Our Lady of the Missions Primary School
Standards and Quality Report
Reporting on session
2015-2016
Our Lady of the Missions Primary School is a Roman Catholic school situated within the Thornliebank area of East Renfrewshire Council. The associated High School is St Ninian’s, the cluster primary schools are St Cadoc’s Primary and St Joseph’s Primary and the cluster nursery is Glenwood nursery. The school also has children transferring from Netherlee, Giffnock, Braidbar and Thornliebank Nurseries.
The school roll is presently 888. The teaching complement for the school is 38.19 including a Head Teacher, four Depute Head Teachers and four Principal Teachers. Each post carries curricular, management and pastoral care responsibilities which change in accordance with school priorities as set out in our annual School Improvement Plan. In line with national priorities the school implements an inclusive policy and has additional staffing of 16 Pupil Support Assistants to support this policy. One Office Manager and three clerical staff complement the staffing of the school. In addition there is a janitor, an assistant janitor, a catering manager and a number of canteen assistants.
The school maintains strong links with the local community, the Parent Council and the Parent Staff Association. The school has a devolved budget from the local authority, a major part of which is utilised in support of the School Improvement Plan.
Our Lady of the Missions retains a strong association with St Vincent’s Parish in Thornliebank, St Joseph’s Parish in Clarkston and Holy Name Parish in Mansewood.
The school benefits from the involvement of a range of outside agencies including: Educational Psychologist, school based Social Worker, Campus Police Officer, School Nurse, Speech and Language Therapists and Active School Coordinator. We worked together to create a core values statement. This reflects our shared vision and beliefs are part of a Catholic School Community as we strive to ensure that every child reaches his/her full potential by using their God given talents.
We value Honesty We will be truthful and open to one another.
We value Respect We will respect and care for one another and value everyone as an individual.
We value Positive Attitudes We will encourage all to adopt positive attitudes to progress, change and improvement.
We value Love We will treat one another with courtesy and kindness.
We will respect and care for each member of our school community.
We will do whatever we can to help others who are in need.
We value Equality We treat everyone fairly regardless of faith or beliefs.
We value Commitment In everything we will do the very best we can.
Our school priorities for 2015 -2016 were as follows:
GIRFEC
· Continue to implement/embed the principles of GIRFEC
· Implement authority changes to ASN policy and procedure
· Further develop partnerships with parents of children with Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties
· Embed CBT approaches throughout school
· Select Nurture Champion and set up learning centre
· Raise staff confidence in the delivery of food and health Es/Os
CURRICULUM
· Review current Writing programme/approaches
· Review current approaches to teaching and assessing Talking and Listening skills
· Develop children’s skills in mental agility through introduction of ‘Big Maths’ scheme
· Ensure progression in Social Studies
· Ensure progression at Early/First level in French
· Develop approaches to encouraging Creativity and developing employability skills
ATTAINMENT
· Improve monitoring and tracking of progress across BGE
· Attainment related to Gender issues at P4/5
LEADERSHIP
· Engage staff in Professional Enquiry
· Contribute to the spiritual formation of staff
Range of Evidence
To help compile the evidence for this report we have used the following:
· East Renfrewshire Council Standards and Quality Report
· Ongoing use made of QIs and HGIOS to self-evaluate and audit all aspects of our work
· Staff groups review the implementation of the Improvement Plan and identify next steps
· School tracking system
· Audits carried out by East Renfrewshire Quality Improvement Team
· Formal and informal monitoring of learning and teaching
· Quality Assurance of pupils’ work and writing folders on a regular basis, wall displays etc
· Monitoring of teachers’ planning and assessment procedures
· Staff audit of assessment, learning and teaching, and resources
· Liaison/review meetings with Class Teachers, Pupil Support Assistants, Parents’ Network and Senior Management Team members
· The process of review and development which is ongoing throughout the year
· The involvement of Parent Council and Parent Staff Association in improvement planning procedures
· Evaluations completed by parents after curricular events, parents’ evenings and on receipt of end of year pupil reports
· Staff meetings taking place at all levels
· Head Teacher’s surgery takes place monthly
· Minutes of school / staff meetings and working parties
· Professional Dialogue meetings
· Pupil Dialogue meetings – Senior Management Team and class teacher
· Parent/Carer, pupil, teacher and support staff questionnaires
· East Renfrewshire Council Transition Review
How good are we at recognising achievement and raising attainment? (1.1)Evaluation: Very Good
Improving Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy
The priorities in the School Improvement Plan inform and enhance our practice. Assessment is an integral part of the learning and teaching process in our school. We regularly reflect, develop and improve our assessment strategies to identify key learning and teaching approaches that provide support and challenge for all. Assessment of pupils’ progress and achievement during their broad general education is based on teachers’ assessment of pupils’ knowledge and understanding, skills, attributes and capabilities.
