Session: 2017-18

Establishment

/ Swinton Primary School

Head of Establishment (Acting Head)

/

Emma Gillies

Area/Local Improvement Group

/

NE3

Head of Service

/

Colin Crawford

Area Education Officer/
Quality Improvement Officer /

Andrea Reid/ Kay Hamilton

CONTENTS

1.Vision, Values and Aims

2.Summary of Self-Evaluation Process / Priorities for Improvement in the current session

3. Action Planning

Action Plan Summary for Stakeholders

1. Our Vision, Values and Aims
In Swinton Primary we strive to have children who feel happy and confident and proud of who they are. Who are given the opportunity to be all they can be to reach their full potential in life.
We aim to provide the best possible education for our children by creating a school where everyone works together to ensure we all feel valued and respected. We do this by setting high expectations and ensure learners have exciting and challenging opportunities.
Our School Values
Trust
Care
Happiness
Responsibility
Respect

2.Summary of our self-evaluation process.
Self-evaluation plays a key part in planning for improvement in Swinton Primary.
As a whole staff we review and identify aspects for improvement. This is done through SIP activities and annually as part of our planning for improvement agenda. In May all staff evaluated the impact of the session’s improvement priorities to ensure we have a good understanding of the impact this session’s SIP has had on pupil learning and staff development. The results of this were very positive.
Pupils are involved in self-evaluation through our whole school committees, weekly assemblies, School Captain’s surgery, focus groups and ‘Let’s Do Lunch!’ with the HT. We also carry out interactive assemblies to gather information about strengths and areas for improvement.
The Strategic Planning group met every term to evaluate progress in line with the SIP. This ensures effective progress through tasks as planned and allows for discussions to take place in regard to any changes in direction.
Staff completed audits this session onNumeracy and Maths, Learning Logs and whole school planning. This allowed the working parties to ensure appropriate focus and direction for improvement tasks.
All stakeholders who visit the school complete a stakeholder’s questionnaire on departure and these are reviewed termly to identify issues or aspects for improvement.
Parents complete evaluations after every school event this allows us to look at ways to improve events and evaluate the success of the event.
As we get a high level of turn out at parents meetings this is an ideal opportunity to give out feedback information to parents and to ask for opinions and views. Parents at our final parent council meeting of the session gave their feedback on the strengths of the school and areas for improvement and these have been used in our Standards and Quality and 2017-18 SIP.
This session will be developing our understanding of new support material to encourage the use of professional standards in the self-evaluation process and to focus on the impact of continuing professional development. We work hard to link the development work in the school and staffs’ individual development needs to give effective PRD opportunities.
Strengths identified:
  • Involvement of all stakeholders, including pupils, parents, staff and outside agencies in our self-evaluation process and feedback is used to plan our next steps and priorities for development
  • Pupils can demonstrate a sound knowledge of Growth Mindset and can explain how this has helped them in their learning. Children through their learning log can identify the importance of mistakes in the learning process. Teachers are now building in more time for reflection during lessons to allow children to self-assess progress and to seek out more challenging learning opportunities if necessary.
  • Staff and Pupils report an increase in positive attitude and motivation towards numeracy. Parents report pupils are more willingly tackle challenging aspects of Numeracy and maths and they have more strategies to do this.
  • We have a very positive ethos of the school, as a Rights Respecting School this impacts all we do. Teachers plan exciting and engaging learning experiences for children and work hard to develop their individual skills and talents. Commitment and teamwork from all staff to ensure that all the children and happy, safe and achieving their potential.

