Improving Outcomes Standards and Quality Report 2021-2022
North Lanarkshire Council · 22 November 2022
Back to Education, Children and Families Committee — 22 November 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Education, Children and Families Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref Date 22/11/22 (PO34.1) Improving Outcomes Standards and Quality Report 2021 -2022 From Janie O’Neill, Head of Education (South) E-mail oneillja@northlan.gov.uk Telephone01698812269 1. Background 1.1 The Education and Families Directorate aims to provide the highest quality education services for our children and young people. The Standards and Quality Report 2021- 2022 (Appendix 1) and summary document (Appendix 2) outlines progress made Executive Summary The Education Standards and Quality Report covers the period from August 2021 to August 2022 and brings together, in one document, some of the key highlights in respect of improving life chances for the children, young people and communities of North Lanarkshire. Despite ongoing challenges presented by the Covid Pandemic, the Service continued to focus on key drivers for improvement, ensuring all learners were supported to achieve their full potential, regardless of their socioeconomic background. There was a continued focus on strengthening the cluster model, reviewing core curriculum pathways and pedagogical practice for literacy, numeracy and digital learning, with emphasis on quality assuring processes to ensure excellence and equity. The Standards and Quality Report 2021-2022 sets out some of our achievements in delivering that ambition within the context of a global pandemic. Recommendations It is recommended that the Education Children and Families Committee: 1. Approve the contents of the Standards and Quality Report. 2. Approve the contents of the E&F Improvement Plan 2021-22 The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Support all children and young people to realise their full potential Ambition statement (6) Raise attainment and skills for learning, life, and work to enhance opportunities and choices
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towards achieving our improvement priorities, highlighting key successes and identifying next steps. It reflects progress made towards identified improvement priorities, outcomes and measures for session 2021-22, as detailed in our evaluations (Appendix 3). 1.2 Removing the barriers to achievement and ensuring excellence and equity for all is a key priority for North Lanarkshire Council. Through our work with young people and their families, and with our communities and partner organisations, we are committed to making North Lanarkshire a thriving community where everyone is able to live, learn, work, invest and visit. 1.3 This Education and Families Standards and Quality Report is designed to serve three purposes: (i) To provide all stakeholders and the people of North Lanarkshire with performance information across the 6 National Improvement Framework (NIF) drivers and against our improvement priorities to measure how well we are improving educational outcomes for children, young people and their families. (ii) In line with external grant funding, we are required to summarise the outcomes and performance of the Pupil Equity Fund Programme at authority level. The Scottish Government have acknowledged that in order to reduce bureaucracy and duplication, we can link this reporting requirement to the existing statutory requirement under the Standards in Schools etc. Act 2000 as amended by the Education (Scotland) Act 2016. This requires us to prepare an annual report describing local authority activity to: (a) reduce inequalities of educational outcome experienced by pupils as a result of socio-economic disadvantage and (b) achieve the strategic priorities of the National Improvement Framework (NIF). The Standards and Quality Report allows the local authority to meet those requirements. The Standards and Quality Report will be shared with all stakeholders and forwarded to Scottish Government. (iii) To provide the information required to contribute to the Scottish Government’s annual report on the 6 NIF drivers for improvement. 1.4 In December 2021, NIF priorities were updated to reflect legislative changes incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into law. The introduction of the new priority ensures that practitioners, at all levels, are aware of their responsibilities in relation to the UNCRC. The 6 drivers were also updated. Key changes include closer alignment of curriculum and assessment and integration of early years terminology throughout the drivers. This provides increased cohesion and reflects the progressive nature of the 3-18 Curriculum for Excellence. This report will focus on the new drivers and priorities. 1.5 Please note that in session 2021-2022, we returned to the formal exam system for the Senior Phase. Furthermore, Achievement for Excellence (ACEL) data was collected for P1, 4, 7 and S3. These changes must be considered when reflecting on attainment results, drawing comparisons and tracking trends over time. 2. Report 2.1 Education and Families has developed approaches to service delivery to successfully implement a range of national and local educational aims and priorities. The aim is to ensure that every child and young person is equipped with the skills they need to lead successful and fulfilled lives and to contribute positively to their local communities and to the local and national economies.
