Junior High School

2010 / 2011

Standards and Quality Report

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Contents Introduction 1 Work and life of our school community 4 Successes and Achievements 6

Attainment in National Assessments 9 Wider Achievements 10 Progress with our Improvement Plan 13 Conclusion 20 Gender Equality Report 21

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Dear Parent/Carer

Welcome to the 2010/2011 School Standards and Quality

Report

This report is designed to give you an update on the progress we are making

and to let you know how you can continue to support the school. It is an

annual report for the academic year 2010 – 2011 which provides information

about each of our improvement projects, the work and life of our school, our

successes and achievements, our vision and leadership.

At the heart of all we aim to achieve is our vision, values and aims. Leadership

refers not only to the staff but to the ways in which all in the school are

developing these skills. We hope it also gives you a flavour of all the aspects

our school and shows how we are celebrating the successes of our pupils.

In addition to our own on-going self evaluation process, this year we also have

the HMIE inspection report to support us as we strive to continually improve

what we do. Importantly the inspectors agreed with our evaluations and

identified the following key strengths:-

The very wide range of achievement by children and young people

The imaginative approaches to deliver a wide range of experiences, in the

context of a very small school with many constraints

The positive attitudes to learning shown by children and young people, and the

Very positive relationships amongst the school community

The good start made by the Head Teacher to improving the school, with the

support of staff

Curriculum for Excellence has been implemented from August 2010 from the

early years to S1. The inspectors noted the positive progress that has been

made during the year and indicated that we should continue to build on this.

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Our vision

To be an active and healthy learning community where everyone respects, motivates and inspires others.

Our values

In Stronsay we all aim to act in a way which shows that

we are:-

Honest

Caring

Cooperative

Respectful

Tolerant

Responsible

Friendly

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Our Aims

To establish a culture where every member of the school

community feels valued, safe, respected and involved.

To create a motivating and inspiring environment which

supports every member of the school community to develop

and grow intellectually, emotionally and socially

To provide opportunities for every member of the school

community to access a wide range of experiences building on

their strengths and developing new skills to prepare them

to play an effective role in and make a positive contribution

to their community now and in the future.

To ensure our focus remains on providing the highest quality

of teaching possible for our young people.

To encourage every member of the school community to be

active and healthy, by raising awareness and providing a

range of opportunities for all to achieve this.

To involve parents, carers and the wider community in the

life of our school – to have the school at the heart of the

community and the community at the heart of the school in

order to contribute to the sustainability of both.

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Work and life of our school community

Staffing

Mr Meason’s time in Stronsay was reduced to one day and we welcomed Mr

Smith who took up the post of Craft and Design Teacher in August 2010 for

the other day as he had been relocated from Stromness Academy.

Mrs Jane Barber was appointed to a permanent Social Studies post for two

days per week and started in August 2010.

Mrs Cate Evans was appointed to as teacher of Home Economics and started

in August 2010. She is also a qualified Biology teacher.

Mr Wayne Duncan joined the staff as Music teacher to replace Mr McKinley

who continued in his post of Acting Head at North Walls, Hoy.

Due to additional funding we had applied for Mrs Bowen and Mrs Groat

worked in the Support for Learning department along with Mrs G Smith

The school is fortunate to have staff who continually strive to ensure that

our young people have the highest standard of education and the widest range

of opportunities possible.

Changes to the school day

We have now been able to evaluate the impact of the changes made to the

school day during the summer timetable and it is clear that this has had a

positive impact on learning allowing the pupils to access far more specialist

teacher time.

The curriculum

The changes made to the curriculum which allowed all S3 pupils to follow the

courses of their choice has worked well and was continued this year, as a

result we now have pupils able to study three sciences and two languages if

they wish. Engineering, Hospitality and we offered the Angling for Youth

Development course continued to be delivered. S1 and S2 pupils had the

option of choosing an elective and these ranged from Engineering, extending

English skills, developing the outdoor area for nursery to Latin. The range of

courses available continues to match that of other secondary schools and was

praised by HMIE.

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Pupil numbers

Seven pupils left school at the end of S4 and four pupils joined P1 in August

2010 and two pupils joined the secondary department with another pupil

joining during the year which keeps the school role relatively stable for the

time being.

Our Leaver’s Ceremony was held on the last day the S4 pupils were in school.

