools and the community in general are welcomed and encouraged. The school offers a variety of after school activities for all children. The school building is built on two levels. Large, semi-open plan teaching areas are located on both floors. At ground level there is a well-equipped gymnasium and dining hall. This hall is also used for breakfast club and after school club. Located on the upper floor are our computer suite and a well-resourced library/multi-purpose room. Outside we have a multi-use games area, an adventure trail, climbing wall and a wild-life garden. Braidbar is an integral part of the local community, maintaining very strong links with the Parent Council, Pupil Council, other schools and local agencies. Further links have been established through an After School and Breakfast Club run by BACS and a wide variety of after school activities. Using the devolved budget from the local authority, the school prioritises development areas within a strategic plan for improvement. Please click on the link below to access this School and Nursery Class Handbook https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/er/BraidbarPrimary/preparing-for-school/school-handbook/ Using the devolved budget from the Local Authority, the school priorities development areas within a strategic plan for improvement.

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Improvement Plan Priorities

Our school priorities as per the improvement plan were to:-

continue to implement Curriculum for Excellence and Assessment is for Learning programmes, and Local Moderation and Assessment in line with Cluster developments.

continue to promote an ethos of high expectations and achievement and strive to maintain and improve attainment levels in reading, writing and mathematics, focusing on the lowest performing 20% and our bilingual learners.

ensure that we have effective arrangements in place for meeting learners’ emotional, physical and social needs and for child protection.

support our children in developing the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes for lifelong learning and prepare them to enjoy a full and varied life.

rigorously self- evaluate to identify our strengths and areas for development, involving all staff and our children and parents, informing our plans for the future.

continue to implement East Renfrewshire’s strategy for parental involvement.

Method of Gathering Evidence

An extensive range of evidence was gathered to evaluate the key work of the establishment. For example:

- staff peer evaluation; ‒ learners’ evaluations of their learning experiences; ‒ monitoring of learning and teaching, attainment and achievement throughout the year; ‒ benchmarking the quality of work with schools of similar characteristics and of identified

good practice; ‒ moderation at school, cluster and authority level ‒ surveys carried out with staff, pupils and parents; ‒ observation of practices with learners and staff, and by managers through, learning visits and

lesson study ‒ focus group discussions with learners, teaching and support staff, parents which evaluated

the work of the school and set new targets ‒ information from partners such as educational psychologist, school-based social workers,

campus police officers, Family First

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How good is our leadership and approach to improvement? (1.1, 1.2, 1.3)

Evaluation: Very Good

NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly in

literacy and numeracy.

Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing

School Priorities Self-Evaluation

NIF Driver(s) School Leadership

Teacher Professionalism

Parental Engagement

School improvement

Local Improvement Plan – Expected Outcome / Impact

Improved experiences which ensure that the needs of all learners are identified addressed and enable them to develop their personalities, talents and overall abilities.

