Standards & Quality Report 2020-21 & School Improvement Planning 2021-22
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Education and Children’s Services
Standards & Quality Report
2020-21
&
School Improvement Planning
2021-22St Fergus Primary School We are pleased to present both our Standards and Quality Report for Session 2020-21 and our School Improvement plan for 2021-22. This report forms part of our quality improvement framework and provides important information regarding our school’s progress to date and identifies our next steps in school improvement. Self-Evaluation for Self-Improvement is at the heart of our practice in St Fergus School. We continue to develop our practice in making robust use of evidence as a basis for judgements regarding the impact of our work on our learners. How are we doing? How do we know? What are we going to do now? Looking inwards to analyse our work. Looking outwards to find out more about what is working well for others locally and nationally. Looking forwards to gauge what continuous improvement might look like in the longer term. At St Fergus Primary we continue to be committed to working closely with our community and all other stakeholders that support the education we provide. Together we are working hard to ensure all our pupils get the best possible start in life and are enabled and encouraged to maximize their potential. We realise that within education things never stand still or stay the same. We continue to strive to meet the changes and challenges. 2020 and 2021 have brought unprecedented circumstances and school closures leading to new ways of continuing learning and teaching remotely including the introduction of live lessons as well as new ways of communicating with our pupils and wider school families. However, despite all this, through this document we hope that you will get a sense of our developments, successes and areas for further growth. Avril Sutherland/Pauline Robertson Head Teachers
The School and its context
At St Fergus School our vision is to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to ‘Create the
Potential to Succeed’ and that ‘Pupils will Exceed Expectations’. Our core values highlight that
we believe our pupils should be Happy, Confident, Achieving and Creative. Our school aims are
in line with Aberdeenshire Council School Aims.
AIMS
At St Fergus School we are committed to GIRFEC (Getting It Right for Every Child) to ensure our
children are SHANARRI (Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Responsible, Respected
and Included).
• We know what we are learning and why
• We can talk about our learning
• We learn well together
• We enjoy our learning
• We are all helped to make progress in our learning
• We learn in classrooms, our homes and beyond
• We celebrate our learning
St Fergus School is situated in the village of St Fergus, five miles north of Peterhead. It is a
primary school of traditional design, with an open plan extension sponsored by Mobil Oil. It
admits pupils from ELC (age 3) to primary 7 (age 12).
On completing P7, pupils transfer to Peterhead Academy, in the town of Peterhead which has
ten associated feeder schools, part of the Peterhead Cluster. Within the Peterhead Cluster, all
services operate in an integrated framework to ensure that each child has the fullest opportunity
to maximise his or her potential.
The school currently has a roll of 115 pupils and an ELC roll of 20 with seven full-time equivalent
teaching staff, including the joint Head-Teachers. The teaching team is supported by four Pupil
Support Assistants, a Pupil Support Worker, an Early Years Senior Practitioner, joint Early Years
Lead Practitioner, three Early Years Practitioners, a Modern Apprentice in ELC, our school
administrator, kitchen staff, cleaning staff and two part-time janitors.
Our school website provides current information on all aspects of school life. The school
handbook provides more information on names of staff along with other school data. A copy is
available on our website.
Community links are a vital part of school life. School has links with all companies situated at St
Fergus Gas Terminal and with smaller local businesses. Prior to the pandemic, the village church
and hall were utilised throughout the session. St Fergus School Association (Parent Council)meet at least once every term and fundraise continuously to support school improvement priorities. Again, prior to the pandemic, the school building was let out to various organisations including Active Schools, 1st Kid Zone After School Club as well as other volunteers who ran extra-curricular clubs. School staff offered many extra-curricular lunchtime clubs including choir, art, netball, coding and Children’s University for pupils to choose from. *(Outdoor netball has now resumed and the Children’s University Club for P6 & P7 meet periodically on a Thursday at lunchtime) SIMD Data The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation provides data on how many children we have living in different deciles. Those living in areas of most deprivation live within decile 1. Although St Fergus School does not have any children who are classed as living in an area of deprivation this may not accurately reflect the circumstances of all our pupils in their everyday lives and their access to opportunities or the needs that they have as individuals. We believe that all children are entitled to the best education to enable them to be the best they can be, and we work hard to achieve this for our pupils. In these unprecedented times, planning must be flexible in order to support current circumstances for pupils whether this be linked to interrupted learning, health and wellbeing, curriculum re-engagement, or even risk of digital exclusion.
This Standards and Quality Report and Improvement Plan is influenced by both Aberdeenshire and
national priorities. These can be summarised as follows:
Aberdeenshire Priorities: these should be reflected in all areas of this document and the
actions that emerge from it
• Improving learning, teaching and assessment.
• Partnership working to raise attainment.
• Developing leadership at all levels.
• Improvement through self-evaluation.
National Improvement Framework Priorities:
• Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy.
• Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children.
• Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing; and
• Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for
all young people.
National Improvement Framework Drivers:
• School leadership
• Teacher professionalism
• Parental engagement
• Assessment of children’s progress
• School improvement
• Performance information
Additionally, to support self-evaluation various quality indicators from the national evaluative
framework How Good Is Our School? 4 are referenced. Links to these sources are:
NIF- www.gov.scot/Resource/0049/00491758.pdf
HGIOS?4 - https://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/HGIOS4August2016_tcm4-
870533.pdfImpact of our developments
In this section we will outline the targets we set last session and identify the progress we have
made during session 2020-21.
Priorities 2020-21 Visible Learning
• Continue to embed Learning Leaders’ initiative throughout school, use of common learning
language.
• To encourage the co-construction of success criteria with pupils and ensure this is linked
to feedback.