The ceremony was very well organised by the S3 pupils, S4 pupils were

presented with a certificate and mementoes of their time in Stronsay. The

ceremony was attended by parents, staff and pupils. The S3 pupils also

arranged a dinner for the S4 pupils which was held after the SQA

examinations, again this event was enjoyed by all and the I was very

impressed by the work of the S3 pupils who arranged this.

Pupil council

The pupil council continued to actively support fund raising for charities and

are proactive in suggesting improvements that can be made to the school.

During the last year they supported Children in Need, Make a Wish Campaign,

Tommy’s campaign. Certificates are displayed in school to show how much was

raised each time and recognise the achievements of all involved.

The pupil council is made up of representatives from each class, elected at

the beginning of each school year. They meet on a regular basis with Mrs

Dennison. The pupils have been working hard this year to ensure that all pupils

are involved in the decisions made by the pupil council. The members of the

council consult with their class, display their minutes on the pupil council

notice board, they are responsible for running the Healthy Tuck Shop and

speak to Mrs Robertson about any changes they would like to make, for

example this year we have changed the time the pupils go for lunch, improved

the Social Area for the S3/4 pupils.

They continue to be very proactive in contributing suggestions to improve the

school in terms of what is taught, what opportunities they would like to see

and how the building can be improved and know they are listened to. This year

a representative of the Pupil Council has been attending the Parent Council

meetings.

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Parent Council

The Parent Council meets twice during each term in the school. They are very

supportive of the school. The Parent Council will be instrumental in enabling

all parents to gain greater knowledge and understanding of the Curriculum for

Excellence. Parent Council minutes are displayed in the local shop and there is

now also a display board in the school in the corridor going to the pool for

anyone to look at.

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SUCCESSES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Key events 2010 - 2011

During the last year we have tried to put articles written by pupils and staff in

the Limpet on a regular basis to keep parents and the community informed

about and involved with the school, for this reason this section is shorter than

it usually is.

August 2010

School sports took place with the now customary barbecue

September 2010

Pupils watched a piece of drama delivered by the Eco Drama company visiting

the island arranged by Marion MacLeod. The S1 pupils went to Kirkwall to

watch the Road Safety play. The Food group from the Stronsay Past, Present

and Future project visited the Agronomy unit of the University of the

Highlands and Islands to look at the work they were doing with bere. John

Holloway visited the nursery to speak to the children about birds as they had

been busy bird watching and putting out the feeders. Pupils attended the Tag

Rugby festival now an annual fixture.

November 2010

A group of pupils attended a Crofting Connections event at Holyrood,

Edinburgh. They impressed a prestigious audience with their talk about what

and how they were learning about local crafts and food – its history and its

sustainability. Diane also played the cello and people who attended the event

are still talking about this!

As usual pupils attended the Senior Instrumental Course held in Kirkwall.

Three pupils attended the Orkney Youth Conference in Hoy and again were a

credit to the school and community; they were complimented on their ability to

contribute meaningfully to discussions in a confident manner. The pupils took

the lead on delivering the range of events to raise money for Children in Need

and as usual this was achieved extremely competently which pupils putting their

team working and leadership skills to good use. They raised £

A highlight of this month for all was the school’s performance of Oliver. Thank

you to everyone for all their hard work and support.

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December 2010

For most of us December will be remembered for the severe bad weather. For

the school this inevitably meant early morning calls to Maurice and the Council

and on some days planes not arriving with staff or pupils unable to get to

school. Our use of GLOW for learning and teaching was in its infancy at this

stage however it is a credit to staff that they quickly got to grips with this and

pupils were able to access learning remotely, which is an important skill in

itself. The individual pupil’s SQA exam results reflected that the pupils had

not been disadvantaged by this. We have continued to work on refining this

and trying to make sure it is available to all pupils. Schools are charged by the

Scottish Government to ensure that learning can continue despite school

closures. On a positive note three pupils attended and passed a Pre Sea Course

which they all enjoyed and gained valuable qualifications they will be able to use

in the future. We had the Christmas Craft evening which again was really

enjoyed by all, it is always good to see adults and children learning together.

The year ended with a Carol Service and Christmas party.