Priorities for development:
1: Literacy – raising attainment in reading and writing, with a focus on reading for enjoyment. In partnership with parents establish Parent/child Numeracy and Literacy workshops
2: Whole school planning, assessment and moderation
3: Match school pathways to the updated Benchmarks in Numeracy and Maths from Education Scotland. Tracking of Numeracy becomes uniform throughout the school in line with the updated pathway. Ensure assessments and tracking are robust and help guide next steps.
No. / Quality Indicator / Priority
1 / 2.2
2.5 / Developing the curriculum in literacy.
Family Learning
Tasks to achieve priority / Timescale
and checkpoints / Evidence of Impact > (data, observation, views)
Share SIP and gain staff ideas and concerns about reading for enjoyment. / By end September 2017 / All staff will have a clear pathway as to how we will meet this priority. Staff will provide views and take ownership of initiatives to increase the profile of reading for enjoyment, family learning and digital literacy.
Seek view from all children and parents on time and attitudes towards reading for enjoyment. / By end September 2017 / Parents and children will provide views and become aware of our initiatives to raise profile of reading for enjoyment this year. Information gathered will provide us with measurable benchmark to assess impact of interventions made throughout the year.
Seek parents’ views on literacy workshops they would like to attend over the coming session. / By end September 2017 / Family workshops will be tailored to what parents would like to attend. This should result in an uptake rate in excess of 10% of targeted cohort group.
Create a programme of family learning sessions for the coming school year. / Oct 2017 / Attendance at family learning sessions should ensure that future data collected should show increased confidence from parents in supporting the development of their children’s literacy at home
Launch First Minister’s Reading Challenge (FMRC) / Oct 2017 / Children will be motivated to read. Profile of reading for enjoyment raised. Classes will work collectively to reach challenges.Resrouces from FMRC will allow teachers to track individual reading records.
Create library data base and children profiles. / Dec 2017 / Re-establishing a school library is central to the school's improvement plan is raising attainment in both literacy and to promote reading for enjoyment throughout the school. This library will provide access to a range of reading materials and allow the children to access more areas of the curriculum and use their new skills in various subjects.
Review and update fiction and non-fiction resources in school library, / Dec 2017 / Staff and children will create audit of fiction and non-fiction resources required. The data collected from children will ensure any gaps are plugged. .
Train pupil Librarians / By Feb 2018 / Trained pupils will manage the library system and this will allow them to develop their leadership skills in a new role and environment.
Share pupil reviews and allow children to begin selecting on recommendations. / By April 2018 / Children will be able to choose books based on recommendations from friends and sharing views on authors and genres will become inherent part of reading for enjoyment.
Seek children and parents views on time and attitudes towards reading for enjoyment and collate feedback on family learning sessions. / By May 2018 / Data collected and measured against baseline evidence will show a 10% increase in the number of children who read for enjoyment.Children will report increased motivation to read as range and quality of resources are improved.
Deliver training session to all staff on key areas of digital literacy (digital footprint, filters, Digital Schools award) to promote opportunities and look at new technology Es and Os. / By Oct 2017 / We will build capacity in staff and pupils in Digital Literacy and see evidence of this during learning walks and peer observations.
Evaluate our performance againstfive digital schools criteriaand begin preparing to meet the necessary requirements for validation. / By Oct 2017 / Staff will have an awareness of the accreditation programme. Staff will identify areas of strengths and future development areas. SMT will use this to create action plan to develop our capacity as a Digital School.
Plan for ICT development to be outlined in the school’s policy. / By Nov 2017 / Staff will have reference to school’s policy on how ICT and digital literacy supports teaching and learning.
Staff to share existing good practice of digital resources they use in their classroom for teaching and learning or for assessment. / By Jan 2018 / We will build capacity in staff and pupils in Digital Literacy and see evidence of this during learning walks and peer observations. Pupils will be offered opportunity to comment on use of digital technology during learning conversations.
Digital Schools award to be continually updated with evidence of good practice. / By May 2018 / Staff and pupils will be able to demonstrate our commitment to becoming a Digital School and we through this we will build staff’s capacity to deliver digital learning/digital literacy.
Staff leading on this priority – including partners / Resources and staff development
Lesley Maxwell
Kirsty Brown
Baillieston Library / CAT session.
Time from working time agreement.
Questionnaires to get quantative and qualitative data.
Questionnaires to seek parents’ views.
Launch event in collaboration with Ballieston Library.
PEF PT time.
New graphic novels, range of blogs, play scripts and early and first level non-fiction resources.
ICT and Literacy base
Time from working time agreement.
Monitoring paperwork, observation feedback sessions.
