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1. The Inspection
HM Inspectors of Education (HMIE) published a report on standards and quality in Brannock High School in January 2004. In May 2004 North Lanarkshire Council, in collaboration with the school, prepared and published an action plan indicating how they would address the main points for action in the HMIE report within a two-year period.
North Lanarkshire officers assessed the extent to which the school was continuing to improve the quality of its work, and evaluated progress made in responding to the main points for action in the original report.
2. Continuous Improvement
The headteacher and senior management team had given guidance to staff to address the points for action. An emphasis on developing whole school improvement had resulted in an increase in pupil attainment and an increase in pace of learning. Staff, parents and pupils had been widely consulted throughout developments and their views had influenced decisions. The school had invested substantially in developments to improve learning and teaching. The induction days for pupils, review of the school's incentives and award systems and the improvement to school uniform had enhanced the ethos of attainment and achievement for pupils. Target setting had raised standards and had engaged young people in their learning. The school should continue these developments and ensure that all departments make effective use of self-evaluation and improvement planning.
The school was now well placed to sustain and build on its achievements.
3. Progress towards the main points for action
The initial inspection report published in January 2004 identified three points for action. This section evaluates the progress made with each of these action points and the resulting improvements for pupils and other stakeholders.
The school and education authority should continue to take steps to improve pupils' attainment at all stages. In doing so they should take account of the need to:
3.1 motivate all pupils and set high expectations for their achievement;
The school had made good very progress towards meeting this main point for action.
The senior management team had led staff well in a range of activities that had resulted in an improvement in attainment and achievement across the school. All staff were committed to improvements in attainment and a series of initiatives had raised the expectations of staff and pupils.
There had been a very successful drive on the wearing of school uniform. Staff, parents and pupils were fully involved. Pupils decided on the school uniform in consultation with parents and staff. School uniform is now worn by all pupils, improving their work ethic and commitment. Pupils are proud to be seen in their uniform and are easily identified in the community.
A significant number of staff have been trained in co-operative learning, with a positive impact on learning and teaching which was helping to ensure that the needs of all pupils were being met. Pupils were becoming more responsible for their learning and had higher expectations of achievement across all aspects of school life. There had been a number of initiatives to support teachers to share their expectations with pupils. Parents had been involved, through discussion and questionnaires, on many of the developments across the school. This partnership was proving beneficial to the school as a whole and to individual pupils.
The school had undertaken a number of initiatives that had improved attainment and raised expectations. There had been a number of very successful induction days at the key stages of S1, S3 and S5/6. Fully supported by a number of departments across the school, these days set challenging assignments for pupils. They ensured that pupils were aware of the expectations the school had of them, that their talents were identified and used to benefit the school community, and that the needs of vulnerable young people were identified at an early stage. The school set high but realistic challenges for all pupils with good support from teachers and support staff.
The school had improved arrangements for pastoral care to ensure greater consistency and continuity in support for pupils. Staff's better knowledge of their pupils resulted in needs being met more effectively. It had enabled a greater involvement of parents and more targeted monitoring of progress. The senior management team had supported departments in addressing the needs of individual pupils.
3.2 support departments in ensuring that all pupils' needs are better met, making use of the expertise of learning support staff and sharing good practice in the school;
The school had made good progress towards meeting this point for action.
The school had looked at good practice in other schools in North Lanarkshire and had improved their own practice. They were exploring a variety of ways of sharing good practice across the school. The transition teachers in mathematics and English were sharing effective practice with each other and in their departments. They were also sharing good practice in learning and teaching with their associated primary schools and with the other North Lanarkshire schools. The revision of the school's award system had achieved a positive impact on pupils' motivation and attainment.
Induction days had provided a good opportunity to review pupils' needs and were proving to be effective in the pupils' school life, both in academic goals and achievement and in the development of citizenship skills. Changes to the school's policy for presentation for national qualifications ensured that pupils were better motivated and more able to achieve their potential. Pupils had been given support through guidance interviews, subject discussions for target setting and careers advice. They found this helpful and supportive. Tutor groups in the upper school were proving successful in raising standards and meeting pupils' needs.
There had been a range of good practice identified across departments. The school was better prepared for more rigorous, challenging and consistent approaches to evaluating and sharing good practice among departments.
3.3 increase the school's capacity for self-improvement by refining departmental self-evaluation and improvement planning.
The school had made fair progress towards meeting this point for action.
The senior management team had achieved worthwhile progress on this recommendation. However the school needed to build on this effective start to ensure consistency in approach across departments. Senior managers needed to involve departments and teachers further in the process. There had been improvements in whole school improvement planning. The senior management team need now to lead departments to improve consistency in their Standards and Quality reports and improvement planning.
Cross-departmental sharing of good practice needs to be embedded. A more rigorous system of monitoring which includes principal teachers and senior managers needs to be developed. The impact of the good work done in learning and teaching across the school needs to be evaluated through class visits. The good practice identified across the school needs to be shared in a structured manner.
4. Conclusion
With effective support from North Lanarkshire Council, Brannock High School had responded positively to the recommendations of HMIE. Staff had achieved success in improving pupils' motivation and in better addressing their needs. Staff had been appropriately involved with senior managers in establishing procedures that enabled them to undertake the recommendations in the action plan. There now needs to be a greater involvement of all staff in self-evaluation and improvement planning. There had been some very good developments across the school, with a very clear focus on raising attainment and improving learning and teaching. The school will continue to build on the improvements achieved to date. North Lanarkshire Council Officers will continue to monitor the progress of the school's capacity for self-improvement and self-evaluation.
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