Progress, Impact and Outcomes All staff understand their responsibility to look inwards, outwards and forwards as we engage in self-evaluation for improvement . As well as practitioner reflection the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) support and encourage a range of effective approaches to involve all stakeholders in the process. In addition to termly professional dialogues and collegiate meetings, self-evaluation focus sessions have ensured most teaching staff are making regular and effective use of HGIOS 4 QIs, GTCS standards and other indicators to discuss practice and drive forward strategies for positive change. Effective examples of this include consulting the draft Local Improvement Plan (LIP) and measuring our performance against this as well as making contributions to the Standards and Quality report (S+Q), School Improvement Plan (SIP), Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) Level 2 Audit and Action Plan and Family Centred Approaches Silver and Gold status action plan. Furthermore, increased use of digital technologies has allowed us to reach and engage a wider range of parent voices on matters such as the SIP. Our rights respecting ethos is strongly founded in making the best decisions for every child and in hearing their views. This was recognised as strength as we were awarded Level 1 status of the Rights Respecting Schools Award in November. Pupil focus groups, committees, weekly assemblies and the ‘open door’ policy of the SLT allow children to raise concerns, provide feedback and make suggestions. This has had a direct impact and improved health and wellbeing. Through lunchtime clubs led by children for children this creative solution acted as targeted support for a few identified children but benefitted many more. Older children are active leaders in initiating and delivering varied experiences and sharing expertise in digital technologies or art and design skills. These contributions and achievements are shared through achievement assemblies, class blogs and other social media, increasing parental awareness of wider achievements by our learners. Moreover, ‘how to’ videos sharing strategies in mental maths, reading or mindfulness allow learners to share expertise with parents and the wider school community via the website. In class there is widespread evidence of learners leading learning through reciprocal reading, golden time ‘master classes’, number talks, ExPLORE research and contributions to Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL). Recently introduced talking and listening homework has opened another effective channel for parents to engage with their child’s learning and wider life of the school and its positive impact has been reported by some parents and most staff. Learning visits have progressively evolved and most teachers took part in a focused ‘lesson study’ cycle as well as a few teachers involving pupils directly in SLT learning visits. Within classes, lesson study and SLT observations have found consistently strong evidence of a positive learning culture with embedded AiFL strategies and techniques and learners from nursery–P7 who are engaged in self and peer assessment, including the planning of next steps. Class blogs and e-portfolios as well as improved group discussion skills provide further opportunities for learners to discuss learning experiences and progress in skills and knowledge. Thanks to the relatively small roll, the SLT know each learner and their families and are well-placed to

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support teachers in improving attainment in Literacy, Numeracy and other areas as well as providing pastoral support. Continued use of termly assessments in core areas contributes to the wide range of evidence that is drawn upon to make strong teacher judgments, supported by on-going moderation sessions at school, cluster and authority level. Professional dialogues about all children and families but particularly those who require targeted support are always focused on actions and strategies that will have a positive impact on wellbeing, attainment and achievement. Robust procedures for tracking needs, changes in circumstances and achievements are in place and information shared with appropriate parties to support children’s progress and development. A collegiate approach to agreeing a cluster and school ‘Gradient of Learning’ has improved our shared understanding of standards and reflects the high expectations and targets we hold for all learners. The SLT fosters an ethos of professional development and enquiry supported by the Professional Review and Development (PRD) process. Staff link personal development targets and self-evaluation to the relevant GTCS standards and School and Cluster Improvement Plans (SIP/CIP). A few staff have recently engaged with Masters level-learning which has had a direct impact on their own practice and, to some extent, that of others. Most teachers critically engage with research and all with policy documents such as the National Improvement Framework (NIF) and Education Scotland Benchmarks which have been used to inform experiences and judgements. This session teacher leaders have participated in Career Long Professional Learning (CLPL) in the pedagogy of play, outdoor learning, digital technologies, number talks School Improvement Partnership Project and further opportunities for individuals to develop skills and areas of personal interest have also been shared by the SLT. The majority of teachers have taken forward either a new or continuing area of leadership and the agenda in each area has been set through robust audits and action plans, using frameworks such as UNICEF’s RRSA, Family Friendly Award, Sports Scotland Award or the Quality Indicators and standards mentioned above. Addressing priorities on the SIP/CIP as well as responding to staff desires to reflect and share practice, teacher leaders have: supported the embedding of group discussion skills where all agree trends are positive; provided reinforcement to improve Interdisciplinary Learning (IDL) planning and experiences; ensured greater rigour in the profiling of and strategies used to support bilingual learners; clearly and confidently driven a family centred approach. The majority of teachers are active at cluster level and have begun to take forward skills for learning, life and work; number talks; P6/7 skills transition group with a view to this further permeating our work next session. Curricular and other leaders have opportunities to share research, theory, practice and resources during collegiate meetings and INSET sessions throughout the year, including with the nursery team. There is a strong capacity for leadership and this has been extended by the effective allocation of time to allow staff to confidently develop given themes. Our visions, values and aims continue to be seen, heard and ‘lived’ as part of daily life in the school and wider community. Achieving Rights Respecting status was welcome confirmation that this strong ethos permeates the life and work of the school. Ever stronger and more explicit links are made to GIRFEC and the UNCRC through increased teacher awareness and confidence in planning rights and value based experiences as well as explicit whole school assembly focus themes, led by the SLT. Our child-led committees continue to base their work around aspects of our R.E.S.P.E.C.T. acronym with tangible results such as meaningful involvement in campaign and charity action such as SendMyFriend or the STV Appeal; raised awareness of environmental issues through RSPB workshops and Outdoor Classroom Day; encouraging and supporting success through competitions; fostering a strong sense of belonging and team work through House afternoons and challenges. As for staff, a careful cycle of planning, teaching and assessment of varied learning experiences, with robust Quality Assurance (QA) procedures ensures that all our learners ‘Learn and discover’. This has been enhanced this session through the nursery team’s development of the ‘Secret Garden’; investment in and effective use of digital technologies; wider implementation of the pedagogy of play; more frequent learning across stages (e.g. P1/P6 technologies, P2/P3 Garden Centre, P7/N-P3 literacy). Creativity and innovation amongst learners is nurtured through effective teaching of problem solving, expressive arts, technologies and other areas. Learning experiences offer child led and initiated

