School Improvement Planning

Returns to Local Authority (2019 - 2020)

School:

Date:

Castle Douglas High school

May 2019

1. Vision, Values and Aims An essential element in the improvement process is a shared and agreed vision and set of values. These need to be dynamic, reviewed and referred to continuously. The Vision, Values and Aims statement should indicate the school’s stance in ensuring excellence and equity for all learners. Refer to HGIOS?4 / HGIOELC?: Leadership and Management - QI 1.3 Leadership of Change – Theme 1: Developing a shared vision, values and aims relevant to the school and its community; Learning Provision - QI 2.2 Curriculum – Theme 1: Rationale and design; Successes and Achievements - QI 3.1 Ensuring Wellbeing, Equality and Inclusion - Theme 1: Wellbeing & Theme 3: Inclusion & Equality; Successes and Achievements - QI 3.2 Raising Attainment and Achievement - Theme 4: Equity for All Learners Our Vision, Values and Aims School Statement At Castle Douglas High School we aim to equip all young people with the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes to lead a happy and fulfilling life and to make a meaningful contribution to society. At the centre of this vision is a commitment to ensuring that our young people have the ambition and self-belief to set themselves the highest possible goals that will maximize their individual attainment and achievement. As a learning community we want Castle Douglas High School to thrive as an ambitious, vibrant and caring community of learners and responsible citizens always working in partnership with others to improve, and to meet the needs of every learner, where resources, knowledge and skills are shared and used wisely, and achievements are shared and celebrated. The school’s values underpin the day-to-day work of the school and all staff and students use these to build positive working relationships within the school and community. The young people in our school were involved in the decision-making process for our values: linking them to the initial letters of the school name, our values are “Compassion”, “Determination”, “Honesty” and “Self-belief”. Underpinning these values are “Respect” and “Resilience”. All students have equal opportunity of access to curricular and extra-curricular provision. The pupil support team and all staff ensure that the needs of students are being identified, supported and shared with all staff. Through the Developing Young Workforce, highlighting of skills and specific skills based courses, all pupils are provided with learning and teaching opportunities that are specifically tailored to improving their chances of being able to leave school into a positive destination either here in their local community or beyond. Parents/carers are encouraged to be engaged in supporting their child in their education and are provided with regular high quality information about their child that helps them to be able to successfully fulfil that active role. The parent council is active and supportive of the school and all parents are encouraged to be involved in the work of the parent council.

Pupil voice provides important opportunities for young people to shape the progress and direction in which the school is travelling. Young people have elected members from each year group to be their student representatives on pupil voice committees.

Review Activities (as appropriate):

School staff have had the opportunity to review this section on Vision, Values and Aims during a collegiate session on Wednesday 8th May 2018. Staff feedback from the collegiate session has shaped the content of this section. Pupils and parents will also have the opportunity to review the Vision, Values and Aims for the school over the summer term.

The next review activity is scheduled for summer 2019

Schools should evidence how all of their stakeholders; parents, learners, staff and partners are closely involved in creating and reviewing the Vision, Values and Aims. (If these have not been recently reviewed, please indicate likely review date).

2. School Improvement Progress Report Looking inwards, looking outwards: What key outcomes have we achieved? What are our strengths and areas for improvement? What is our capacity for improvement? In completing this section, it may be useful to refer to the statements of impact within the Level 5 Illustration for relevant HGIOS? 4 / HGIOELC? Quality Indicators, National Improvement Framework (NIF) 4 key priorities and the 6 NIF drivers. 2.1 Progress against Previous Year’s School Improvement Priorities Area for Improvement

Progress and Impact on: Learners’ successes and achievements The school community’s successes and achievements - as appropriate (Include evidence of impact.)