• To promote appropriate self and peer feedback.
Progress Despite term 3 lockdown and period of remote learning, common learning
language continues to be embedded throughout all stages and is reinforced by
class teachers regularly. HT visits each class weekly to celebrate learning
success with pupils and this is tracked and monitored. COVID restrictions
mean that there has not been opportunity for sharing of learning by class
collaborative events, but opportunities have been provided for pupils to share
learning with others within their class bubble. All pupils can view class events
via the large screen TV in the entrance corridor. Parental communication has
been via the fortnightly newsletter, video clips from each class, and reports to
Parent Council. Learning Leaders is clearly displayed within each class and
pupils can talk with increasing confidence about their learning, their success
and their next steps.
Staff consistently share learning intentions and success criteria with pupils as
well as involving the children in the construction of this. All staff continue to
recognise the need for feedback to be linked to the success criteria so that
children know what their next steps are. COVID restrictions and a period of
remote learning meant that alternative ways had often to be thought of to
give/receive feedback. Children were actively involved in this – age/stage
appropriate.
Impact More pupils continue to display the characteristics of effective learners. This is
evidenced through monitoring and observation, HT conversations with teaching
staff at key tracking and monitoring periods, teacher reflections and
evaluations, collegiate discussions/evaluations, tracked and recorded in
celebrating success book/reflective records.
Most pupils are giving/receiving a range of feedback linked to clear learning
intentions and success criteria.
Next steps • Continue to maintain consistency in the above across all classes.
• Continue to encourage the co-construction of success criteria.
• Self-evaluate against our own school core values of happy, confident,
achieving and creative.Priorities 2020-21
• Embed French into daily classroom routines.
• Whole school initiative – phrase of the week/question of the month
Progress Staff have participated in online training according to stage/expertise. This has
included Beginners French, French virtual classrooms, Using French across
the curriculum, French 1+2 Languages Primary Pedagogy and Language
Consolidation. All teaching staff continue to be involved in refamiliarization with
Power Language online resource and are now beginning to make more use of
this learning tool with pupils. Whole school ‘buy in’ to French phrase of the
week/question of the month and this to be used in classes as way of promoting
collaboration and ensuring that French continues to be part of daily routines
throughout school. Some class teachers have established links with Modern
Language staff at Peterhead Academy for upskilling support. During remote
learning, teaching staff were supported with material from Sylvia Georgin,
Modern Languages Development Officer & Northern Alliance workstream lead.
We have a second level progression for P5-7 that clearly shows topics to be
Impact covered at set times for each year group with links to Power Language and
vocabulary to be introduced. There continues to be greater participation in daily
routines in French across all stages of school. Over the past year staff have
used digital technologies more frequently to create real and meaningful
learning experiences for pupils.
Next steps • Explore further the best ways of using Power Language resource with
composite classes.
• Develop progression to include first level for pupils in P2-4.
• Include opportunity for collaborative French conversation café event
between first and second level pupils in annual school calendar (If
COVID restrictions allow).
• Expand on 1 plus 2 links for L3 in cross-curricular planning at second
level.Priorities 2020-21
To support and build confidence in professional judgement through focus on
assessment/moderation.
Planning for holistic writing assessments 3x per session is now well embedded
Progress throughout school. Assessments are clearly linked to Education Scotland
benchmarks and staff use pupil assessment sheets to plan for next steps. (This
continued despite periods of lockdown/remote learning) Through working time
agreement, collegiate moderation opportunities are planned and shared with
staff through annual calendar. All staff are aware of/use the Moderation Cycle.
Head Teachers consistently carry out moderation exercises on
planners/samples of work/jotters across all stages and again this is pre-
planned through annual calendar. Staff are becoming increasingly more aware
of the need to gather a range of evidence to support their professional
judgement around achievement of a level.
Teaching staff now follow a progression that supports more robust assessment
of listening and talking from early – second level. This is based around
essential indicators of good listening & talking and clear statements for the
various organisers of what learners should be able to do at the end of each
primary year within early, first and second level. There are pre-planned
opportunities for pair/group discussions, listening to audio transcripts, individual
talks/presentations, film review presentations, listening & notetaking, tasks
linked to class/group/pair discussion, use of audio books, group presentations
with a structured format.
The Head Teacher supports as an Aberdeenshire QAMSO and is currently
involved in the consultation process around developing shared expectations for
learning, teaching and assessment across the authority.
Staff have continued to consistently work collaboratively to ensure that
Impact planning, learning, teaching and assessment provides pupils with opportunities
for challenge, breadth of learning and the chance to apply learning in new
contexts. Teachers are more confident in making predictions on pupil
attainment and in the use of assessment data to support professional
judgement. Use of the listening & talking progression planners is ensuring
more robust assessment is carried out and also supporting with holistic
assessment of literacy. Only the majority rather than most of our pupils are on
track or exceeding expectations for reading and writing this session although
the impact of the pandemic, lockdown and remote learning has been the main
factors in this.
• To develop further holistic reading assessments and moderate these at
Next steps early/first/second level.
• To continue to ensure opportunity for application, breadth and challenge
in learning, teaching & assessment, particularly in the core areas of
literacy and numeracy.
• To continue to use the progression planners for Listening & Talking and
to embed the changes made to the curriculum rationale in this area.
• To review numeracy/maths progressions and in particular focus on
assessment – formative and summative.
• Continue to track assessment of literacy/numeracy early level in ELC,
using more robust assessment data. Provide opportunities for
collaboration between P1 and ELC staff.Priorities 2020-21
• Health and Wellbeing (physical, mental, social, emotional) – coming back to
school/feelings of isolation during lockdown.