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opportunities and possibilities which have led to successful competition entries in Scottish Heritage or Tesco Bank Art competitions; National Burns Recital Competition; Enid Blyton Sway Writing Competition; excellent ExPLORE personal research presentations featuring posters, PowerPoints, leaflets or Kahoot quizzes; the inception and creation of new child-led clubs such as Tech, Creative and Football clubs. As for staff, at all levels, weekly round-ups and collegiate meetings provide a forum to raise issues and suggest creative solutions. Examples of where this has led to positive change include a more active Sports Day, promoting positive behaviour in the playground, increasing parental awareness and engagement; reviewing school committees and providing in-house CLPL to meet development needs. These development needs and collective strengths are identified through professional dialogues with SLT, by teacher leaders in specific areas and collegiate sessions evaluating progress against the SIP/CIP and selected How Good is Our School 4 and Early Learning and Childcare (HGIOS4 and ELCC) Quality Indicators. Discussions are evidence-based, garnering data from school and standardised assessments, observations, pupil and parent groups and enhanced by research-based input from teacher leaders in Literacy + English, ICT or Early Years, for example. All staff are committed to change linked to improvement priorities and this is at its most effective when teachers have been involved from inception and are given time to embed policy and practice. A prime example of such successful change has been observed in Talking and Listening – Group Discussion. The Cluster group provided resources and CLPL, including a framework for teachers to take forward. Ensuring time was given this session to embed has led to increased practitioner skill and confidence, better quality experiences, greater application of the skills across learning and more robust teacher judgements. Next Steps

Improve sharing and analysis of data (including home circumstances, cultural context) to drive improvements, particularly for identified groups e.g. bilingual, Lowest Performing 20%, Pupil Equity Fund

Introduce and implement ERC Parental Engagement Strategy

Encourage parent / wider stakeholder membership of school committees to ensure ongoing review of visions, values, aims and other key aspects of school life

All teachers taking on leadership/development area linked to CIP/SIP

Network with other schools/clusters to create opportunities for CLPL

Continue to allocate time for staff workshops, including the use of Microsoft Innovator Education, to share practice and drive forward priorities through collaboration

Further involvement of Nursery team in self-evaluation for improvement using LIP and ELCC

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How good is the quality of care and education we offer? (2.2, 2.3, 2.4)

Evaluation: Very Good

NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly in

literacy and numeracy.

Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing.

School Priorities Self-Evaluation

Curriculum Design

Raising Attainment and Recognising Achievement

NIF Driver(s) Teacher Professionalism

Parental Engagement

Assessment of children’s progress

School improvement

Local Improvement Plan – Expected Outcome / Impact

A curriculum which enables all children to be successful, confident, responsible and effective in school and the wider community.