Next Steps (Looking Forwards)

School Priority 1 Curricular Development NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly literacy and numeracy. NIF Driver School leadership/school improvement HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2

Staff are familiar course content, teaching methodologies and assessment approaches in response to changes to arrangements for National 6 courses. Pupils continue to receive high quality experiences in National 6 classes that prepare them well for their final exams. By reflecting on the first years’ experience of the new National 5 courses and the results achieved at SQA examination, staff have improved the delivery and assessment of those courses for our young people. Young people and their parents understanding of learning pathways have improved. Each young person and their parents are better informed about progress on their particular learning pathway as we work together to maximise pupil attainment and achievement. The school has developed an SQA Presentation Policy to set out advice about appropriate pathway decisions and routes available to young people. This supports young people and their parents to make informed decisions as they progress from the Broad General Education (BGE) into National Qualifications.

Continue to develop and improve the learning and teaching experience for all young people in the senior phase, ensuring there are pathways for all learners. Adapt National 7 courses in line with changes as required. Continue to work with pupils and parents to identify pathways that best meet the needs of each individual. Extend pathways information for all stakeholders to include vocational, further and higher education, and the world of work.

School Priority 1 Curricular Development NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly literacy and numeracy. NIF Driver School leadership/school improvement HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2

Through a new Learning and teaching policy, young people and their parents will be better informed about how Castle Douglas High School is fully committed to securing continuous improvement in learning and teaching, to maintaining and build on existing strengths. We have made progress with raising awareness of and helping to embed employability skills into all curricular areas. All pupils have benefitted from improvement to their social areas and to the environment of the school.

We have not yet started to progress our target to develop Learning and Teaching policy. The intention of this policy is to ensure young people and their parents are better informed about how Castle Douglas High School is fully committed to securing continuous improvement in learning and teaching, to maintaining and build on existing strengths and to respond to the recommendations from Education Scotland. This should take place in the summer term. DYW has progressed with development of employability skills. All teachers have been trained at the February INSET on using My World of Work Inserts. Now need to plan to improve use of lesson inserts and continuing to raise the profile of MWoW The external pupil social environment has been updated and greatly improved through the efforts of rural skills classes/teachers. Pupils will identify future projects that can continue to support experiential learning.

Area for Improvement

Progress and Impact on: Learners’ successes and achievements The school community’s successes and achievements - as appropriate (Include evidence of impact.)

Next Steps (Looking Forwards)

School Priority 2 Tracking and Monitoring in the BGE and Health & Wellbeing NIF Priority Closing the attainment gap between the most and the least disadvantaged children. NIF Driver Assessment of children’s progress. HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.7, 3.1, 3.2

An effective Monitoring & Tracking programme will be introduced to support progress through the BGE. Improved use of data is helping us to identify pupils who require targeted support in any curricular area. A numeracy recovery programme to address specific identified needs of individual young people is now available. Use and understanding of available data is improving.

Progress has been made with understanding where we are currently are as a school in terms of tracking and monitoring in both the BGE and the senior phase. Following this research L Gillies has convened a working group who will continue to develop a robust, systematic, whole school approach. Staff have begun to explore the SEEMIS module Progress + Achievement. Continued use of this module will help us to achieve the aim of tracking and sharing information about progress in the BGE. SUMDOG is beginning to be used and further discussion will taking place around how to provide focused learning opportunities initially aimed at S4 Mathematics but could be widened out to be part of planning for any year group/subject. All staff have been trained to access the SNSA data and have been provided with time via SWTA to engage with the data to improve their knowledge of the needs of pupils in their classes. This will be further developed.