• Needs v Wants
Health and wellbeing survey on pupils’ attitudes to both self and school were
Progress completed with all pupils in P2-7 upon return in August 2020 and results
analysed to inform next steps for classes as well as focus groups and
individuals. Daily Dozen focus groups with HT concentrated on needs and
wants on returning to school after lockdown. All staff – teaching and support
staff have completed Nurture Training modules 1-4 with input from Educational
Psychology Service. PE assessments have been created for the various topics
within our rolling programme to provide guidance for teacher-led assessment
as well as a structure for peer-assessment of gymnastics and self-assessment
of dance. (Significant modifications have been made to our PE rolling
programme to adhere to COVID restrictions – this is updated regularly in line
with advice from Scottish Government and Education Scotland).
Data from survey was encouraging. E.g., 97% indicated they always/mostly
Impact have someone to play with at school, 90% said they always/mostly feel part of
the school community, 97% said there is always/mostly an adult they can go to
if they feel unsure about something, 99% felt there is always/mostly an adult at
school who cares about them, 94% responded that always/mostly their views
and opinions are valued. Individual issues highlighted were followed up on with
regular check-ins and monitoring.
HWB surveys highlighted two areas that needed to be addressed – importance
of a good night’s sleep, importance of making healthy food choices. Staff built
these into the planning and implementation of HWB lessons and a family task
was designed for parents and pupils to work on together between home and
school during term 1 culminating in Global Citizenship Week.
Through Daily Dozen focus group conversations with HTs, feedback primarily
suggested that pupils felt their needs were being met since returning to school
and there seemed to be a clear understanding of the difference between needs
and wants. (I want to play with my friends in another class, but I know that I
need to be safe and follow the coronavirus rules.) There has been a noticeable
increase in overall resilience among most pupils.
Next steps • Continue to use surveys on pupil attitude to self and school at beginning
of term 1/term 4 to assist with tracking and monitoring of HWB levels.
Surveys will also provide evidence for next steps in planning HWB
lessons at primary/stage levels as well as highlighting any individual
issues.
• HWB planning through SCARF to focus on targeted interventions
identified from pupil surveys on attitudes to self and school.
• Focus on assessment of HWB through use of SCARF assessment
materials.
• Implementation of the principles of the ‘whole school nurturing approach’
and all staff to complete Nurture Training module 5.
• Introduce new assessment guidance for teacher/self/peer assessment in
PE. (Core teacher/class teachers to work collaboratively on this)Priorities 2020-21
• To re-engage with the numeracy/maths curriculum and provide targeted support as
identified.
• Focus on mental maths to raise attainment through speedy recall and reinforcement of
number bonds/mathematical concepts.
August 2020 – re-engagement initially focused on place value and the four
Progress processes of addition, subtraction, multiplication & division before identifying
areas of the progression needing to be reconfigured due to gaps in learning
after lockdown. Targeted interventions were put in place for pupils who
required additional reinforcement as well as support out with the
frameworks/school progressions, and these were evaluated and modified
frequently. Additional resources were purchased to support this and to provide
individual, wipeable resources for pupils. HTs held regular tracking and
monitoring meetings with teaching staff to discuss progress including pace and
challenge. The new mental maths resource for P4-7 has been used daily.
Problem solving strategies continue to be shared with pupils and introduced at
the appropriate time and displayed in classes. These were highlighted to
parents through the Parent IP Group and via the school newsletter.
Successful re-engagement during terms 1 & 2, daily time allocated to
Impact numeracy/maths resulted in good coverage of the progression at each primary
class level. Attainment in numeracy/maths has been maintained at 80% < 90%
Impact of targeted support has been mixed due to various factors including a
further return to remote learning in term 3 as well as support staff vacancies
and COVID restrictions resulting in ASL staff only being able to support within
particular ‘bubbles’. There has been limited access to ASL staff in terms 3 and
4.
• Audit and evaluate numeracy/maths progressions to ensure breadth of
Next steps coverage at appropriate pace.
• Build assessment into the progressions that will be diagnostic and
highlight significant gaps.
• Collaborative support for staff using Numicon.
• Family Learning event with numeracy/maths focus.Priorities 2020-21
• Introduce Google Classrooms throughout school – staff, pupils and parents to become
familiar with and confident when using this digital platform.
Google Classroom was introduced with P1-7 from August 2020. Staff
Progress participated in webinar training sessions as well as other online training on how
best to provide, evidence and assess remote learning. Homework tasks were
set up on Google Classrooms to give pupils regular practise and activities were
also done regularly within school. Google Meets were used early in term 1 for
video conversations between teacher/parent as a replacement for the usual
‘Meet the Teacher’ event and as an opportunity for parents to share how home
schooling had gone during the first lockdown. Pupil Equity Funding was used to
purchase additional laptops. The Connecting Scotland Programme was utilised
to ensure pupils were not digitally excluded.
Google Classroom was used during the term 3 lockdown and return to remote
learning. Every class had timetabled live lessons on Google Meet as well as
group lessons and individual lessons as required. Jotters and textbooks were
delivered to homes so that these could be used in conjunction with Google
Classroom. iPads from school were also offered to support at home if needed.
Engagement with remote learning remained consistently high over the term
with almost all (over 90%) of pupils participating. The Head Teachers tracked
and monitored weekly engagement and alternative support was provided
as/when necessary.
Children used Google Classroom with increasing confidence. Google Meets
Impact meant that pupils could have live interaction with their teacher and peers.
Parents also became familiar with this digital platform and positive feedback
has indicated that this was beneficial in several ways compared to the first
lockdown:
• Clear plan and structure to the week.
