School Development Plan 2017-2020 A Parents’ Guide Ongoing selfevaluation at whole school, senior staff, departmental, year group and classroom levels exist as part of our commitment to ensuring we tailor and enhance learning experiences for our pupils and make best use of our time and resources. Much is conducted in-house where good practice is shared and the opinions of pupils and staff are sought in a wide variety of ways and good relationships drive school improvement. The approval afforded by industry-level awards (e.g. Investors in People) and bodies such as the Department of Education (DENI), the Education Authority (EA) and the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETi) are also used as external ‘barometers’ of our effectiveness. Additionally, every 3 years we also formally invite all pupils, staff and parents to respond to online questionnaires. These are constructed by Kirkland Rowell and allow us to compare responses with all the other similar schools across the UK. All evaluations are then used by governors and senior staff to inform the School Development Plan (SDP). It is a statutory requirement for all schools to submit an SDP to DENI. We are now at the start of a new SDP cycle for 2017-20. In
addition to the in-house self-evaluation outlined above it was informed by the ETi inspection in February 2017 that provided an additional opportunity for parent voice. Thank you to those parents who took time to respond to Kirkland Rowell and ETi questionnaires. We very much value your responses and although we have a robust endorsement of a lot of what we do and how we do it, we remain firmly committed to the belief that it is only through shared dialogue that we can keep abreast of the changing needs of our young charges and improve our school further. Key focus areas for 2017-20 are presented overleaf. For each there is a dedicated action plan that is reviewed formally twice a year by the Principal and relevant member of the senior staff. In addition to the key focus areas are action plans that attend to the everyday areas of your child’s educational experience, as listed below. These too are formally reviewed twice a year by the Principal. Responsibility for the ongoing regular review of all action plans is held by the Vice Principal and senior staff who report to the Principal. Pastoral Care Special Education Needs Online safety Literacy
Numeracy ICT Progressive Technologies International Dimension
Ballyclare High School Development Plan 2017—2020
Key areas of Focus 1. Teaching for Learning - monitoring, evaluating and reviewing Target - create a consistent approach that impacts positively on pupil outcomes via: A. the consistent application of classroom routines and departmental procedures B. an explicit focus on monitoring and reviewing pupil progress once per term C. continued sharing good practice 2. Pastoral - Academic congruence Target - ensure pupil tracking and intervention is efficient in terms of workload and that it positively on pupil outcomes via:
impacts
A. adherence to a consistent approach to pupil tracking B. agreement of and adherence to a strategic and consistent approach to intervention C. a monitoring and evaluation of the efficacy of tracking and intervention at departmental, pastoral and senior staff levels 3. Communication with parents Target - ensure parents are well informed regarding the life of the school via: A. promoting activities and events proactively B. enhancing the use of a new website to ensure we reach out to parents and that information is both up to date and accurate C. the development of a whole school communication strategy
4. Health & Wellbeing Target - continue to invest in the pursuit of HWB for all via: A. sustained efforts to pursue greater efficiencies at departmental level B. a sustained commitment to the School’s HWB agenda 5. Continuing Professional Development Target - develop the commitment to becoming a coaching school via: A. professional development opportunities for the acquisition of “soft skills” B. professional development opportunities for enhancing the use of coaching conversations with pupils C. ensuring access for all through inclusion of the above in the PRSD/RLS programme
Red - Raising Achievement, Orange—Developing Potential, Green—Caring, Yellow—Communicating, Blue—Community
School Development Plan 2017-2020: pupil targets Targets for pupil outcomes constitute a second element of the SDP. Targets we are required to set this year are listed below:
Key Stage 3. % pupils expected to reach Level 5 in Communication - 100 % pupils expected to reach Level 5 in Using Maths - 100
GSCE. % pupils expected to achieve 5 or more A*-C grades - 99 % pupils expected to achieve 5 or more A*-C grades incl Eng and Maths - 97.5
NI Grammar average 5 GCSEs (incl Eng+Maths) 94.1%
NI Non-grammar average 5 % pupils entitled to FSM* expected to achieve 5 GCSEs (incl Eng+Maths) 47.0% or more A*-C grades incl Eng and Maths - 97.5
*Free School Meals
% pupils expected to achieve 7 or more A*-C NI Grammar average 7 GCSEs (incl grades - 97
Eng+Maths) 91%
% pupils expected to achieve 7 or more A*-C NI Non-Grammar average 7 GCSEs grades incl Eng and Maths - 97
(incl Eng+Maths) 41.9%
% pupils entitled to FSM expected to achieve 7 or more A*-C grades incl Eng and Maths - 97
A level % pupils expected to achieve 2 or more A*-E grades - 100 % pupils entitled to FSM expected to achieve 2 or more A*-E grades - 100 % pupils expected to achieve 3 or more A*-E grades - 77.7 % pupils entitled to FSM expected to achieve 3 or more A*-Egrades - 77.7
NI Grammar 3A*-C A-Level 76.3% NI Non-grammar 3A*-C A-Level 51.5%
School Development Plan 2017-2020: staff training
The third and final element of the SDP is Staff Training. Both statutory and nonstatutory elements are summarised in the table below.
Many staff also voluntarily participate in our non-statutory, in-house continuing professional development scheme. It is designed to manage talent and develop a self -reflective culture, based on an inherent belief in the potential of the individual and fuelled by a ‘can-do’ attitude. Our approach is one of distributed leadership and our aim is to create and sustain a ‘leaderful’ culture.
All teaching and non-teaching staff are subject to annual performance reviews with the Principal; a variety of statistics inform this discussion. All teaching staff fulfil statutory Performance Review and Staff Development (PRSD). Research-informed continuing professional development is provided during Staff Development Days (SDDs). It is aimed primarily at enhancing teaching for learning and to support health and well-being.
We remain unashamedly ambitious for all our pupils and staff and encourage you to be “part of Ballyclare High”. If you feel you wish to comment on or can support any aspect of our school improvement work, either through volunteering your time or resources, please contact me in the first instance. We are also in a position in turn to provide leadership training and expertise for developing a culture of wellbeing in your business. Warmest regards, Dr M Rainey
SDDs
in-house
Teaching for Learning: differentiation, pupil tracking and intervention, literacy, numeracy.
shadow leadership
Pastoral: Safeguarding, Child Protection, online Safety, concussion awareness, first aid.
coaching conversations
Progressive technologies to enhance communication. Health and Well-being. Leadership Skills: soft skills, sharing good practice, results analysis, selfevaluation, team-building, commonly observed routines.
mentoring working groups Research Lesson Study