Staff training for PT, time for training session for children.
In-service day slot to develop staff capacity.
Questionnaires from staff, parents and children.
Share good practice from other establishments.
CFE Literacy benchmarks
3. Action Planning
No. / Quality Indicator / Priority
2 / 2.2 Curriculum
2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment / Whole school planning, assessment and moderation
Tasks to achieve priority / Timescale
and checkpoints / Evidence of Impact > (data, observation, views)
Look at effective planning, assessment and moderation models from Education Scotland and from other schools in the authority and out-with the authority / By October 2017 / Use models from Education Scotland to guide our PAM process
Discuss existing bundling practise and how to stream line this. Formalise a format for planning teaching of Es and Os Implement new planning documents (with benchmark pathways) excluding Literacy and Numeracy. / By October 2017 / Streamlined approach to planning for all staff to ensure effective breadth and coverage of all Es and Os for pupils.
Planning supports progression towards achieving a level and SMT can more easily track coverage of Es and Os across stages.
Carry out whole school planning, bundling Es and Os across curricular areas. / September
Joint planning time from WTA / Streamlined approach to planning for all staff to ensure effective breadth and coverage of all Es and Os for pupils
Planning supports progression towards achieving a level and SMT can more easily track coverage of Es and Os across stages
Agree upon a benchmark to assess and moderate in level groupings. Agree moderation activities to carry out in Level groups / By December 2017 / Staff engage with others in professional dialogue regarding progression through levels.
Carry out planned assessments and moderate in Level groups / By December 2017 / Staff engage with others in professional dialogue regarding progression through levels. Standards and expectations are consistent across school.
Teachers can consider their practice in terms of the lessons they plan and the experiences they give to pupils
Pupils will be asked for their views and opinions on the curriculum and assessment in our Interactive SIP assembly. This information will help shape the curriculum developments / October 2017 / Pupils are at the centre of their ‘Learning Journey’ and have ownership over their learning.
Look at pupil led planning in other schools in and out-with the authority.
Discuss, create a format for and introduce pupil led planning / By January 2018 / Pupils have increased engagement in their learning through discussing criteria, sharing and reviewing samples of their work and identifying strategies they found helpful to their learning
Plan a rich task as a whole staff to assess bundles of Es and Os and moderate the assessment / By January 2018 / Assessment tasks provide learners with valid opportunities to assess agreed standards and expectations of benchmarks
Complete Social Studies Rationales / By March 2018 / Staff will report that the rationales further support teaching and learning. Rationales support progression of benchmarks and allow robust assessment to take place.
Staff leading on this priority – including partners / Resources and staff development
Lead – Emma Gillies / Education Scotland frameworks for assessment and moderation
Education Scotland Benchmarks
Collegiate work with other schools
Learning Community meeting to discuss improvement plans
CAT nights
In-service Day improvement planning
3. Action Planning
No. / Quality Indicator / Priority
3 / 2.3 Learning, teaching and assessment
3.2 Raising attainment and achivement / Raising attainment in numeracy linked to Glasgow’s attainment challenge.
Tasks to achieve priority / Timescale
and checkpoints / Evidence of Impact > (data, observation, views)
Teachers to work within levels to create suggestions of ways in which we can use the new resources to facilitate learning in the concrete  pictorial  abstract approach. / Term 1 / Teachers are using materials in their daily teaching, mentioning this in weekly evaluations and being observed by management in learning walks. Children will feedback on the use of resources.
Develop school planning documentation for teaching and learning in line with Glasgow Counts Framework and current benchmarks. / Developed in line with timescale of Glasgow Counts Training /
  • Streamlined planning which is linked to the new benchmarks.
  • Staff will report that the new planning format further supports them using the Glasgow Counts approach in their classrooms.
  • SMT can more easily track coverage of Es and Os and benchmarks across stages.
  • Planning supports progression towards achieving a level and SMT can more easily track coverage of Es and Os across stages.
  • Easier identification of pupils who require intervention to achieve a level.

Trial and evaluate formative assessment as detailed in GC framework. Teachers identified at each level to pilot assessment approaches and compare with existing assessments. / End of session 2018 / Teachers feedback on existing GC approach to assessment (thinking caps) and how this informs our planning.
Compare and contrast information gathered from GC assessments and existing assessment examples.
Create a School Policy as necessary, evaluate and update existing policy. / End of session 2018 / School Policy will clearly encompass the values and philosophies within the Glasgow Counts approach.
Staff leading on this priority – including partners / Resources and staff development
Susan Sweeney
Charlotte Copeland / Training as required in house and then from other establishments where appropriate.

Glasgow City Council Education Services: Improvement Planning