February 2011

For the first time in a while we ran the Babysitting course, this was delivered

by staff who came over from Kirkwall. The aim of the course was to teach the

young people about childcare and to provide them with an experience of this. I

think we were all impressed with the quality of the ‘baby’, which made the

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whole experience very true to life. Some pupils had to give the baby back,

some managed to drop the baby or not feed it on time, all the data analysed

from a chip inside. While the intention was not to put our young people off

having babies at some stage in the future, one young man was heard to

pronounce that this had totally put him off!!

March 2011

March was an action packed month with the Troot in the Shed project on the

go with the troot being released into Muckle water on the 16th. The pupils are

to be commended for their whole approach to this project. Jenny Taylor from

Orkney Woodland trust came out to help us plant trees to try and create some

shelter out the back and also worked with the pupils. We finally managed to

find a football coach and are grateful to Richard Groat for taking this on and

enabling the pupils to take part in the Soccer One programme. The Upper

Primary had been learning about Fair Trade and shared this with the rest of

the school, parents and members of the school community during a very

successful afternoon.

April 2011

Pupils were again raising funds this time for Comic Relief with their Red Nose

day and activities. The engineering group went to Orkney College to take part

in a Bridge Building competition; they were highly commended for their planning

and learnt a lot about how to improve on the actual building. They all enjoyed

the competition. Highland Football Academy staff came to the school to work

with pupils. There was a great deal of learning about volcanoes and the effects

of volcanic ash this month!

May 2011

Pupils took part in a UK wide Maths challenge at which some of our pupils

excelled. The second Tag Rugby competition took place and pupils also attended

a netball tournament on the 28th. Thanks to all staff, parents and volunteers

who accompany our young people on the wide variety of events they go to. The

annual Junior Instrumental course took place and was again attended by our

talented musicians who are supported throughout the year by their music

instructors Mrs Maxwell and Mrs Hamilton and their teacher Mr Duncan.

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June 2011

An additional Book Fair took place and as usual was well attended. Pupils taking

the Angling for Youth Development took part in a competition on Orkney

mainland where Craig won one of the events. S1/2 and S3/4 Standard Grade

Home Economics pupils went to Kirkwall during the last week of term to visit

the Cooking Bus in order to develop their skills. The feedback for the S1/2

group was that their skills and knowledge were of such a level that they would

have been able to cope with the session designed for the older age group. This

was a real compliment as Orkney was the last authority to be visited by the

cooking bus and has travelled across Scotland with the same staff manning the

bus and they felt this was the only group who would have benefitted from a

more challenging session. The S3/4 pupils are also to be commended. As each

session was half a day pupils also had either a rugby session with Bruce or a

session with Catherine – our Active Schools co-ordinator. The term ended with

the usual End of Year Awards Ceremony with merits being presented and the

special award for outstanding contributions to the life of the school going to

Jacqui Smith. The second last week on term Her Majesty’s Inspectors of

Education visited the school.

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Primary trips

We continue to work to enable pupils to gain a greater understanding of their

own world and its place in the wider world and as part of this the whole primary

studied different aspects of life in Stronsay and participated in a series of

visits to different parts of the island. All pupils will be working towards a John

Muir Award.

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Residential trips and Outdoor Education

This year the Secondary pupils participated in a three day Geography and

Science field trip to Birsay using the camping equipment and funding gifted to

us by the Stronsay Footprints. Field trips are an important element of these

curricular areas and we are aiming to ensure that all pupils now have this

opportunity to learn in the outdoor environment and put into practice skills

learned and developed in the classroom The S2 pupils did not go to Hoy this

year as usual as only four out of the nine pupils wanted to go. This will be

reviewed next year.

My thanks to all staff, parents and volunteers who make all these trips possible

especially those of you who go on days where there is an early boat and at the

weekends.

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Attainment

It is more important to us that all pupils are making progress against their own

targets. We are able to personalise learning and help all pupils to make

progress against agreed and realistic targets. This progress is carefully

monitored. During the past year all of the pupils in primary and secondary have

continued to make progress.

For pupils from early years to S1, we are now measuring attainment in terms of

the levels of Curriculum for Excellence and we reported on these in June 10.

Evening workshops have been held for parents interested in knowing more

about the levels and leaflets and information has been sent home. A

presentation was also made to the Parent Council in order for them to able to

support parents as well.

From HMiE report:-

Almost all young people are making appropriate progress in their learning. This is

measured by progress through levels of Curriculum for Excellence up to S1.