• Jotters and textbooks were sent home to support Google Classroom, so
parents didn’t have to constantly print resources. (98% of parents
strongly agreed/agreed that this was beneficial)
• Children’s wellbeing was supported through regular opportunity to
interact with their teacher and classmates. (96% of parents felt that
Google Meets were extremely/very/useful for their child)
• Teachers could give meaningful feedback as well as one-to-one/small
group sessions as required. (82% of parents were satisfied with the
amount and frequency of feedback given by teachers)
Parent familiarity and confidence with the platform grew with 93% of parents
indicating that they found it very/user friendly and only 7% disagreeing.
Next steps • Continue to upskill staff, pupils and parents.
• Continue to issue homework tasks on Google Classroom and practise
regularly within school.
• Introduce Microsoft Teams with P7 pupils in preparation for secondary
school.
• HTs to explore Safer Schools app, share with Parent E Safety group
and look to introducing this with staff/parents as part of E Safety focus
week.Priorities 2020-21
• To re-engage with the Literacy curriculum and provide targeted support as identified.
• Early interventions to support emerging literacy.
There has been emphasis placed on the teaching of spelling sounds and rules
Progress at all stages to support children as they re-engaged with face-to-face teaching
and learning in school. The Additional Support for Learners’ teacher provided
support and a staff training session to assist with this.
Initial assessments and screens were completed with all P1 pupils in August.
This was then an on-going process throughout the session.
Weekly opportunity has been given for quality writing lessons and staff had to
adjust their planning and ‘think outside the box’ to continue this on Google
Classroom in term 3. A whole school themed approach was adopted, and
writing linked to the context. E.g., Instruction writing for the Scotland theme,
persuasive writing for E Safety week. Amendments have been made to the
way feedback is given/received and this will continue to be built upon and
adapted as COVID restrictions ease. Despite all the challenges of this session,
pupils have been given opportunity to cover all genres of writing appropriate for
their stage. HTs have had regular tracking of attainment meetings with
teaching staff so that areas for support could be identified and acted on. HTs
have monitored samples of writing from each child and these have been
moderated to ensure sufficient support/challenge is in place. All staff have
been involved in the selection and purchase of new resources to support
Literacy particularly reading, spelling and handwriting.
Disrupted learning did impact spelling attainment as highlighted by results of
Impact GL Single Word Spelling Assessments carried out in August 2020. It has been
challenging for our youngest learners to complete progressions after another
lockdown. Attainment in reading/writing has fallen to less than half being on
track for early level by end of P1 this session, but we are confident that most
are now on ‘the cusp’ for achieving this. Initial independent writing/reading is
not best suited to the remote learning model.
Use of listening & talking planners based on essential indicators of good L&T
has given pupils increased opportunities to develop their skills in this area and
has provided teachers with robust evidence of pupil progress.
• Develop robust assessment evidence of children’s progress through
Next steps early level Literacy and track & monitor this.
• Change the format for assessing/benchmarking spelling P3-7.
• Introduce and implement Nelson Spelling and Handwriting (P3-7) –
consistency of approach across school.
• Raise Literacy attainment through a whole school focus on an active
approach to reading comprehension that is strategy based while
ensuring pupils are both supported and challenged in their learning.
• Introduce and implement Nelson Reading Comprehension Scheme
P2-7.2. How good is our leadership and approach to improvement? Relevant NIF priority: All Relevant NIF driver(s): School leadership, Teacher professionalism, School improvement Level of quality for core QI 1.3 and 1.2: 4 Overview: Our school has a shared vision, core values and aims that we feel are still relevant to our school and community. The school engages in self-evaluation involving all stakeholders and encourages pupils to take responsibility for decision making and school improvement through their involvement in the Pupil Council, Prefects, Play Leaders, Digital Leaders, E Safety Team, Junior Road Safety Officers, Magazine Group and Rota Kids. We have had to think outside the box this session and find alternative ways of doing this as pupils have not been able to meet face-to-face out with their ‘class bubbles’. Use has been made of Google Classroom, Glow email, virtual presentations as well as pupil organisation of charity events within class bubbles. Pupils engage in reviewing their own learning and the work of the school. The Head Teachers ask for their views through the ongoing ‘Daily Dozen’. This was specifically used in terms 1 and 2 to focus on needs v wants upon returning to school. P7 pupils take responsibility for improving an aspect of school for those coming behind them through their annual Leavers’ Legacy. This year they decided to continue the previous legacy that came to a halt due to COVID-19, transforming an unused outdoor area into an enclosed garden/outdoor courtyard. They have all been involved in assisting with designs for a mural to be painted along one wall and pxlimited (St Fergus Gas Site) are working in partnership with us and we will have the support of a professional artist. Our Learning Leaders’ initiative continues to encourage all pupils to lead learning and share their learning with others. Learning Leader awards continue to be given regularly and although we cannot currently meet as a whole school weekly, the Head Teacher visits each class bubble and success is celebrated together as well as displayed throughout school and shared in the fortnightly newsletters. Staff continue to share lead roles in school initiatives (such as Visible Learning, Emerging Literacy, One Plus Two, DYW, Music, School Magazine, PE, Science and Digital Learning) to improve outcomes for all pupils. All staff engage in professional dialogue and are keen to continue to improve the school. New staff are fully included to ensure we have a shared understanding of what we need to do to improve through evaluating the quality of our work and the impact of change. Staff purple folders provide support and guidance for both new and existing staff. These include staff annual calendars with information on key tracking and monitoring periods, collegiate activities, etc. as well as self-evaluation booklets linked to the challenge questions from HGIOS 4. This session, staff have been both resilient and adaptable as we have continually implemented change according to COVID-19 regulations. Self-evaluation