A nurturing approach to support behaviour, wellbeing, attainment and wider achievement is developing. Staff have learned about the six principles of nurture and at INSET were provided with training on Attachment Theory, Brain Stress & Trauma, Adolescence

Nurture implementation is being led by A Cook supported by Ed Psych F. Irvine to plan and implement this initiative. Baseline audit and subsequent planning for improving teacher knowledge & understanding of nurture and the impact nurture

A targeted nurture group have been identified and have a place where they feel safe, a place where they can access support when anxious. They can also have breakfast at the start of the day. A promoting positive relationships policy is being developed which will ensure that young people meet consistent expectations in all areas of the school. A review of the praise and reward system being used in school will provide a better incentive to young people to try to do their best at all times. Poverty led barriers preventing pupil accessing any lesson are continuously being addressed.

approaches can have on maximising young people’s attainment has meant that we are making appropriate progress. We will continue to develop all aspects of school procedures to be delivered using the principles of nurture. A promoting positive relationships group has created a draft policy statement using the language of positive relationships. The group will now extend their work to look at the next SIP target of praise and reward. These documents will then be shared with all staff for consultation and fine tuning of the suggested wording of this work. Use of PEF to equip every classroom has been actioned

Area for Improvement

Progress and Impact on: Learners’ successes and achievements The school community’s successes and achievements - as appropriate (Include evidence of impact.)

Next Steps (Looking Forwards)

School Priority 3 Quality assurance Self-evaluation for self-improvement and Health & Wellbeing NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy NIF Driver School Improvement/Performance information HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.2, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3

A quality assurance calendar that systematically references all HGIOS Quality Indicators in a manageable and purposeful manner which flows with the natural cycle of the school year and regenerates that cycle has been developed. The QA calendar highlights activities that could take place to generate evidence for each QI. A minor review of the curricular structure changes was carried out in time to react to requirements for timetable change in 2019. The curricular structure is providing our young people with the best possible opportunities. A review of curricular provision and structure at Dalry Secondary has taken place. This has ensured that the curriculum offer for each year group is sustainable, is more in line with that of CDHS to allow the possibility for young people from each school to share resources eg make Spanish and Computing available at National 5 across both sites.

A draft QA policy has been shared at SMT on 5th Feb’ ’19. PTC’s will share this in faculty for comment and clarification before it is adopted as school policy. SLT have been using this policy informally since November ’18. Consistency of QA activities will be part of discussion at SMT meetings. Curricular Structure - consultation with staff, pupils and parents has taken place. Consultation regarding a rationale for our curriculum, an SQA presentation policy including curricular pathway diagrams and procedures for changing a pupil subject or level has been completed. Dalry structure is now aligned to CDHS to provide increased curricular opportunities.

School Priority 3 Quality assurance Self-evaluation for self-improvement and Health & Wellbeing NIF Priority

The range of fiction and non-fiction reading material available in the library and via the Accelerated reader programme has been improved. Improvements to wellbeing of the school community.

The library has been supported to improve stock of fiction and non-fiction texts and this will continue to be an improvement priority. Aim to effect improvements to wellbeing of the school community by exploring opportunities for staff to be involved in activities that can lead to improvement in wellbeing for the

Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy NIF Driver School Improvement/Performance information HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.2, 2.7, 3.2, 3.3

whole school community. Interested staff to act as a steering group for wellbeing.

2.1.1 Report on the impact of PEF • Comment specifically on how

PEF is making a difference / closing the attainment gap for identified cohorts of children / young people?

• How rigorous is the school’s approach to providing robust evidence of closing the attainment gap?

• How well are you removing barriers to learning and ensuring equity for all?