Progress, Impact and Outcomes Braidbar has a strong capacity for continued improvement. The establishment is well placed to achieve on-going targets and next steps due to its shared vision, values and aims. The culture and ethos within the school is upheld by the very good leadership across all staff at all levels and reflects a strong commitment to children’s rights. All children across the school and nursery are happy and confident. Overall, most children are engaged, motivated and demonstrate high levels of engagement in their learning journey. Parental engagement is of the utmost importance to us and this session we have continually strived to work closely with our community partners and stakeholders. This year our parents have been involved in successful skills workshops linked to cooking, cycling and art based learning. Each term staff thoroughly plan and implement assessments across a range of curricular areas. These are well matched and closely link to the experiences and outcomes under the four capacities of learning. This robust approach to assessing support Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) judgements for every pupil each session. Every pupil has an Achievement Profile. We compile robust and valid assessment evidence to ensure high quality professional judgments are made for every child. These formal assessments demonstrate baseline, interim and final progress and informs our transitions process between stages. Literacy and English and Numeracy and Mathematics groupings are monitored and changed as appropriate to meet the needs of all learners. Through termly professional dialogues teachers are able to adapt learning experiences as necessary thus meeting the needs of all learners. Most staff participate in Pupil Support and Joint Support Team meetings each term to discuss targeted pupils with community partners. Strategies and needs are discussed and reviewed to ensure our quality of care and education is of the highest quality. Our learners this year have had access to high-quality outdoor learning experiences. The Outdoor Classroom Day linked to planned activities during Global Citizenship week and provided much enjoyment for the pupils. Continuing to implement and develop outdoor learning opportunities will hopefully lead to a more progressive and learner-led curriculum at Braidbar. Profiling, class blogs and the population of such tools are continuing to develop our pupils’ awareness of themselves as learners. These approaches will continue to be implemented in supporting our pupils in recognising their strengths, areas of development and skills for life, learning and work.

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We have made best use of international partners with selected classes and the Language Ambassadors group and others twinning with a school in France. Sharing learning experiences in this manner has been a positive experience for our learners. It has also reiterated the importance of Global Citizenship and sustaining partnerships. Most teaching staff have taken part in a successful cycle of Lesson Study this session. The methodology has improved practitioners’ understanding of how young people learn best and to enhance learners’ experiences. It has also enabled teaching staff to see the clear progression across levels and stages. Feedback from staff will inform targets for next session’s SIP. The school’s creative and innovative approaches to teaching and learning opportunities provide our learners with much personalisation and choice. Progressive online programmes enable all learners to meet their potential. It will also hopefully enrich digital learning and improve attainment levels in literacy and numeracy. All stakeholders’ expectations are shared across the school to achieve excellence and equity for all learners. Members of the SLT use HGIOS 4 as a benchmark to inform the basis of professional dialogue meetings. Different challenge questions and indicators are used each term for teaching and ELCC staff to evaluate learning experiences and reflect upon their own practice. Through continuous dialogue meetings and tracking of pupil attainment there is a shared understanding of what progression looks like at Braidbar. The creation of the cluster Gradient of Learning ensures a rigorous and consistent approach to informing CfE judgements. Staff continue to gain in confidence in using this framework.

We engage with a wide-range of local stakeholders, with a particular emphasis on parents and carers, to create a shared improvement plan. Our emphasis on positive partnership approaches is intended to achieve greater impact on pupil attainment and achievement levels.

In line with work carried out by the cluster Interdisciplinary (IDL) working party we have adopted a consistent approach to the planning and assessment of teaching and learning experiences. The use of Bloom’s Taxonomy methodology has provided robust assessment under the four contexts for learning. Improved assessment of listening and talking skills with the use of benchmarking has enabled most teaching staff to devise succinct, learning intentions and success criteria. This practice has informed professional judgments with staff becoming increasingly confident and proficient in doing so. Most learners are making progress in listening and talking skills with a particular focus this session on providing our learners with opportunities to engage in discussion with family members about key subjects such as celebrating personal achievements in and outside of school and the UNCRC’s right of the child. There is a strong ethos across the school to minimise the impact of potential barriers to learning. Pupil Overviews have been adapted to take account of bilingual learners and as a result targeted support has been identified by class teachers and the bilingual support worker. We provide a learning culture that is based on nurturing and inclusive approaches where our pupils are viewed holistically and promote overall health and wellbeing. Discussions with our parents as partners build upon the shared view of our pupils becoming more independent learners under the 4 capacities. Evidence from class learning visits carried out by the SLT has demonstrated that most teachers are providing learning experiences where activities and resources are effectively differentiated to provide appropriate pace and challenge for learners.