has been a regular feature of weekly collegiate time as we have reflected on the most recent adaptations, what is working well, how we know, what needs to improve and how we take this forward. We engage with all stakeholders through a range of evaluation methods e.g., Parent Evenings (Google Meet and telephone conversations this session), Family Learning Days (currently on hold but we have replaced this meantime with Family tasks for parent & child to work on together), Stay n Play sessions (currently virtual sharing through ‘Evidence Me’), surveys and questionnaires, post it comments, suggestion boxes, SFSA meetings. Numbers have steadily risen in our parent working groups (Improvement Planning/E Safety) and these are sub-groups of the SFSA. An annual school calendar continues to be issued to all parents/carers in August and this is kept updated on the school website. The fortnightly newsletter also keeps all stakeholders informed of school developments and improvements as well as being an excellent platform for sharing children’s successes and achievements. This continued throughout lockdown and was useful for keeping parents updated as well as a means of sharing children’s engagement with remote learning activities. The number of parents/carers following school on
Twitter continues to rise and the latest news of what’s happening in school or remotely from home, as well as photos/comments of pupil learning is tweeted. Teaching staff read and are continuing to become familiar with the document How Good Is OUR School? Key areas of focus as identified in audit 2019/20 around the ethos of learner participation and to what extent children at St Fergus School are actively involved in school improvement have been carried forward to our improvement planning for 2021/22 and beyond and we will continue to implement these as COVID-19 restrictions ease. 1.3/1.2 Key strengths: • An aspirational vision underpinning continuous improvement is shared by the whole community. • Our vision, values and aims drive school improvement. All staff encourage commitment to the shared vision and through focused class sessions, children are developing a clear understanding of our school vision and values. These are shared annually with parents via the school newsletter early in term 1 as well as with all new P1 parents at transition meetings. The school vision and values are clearly on display in corridors and classrooms and regularly discussed. E.g., at weekly class celebrations of success. • Parental and school community expertise continues to drive school improvement. The Parent Improvement Planning Group have continued to meet virtually with the Head Teacher. • The effectiveness of professional learning opportunities that support staff and improve outcomes for learners. • Inspired and passionate teaching is commonplace and embedded in the school ethos. • Sharing and collaboration of evaluation and improvement priorities with all staff, pupils, parents and wider school community. • Data from stakeholder surveys is used effectively in the self-evaluation process to set priorities for improvement and to clearly define next steps. • All key improvements link clearly to evaluations which are collated and driven by strategic direction. • Collaborative working practices between all staff to improve planning, learning, teaching and assessment. • Staff understand the value of self-evaluation and improvement planning. They are highly committed to work collegiately to improve outcomes for pupils and their CLPL is linked to improvement planning. • Leadership roles are encouraged and taken on by staff. • Professional Review and Development procedures are implemented as per GTCS and Aberdeenshire guidelines. • Staff are clearly aware of and use GTCS standards as a tool for self-evaluation. Identified priorities for improvement: • Give Pupil Council more opportunity to be involved in suggested school improvement - (suggestion boxes, monthly Fri pm visit to classes, display board to highlight improvements). • Raise the profile of all Pupil Participation Groups throughout school. • Consider opportunities where Parent Council (SFSA) and subgroups can be more fully involved in school improvement driven by the pupils. • Use ‘How Good Is OUR School?’ with senior pupils as a starting point for pupil involvement in gathering parental feedback/surveys. • To continue to embed the common learning language throughout school, with this clearly on display and being consistently used in all classes. • To continue to focus on the dispositions we value in our learners, consistently and rigorously developing these. • Self-evaluate against our own school core values – happy, confident, achieving and creative. • Focus on collaborative approaches to self-evaluation through involvement in TSISS as part of a trio of schools challenging and supporting one another. In relation to the priorities listed above the following action plans have been confirmed:
Actions/Roles/Timings Expected Outcomes/Impact on learners How will success be measured?
Priority 1a
Year 3
To continue to use the resource ‘How Good is Pupils will become familiar with ‘How Good is OUR Display wall – school core values – all classes to
OUR School?’ to support children to participate School?’ and will use this to ensure they are fully involved contribute regularly, raise awareness staff/pupils. HT to
fully in school self-evaluation/improvement. in school improvement. There will be more regular track learner leader awards.
opportunities for all pupils (including P1-3) to contribute Pupil Council involvement (monthly class
Use of core values/school characters/learning their views and ideas. conversations/minutes of meetings) display board
leaders to promote self-evaluation. Consider how tracking, self-evaluation documentation, Leavers’
creativity can be taken forward and developed Legacy evaluation and reflections.
further? (pupil-led) Analysis of data from senior pupil parental surveys at
term 4 Parents’ Evening (Context of World Book
Pupil Council – monthly class improvement Day/Family Learning Task to promote reading for
conversations. enjoyment)
P7 Leavers’ Legacy
Context of World Book Day/Family Learning
Event or Task term3 & Parental surveys – June
Open Evening
Maintenance
Continue to embed Learning Leaders’ initiative Almost all learners will continue to exhibit the Analyse evidence (Assembly achievement book –
throughout school, use of common learning characteristics of effective learners. They will be able to tracking), HT monitoring, focus groups.
language and planned opportunities for talk about their learning, how they learn best and steps
collaborative class working - (If restrictions allow). they can take to improve/overcome difficulties. Learning
Continue to consistently award Learning Leader Leader awards will continue to be celebrated weekly to
stickers and make children aware of how/why promote self-esteem and will also be tracked throughout
these were achieved. school. The common learning language will be on display
and consistently used by all staff.