An audit of support in place for S1-S3 pupils has highlighted what interventions or lack of, a pupil may have in place which has allowed us to target support for particular pupils. Conducting interviews with pupils has given them an input into leading improvement of their education. Pupils have (without them knowing they have been targeted directly) identified their own areas of weakness. Time has been committed to research to ensure that pupils are offered a valuable proven intervention. Pupils have been provided with a safe place to learn and develop, which evidence shows is having a positive effect on attendance, with school attendance for one pupil regularly using the room increasing from 55.56% to 65.22%, and from 81% to 91.30% for another. The pupils also have a safe place to go at break and lunchtimes and this is being used regularly. It is a comfort to the pupils to know that the room is available to them should they need some time out or quiet time and they have expressed this to me. Evaluation by the pupils themselves show that they enjoy using the nurture room and a happiness scale used by them when they enter and leave the nurture group shows a consistent positive increase in happiness and mood throughout their time in the nurture room. The positive effect on the pupils is reflected by the number of pupils choosing to use the room, and the positive feedback received from them. A number of S1 – S3 PEF pupils also use room 6 at the end of the day as a place to organise and prepare themselves for leaving school. A significant portion of the nurture session time has been spent discussing thoughts and feelings, which is allowing the attendees to ‘find their voice’ in a safe, controlled environment. This has resulted in these pupils offering their voice during whole class activities and engaging more confidently in group discussion activities. If these examples can be viewed as representative across the whole group, then the changes are externally rather small, but for these individuals, attending class, speaking up in class and speaking to teachers outside of class are significant milestones.

The wider impact of the nurture groups on the current attendees is noted through correspondence with class teachers who largely report that pupil engagement is increasing. Previous group attendees also continue to query a return to room 6 for regular sessions, indicating that there is an appetite for these groups and this type of intervention.

2.1.1 Report on the impact of PEF • Comment specifically on how

PEF is making a difference / closing the attainment gap for identified cohorts of children / young people?

• How rigorous is the school’s approach to providing robust evidence of closing the attainment gap?

• How well are you removing barriers to learning and ensuring equity for all?

PEF pupils have benefitted from employability lessons and it has provided the opportunity to assess individual needs, based on evidence, observations and conversations. Without these dedicated employability lessons it would have been extremely difficult to fully understand the challenges and barriers facing these individual pupils. The development of the wider achievement tracking system provides more information to pupil support staff and support for learning staff to identify where PEF pupils may need more support or interventions. This will also join up work being undertaken in the nurture room with work being undertaken in other areas. Pupils have been given the opportunity to contextualize their learning through activities in rural skills. These pupils have drawn up plans for improvements to the school environment, for improvements to their poly-tunnel, costed and bid for financial support to put their plans into action. The impact is clear around the pupil outdoor social areas which are well used during the warmer months and in the improvements to their working space within the poly-tunnel. All classrooms have been equipped with the basic equipment required for lessons in the individual subject area so that no pupils find it difficult to be involved in any lesson due to lack of equipment. Consistent use of the Accelerated reader and supporting the refresh of library stock is beginning to have an impact on encouraging young people to enjoy reading. The effect of this then being to impact on improving each young person’s literacy skills. Several school excursions have taken place to destinations and opportunities that not all pupils would have through their home life. PEF has been able to pay for those young people where the cost of such and excursion would be prohibitive. Pupils with ASN and pupils who have personalised timetables where they access the support bases or the nurture base are now able to include ASDAN programmes as part of their curriculum. Currently, these pupils are not accessing all mainstream subjects and this will enable ASN staff to plan programmes for these pupils and involve the pupils in their learning. These pupils now have meaningful and accredited programmes of study.

2.2 Summary of Key Strengths / Areas for Improvement (What is our capacity for continuous improvement?)

Refer to HGIOS? 4 / HGIOELC? Quality Indicators relevant to your school’s context in making comment.

Quality Indicator How well are you doing? What is working well for your learners? (Include evidence of impact)

Areas for Improvement

Evaluation of this QI using the HGIOS?4 six-point scale

1.3 Leadership of Change • Developing a shared vision,

values and aims relevant to the school and its community

• Strategic planning for continuous improvement

• Implementing improvement and change

Staff show commitment to shared educational values and professional standards which is evident in the way staff interact with the young people. There is a positive working ethos in the school that is clearly based on our shared values. This positive approach is also evident in the way staff work together, work with pupils, and work with parents/carers. At P7-S1 transition gateway meetings all P7 pupils and parents attending these meetings are introduced to our vision, values and aims. Feedback from these meetings regularly includes comment from our stakeholders of their satisfaction with these statements. The new leadership team are providing strong leadership that is beginning to impact on the school and wider community to develop, promote and sustain an aspirational vision which underpins our continuous improvement. Staff are confident that they can initiate well informed change and are committed to collective responsibility in the process of change. Almost all staff have a clear understanding of the social, economic and cultural context in which our children, young people and their families live. Through effective leadership at all levels, our school community work together to turn our shared vision into a sustainable reality.

