Junior High School

2011 / 2012

Standards and Quality Report

Each year we have a duty to report on the work of the school over the previous

year outlining the developments and progress we make to improve the quality of

teaching and learning for all in Stronsay Junior High School.

About our School

Stronsay Junior High School provides education for the island of Stronsay for

children from pre-school at age 3 to the end of compulsory schooling at 16. Pupils can

then transfer to Kirkwall Grammar School, if they wish to do so, or move on to other

education, training or employment. Pupils transferring to Kirkwall Grammar School stay

in the Papdale Halls of Residence. Pupils also have the option of transferring to

Kirkwall Grammar School at the end of Secondary 2, although few pupils take up this

option.

The timetable for the Primary and Secondary Sector is in part dependant on which day

specialist teachers arrive and the times of the planes. The plane timetable varies

during the year as the planes cannot fly in darkness. The number and length of time

each itinerant teacher is on Stronsay is decided centrally by the authority.

The number of pupils on role in 2011/12 was:

Primary Sector - 24

Secondary Sector - 27

The school has seen some changes in staff during this academic year. However they

are suitably qualified including a Head Teacher, a Principal Teacher, 4.36 Full Time

Equivalent resident teaching staff, 2.35 Full Time Equivalent itinerant teaching staff,

2 Support for Learning Assistants and an Early Years Worker with responsibility.

The learning and teaching team is ably supported by a committed group of non-teaching

staff including a Secretary/office auxiliary. Janitor and Kitchen staff. Cleaning staff

is contracted out.

This report covers the period of Mrs Robertson‟s final year at the school and my first

term in post.

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

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.

Summary of progress made on the 2011/12

School Improvement Plan.

Priority 1 Development of children’s and young people’s learning experiences.

1. What have we achieved?

The school during the academic year focused on learners‟ involvement in their

own learning. This has included the development of academic and personal

targets both in the Primary and Secondary Sectors. Learners across the school

have also been involved in peer assessment of each others work.

The School has undertaken a range of activities to develop leadership skills and

this has included:

S3 pupils undertaking the Sports Leadership Programme

Junior Road Safety Officers were introduced into the Upper Primary

class.

Pupils took part in the Junior Orchestral Course in Kirkwall

Pupils took part in debating and bridge building competitions.

Primary 7 pupils organised and ran a fund raising event for the Hoy trip.

The School also undertook work on strategies to enhance the teaching and learning of

the learners in their care, and interdisciplinary projects were established between

subjects.

During the year there was an emphasis on the development of ICT to enhance the

teaching and learning, and this included the purchase of new equipment to meet the

needs of the pupils in our care.

2. Impact on Learners

The impact of the developments on the learners outlined in the section above,

included:

Learners are becoming more involved in setting their own targets and

through this, they could more easily monitor their own progress, and

thus take a greater responsibility for their learning.

Leadership skills have clearly been developed throughout the school and

it is clear to see the enhanced maturity gained from these experience.

This maturity will in time lead to enhanced attainment.

The development of teaching and learning strategies, in-line with the

ethos behind the Curriculum for Excellence, has resulted in

interdisciplinary projects, which make learning meaningful to the

learners and enhances their enthusiasm to learn.

The development of ICT resources has resulted in enhanced ICT skills

being used across the school. This has a motivating effect on the pupils.

Primary 7 pupils have been involved in the development of P7 portfolios.

3. What we plan to do next

To continue to develop the Primary 7 Portfolio and to introduce the S3

Portfolio

To continue to embed learners‟ ability to set meaningful academic and

personal targets

To introduce Learner Logs as a tool for pupils to review their own progress.

To continue to develop meaningful interdisciplinary projects

To continue to develop learners‟ leadership skills with the possibility of

introducing qualifications in leadership and volunteering.

To enhance the reliability of the laptops and connectivity to the internet

etc.

To investigate the use/pilot opportunities for learning using remote

teaching, e.g courses on the internet or our teachers being able to teach

remotely on the occasions of no flights.

Priority 2 The continued development of the Curriculum of Excellence to meet the

needs of all learners in our care.

1. What have we achieved?

The school continues to develop the Curriculum for Excellence and has worked

on the positive start as identified in the inspection. Learners throughout the

school have had greater opportunities for personalisation in topic choice and

have been given appropriate choices on methods of recording, learning and

assessing.

The school has developed a greater understanding of Curriculum for Excellence

levels in literacy and numeracy as part of a whole authority initiative in this

area.