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Our learners’ needs are garnered from staff, parents and pupils. As a result, Child Wellbeing Plans are high quality, individualised and demonstrate meaningful progression pathways through SMART, focussed and achievable targets. This targeted support impacts on improving outcomes for learners. Pupil Focus groups this session have had a positive impact on the learning and engagement of pupils. Feedback from learners as part of the quality assurance process has indicated that practitioners are providing pupils with experiences that are engaging, motivating and provide enjoyment and choice. Pupil Support Assistants are well-placed within the school to support teachers in the delivery of lessons and learning experiences to meet all learners’ needs. All staff are aware of the well-being indicators of ‘Getting it Right for every Child’. These are actively used within Wellbeing Plans when action planning for targeted children during support planning meetings with ASN staff. Weekly assembly activities linked to the Wellbeing Wheel have contributed to most children being more confident in their use of the language and the underpinning principles of the GIRFEC approach. Next Steps

Continue to implement the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy

Collaborate with our link ‘Family First’ worker to support families in need of intervention

Provide Early Years staff with CLPL opportunities to understand methodology and research linked to the learning environment in meeting the needs of all learners

Continue to implement the authority’s strategy for parental involvement to reflect indicators outlined in Family Friendly guidance, ensuring all parents are fully involved and engaged in their child’s learning journey

Increase knowledge and understanding of early learning and childcare curriculum design and pedagogy

Work towards achieving Family Friendly accreditation silver (Primary) and gold status (Nursery)

Increase the use of digital technologies and establish a ‘Digital Leaders’ group to enhance overall learning experiences

Implementation of P5-7 blogs

Continue to embed learning opportunities linked to sustainability across the curriculum.

Implementation of regular outdoor learning experiences

Develop knowledge of employability skills in a progressive manner

Pupil Equity Funding – use to improve achievement and attainment outcomes in Reading.

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How good are we at ensuring the best possible outcomes for all our children / learners? (3.1, 3.2)

Evaluation: Good

NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly in

literacy and numeracy.

Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children.

Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing.

School Priorities Curriculum Design

Raising Attainment and Recognising Achievement

Equalities

NIF Driver(s) Teacher Professionalism

Assessment of children’s progress

School improvement

Performance information

Local Improvement Plan – Expected Outcome / Impact

A culture based on Getting it Right for Child.

Improved reading, writing and mathematics attainment for all.