Priority 1b
Maintenance
To continue to develop staff leadership roles, Leaders will be motivated and inspire others to sustain a Pupil conversations, Daily Dozen responses, Reflection
particularly relating to Visible Learning, One Plus collective commitment to our priorities, ultimately Record comments, Classroom observations, HT
Two, DYW, HWB, Music, Science, Digital improving outcomes for pupils. monitoring, Self-evaluation documentation, Long/short
Learning/ICT. term plans amended & evaluated, Records of
Staff will engage in self-evaluation using conversations at tracking meetings, Purple folder input,
challenge questions from HGIOS 4. Parent/Pupil survey responses.Visible Learning There will be a focus on promoting appropriate self and peer feedback. There will be daily opportunities for timely feedback to be given during lessons. Teachers will regularly co-construct success criteria with pupils. Through all the above, learners will become more assessment capable. One Plus Two There will be greater consistency from P1-7 in pupil opportunity for/participation in daily routines in L2 (French). Learners will expand their vocabulary in L2 (French) and have more regular classroom opportunities to use this vocabulary. Developing the Young Workforce Learners will continue to make links between the world of work and knowledge & skills gained in the classroom thus making learning more meaningful and enjoyable. Health and Wellbeing All pupils will be part of a nurturing environment where universal and targeted support is in place and where individual needs are met through adaptations to the environment/ethos/use of resources/staff training. (Include all staff – teaching, pupil support, early years, catering, janitorial) Music/Science/PE Through core teaching model, leadership opportunity will be provided for the development/sharing of programmes of work that ensure all pupils are covering the relevant experiences and outcomes from CfE while also upskilling staff knowledge & pedagogy in these areas. Digital Learning/ICT All pupils will be part of a digitally inclusive curriculum. There will be regular opportunity for pupils to use their emerging digital skills and knowledge in a variety of ways across the curriculum and for extra-curricular activities.
Senior pupils will be supported digitally to ensure a
smooth transition to S1.
Progress (Include comments, dates, evidence gathered including data, next steps…)
On Track
Behind Schedule
Not Achieved3. How good is the quality of care and education we offer?
Relevant NIF priority: All
Relevant NIF driver(s): Teacher professionalism, School leadership, Parental engagement,
Assessment of children’s progress
Level of quality for core QI 2.3, 2.2, 2.5: 3/4
Overview:
At St Fergus School children are safe, treated fairly and are protected by appropriate Child
Protection and Safeguarding policies. All staff have annual refresher course and new staff have
induction training. Teaching and support staff have participated in Nurture Training this session,
and all have completed modules 1-4.
Our whole school ethos is centred on our vision – ‘Creating the potential to succeed, pupils will
exceed expectations’. We believe children at St Fergus are happy, confident, achieving and
creative. These core values form the basis of everything we do. All our staff share this vision and
recognise children as unique individuals with specific talents and needs. They work tirelessly to
provide a varied and engaging curriculum and a positive school experience for all. Our curriculum
rationale is continuously evaluated and modified and is shared with parents annually as well as
being available on the school website.
Aberdeenshire Frameworks/Highland Literacy Progression and Education Scotland Benchmarks
continue to be used to inform planning and identify next steps in learning to ensure progression
for all learners, in all curricular areas. Teaching staff make use of Aberdeenshire’s BGE Sharing
Standards site on GLOW to support assessment and moderation. School progressions for
numeracy/maths, grammar & punctuation, listening & talking, music, art and French (second
level) continue to be used/evaluated. Overviews for Health and Wellbeing/Science continue to
support staff with planning, learning/ teaching and assessment. Through cross-curricular themes,
we plan lessons that are unique to our setting and locality and continue to make links through
these to the wider world of work as well as One plus Two language delivery. Staff have
participated in online training courses for ‘Using French Across the Curriculum’, Creating Virtual
Classrooms (French)’, and French 1 Plus 2 Languages Primary Pedagogy & Language
Consolidation’.
2.3/2.2/2.5 Key strengths:
• The very positive ethos in the school based on our shared vision and values and a respect
for learning. Almost all children are motivated and eager to engage in their learning.
• Positive engagement with parents through regular Sharing of Learning (fortnightly
newsletter, Twitter @StFergusSch, school website, family learning tasks that involve both
child and parent); Surveys and Questionnaires to gather feedback that is then analysed
and used to prioritise next steps for improvement; Parent Council (St Fergus School
Association and sub-groups for Improvement Planning and E Safety).
• Clear priorities for continuous improvement of the curriculum and these are regularly
reviewed and refreshed by an awareness of current educational thinking including
guidance from Education Scotland, Scottish Government and Local Authority.
• Maintaining a focus on the importance of E Safety and highlighting this with both pupils and
parents annually. (In term 3, PC Fraser worked virtually with all classes to provide
age/stage appropriate support and there was an evening virtual presentation and Q&A
session for parents.)
• Learning is being enriched and supported by more effective use of digital technologies.
Staff, pupils and parents have all experienced significant upskilling in their use of digital
technology this session.
• Staff have a shared vision and understanding of what very good learning, teaching and
assessment looks like.
• Staff use Aberdeenshire Frameworks, Highland Literacy Progression and Education
Scotland Benchmarks to plan effectively, ensure sufficient pace and meet pupil need. Theyprovide a balance of group work and personalised tasks to give children appropriate
support and challenge.
• Tracking formats are in place and staff are becoming increasingly confident when
considering a range of assessment evidence to make judgements about children’s
progress within a level.
• Holistic assessments are adding to robust evidence to assist with professional judgement
of achievement of a level.