Work has been undertaken in the area of Drama with the pilot of drama

sessions organised by Mrs Hainsworth.

Children have had enhanced opportunities for undertaking P.E and fulfilling the

requirements of 2 hours of P.E per week.

The school continues to have a focus on the delivery of the Health and

Wellbeing section of the Curriculum.

2. Impact on Learning

The developments within the Curriculum have built upon the excellent practice

as outlined in the previous year‟s inspection. These developments have

motivated learners and the staff who have worked hard to develop them.

The learners have gained an enhanced understanding of the levels within the

Curriculum for Excellence and also through this, their next steps in their

learning.

The development of the P.E curriculum has resulted in children across the

school meeting their two hour requirement. This has been greatly supported by

the development of the Sports Leadership programme and I have seen

wonderful lessons taught by S3 pupils to Primary classes.

Children and young people have enhanced their knowledge and skills within the

area of Health and Wellbeing, through P.E, Home Economics and Personal and

Social Development classes.

3. What we plan to do next

To develop the S3 curriculum to ensure it is a broad and balanced

education

Secondary teaching staff to familiarise themselves with the new National

Examinations, including the new mechanisms of assessment.

To review and evaluate the impact of the delivey of the new curriculum in

both literacy and numeracy.

To develop the S3 portfolio

To further develop the Health and Wellbeing curriculum across the

school, including strategies to assess and track learner‟s progress.

To review the provision of Religious Observance across the school

Priority 3 The development of the Nursery in-line with recommendations of the

HMIe inspection.

1. What has been achieved?

The staffing of the Nursery, has now been stabilised with the permanent

appointment of an Early Years Worker

The resources of the Nursery have been audited and the indoor learning

environment has been reviewed and developed to ensure it is a stimulating

learning facility with easy accessible resources for the children.

A new outdoor learning environment has been developed to enhance the learning

experience for the children in our care.

The staff have had training in the latest developments in successful strategies

to enhance the learning opportunities of children. They have also worked hard

to develop the planning and delivery of Nursery sessions. This has been

supported by the Authority‟s Principal Teacher for Early Years.

2. Impact on learners

The school had an HMIe inspection of the Nursery at the beginning of the

2012/13 academic year. In this inspection, the inspectors felt that considerable

progress had been made and had resulted in enhanced learning environments which

in turn had led to motivated children who were learning at an appropriate pace.

3. Next Steps

To continue to develop the training of the Early Years Worker

To continue to enhance the learning environments, both indoor and outdoor

To continue to develop the planning in line with the latest research into the

most effective ways to support children‟s knowledge and skills.

Priority 4

1. What have we achieved?

The school has fully implemented the Authority‟s Staged Intervention Policy. It

has revised the mechanisms to record the assessment and progress of the

children with additional support needs.

2. Impact on learners

The children and young people are more involved in their learning and are with

support, setting meaningful targets.

Parents feel partners in the process to support their child‟s additional needs.

Progress of children and young people either exceeds or matches predicted

expectations.

3. Next Steps

To embed the staged intervention process for all learners

To develop clear procedures to ensure effective support for all pupils

To continue to develop effective parental involvement in pupils learning

To ensure effective tracking of progress within the staged intervention

procedures.

Successes and Achievements

Existing strengths

The school aims to produce a learning environment which meets the needs of the

learners in its care. We evaluate their progress using a wide range of methods. We

believe that:

Midyis (Middle Years in Secondary Schools) data shows that the value added by

the pupils through the secondary sector is often above the norm expectation.

The school has embraced the Curriculum for Excellence and adjusted the

teaching to attempt to fulfil the ethos behind the initiative. Our planning is in

line with the experiences and outcomes and departments have been developing

ways of assessing and recording in line with this.

Learners‟ evaluations show they are engaged meaningfully with the learning.

We have actively been involved in developments at an Authority

level to develop moderation of literacy and numeracy and we are gaining a joint

understanding of these levels through moderation exercises and involving

learners in this process.

The school and the community of Stronsay works hard together to provide a wide

range of opportunities to broaden their achievements, these include;

Music lessons in a range of instruments, enhanced by opportunities on the Isle,

with musical events in school and in the community to entertain and celebrate

their efforts.

Sporting activities including after-school football club, rugby training sessions

provided by the Rugby Development Officer.

Raising awareness and involvement in fund raising, including Children in Need,

Starlight Foundation and the Roald Dahl Charity Foundation.