Attainment is also measured and tracked against PIPs and MidYis scores. By the

end of S4, young people have been attaining broadly in line with their MidYis

indicators across all subject areas.

• Because of small numbers, there is no meaningful statistical analysis of

attainment. However, it is clear that the quality of learning has been improving

and staffing is more stable, which is leading to better outcomes for children and

young people.

Standard Grade

At Standard Grade there were seven pupils in this year’s cohort. Pupils took

between 6 and 8 Standard grades chosen from; English, Mathematics, German,

Chemistry, Biology, Geography, History, Music, Craft and Design, Home

Economics and French.

Pupil attainment at Standard Grade continues to be very good with grades

attained in line with or above the MIDYIS indicators in almost all subjects for

almost all pupils. It is a credit to their application and the quality of teaching

that they managed to achieve to this level despite a difficult year due to staff

absence and staff unable to reach the school because of the weather and

volcanic ash. The use of GLOW to allow pupils to be in touch with their

teachers during these conditions was a key element of learning continuing.

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Wider Achievements

John Muir Award - All pupils to S2 are working towards a John Muir Award.

Music Grades

Diane Smith has chosen to take the music exams and has now achieved

distinction at Grade 3 in cello. All pupils who have music tuition may choose to

take external examinations if they wish, entry costs are paid by parents

however preparation for exams is supported by Mrs Maxwell and Mrs Hamilton

our music instructors

Maths Challenge Awards - Pupils entered this nationally recognised competition

and achieved very well, with Cameron excelling.

Enterprise in Education - This year the main focus was the production of the

book – We’ll be Ower wi the Moon.

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Merit awards

The merit award system continues to be successful in developing a stronger work

ethic and positive attitude in pupils. Pupils are given a merit for Consistent Good

Performance and Effort, Improvement in Work and/or Behaviour, Consistent

Homework Record, Positive Approach to Subject/school and being a Positive Role

Model. Pupils receive a certificate as they achieve the number of merits for the

Bronze and Silver levels. The pupils who achieved Gold were allowed a choice of

rewards which had been agreed by the pupil council. As we went through the year

some pupils achieved Gold by Easter and we had to put in a new Platinum level.

Parents were invited to the end of term event to celebrate a range of achievements

during the year and this was well attended.

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Progress with our Improvement Plan

This section gives you information about the extent to which we achieved what we

set out to do this year and what the next areas to be developed are. These will

inform the School Improvement plan for 2011/2012 along with the feedback from

the inspection.

Priority 1

To develop our curriculum in line with Curriculum for Excellence

We said we intended to

1. Continue to map curriculum against experiences and outcomes from CfE P1 to S2

2. Share planning across secondary departments and between primary and

secondary and nursery and primary

3. Raise awareness of Curriculum for Excellence with parents and partners

4. Develop Health and Wellbeing from nursery to S4 ensuring progression

5. Primary work on Literacy Outcomes

6. To consider approaches to Assessment and Moderation of progress

Here is the difference we made

The inspectors noted that we have made a positive start with Curriculum for

Excellence. Our interdisciplinary learning projects were praised by the

inspectors. Staff are working together more effectively and this enhances pupils’

learning. We have had to be creative about how this is achieved as the staff are

never all in school on the same day. We have a learning wall which has been

shared with parents and pupils, we have developed a GLOW staffroom to share

practise and have a mainland based staff meeting after school once a term. Pupil

feedback has been sought about teaching and is included when planning next

steps.

As well as the usual parents’ evenings, two evening events were held for parents

to give the opportunity to learn more about Curriculum for Excellence, GLOW and

learning and teaching in Stronsay School. Information has also been sent home.

The primary staff have used materials developed by Orkney Islands Council staff

to ensure pupils are making progress in literacy.

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Staff have worked together to look at assessment and this has been shared with

parents at the above events. School reporting is in line with Curriculum for

Excellence up to S2

From HMiE inspection feedback:

The curriculum supports the school’s vision well in terms raising expectations,

building confidence and in providing more choice for children within increasingly

more inspiring and motivating learning contexts. The design of the curriculum has

provided clear opportunities for staff to be innovative about taking forward

particular developments. It has taken good account of young people’s views and local

circumstances.