Progress, Impact and Outcomes All staff have a clear understanding of GIRFEC and children’s right and this holistic, whole-school approach supports their daily practice. The wellbeing indicators underpin Braidbar’s Vision, Values and Aims and this was confirmed when the school was awarded the Rights Respecting Schools Award Level 1. Feedback from pupil committees, focus group dialogues, class blogs, assemblies and responses to online questionnaires indicate that almost all pupils at Braidbar feel safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active respected, responsible and included. Regular showcase events, digital videos and class assemblies support learners’ experiences which enables them to develop their personalities, talents, celebrate successes and achievements and thus improve mental wellbeing and overall attitude to learning. All staff and outside agencies continue to promote an ethos of high expectations and achievement and strive to maintain and improve attainment levels in reading, writing and mathematics, focusing on the lowest performing 20% and our bilingual learners motivating further success and building self-esteem and wellbeing. Our use of The Way to ‘A’ behavioural toolkit and supporting methodology ensures that we have a nurturing approach in place for meeting learners’ emotional, physical and social needs. This approach has had a positive impact on enabling learners with identified needs to self-regulate behaviour. All staff at Braidbar support a culture of continuous improvement through rigorous self-evaluation. The Professional Update (PU) process led by this self-evaluation and linked with GTCS (SSSC for ELCC staff) Standards and annual PRD meetings indicate this. Targets set are inextricably linked to the SIP, LIP and national guidance and contribute to us getting it right for every child and ultimately achieving inclusion for all. SLT and curriculum leaders share updated policies and documentation and support this with workshops to ensure awareness and understanding e.g. National Improvement Framework, proposed changes to the national legislative framework and Cluster Health and Wellbeing Framework. Staff have engaged in CLPL linked to physical literacy and wellbeing practice has been enhanced in both the school and nursery with further sharing of good practice planned for August 2017. Increased use of social media and digital technologies has allowed us to better communicate with parents and other stakeholders and information from a variety of government sources is frequently highlighted via Twitter. The successful introduction of ‘Read, Write, Count’ by P2 and P3 teachers further equipped parents with resources and skills to foster and improve literacy in a nurturing and inclusive environment. The nursery borrowing library and more frequent Pop in and Play sessions have celebrated the linguistic and cultural diversity of our community as well as increase parental awareness of the importance of stories, rhyme and play, especially amongst our bilingual parents. Further to this the Rights Respecting Committee blog and quarterly ‘Braidbar Star’ continue to support parental and community awareness and understanding of the UNCRC and our rights

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respecting ethos. Self-evaluation this session led to a review of the RME curriculum and learners’ experiences in this area. A new model of broader themes (to be launched in August 2017) is designed to offer greater scope to explore wider diversity as multi-faith issues, demonstrated through a successful ‘Divided City’ topic in P7 this session. Diversity in our school community is fostered and celebrated through recognition of unique interests and talents at achievement assemblies. Further to this, some children of faith have shared beliefs and practices at Nativity, Ramadan and Eid assemblies complemented by Rights Respecting assemblies focusing on our shared values. Parental feedback has informed us that these assemblies resonate at home and are meaningful. The recently created role of Language Ambassadors has not only promoted and enhanced the profile of French and Spanish in the school but has also had a direct impact on increasing teacher and peer awareness of the varied home languages our learners speak. Urdu Club strengthened this bilingual identity for a few P3 learners while introducing others to a new skill. Staff share a strong belief in the importance of outdoor learning and play. This session our P.E. and Active Schools co-ordinators have ensured that all children have had the opportunity to discuss and enjoy the benefits of activities during and out with the school day to improve their physical and mental wellbeing outdoors. This was recognised and rewarded through the Gold Sports Scotland Award, achieved earlier this session. Furthermore, revised IDL planning and support in this area from curricular leaders means that the majority of staff ensure children learn outdoors and about the outdoors in a variety of contexts. Continued work by the Nursery team, and parent volunteers and others to develop the ‘Secret Garden’ and creating more green areas in the wider grounds through Garden Centre topics has provided more children with experiences of the outdoors and healthy hobbies for life. Practitioners, parents and learners all agreed that this session’s participation in Outdoor Classroom day was a positive experience to build upon. Through robust tracking and effective well-timed intervention almost all learners have progressed across the curriculum. Practitioners gather information about learners’ needs, interests and stage of development and use this to plan challenging, appropriate learning experiences which improve attainment. All practitioners have participated in CLPL to ensure that professional judgements about the standards achieved by learners reflect a shared, confident understanding of achievements related to knowledge and skills. The strong focus on health and wellbeing, literacy and numeracy across the school has positively impacted on all learners. Practitioners have a very good understanding of how learners develop, learn and make the best progress possible. All practitioners have participated in continuous lifelong professional learning opportunities which have improved the range and quality of learning and teaching experiences offered to learners. These opportunities to learn together and share with others has increased confidence and improved the quality of learning experiences offered. The learning environments, indoors and outdoors, provide real-life authentic opportunities to gather accurate information about learners’ progress. The increased involvement of families in projects including ‘Bookbug’,‘Read, Write, Count’ and the First Minister’s Reading Challenge inspired and motivated learners to promote the value and enjoyment of reading and visiting the community library. To encourage interest and embed learning, learners had access to the online mathematics programme, Sumdog. All pupils engaged in this and the feedback from pupils was that it was highly enjoyable and contributed to increased confidence in mental maths. Learners are involved in the process as they are encouraged to talk about how they learn and how they will make the best progress. All learners identified that they enjoy and benefit from educational visits within the local area and business links. All pupils have participated in such visits and the feedback from these has been positive and shows a greater enthusiasm and understanding of the links between the learning that happens in school with the learning in wider contexts. Learners’ achievements are recognised and celebrated in class, at school assemblies or in the wider