The development of interdisciplinary projects/activities have enabled learners to

embrace new ideas and skills and has resulted in a real enjoyment of learning.

Priorities for future development

The school, through evaluations it has undertaken has produced a School Improvement

Plan. Within this plan the following priorities have been highlighted:

To continue to embed and develop strategies which will underpin the delivery of

the Curriculum for Excellence

To review the vision, values and aims of Stronsay School

To develop the outdoor learning environment

To further develop the tracking and monitoring of learners‟ progress

To continue to develop the Nursery in-line with recommendations from Her

Majesties Inspectorate of Education.

To continue to improve the arrangements to support learners who have additional

support needs.

GENDER, DISABILITY and RACE

GENDER Numbers of pupils in the Stronsay Junior High are low and it is therefore not possible

to report on attainment without identifying individual pupils, when considering issues re

attainment by boys and girls etc..

DISABILITY

Because of low numbers it is impossible to disaggregate these figures on the basis of

specific types of support need without risking identifying individual pupils and so the

figures are reported for the group as a whole.

RACE

Numbers of pupils from minority ethnic groups at Stronsay Junior High School are very

low and it is not therefore possible to report on attainment without identifying

individual pupils. The Authority has collected data on the achievement and attainment

of minority ethnic pupils for Orkney as a whole and will report on this in the Authority

equality report.

Exclusions. There were no exclusions this year.

Work and life of the School

In 2011/12 the following opportunities have occurred: After school astronomy club and visit by Astronomer – Steve Owens

After school football club

Family Learning week – September 2011

Tag Rugby Festival – September 2011

Safe Islander trip (S1/2) September 2011

Driving Ambition trip (S4) September 2011

Nursery trip to Stronsay Fish Mart – September 2011

Senior Instrumental course (October 2011)

Stronsay „Bake Off‟ event – November 2011

Book Fair – December 2011

Christmas Carol Service – December 2011

Involvement in Crofting Connections Project. Trip to Skye in Oct 2011 and trip

to Kirkwall event in March 2012

Weaving/knitting instruction – January/February 2012

Visits from Rugby Development Officer – February/march 2012

Visit from Yvonne Scott (Transport Officer)

Visit from Cycle Orkney – Cycle safety workshops – March 2012

Lead 2014 trip (S3) to mainland Scotland – March 2012

Troot in the shed project – January – March 2012

Trout Release trip – March 2012

Fund raising events by Support our School Committee throughout the year

Visits from Careers Advisor

Bridge Build trip (S1/2) – May 2012

Pier Arts Centre Trip (Secondary Art Pupils) – May 2012

Junior Instrumental Course (May 2012)

Tag Rugby Festival (Upper Primary) – May 2012

Primary Athletics (Upper Primary) – May 2012

Debating Competition – S2/3 – June 2012

Visit from SSPCA representative (May 2012)

Primary Athletics event (May 2012)

Angling for Youth Development trip to Mainland Orkney (Secondary pupils) –

June 2012

P7/Secondary trip to Hoy Outdoor Centre – June 2012

Visit from Cartoonist – June 2012

Regular Visits from Speech Therapist, School Nurse, Dental Service and Active

Schools Representatives.

Visits from Dr Hamilton, Cello instructor

Junior Roads Safety Officers

On the 12th of October 2011 Yvonne Scott came out from the mainland to do the

primary 7s JRSO (Junior road safety officers) training. She showed us a film, gave us

puzzles and lots more. Soon after that we did our first JRSO session, we all took

different classes and planned what we were going to do with them. We did a session

every Wednesday, we either went in their class room or the hall, and did a number of

activities. On the third planning session we made our display in the main corridor. On

our last session we did an all classes event in the hall. We drew out a road and we made

traffic lights and road signs. We all really enjoyed ourselves

By Molly, James, Rebecca and Jack

Support Our School Variety Concert On Saturday 3rd March 2012, the Stronsay “Support Our School” committee held

a variety concert in the Stronsay Community Centre. The evening was filled with

great entertainment including performances by the Stronsay‟s Silver Darlings,

Carole Cotterill, David Bowen, the Stronsay Singers, the Bairns of Stronsay

School, Bill Miller in the disguise of „Lizzie‟, Joanne Rendall, Rebecca Fish, Mike

Burger, Roger Neville-Smith, Tilly, Josephine & Emilia, Jacqui, Diane & Keith and

Ingram & Mike. All the performances were enthusiastically received and warmly

applauded by a very appreciative audience. Overall, it was a very successful event

and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. (By Diane Smith)