Areas for development

Continue to build on work already done to implement Curriculum for Excellence

ensuring that all stages are involved

Continue to develop assessment and moderation across curricular areas and

stages in line with national guidance

Provide opportunities for pupils to extend their understanding of equalities and

embed these within Curriculum for Excellence

Develop a clear plan for delivery of children’s entitlements to curricular

experiences in dance, drama and RMPS

Continue to provide opportunities for parents to learn more about Curriculum for

Excellence and learning and teaching in Stronsay school and to be involved in their

child’s learning.

Seek innovative ways to achieve this as the events held in 2010 – 2011 were poorly

attended.

Continue to seek parents’ views on how to improve our school

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Priority 2

To be active and healthy

The health and wellbeing of all in Stronsay School is off paramount importance

and is key to high quality learning taking place.

We said we intended to focus on the following;_

1. To promote an active and healthy lifestyle for all

2. To enable greater pupil participation in mainland events

3. To promote a positive ethos across the school and develop and enhance the self

esteem of all working in the school

4. Aim For Healthy Working lives status

5. Increase the involvement of outside agencies in the life and work of the school

Here is the difference we made

The health and wellbeing of all in Stronsay School continues to be of paramount

importance and is key to the high quality learning taking place. Our commitment

to this has been recognised as a strength in the inspection report.

All secondary pupils have been able to access the Healthy Living Centre in

addition to core PE, funded from the school budget. Pupils have been involved in

Tag Rugby and the Highland Football academy and have attended various sports

festivals. We are delighted that we now have teams competing in weekend events

now held on a Saturday. We have been asking organisers to consider this for the

last couple of years and this has finally happened.

This year through the Soccer One scheme the school football team attended

competitions on the mainland. This was made possible by Richard Groat

volunteering to be the football coach as this was a requirement for us to be able

to participate in the scheme. We are very grateful to him for taking this on and

he has continued with this into the 2011/2012 school year.

Awareness of healthy eating is on-going through the curriculum and various

displays around the school. The school canteen contributes to this and meets the

standards set by Scottish Government.

Pupils generally behave very well and show concern and respect for others. All

agreed that we respect ourselves, each other, property and the environment we

are in from the classroom to the wider world. There is a programme for enhancing

self esteem from nursery to S4. Pupils from the Upper Primary and Secondary

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completed the RESPECT course delivered by staff from mainland Orkney and

feedback form pupils showed that they valued and had learnt from this

experience

Pupils had the opportunity to work with the Active Schools Coordinator (two

pupils were invited to attend netball training for the Orkney teams)

The positive ethos of the school was recognised by the inspectors.

Areas for development

Actively seek funding to allow our pupils to continue to use the Healthy living

centre to ensure secondary pupils have the recommended two hours per week of

core PE. Up until now this has been funded from the school’s devolved budget

however this is not sustainable. (Primary pupils have two hours some of which is

delivered by the PE specialist). Seek funding to allow opportunities for dance as

part of the curriculum and as an after school activity.

Continue to embed health and wellbeing needs as part of our whole school

approach.

Build on what we have achieved with regard to building individual’s self esteem

and resilience.

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Priority 3

To improve indoor and outdoor space to enable high quality

Learning and Teaching

We said we intended to

1. Consult with all key stakeholders on use of space in school

2. Improve outdoor play area

3. Provide improved library facilities

4. Provide improved classroom facilities for all

5. Consider outdoor learning documents and look at ways to include in the

curriculum at all levels

Here is the difference we made

We consulted with all involved and have made some improvements. More

equipment was purchased for the front playground. Secondary pupils worked with

nursery and lower primary pupils to produce wooden models which are now

attached to the fence. Parents and staff are working on an application for

funding to make these dreams a reality. The library has been re-housed and

staff and pupils are working together to improve this. The senior social area has

been improved and further improvements are awaiting the pupil input.

Improvements have been made in outdoor learning opportunities through the John

Muir award and the secondary geography/science mainland field trip.

Areas for development

Ensure that there are planned opportunities for outdoor learning across the whole

school

Continue to work with all concerned to improve the learning environment

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Priority 4

To look in greater depth at Attainment and Achievement

We said we intended to focus on

1. Improve target setting and monitoring in line with personalised learning to be

agreed between staff and pupils at all levels

2. Use analysis of data from PIPS, MIDYIS and SQA to inform learning and

teaching approaches

3. Implement the John Muir Award to recognise wider achievement

4. Pupil and staff achievement being regularly recognised

Here is the difference we made

Both personal and academic targets are agreed and reviewed on a termly basis.