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2.2 The 2021-2022 Standards and Quality Report sets out examples of the progress we have made in achieving those improvement priorities. The attached Standards and Quality Report also highlights some of the highly effective and innovative practice, across education establishments, and with families and local communities, to continue to support recovery processes and to combat the effects of poverty on children and their families. 2.3 Evidence of our progress and improvements in relation the 6 NIF drivers permeate the document: • Performance Information • School and Early Learning Centre (ELC) Improvement • Curriculum and Assessment • Parent/Carer Involvement and Engagement • Teacher and Practitioner Professionalism • School and ELC Leadership 2.4 For session 2021-2022, we offered a blend of traditional (in school) and digital consortium Advanced Higher arrangements. Retaining the digital offering increased opportunities for young people to engage in Advanced Higher courses out with their locality. Next Steps 2.5 In addition to highlighting our strengths and successes we have also identified key areas for development and next steps, in order to deliver excellence and equity and to ensure better outcomes for children, young people, families and communities, throughout this report. Our Service Level Improvement Plan for session 2022-2023 is attached (Appendix 4). This report provides specific detail around our new priorities and how we will measure progress. 2.6 The Strategic Equity Funding is the part of the refreshed approach to the Scottish Attainment Challenge. It continues to focus on improving outcomes for children and families impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty related attainment gap. As part of this new approach, Local Authorities were asked to use local intelligence and data to identify stretch aims for various measures and submit these to the Scottish Government. These measures were categorised as core and core plus. 2.7 The core elements are part of a requisite package of measures identified by the Scottish Government. Core Measures include ACEL for P1, P4 and P7 Literacy Combined, ACEL for Numeracy P1, P4 and P7 Combined, 1 or more at SCQF Level 5 and 1 or more at SCQF Level 6. The benchmark for all stretch aims is data from 2020- 2021. 2.8 Local Authorities were able to identify their own Core plus stretch aims. North Lanarkshire Council’s Core Plus focuses on improving attendance (primary and secondary) and includes a participation measure reflecting the exceptional work that the Virtual School team have been working towards over the past 2 years in improving outcomes for our Care Experienced young people. 2.9 NLC’s core and core plus targets will be included in the Service Improvement Plan for session 2022-2023.
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2.10 North Lanarkshire Council’s governance is based upon the European Framework for Quality Management (EFQM) approach which describes the vision and values, key systems and processes, and the expected outcomes. The EQFM criteria are embedded within How Good is Our School 4? (HGIOS4?) so that each criterion is reflected in several quality indicators. Throughout session 2021-2022, officers worked with colleagues from across the service to evaluate and review processes and practice to refine and co-construct an ambitious, effective and sustainable model of school improvement that is underpinned by rigorous self-evaluation and robust processes and procedures. Following a small-scale pilot, these processes will be used by all primary and secondary establishments in session 2022-2023. Early Years will begin a phased approach to their introduction. These new processes with further strengthen our approach to self-evaluation for continuous improvement and inform data used within the Standards and Quality report for session 2022-2023. 2.11 As part of our revised approach to quality improvement, and in line with the holistic approach we are taking to improving outcomes across all services, an additional step of evaluating school performance with partners will be added to the secondary schools attainment review process. In addition, there will be a cluster review of attainment with partners built into our revised self-evaluation frameworks. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Continue to raise attainment and achievement for all young people and provide opportunities for them to develop skills for life and work. 3.2 Continue to work in partnership with parents and carers to provide meaningful opportunities for them to engage in service, and establishment level, self-evaluation processes that facilitate continuous improvement processes and enable all parents to have opportunities to support their children’s learning. 3.3 Continue to support headteachers to improve outcomes for children and families, through implementation of, and participation in, robust self-evaluation and quality assurance processes. 3.4 Continue to use a range of qualitative and quantitative data to track and measure progress and inform planning for improvement processes. 3.5 Achievement of core and core plus stretch aims. 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 Appendix 1 – Standards and Quality Report 2021-22 (Wider Stakeholders) 4.2 Appendix 2 – Summary of Standards and Quality Report 2021-22 4.3 Appendix 3 – Evaluated E&F Improvement Plan 2021-22 4.4 Appendix 4 – E&F Improvement Plan 2022-23 Janie O’Neill Head of Education (South)
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? It should be remembered that the projected reduction in Scottish Attainment Challenge funding equates to a reduction of £4 million in funding over four years. SAC funding will reduce to £3.5 million by 2025 – 2026. 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐
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5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed? The work of the Education and Families service should positively impact on areas of Risk by improving outcomes for learners, closing the poverty related attainment gap and ensuring all learners reach a positive destination, however, the Covid pandemic has exacerbated the level of risk around these key priorities. Therefore, it is acknowledged that any failure to address these issues effectively is likely to have ongoing implications for the Council not only in terms of short-term equity aspects but on its longer-term ambitions for inclusive growth and prosperity for all. These risks are included in the Corporate Risk register.