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1.3 Leadership of Change • Developing a shared vision,

values and aims relevant to the school and its community

• Strategic planning for continuous improvement

• Implementing improvement and

change

Curricular structure change has been well received by all stakeholders. A review among stakeholders has indicated that this has had a positive impact. Policy development has been and will continue to be an aspect of change that will impact on the school. Progress has been made with understanding where we are currently are as a school in terms of tracking and monitoring in both the BGE and the senior phase. Following this research L Gillies has convened a working group who will continue to develop a robust, systematic, whole school approach. This initial work and the aims that underpin it have been recognised by Education Scotland as a positive step that will lead to further improvement for young people.

A number of policies are currently under construction and another number are in draft format and will be addressed during next session. Continue to develop approaches to planning for, assessing and checking the progress of young people across all stages.

2.3 Learning, Teaching and Assessment • Learning and engagement • Quality of teaching • Effective use of assessment • Planning, tracking and

monitoring

There are very positive and supportive relationships between almost all staff and learners and between the school and the parent forum. The quality of teaching is good and is underpinned by our shared vision and values statements. Almost all teachers give clear explanations that lead to young people having a good understanding of each lesson and how to participate in the lesson activities. Where appropriate and where digital technology is available, it is used effectively. Almost all staff set high expectations for each young person to maximise their achievement. There is a mixed understanding of the purpose and importance of lesson observation which could be traced to there being no agreed school policy. However, a general opinion expressed by the majority of teaching staff is that all teachers should be involved in lesson observation. The majority of teachers are involved in planning learning, teaching and assessment to support the needs of learners. In the BGE all teachers have engaged with the benchmarks when planning assessment and the benchmarks are supporting teacher confidence when assigning a level in the BGE. Staff have access to information that can help them to respond to the barriers to learning that young people in their classes may have.

Finalise systematic Quality Assurance Self-Evaluation policy and procedures Learning & Teaching policy o Build understanding with all stakeholders of

what makes a good lesson at CDHS o Use of classroom observation being

consistent and objective o Encourage young people to take more

responsibility for their learning o Build parental understanding of the BGE

and Senior phase and how they link together and move beyond school

Monitoring & Tracking policy o Learning Conversations in the BGE o Progress + Achievement Module o Continue to build on work done to improve

moderation, particularly in the BGE o Improved, consistent Monitoring & Tracking

progress in the senior phase

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3.1 Ensuring wellbeing, equality and inclusion • Wellbeing

• Fulfilment of statutory duties • Inclusion and equality

Almost all staff know and understand GIRFEC (Getting it right for every child) and the indicators of well-being. Almost all staff are aware of their developing role and responsibility to support learners’ health and well-being taking account of local and national documents and guidance. We know and can demonstrate that the majority of our children and young people feel safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included. Almost all staff and partners feel valued and supported. We consider each child and young person as an individual with his/her own needs risks and rights.

A review of referral procedures alongside the developing behaviour policy will reference teacher responsibilities in terms of the well-being indicators and will further develop our nurture approach. A Stewartry GIRFEC locality group is to be convened L Gillies will be part of that group.

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Through leadership groups and focus groups we have a developing system that aims to ensure that young people are active participants in discussions and decisions which may affect their lives. We ensure inclusion and equality leads to improved outcomes for all learners. Almost all learners are included, engaged and involved in the life of the school. Almost all children and young people feel very well supported to do their best. Learners, parents and carers, staff and partners feel that they are treated with respect and in a fair and just manner. The school has been awarded the bronze LGBT charter. This is a very positive step that highlights our commitment to equality and inclusion and we will continue to ensure that the work of the school maintains the work done to achieve the bronze charter.