Pupils are encouraged to share these with home.

Pupil and staff achievement is recognised regularly using the Pupil Notice board,

assemblies and end of term awards ceremonies.

As identified by HMiE:-

The school has good strategies in place for raising achievement

Staff have appropriate systems for sharing attainment information in order to help

young people choose subjects and set targets for further learning and attainment.

.

Learners’ progress is very well monitored, including through the use of PIPs and

MidYis data, by the HT, and action is taken when progress is too slow

Young people are beginning to be exposed to new and exciting learning

opportunities and are achieving well. Use of opportunities such as the John Muir

Award are to be encouraged.

Young peopled are being encouraged to develop independent learning skills, an

awareness of the benefits of peer and self assessment and research skills

Staff promote children’s well being through celebrating success, including their

wider achievements. Successes are celebrated around the school in very good

displays, at assemblies and in the local paper.

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Areas for development

Make more use of the outdoor environment for learning across the whole school

Embed pupil tracking and monitoring of their own learning needs across the whole

school

Continue to seek innovative ways to offer pupils a wide range of experiences across

the whole school

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Priority 5

To put sustainability and creativity at the heart of the curriculum

We said we intended to focus on the following areas:

1. To develop local, national and global links

2. To revise the PSE and RMPS curriculum to ensure cohesion and progression

3. To continue working on the Crofting Connections project

4. To work towards Green flag Accreditation

5. To develop enterprise skills through the curriculum

6. To continue to develop STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

projects

Here is the difference we made

Pupils have made links with a school in Devon and in November last year we had a

visit from a teacher from Kenya and now have a link school there. Some pupils

have had the opportunity to meet and work with other pupils through the Crofing

connections trip to the Scottish Parliament last year and through participation in

events such as the Engineering challenge at Orkney college. HMiE recognised

that pupils are developing literacy and numeracy skills through these

opportunities in real-life relevant contexts. For example, they commended the

standard of writing on the AFYD blog.

Our Crofting Connections project has continued throughout the year as part of

our larger interdisciplinary learning project – Stronsay – Past, Present and Future

– the Challenge. Pupils have had the opportunity to try workshops in Weaving,

Knitting, Fly Tying and an Art Project. Pupils are being given the opportunity not

only to develop new skills but also to be aware that these skills could represent a

future employment opportunity.

The STEM group has continued during the year culminating in the group entering

the raft race.

Enterprise skills continued to be developed at all stages throughout the school

through the curriculum for example through the primary fair trade focus,

through pupil involvement in fund raising and writing applications for funding to

the SOS parent group and through the book project. These skills are also

developed across the curriculum areas and our work on interdisciplinary learning

has been recognised as a key strength.

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Areas for development

We will continue to develop our links with other schools and build on our global

citizenship programme to help pupils understand their own world and that of

others. Pupils are keen to share experiences and learn together with other pupils

and we plan to include opportunities for them to achieve this across the whole

school. We will be submitting a bid for an initial visit to our African school along

with the other six schools in Highland, Orkney and Shetland who are involved in

this project.

We will continue to develop Health and Wellbeing and look at ways in which to

capture how pupils are making progress.

We will actively seek funding to allow us to continue delivering STEM sessions as

there is no longer any funding from Scottish Government directly to schools for

this. This funding source ceased in March 11

We will continue to build in opportunities for pupils to work creatively and develop

skills in this area across the whole school

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Project 6

To improve communication with parents and the community

We said we intended to focus on the following:-

1. To involve parents in the life of the school

2. To involve the community in the life of the school

3. To raise awareness of the achievements of the school to a wider audience

Here is the difference we made

There have been a series of events organised during the year for parents to

attend to learn more about the life of the school, the learning taking place,

Curriculum for Excellence and GLOW.

Information has been sent home to parents about Curriculum for Excellence.

As reported in an earlier priority the inspectors praised the way achievements

and successes are being recognized, celebrated and shared.

Most months we have managed to submit pupil and/or staff reports to the Limpet.