• Collegiate time is allocated allowing staff opportunity for moderation of literacy and
numeracy within/across stages.
Identified priorities for improvement:
• One Plus Two - using Power Language resource with composite classes.
• Developing a French progression to include first level for pupils in P2-4.
• Expand on 1 plus 2 links for L3 in cross-curricular planning at second level.
• Holistic reading assessments to be further developed and implemented.
• To continue to ensure opportunity for application, breadth and challenge in learning,
teaching & assessment, particularly in the core areas of literacy and numeracy.
• Staff development work on the 4 themes in Learning, Teaching & Assessment.
• To continue to use the progression planners for Listening & Talking and to embed the
changes made to the curriculum rationale in this area.
• To review numeracy/maths progressions and in particular focus on assessment – formative
and summative.
• Health and wellbeing planning through SCARF to focus on targeted interventions identified
for each class through pupil HWB survey responses (May 2021)
• Develop more robust assessment of HWB through use of SCARF assessment materials.
• Introduce new assessment guidance for teacher/self/peer assessment in PE. (Core
teacher/class teachers to work collaboratively on this)
• Implementation of the principles of ‘whole school nurturing approach’. All teaching/support
staff to complete module 5.
• RME curriculum development work - construction of a progression for early-second level.
In relation to the priorities listed above the following action plans have been confirmed:Actions/Roles/Timings Expected Outcomes/Impact on learners How will success be measured?
Priority 2a
Year 5
Continue to implement French from P1-7 Pupils will consistently participate in daily routines Through class/learning visits and observations –
and to embed French into daily classroom in French from P1-7. teachers conducting daily routines in French,
routines, including phrase of the regular use of Power Language resource.
week/question of the month. Include Pupils will experience meaningful, well-planned Planning formats, tracking/monitoring/recording –
collaborative events in annual school learning activities, designed to extend their staff conversations with HT during tracking
calendar (if restrictions are eased). Staff to knowledge and use of French vocabulary. meetings.
use Aberdeenshire frameworks/Education First level progression completed and in use by
Staff will have a clear understanding of the
Scotland benchmarks/school second level end of term 3.
progression to inform planning and progression of the four skills in language learning
assessment. Develop familiarity with Power which supports effective learning and teaching.
Language online resource and plan for use
Digital technologies will be used by staff and pupils
with composite classes.
Further develop L3 through cross-curricular to create real and meaningful learning experiences.
themed rolling programme at second level Learners will be introduced to additional languages
for P5-7. (L3) from P5 onwards through the context of cross-
Feb In-service - development of first
curricular themed work.
level progression. L3 planning through
cross-curricular themes.
Priority 2b
Year 3
Use school survey for pupil attitude to both Staff will have a greater insight into individual Survey data, assessments, professional dialogue,
self and school to assess pupil health and learners’ wellbeing, informing specific interventions observations, feedback sheets, Daily Dozen
wellbeing. (Term 1/repeated in term 4) and more meaningful interactions. Hidden barriers responses, tracking and monitoring
Analysis of survey results also used to to learning will be identified, informing clear next documentation, track level of parental
inform future planning of HWB topics. steps for planning of HWB lessons. engagement with Family Learning tasks.
Assessment data for HWB will be more robust, valid
PEF – PSA support and reliable.
Family Learning tasks will focus on these whole
school priorities to ensure that parents are fully
involved in the HWB programme.
Include other agencies/partnership working Improved health and wellbeing for pupils – physical,
to support the above. mental, social and emotional.
Family Learning opportunities – Nurture
(EPS)Teaching staff to become familiar with
SCARF assessment resources and to begin
to use these. Pupils will have increased knowledge and skills.
Maintenance
Health and wellbeing rationale and
progression to continue to be embedded
across all stages. P5-7 to continue to
develop their first aid knowledge and Clear understanding of GIRFEC by all staff will lead
training. to more effective pupil support.
Class teachers to consider SHANARRI
indicators when planning and delivering
HWB lessons. Staff to access and use
Aberdeenshire GIRFEC website to ensure
they have a clear understanding of policies
including the updated GIRFEC toolkit.
Year 3
Core teacher – PE Continue to develop Pupils will give and receive quality feedback leading
and implement teacher/self/peer to improved outcomes.
assessment format for physical education,
physical activity and sport. Core teacher to
work collaboratively to support class
teachers.
Priority 2c
Year 3
To make use of a range of valid, reliable Use of Listening & talking progression will support Tracking & Monitoring meetings, professional
and relevant assessment tools and staff in gathering evidence while also providing dialogue, portfolios of evidence, moderation at
approaches to support the improvement of pupils with opportunity to apply their learning. Using school/cluster level.
children’s listening and talking skills. To the indicators for good L&T will ensure that
embed the use of the Listening & Talking assessment is more robust and lead to increased
progression planners (early – second level) confidence with professional judgements relating to
achievement of a level in Literacy.
in line with the adaptations to the curriculum
rationale.
Year 4
Whole school understanding of holistic assessment
Staff to plan for and carry out holistic and this is further informing teacher professional
assessments of reading as part of overall judgement. Learners able to apply their knowledge,
evidence of achievement of a level. Staff to understanding and skills in new and challenging
continue to work collaboratively to contexts, across a breadth of learning.
Staff are engaging in moderation
activities/conversations at stage and school level.produce/evaluate holistic reading Consistency in assessment and understanding of
assessments. achieving a level using benchmarks.
A shared understanding of standards.