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community through social media, blogs, the school website or local newspapers. Learners are involved in the process as they are encouraged to talk about how they learn and how they will make the best progress. All learners identified that they enjoy and benefit from educational visits within the local area and business links. All pupils have participated in such visits and the feedback from these has been positive and shows a greater enthusiasm and understanding of the links between the learning that happens in school with the learning in wider contexts. Learners’ achievements are recognised and celebrated in class, at school assemblies or in the wider community through social media, blogs, the school website or local newspapers. All practitioners engage in the analysis of data from Baseline, Developmental Milestones, Standardised Tests and other assessments to understand the needs and potential of groups and individual learners. Practitioners use the information gathered to inform learners’ next steps. Developmental Milestones In 2016-2017, the proportion of P1 pupils reaching expected developmental milestones increased from 71% to 88%. Baseline Baseline scores indicate that children entering P1 are attaining an average score with boys below girls in both literacy and numeracy.

Literacy 2015-16 2016-17

School’s overall scores 99 99

Male 96 99

Female 101 99

Mathematics 2015-16 2016-17

School’s overall scores 101 101

Male 98 101

Female 103 101

Standardised Test Scores On average, Standardised Test scores continue to sit just below the authority average. Overall there was an increase in reading however boys are not performing as well as girls. In Mathematics, boys perform better than girls. Literacy and Numeracy will remain a central feature of the school’s priorities for improvement. Support will target identified cohorts of pupils performing below average.

Overall Standardised Score (P3,5,7)

2015-16 2016-17

Reading 96 99

Mathematics 98 97

Reading 2015-16 2016-17

Male 95 98

Female 98 100

Mathematics 2015-16 2016-17

Male 98 98

Female 98 96

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Curriculum for Excellence Judgements (CfE) Teachers are increasingly confident in making accurate judgements on pupils’ progress in both literacy and numeracy. Moderation activities within the school, cluster and at authority level have impacted positively on professional knowledge and understanding about progression through the gradient of learning. The implementation of CfE benchmarks next session will enable staff to more accurately report on the national standards expected within each level.

Curricular Area Attainment (%) 2015-16 Attainment (%) 2016-17 Authority Target (%)2016-19

Reading 86 96 91

Writing 79 93 89

Listening and Talking - 93 91

Mathematics 94 96 88

Attendance levels continue to be high and the rate of exclusion remains nil. Next Steps

To further enhance learners’ experiences through the use of digital technologies – create Rights Respecting School (RRS) virtual learning environment through Launch Pad.

Provide CLPL to staff linked to supporting the emotional, social and mental wellbeing of the learners in our care.

Continue to use online questionnaire tools such as Microsoft Forms to garner the views of all stakeholders.

Update and implement Anti-bullying policy (SC8).

RRS leader to create a ‘Global Citizenship’ calendar marking religious and non-religious festivals, events and action days

Development of green spaces funded by the Landscapes for Learning initiative and improved outdoor learning including sharing practice from 2016/17 CLPL.

Pupil Equity Fund – How are we ensuring Excellence and Equity?

N/A in session 2016/17

Next year the Pupil Equity Funding will be used to fund a Cluster Teacher who will be based in Braidbar Primary 2 days week to focus on Literacy + English, specifically Reading, to improve attainment for identified learners. They will work collaboratively with class teachers and the wider ASN team, supported by digital technologies, to improve outcomes in this area which focuses areas outlined in ERC’s Literacy Strategy and the CIP/SIP.