Members of the community have continued to be involved in the school through

delivering skills such as Engineering, Knitting, Weaving, knowledge of birds and

wildlife, school productions etc.

Areas for development

Continue to try and find innovative ways to involve parents in their children’s

learning

Continue to work with the Parent Council and parents to ensure the school

continues to build on its successes and addresses areas for improvement

Continue to demonstrate how the school is making progress in order for all

parents to have confidence in the school and its staff.

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Priority 7

To enhance quality of learning and teaching through use of GLOW

and ICT

We said we intended to focus on the following:-

1. Use of ICT is integrated into and supporting L & T

2. To use GLOW/ICT to provide high quality learning experiences for all pupils

3. To develop use of GLOW throughout the school - some departments to develop

plans for positioning learning materials in Glow Learn

This is the difference we made as identified by HMiE inspectors:_

Young people have good access to ICT to support their learning. In a number of

Classes (including Graph Communications(an element of Craft and Design), AFYD

(Angling for Youth Development), science, HE), interactive whiteboards are used well

to enhance learners’ experiences

The improvement plan has been successful in its stated objectives of improving the

curriculum, developing healthy active lives, enhancing learning through GLOW and

ICT, exploring approaches to achievement and attainment, developing sustainability

and creativity, and improving communication with parents. All of these have led to

improved learning and improving achievement for children and young people.

There are examples of very effective use of ICT for teaching

Increasingly staff are making more use of GLOW to ensure that young people can

access suitable curricular materials when there are staffing absences

Areas for development

Continue to develop the range of opportunities for pupils across the school where

pupils can develop the ICT skills required in their future lives.

Continue to use GLOW as a one way of enabling pupils to develop independent

learning and working skills again vital for their future lives.

Develop the use of e-portfolios as a way to record and celebrate achievements

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Conclusion

We hope this gives you a flavour of a year in the life of Stronsay School. We

are continually striving to provide the highest quality of education possible by

meeting the learning needs of our pupils, working in partnership with parent,

the community and other relevant agencies.

The areas for development have all informed the School Improvement Plan for

2011/12 as has the feedback from the inspection.

If any parents would like to see the full School Improvement Plan 2010/11 they

can get a copy from the school. As always we would welcome any feedback

about the contents and format of this report and have attached a form should

you wish to comment.

Susan Robertson

Headteacher

December 2011

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GENDER EQUALITY REPORT FOR STRONSAY JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

The Equality Act (2006) introduced a gender equality duty which, among other

things, requires Education Authorities to gather information on how their work

affects men and women, boys and girls. The Authority must publish an annual

report on gender equality. The Act also requires schools to submit an annual

report to the Education Authority on how their work affects boys and girls in a

broad range of areas.

Number of pupils:

Male: 15 P 9 S (1 -4) 24 Total

Female: 13 P 16 S (1- 4) 29 Total

Following last year’s Standards and Quality Reports concerns were expressed by

parents and pupils that individual children could be identified in the reporting of

attainment. This was not actually the case however this year we have removed

this section although parents may request this information if they wish. The

important issue is that as identified in the HMiE inspection attainment is

continuing to improve and is broadly in line with all indicators.

Exclusions

Numbers excluded by gender: Male: 0 Female: 0

Access to Opportunities (analysed by gender)

Please give numbers choosing to study the following subjects, by gender;

In 3rd year – total number of boys in the year 3, total number of girls 3

Subject Male Female

Biology 3 2

Physics 0 0

Art and Design 0 0

Computing Studies Not offered Not offered

P.E. 0 0

Administration Not offered Not offered

Home Economics 2 2

Craft and Design 3 2

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Harassment

Numbers of incidents of harassment associated with gender reported. 0

Complaints

Numbers of complaints related to gender issues. 0

Please outline the actions you have taken in the last year to promote gender

equality and eliminate discrimination.

Report prepared by Mrs Susan Robertson Headteacher

Date prepared December 2011

As school policies are reviewed or rewritten they are impact assessed for gender equality The PSE curriculum includes units looking at Stereotyping and Gender Equality. Sexual Health programme delivered to all pupils includes a DVD unit where gender issues are illustrated. Pupils are all encouraged to study subjects and areas linked to their own interests and skills and all evidence shows that there is no male/female gender bias in the subjects they choose. Staff are proactive in ensuring that all pupils are shown appropriate role models in all area.

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