3.2 Raising attainment and achievement • Attainment in literacy and

numeracy

• Attainment over time • Overall quality of learners’

achievement • Equity for all learners

Overall in the BGE the majority of children achieve expected levels in numeracy. Our moderation activities continue to improve our confidence in assigning a level for literacy and for individual subjects. Most staff are confidently using the CfE National Benchmarks to support and increase their confidence when making professional judgements about assigning a CfE level and identifying progress in the BGE. We need to ensure that professional judgements in literacy take account of national standards and that these are consistently applied, particularly at fourth level literacy. The Literacy Group is at the early stages of addressing this. Attainment over time for National Qualifications is strong in almost all subject areas and is highlighted in INSIGHT as significantly strong for some subjects. There are no significant issues around attainment versus deprivation for National Qualifications. Our learners are successful, confident, exercise responsibility and contribute to the life of the school, the wider community and as global citizens. They are personally and socially adept and have achieved a range of skills and attributes through a wide range of activities. Leadership roles are developing at all levels and are available to all young people to help them to develop a broader set of skills. The school is beginning to track participation in the wider range of experiences that the school offers and of those the young people are involved in out with school. We are building systems which we hope will be effective in promoting equity of success and achievement for all our young people. We have raised the attainment of most of our learners and in particular our most disadvantaged young people. Almost all of our learners consistently move into sustained positive destinations when they leave school.

Continue to build on work done to improve moderation particularly within the BGE.

o Understanding of Moderation and Verification is still developing and so cannot yet be considered to be reliable and robust. Work done on this during February 2018 and June 2018 INSET needs to be refreshed then quality assured in and across faculty.

o We need to be certain that all teachers are working to the agreed National Standards.

o Ensure that staff have the opportunity to be involved in moderation activities within department, across departments and with colleagues from other establishments.

Continue to build knowledge & confidence when assigning a level in the BGE for Literacy/Numeracy/ Subject.

o This will be supported via the ‘Progress + Achievement’ SEEMIS module and moderation INSET

Improve confidence and build capacity in the analysis/response to data.

o Data is well analysed and available to all staff. Teachers will develop their skills in using the data to improve the outcomes for young people.

Create a robust M&T system that is used consistently across the school. o Introduce a whole school monitoring and tracking system

which will support a greater understanding of young people’s progress across all curricular areas and help identify gaps where further interventions are required.

Improve opportunities for young people to take on leadership roles.

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2.2 Curriculum: Theme 3

• Learning Pathways

The revised curriculum structure provides greater flexibility in the learning pathways available to our young people. We have been able to offer a wide range of subjects in the senior phase to meet the needs and aspirations of most learners. Issues around staffing for a Science Technician have impacted on our ability to offer Advanced Higher in Science courses for session 2019-20. As the new curriculum structure evolves and experience of working within that structure evolves, learning pathways for each young person will be better evidenced allowing robust information to be shared with pupils and parents. The rationale for our learning pathways is based on the experiences and outcomes and design principles of progression, coherence, breadth, depth, personalisation and choice, challenge and enjoyment and relevance. Documents outlining our rationale, learning pathways and SQA presentation policy have been consulted on with pupils, staff and at parent council. All staff are increasingly taking ownership of ROA elements helping young people to demonstrate these skills at a high level across the curriculum.

Understanding and evidencing progression in the BGE to provide robust information to learners and parents. Develop learning pathways information further to include alternative providers and demonstrate pathways into the world of work, further and higher education.

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2.7 Partnerships Theme 3: Impact on Learners

• The impact of parental involvement on improving children and young people’s learning.