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What is our capacity for continuous improvement?

The school is well placed to continue its programme for improvement as outlined throughout this report. The school community has a clear vision and strong leadership and strives to deliver the highest quality of education for all pupils. There are many opportunities and possibilities for learners to attain and achieve and to celebrate individual and collective successes and achievements. A renewed focus on pedagogical practices, particularly in the early years, coupled with rich embedded

outdoor learning experiences and engaging and effective use of digital technologies should further

ensure all learners engage in experiences reflecting the seven design principles.

We feel we have made progress in attainment in Literacy & English and Numeracy & Mathematics as

demonstrated in Standardised Test data and CfE judgements. The pleasing increase in the percentage

of children achieving expectations in writing this session can be partly attributed to effective and

worthwhile moderation activities focused on this area. Moderation Facilitators will continue to lead

school, cluster and authority moderation activities with a view to having a similar impact on reading

and other areas.

Continued funding from the authority to support the lowest performing 20% will be in place from August to March and further to that the Pupil Equity Funding of extra teacher hours will ensure identified pupils benefit from additional support. Staff and other stakeholders have been involved in evaluating this session’s progress and in the creation of the School Improvement Plan for session 2017-18 and are committed to the continuous improvement of the school. The introduction and implementation of ERC’s Parental Engagement Strategy should allow parents to

share skills and talents to support children’s learning across the school and ensure a representative

group of parents continue to be consulted on different aspects of school life and improvements.

We believe we have demonstrated very good progress on our journey to excellence. However, there

are some areas where we recognise that we need to improve our practice to ensure that the impact

on outcomes for our learners is excellent. We will continue to work in close partnership with the

Quality Improvement Service to take forward local authority objectives.

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National Improvement Framework Quality Indicators

Quality indicator School self-evaluation Inspection evaluation

1.3 Leadership of change

5

2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment

5

3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equity and inclusion

5

3.2 Securing children’s progress / Raising attainment and achievement

4

School Improvement Priorities 2017-2018

List the establishment improvement plan targets. Self-Evaluation

Improved consistency in quality assurance approaches across 3-18 curriculum.

Higher levels of parental engagement in their children’s learning and in the life of the school

Parents are meaningfully engaged in school self-evaluation; contributing to the process of improvement.

Pupils are meaningfully involved in school self-evaluation, auditing practice and contributing to the process of improvement.

Continue to support a culture of self-evaluation and continuous improvement. Curriculum Design

To improve the ability of pupils to be able to articulate the language of learning and the range of skills, across the four contexts, that young people are developing to enable them to make reflective comments on their skills for learning, life and work.

Further opportunities for pupil leadership and involvement in learning.

Curriculum with clear vision and rationale shaped by the shared values of the school and its community

Improved approaches to inter-disciplinary learning. Enhanced learning experiences for children and young people.

Continue to embed principles of Lesson Study methodology to improve practitioners’ understanding of how young people learn best and to enhance learners’ experiences.

Improved experiences in RME Successes and Achievements

To improve outcomes and reduce inequalities in literacy development.

To improve teacher confidence and competence in teaching Literacy and English.

Ensure consistent and effective approaches to skills development Increase attainment by 2%with a particular focus on Asian Pakistani males.

Ensure consistent and effective approaches to skills development.

Increased attainment in fractions and problem solving by 2%.

Provide opportunities for further moderation work. Consistency in teacher judgements of pupil progress.

Develop the skills and confidence of teachers; Improve access to digital technology for all learners; Ensure that digital technology is a central consideration in all areas of curriculum and assessment delivery;

Equalities

Embed the principles of Getting It Right for Every Child.

Nurturing approaches permeate learners’ experiences and purposeful partnerships fostered with parents and external agencies.

Improved outcomes for specific cohorts of learners - minority ethnic and gender.

Working towards the achievement of Level 2 RRS Award. Enhanced links with parents and the community through RRS Working Group.

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