Troot in the Shed

In January 2012 the school started to raise Trout. We were given a flask containing

trout eggs. These we kept in a tank in a shed. As they grew we posted their progress on

a blog. The project was called, „ troot in a shed. These fish were release into local lochs

on the Isle. The course also taught us how to fish, and this project was supported by a

project called; „ Angling for Youth Development or AFYD‟ the course also gave us the

chance to go to Kirkwall with MR Pietri, Mr Rose and a member of the Orkney trout

fishing association for a fishing trip. The 5 S3 pupils for 3 days and the S2 class for

the last day which was also a competition day with other schools. (By Kevin Kent)

Hoy Trip

Our time in Hoy was full of challenges and activities. First of all were shown to our

rooms in the hostel. Each room had four beds which was good because there were four

boys and four girls. On the first day we were split into two groups, boys and girls. Our

challenge was to build a raft with the materials available. We all had a great time and

the girls won! The other challenges included an obstacle course, walking in a giant

gorge, archery and forest walk. We had a nice time and we wish that the next class

enjoy it the same. The girls won at everything apart from archery, YAY!

By Rebecca and Molly

Visiting Cartoonist

In the summer term, the school had a visit from Adrian Osborne, who is an Australian

cartoonist. He worked with the pupils all day, talking to them about his work as a

cartoonist and showing them how he used cartoons –caricatures in particular- to make a

scrapbook of his holiday to the UK, with pictures of events, such as the Diamond

Jubilee. He did workshops with the classes to show them how to draw their own

caricatures and he even drew some caricatures of a few primary pupils. Overall, the day

was very interesting and everyone enjoyed creating their own caricatures.

(Leah Shearer)

Effectiveness and Deployment of Staff

Team work is promoted through regular staff meetings. These take the form of whole

staff and departmental meetings. The school has used its available resources to the

best effect; ensuring specialists are available to teach the appropriate subjects.

Classroom Assistants have a weekly opportunity for consultation with the Support for

Learning teacher. This is used to provide guidance and training.

The school has also had a several changes in staff:

Mrs Groat went on Maternity leave in May 2012

Mrs M Dennison took a career break commencing in March 2012

We also look forward to the arrival of Mrs Evans as a temporary Upper Primary Class

teacher

Mrs Robertson resigned as Head Teacher and Mr King was appointed in April 2012.

Sheena Cooper left her post as Early Years‟ Worker in December 2011. The post was

covered on a temporary basis by Cassy Adams and Yvonne Weaver.

Inclusion and Equality—promoting equality

The school is aware of its duties, general and specific under the Race Relations

(Amendment) Act, the Disability Discrimination Act and the Equality Act 2006.

Equality issues are discussed and ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic diversity is

recognised, valued and promoted as a positive feature of the school. There is no

barrier to participation in activities through culture and language, disability, race,

religion, sexual orientation or additional support needs.

All staff are informed about the legal aspects of racial discrimination and are aware of

ensuring that there is no racial harassment or sexual discrimination. Equality issues are

addressed through the Personal Social Development curriculum. Circle time is used in

primary classes and anti-bullying/anti-racismare some of the topics for class

discussions and assemblies.

We believe that the promotion of equal access to sport is an important priority.

Our Active Schools Coordinator plays a key role in our developments.

Access to the school buildings and classrooms for disabled pupils is assessed regularly

and necessary improvements identified.

Vision and leadership

The school continues to develop a wide range of initiatives and through these

experiences, staff gain considerable leadership opportunities. The school also strives

to develop leadership opportunities for the pupils and considerable work occurred in

this area through interdisciplinary projects. Examples of this include the development

of:

Staff:

Attendance at National subject specific events on mainland Scotland

Subject specific workshops on Orkney Mainland

Pupils:

Sports‟ leadership

Participation in „Lead 2014‟ project

Participation in „Young Ambassadors‟ project

Rugby training

„Troot in the shed‟ project

Participation in debating competition/bridge building competition

Outdoor education experience in Hoy

Organisational leadership of fund raising events

Attendance at instrumental events

Conclusion

This has been a busy year with the school continuing to develop in-line with the

recommendations from the Her Majesties Inspectorate of Education inspection report,

published in September 2011. In the short time I have been at the school, I have found

a wonderful team of staff, pupils, parents and the community working towards a

common goal of developing learning in Stronsay.

Andrew King , Head teacher