Attainment in Our Lady of the Missions continues to remain very good, with pupils consistently reaching or excelling national and authority targets.
The table below highlights the consistently high standards of attainment achieved by our pupils and compares our performance against local and national targets.
Curriculum for Excellence Attainment / 2013-2014 / 2014-2015 / 2015-2016 / Three Year Average / ERC Target2016-18
Reading / 93% / 92% / 94% / 93% / 92%
Writing / 91% / 90% / 91% / 91% / 90%
Mathematics / 91% / 94% / 96% / 94% / 92%
Our pupils’ attainment progress is tracked and monitored throughout their learning journey. We regularly reflect on the wide range of pupil performance data below to inform our planning, learning and teaching approaches and next steps:
· Baseline Assessment/Developmental Milestone at the start of P1
· Screening at the end of P1 and P2
· Standardised Testing at P3, P5 and P7
· English as Additional Language Checklist (EAL) P1-7
· Single Word Spelling Test (SWST) P2-P7
· Wide range of formative assessment recorded by class teacher
In 2015-16, the proportion of P1 pupils reaching their developmental milestones increased significantly to 87% from 75% in 2014-15. This was in comparison to the authority’s average of 73%. Engaging with this data resulted in targeted pupils benefitting from participation in a variety of groups including Netstart, Mini Movers and Lego Therapy.
Our staff regularly track and monitor pupil progress and use a wide range of strategies to raise attainment and meet pupils’ needs. Pupils requiring additional support for learning have benefited from support including comprehension support groups, ICT based literacy support and interactive maths support.The pupils involved in these groups have enthused about how much they enjoyed the approaches used and were particularly motivated by the use of ICT.Thorough analysis and interrogation of attainment data is carried out by staff to enable them to identify strengths and areas for improvement at all levels. Weekly planning meetings take place across each stage to ensure the sharing of good practice and to provide detailed planning so that the needs of each pupil are met. Teaching staff and senior management work collaboratively to review pupil attainment and achievement, set targets and monitor performance.
The analysis of developmental milestones screening, baseline assessment and standardised tests is part of the improvement planning process. Good use is made of the developmental milestones screening programme, gradient of learning, baseline and standardised assessment information as well as the pre-five summative report to ensure pupils continue to make progress in their learning. Assessment information identifies strengths and areas for improvement at school level and for groups and individual pupils.
Over the last 3 years, the overall reading and mathematics performance (P3, P5 and P7 together) was very good and remained above the baseline score of 100.
2013-2014 / 2014-2015 / 2015-2016Mathematics Standardised Test Results (P3, P5 and P7) / 102 / 104 / 101
Reading Standardised Test Result (P3, P5 and P7) / 101 / 104 / 100
Parents’ views regarding their child’s progress were sought via a short questionnaire and the results are an overwhelming endorsement for the great work that is taking place in our school.
My child’s learning is progressing wellAgree Strongly / Agree / Disagree
355 / 142 / 5
My child is encouraged to work to the best of their ability
Agree Strongly / Agree / Disagree
391 / 98 / 4
The school keeps me well informed about my child’s progress through newsletters, twitter/website, end of year reports, parents’ evenings, curriculum afternoons and evenings etc.