Through effective partnership working we have improved our learning provision and secured positive impacts for young people and families in our community. Our partnership working is improving parental engagement in their children’s learning. Effective partnerships and a more flexible curriculum structure have resulted in all learners having access to a range of learning pathways through which they are developing skills for learning, work and life and securing sustainable positive destinations. Parents have acknowledged that the learning pathways being promoted by the school are for all learners. Parent council and subgroups of the parent council have worked closely in partnership with the school to have a very positive impact especially on the issue of rural transport solutions. The local community in partnership with the parent council fundraising subgroup have also had a significant impact on improving opportunities for our young people.

Continue to develop partnership work with our local community increasing the opportunities available that can have an impact on learning for our young people and on securing sustainable positive destinations. The parent council responded to the challenge of partnership working and are now looking forward to identifying and creating opportunities to contribute to school improvement. We will continue to encourage parental engagement and parental involvement with an increased focus on parents as partners. We need to measure the positive impact of parental involvement on raising aspiration and consequently on attainment and achievement.

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3. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN 2019 - 20 Clearly identify within your School Improvement Plan where you are using Pupil Equity Funding to improve outcomes for learners.

The ‘Planned Management of Improvement Area’ (Column 4) should indicate lead person/s, resources, time allocations; for example, collegiate sessions. Consideration should be given to how bureaucracy will be reduced and workload managed with the school’s 35-hrs Working Time Agreement. Improvement Area

Outcomes for Learners / School Community

Key Tasks

Planned Management of Improvement Area

School Priority 1 Quality Assurance, Self-Evaluation NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly literacy and numeracy. NIF Driver School leadership/school improvement HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 2.1, 2.2, 2.3,2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Self-evaluation will take place in a systematic, manageable and purposeful manner which flows with the natural cycle of the school year and regenerates that cycle. This will result in improvements in learning and teaching for all young people and improvements in meeting the needs of every learner in the classroom. By developing a CDHS learning and teaching policy we will also tackle the issues of improving learning and teaching and meeting the needs of all young people. SCQF is an improved way of considering the equivalence of school courses and courses in Further and Higher education as well as qualifications in the world of work. As we look to widen our curricular offer it is important that pupils and parents understand the level of each course and how they relate one another.

Finalise systematic Quality Assurance Self-Evaluation policy and procedures Develop a CDHS Learning & Teaching policy • Build understanding with all

stakeholders of what makes a good lesson at CDHS

Finalise a collegiate approach to classroom observation. Ensure the use of classroom observation is consistent and objective. All subject areas will have an entry in their improvement plans outlining how they will improve pace, breadth and challenge in the classroom and how differentiation will be improved in their subject. How they will encourage young people to take more responsibility for their learning, how they will improve sharing success criteria and communicating what success looks like. The school as an SCQF ambassador will: • Build parental understanding of the

BGE and Senior phase and how they link together and move beyond school

• Build parental understanding of the SCQF framework and equivalence of other courses.

JS + SMT ACo and ACa with a working group and involving all school stakeholders. GP + CW will lead - LG will link with this work stream. JS + all PTCs ACa + SCQF trained team AR, CW, GP, GS, CK

How are you using pupil equity funding to improve outcomes for learners?

School Priority 2 Tracking and Monitoring in the BGE and Health & Wellbeing NIF Priority Closing the attainment gap between the most and the least disadvantaged children. NIF Driver Assessment of children’s progress. HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.2, 1.3 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, 3.2

Continue to develop approaches to planning for, assessing and checking the progress of young people across all stages. Through improved Monitoring and Tracking parents and pupils will be better informed of their progress. Parents and pupils will know if they are on track to achieve their goals. Parents and pupils will know the pathway they are on through the Broad General Education and on into the Senior Phase. A moderation plan will ensure that all staff fully understand the moderation cycle and are applying it to the work done in their classroom, faculty, school thus ensuring the reliability and accuracy of the educational decisions made for each individual pupil. Through our professional learning about Nurture we will continue to develop our knowledge and implement the principles of Nurture within the school. Impact on young people will be through improvements in all aspects of a young person’s school experience; particularly their well-being. Understanding of how to record H&W and be able to generate H&W CfE levels for all pupils.