Maintenance
Collegiate working time (stage, school, Staff will use BGE Sharing Standards Toolkit and Assessment data including SNSAs
cluster) to allow for sharing of standards will become more confident in using data and Head Teacher/staff conversations at key tracking
and for moderation of evidence triangulation of evidence to inform their professional periods
(Literacy/Numeracy) to further promote judgements on learners. Analysis of SNSAs will be Teacher evaluations
teacher confidence in their professional used diagnostically to support pupils where Observations
judgement on ‘achieving a level’ Clear use significant gaps are identified.
of Education Scotland benchmarks to
support this. Analysis of SNSA results –
P4/P7 term 3
Priority 2d
Year 5
Continue to use Emerging Literacy data to Improved assessment procedures ensure children Pupil observations and assessments
ensure pupil needs are met at the early experience a developmentally appropriate Tracking – documentation, meetings,
stages, developing robust assessment curriculum in literacy development. conversations
evidence of children’s progress through Consistent, collaborative working between ELC
early level literacy. Pupil attainment is tracked, monitored and recorded and P1 staff, ELC profiles
Attainment data to be used to target effectively and staff are confident that their Literacy resource boxes supporting identified
appropriate pupil support. Literacy boxes to professional judgements are confirmed through individuals/groups
be used for intervention/support. appropriate use of benchmarks.
PEF – PSA support
Effective planning and differentiation ensure raised
P1 teacher – initial assessments weeks attainment in language and literacy particularly in
1-3, HT – share resources/info with relation to early literacy/phonological awareness
parents of new entrants. and writing.Priority 2e Maintenance Staff to continue to implement national and Pupils will be more aware of/make links between Gifting of Leavers’ Legacy, pupil evaluation/written local guidance documentation on the world of work and knowledge and skills gained reflections Developing the Young Workforce. at school. Increased awareness of the use of Planning/tracking documentation Continue to embed skills for learning, life & higher order thinking skills. Pupils will have Learning visits, observations and conversations work, and track skills through short/long increased opportunities to apply skills to real-life term planning to inform next steps. situations/contexts. Learners will become more Use digital platforms, virtual experiences, capable and confident in the soft skills for life. online technology to explore the world of Staff will regularly reference DYW links in their work with pupils. weekly and termly planning and track skills covered. Leavers’ Legacy to continue annually with P7 class. Children’s University participation offered to all P6 and P7 pupils. Priority 2f Year 1 Nov in-service day/collegiate time Curriculum structure will support progression of Progression in place by end of session, Construct a school progression for RME to experiences and outcomes, making learning more amendments to curriculum rationale. ensure coverage/reduce repetition of all CfE relevant and meaningful for pupils. Planned experiences and outcomes at early, first & learning will be clearly linked to Es & Os and in line second level for both Christianity and Other with Education Scotland benchmarks. World Religions. Learning activities to be identified for each primary stage (composite class configurations) and key events in school calendar to be factored in. Nov in-service day – teaching staff
Progress (Include comments, dates, evidence gathered including data, next steps…) On Track Behind Schedule Not Achieved
4. How good are we at improving outcomes for all our learners?
Relevant NIF priority: All
Relevant NIF driver(s): Assessment of children’s progress, School improvement,
Performance information
Level of quality for core QI 3.1: 4
Overview:
Staff at St Fergus School have a very good knowledge of pupils, their families and the local
community. The school strives to ensure all are treated fairly and with respect and there are
clear procedures in place to support pupils. All staff have completed the appropriate equality
and diversity training on ALDO. A whole school nurture approach is embraced, and HTs,
teaching and support staff have completed modules 1-4 of nurture training with support from
the school’s Educational Psychologist. Tracking and monitoring procedures are in place for
children with additional support needs. Both learners and parents, along with staff are
involved in the setting up and review of individual educational plans where these are
required. At St Fergus School, we have an annual Global Citizenship week with a focus on
the UN Convention and the rights of the child. Classes work individually and collaboratively
on this, giving children a voice to challenge intolerance and discrimination. This is shared
with parents through Family Learning activities, school newsletter and school social media.
Fundraising for Comic Relief/Sport Relief as well as Children in Need is organised annually
and pupil participation groups are actively involved in this. A Macmillan fundraiser is held
annually and can be part of a planned IDL opportunity. Our team of Junior Road Safety
Officers organise and track the Walk to School on Wednesday initiative and all classes
participate in the Daily Mile. JRSOs take leadership for educating others about road safety
through virtual presentations, quizzes & competitions. We have a clear rationale and
programme in place for Health and Wellbeing with clear links to the wellbeing indicators to
help us get it right for every child at St Fergus School. The SHANARRI characters are
introduced from nursery upwards so that children can begin to identify visually with these and
speak about what it means to be safe, healthy, active, nurtured, achieving, responsible,
respected and included.
3.1 Key strengths:
• The ethos and culture of the school where everyone feels valued and cared for, where
views are listened to, and opinions/concerns are regarded as being important and
worthwhile.
• Everyone in our learning community is treated fairly and with respect and we place
importance on fostering positive, open and supportive relationships based on trust.
• Staff use GIRFEC and wellbeing indicators to improve outcomes for children.
• Health & Wellbeing rationale and programme with clear links to SHANARRI. SCARF
online resources (Coram Life Education) are used to deliver HWB themed topics from
early-second level.
• HWB pupil surveys are used twice yearly to identify areas for development both at
class and individual level.
• Individual Education Plans are in place if required and are written in consultation with
all relevant stakeholders.
• Individualised programmes are in place to close gaps in learning.
• Learners’ achievements in and out of school are recognised and celebrated. This is
tracked and recorded. Follow up procedures are in place to support children who may
be missing out.
• All staff are up to date with Child Protection procedures and show great commitment
to the welfare of the children.
• Chronologies are maintained on Latest Pastoral Notes.You can also read