Agree Strongly / Agree / Disagree
332 / 143 / 6
Overall Quality of Learners’ Achievement
Our pupils take an active part in our school community and support key targets in the school’s development plan through an extensive range of wider achievement activities and leadership opportunities. These include: Pupil Council, Eco Committee, Health and Wellbeing Committee, Young Leaders, Rights Respecting Committee, Librarians, Monitors, Peer Mediators, House Captains and Vice Captains, Dyslexia Ambassadors, Buddies and Junior Road Safety Officers.
Pupil Council
The Pupil Council introduced Suggestion Week to the school community. To ensure that every pupil’s voice is heard once a term, classes were given the opportunity to air their views and make suggestions on four areas: Learning, Our Playground, School Lunches/Tuck and After-School Clubs. The Pupil Council then met with Mr Jamieson HT to action some of the most popular suggestions made and next year are hoping to fundraise to make some of these ideas possible.
The Pupil Council also met with the Director of Education twice to discuss the various achievements our school has gained this year.
Eco Committee
The Eco Committee played an active role in the National Keep Britain Tidy Campaign helping to clean up the local area. They led assemblies on Food Waste encouraging pupils to think about how much food they throw away and explained how the food could be put to better use.
They also worked in partnership with the Rouken Glen Park Rangers and Crookfur Primary School to create a piece of artwork which is displayed in the park’s Visitor Centre showcasing the park’s unique Eco System.
The Committee monitored the school’s recycling policy and developed a solution to limit contamination of recyclable materials.
The pupils of the Eco Committee also grew vegetables and herbs which could then be used by the Cookery Club and the Health Committee to produce healthy meals.
Fairtrade Committee
The Fairtrade Committee was involved in a number of events throughout the year helping the school to receive the FairAchiever Award. The Fairtrade team participated in Fairtrade Fortnight helping to lead an assembly and provide a number of resources/lessons for pupils to participate in to learn more about Fairtrade. The pupils ran a Fairtrade stall to raise funds for charity and participated in the 90kg Rice Challenge to help farmers in Malawi receive a fair price for their product and enable their children to attend school. The pupils ran various competitions throughout the year to promote Fairtrade and to strengthen pupils’ understanding of global issues.
Health Committee
The Health Committee worked across the cluster in partnership with Wholefoods to create jam and experienced the thrill and excitement of selling to the public. Pupils across the school designed logos in order to make and sell chutney using ingredients from the allotment in conjunction with the Eco Committee. In partnership working with the House Committee, through the Healthiest House initiative, pupils were encouraged to choose healthy options from tuck. Pupils’ awareness of healthy lifestyle options has been increased.
Rights Respecting School Committee
The Rights Respecting School Committee worked very hard to achieve our Level 1 Award from UNICEF. The Committee raised awareness of pupils’ rights through wall displays, assemblies and activities. Each class has now incorporated the class charter into their Health and Wellbeing practice. All charters are based upon the Convention and are part of the whole school ethos based on mutual respect for rights. During Term 1 each stage delivered an interdisciplinary topic achieving specific E’s and O’s on global citizenship and sustainable development. The school demonstrated that nearly all pupils and staff can describe key articles and have acted as ambassadors for rights. Throughout Term 2 children were able to access the ‘Child Rights Launchpad’ which allowed them to explore rights around the world and enjoy their own rights by taking action to help other children around the world enjoy their rights too. Throughout Term 3 the Rights Respecting team were working collaboratively to develop and produce our Rights magazine. The children creatively worked together to ensure that our school charter was prominent throughout the magazine and to highlight specific rights which affect all pupils. Our Lady of the Missions has created our action plan for Level 2 and is currently working towards the outcomes at this level.
Peer Mediation
Primary 7 Peer Mediators were trained in order to assist pupils who have had disagreements in the playground. They were able to use the skills of mediation to assist others to reach a positive resolution to minor disagreements and so contributing to building the emotional resilience of pupils.
Pupil Focus Groups
As part of East Renfrewshire’s Transitions Review pupils met with the transition team to discuss their learning experiences. The team commented that: “Pupil focus groups articulated in a highly confident manner their involvement in the life and work of the school through a wide range of opportunities provided. They were very positive about what, how and why they were learning at school and in the use of the language of learning. There was evidence that pupil views were sought and acted upon to bring about improvement in the school and in their learning experiences.”