Learning conversations in BGE and SP, recorded by pupils. Moderation and verification, particularly in BGE – Use of Education Scotland Moderation HUB. Progress + Achievement Module providing consistent and regular feedback on pupil progress in the BGE. Consistent, regular feedback to pupils and parents through SEEMIS M&T in the SP. Use of SEEMIS to record, Target Grades and Working Grades on a regular calendarised basis. Introduction of learning mentors to mentor young people on their journey through school. Improve knowledge of the moderation cycle. Have a plan for when and how moderation will be carried out. We will continue with our work on the Nurture principles ‘All learning is understood developmentally’ and ‘All behaviour is communication’. Exploring H&W, how to record, how to assign a level, how to moderate.

LG + All Staff ACa + moderation group GP, LC, AR, GP ACo + all staff ACo

School Priority 3 Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people. NIF Priority Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy NIF Driver School Improvement/Performance information HGIOS 4 QIs: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.7 3.1, 3.2, 3.3

Continue to develop the understanding of all staff of their key role in leading and managing change. Develop a shared understanding across all staff of what consistently high quality learning and teaching looks like in Castle Douglas High School. We will improve the use and understanding of data to inform pathways for all young people. We will encourage all staff to be looking outwards ensuring that professional learning is part of all teachers’ PRDs. Develop opportunities that will extend the curriculum offer using local resources and by accessing digital learning via the Hub and Spoke technology. Professional Learning - improve professional knowledge and understanding. Encourage professional reading around the improvement plan topics. Improve understanding of PEF. Building on our new Positive Relationships Policy, all staff involved in Pivotal training A full-day behaviour management training session will be delivered to all staff. This will cover the habits of highly effective behaviour management that will allow staff to learn how to manage their own behaviour and give them strategies to support pupils' behaviour whilst focusing on developing positive trusting relationships with pupils. Improve stakeholder knowledge of CES, CMS.

Link to the standards for registration and responsibility to meet learner needs in the classroom. Link to the standards for registration for involvement in professional enquiry and professional learning. Encourage young people to take more responsibility for their learning. Improve parental understanding of the links between BGE SP positive destinations. Improvements to the senior phase offer that will access digital learning. Improvements to the senior phase that will respond to the identified needs of local employers such as Natural Power. Creation of a physical and virtual library. Make use of Faculty time to encourage professional dialogue. Engage in Pivotal training. This will encourage staff to develop a consistent approach to behaviour management across the school community and will support the implementation of the new 'Positive Relationships' policy. This will be further supported by training for all staff in NP5 - 'All Behaviour is Communication'. Discuss behaviour management strategies covered in Pivotal Training in faculties and agree appropriate strategies that will be taken forward in the classroom. Feedback to PTs. All staff will be responsible for being aware of the confidential information and data available for each of the pupils they teach and use this information to meet their individual needs. Use of these principles in class and ability of all stakeholders to use the vocabulary associated.

All SMT All SMT JS + interested staff All staff C Kay + all staff

Use of PEF Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people.

PEF will be used as we develop our Nurture plans, for example in training all staff on Pivotal Education. PEF will support DYW work to ensure specific pupils have targeted intervention. PEF will be used to equip classrooms with basic equipment ensuring all lessons can be accessed by all pupils and that no pupil is unable to access a lesson due to lack of basic equipment. PEF will be used to support literacy improvement via the Accelerated Reader by improving the bank of resource. PEF will be used to support the contextualising of learning within the Rural Skill programme. PEF will be used to support tracking of and encouragement to be involved in wider achievement. PEF will be used to support numeracy recovery through SUMDOG. PEF will be used to support identified ASN pupils through the purchase of IT.