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North Lanarkshire Council Education and Families
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Foreword from Education and Families Convener I am pleased to introduce this Standards and Quality Report for 2021 – 2022. As with the previous year, the academic session continued to be interrupted by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this report we show the progress made across the education service in the period. I am delighted to say there is strong evidence of sustained improvement, which is a testament to the excellent work that goes on in our schools, centres and other establishments. The report highlights these issues and shows where we intend to focus our efforts next. Emerging from the pandemic, our schools and centres have redoubled their efforts to realise the ambitions of North Lanarkshire Council to ensure that all young people have the best start in life and achieve to their full potential. I am pleased to commend this report to all stakeholders. In my new role of Convener of Education, Children and Families, I am enjoying the challenge of getting to know our staff across our services. There is a lot of great work going on, which everyone should be proud of. In times where there are challenges faced by families due to the wider economic context, educational success has never been more important as a route to a successful future for families. Councillor Angela Campbell, Convener (Education, Children and Families) Message from the Deputy Chief Executive In 2021 – 2022 the service has continued to bring forward continued improvements in a wide range of areas. We have completed all but one of our new family learning centres for early years. We are making considerable progress in relocating a number of our ASN schools and services. We have rolled out ambitious summer programmes for those experiencing the greatest levels of disadvantage. We have strengthened our Empowering Clusters model and revised our curricular offering to young people. We have seen considerable improvements in our digital learning and seen continued improvements in attainment across a wide range of indicators. Of course, there are still huge challenges. There are lingering effects of the Covid pandemic, which have affected the engagement of some pupils in education. Bringing such pupils back to full educational engagement is a key priority for the service. There is therefore a big emphasis on educational recovery and minimising the risk of on-going educational harm. There is more we plan to do to close the attainment gap and we are planning ways to do this. We are also working hard to help children and families stay together when they experience crisis, by strengthening our holistic family support. Mainly, in this report, we want to give a sense of the scope of our activity and ambition to improve. I am plased to join with Councillor Campbell in commending this report. Derek Brown, Deputy Chief Executive
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Standards and Quality Report - Contents Page Section 1: Our Context Section 2: Our Plans and Priorities Our Plans and Priorities An Overview of Improvement Planning Processes Section 3: Leadership of Change Impact of Covid on the Service Building Leadership Capacity Transformational Change - ASN Empowering Our Clusters Parental Involvement and Engagement Club 365 Activities Programme Section 4: Ensuring, Wellbeing, Equality and Inclusion NLC Educational Psychological Services Support for Young People Health and Wellbeing Road Map to Recovery SAC & PEF Black Lives Matter Section 5: Learning, Teaching and Assessment Supporting Educational Recovery Re-designing the Curriculum Action on Climate Conference Music Curriculum Future Fridays & Pathways Programme Vocational Education & HNC Programme Gaelic Active Schools Digital Section 6: Raising Attainment and Achievement Attainment - Broad General Education (BGE) Attainment - Senior Phase Early Years - Programme of Work Curriculum: Virtual Schools NLC Statistics HMIE and Education Scotland Section 7: Next Steps Next steps: Planning for the Future Overview of Recovery and Change Activity (POW) Appendices NLC Statistics
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Our Context North Lanarkshire occupies around 181 square miles in the Central Belt of Scotland. The area is mainly urban with some rural areas. There are three main urban areas in North Lanarkshire: Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, Airdrie and Coatbridge, and Motherwell and Wishaw. The council area has a population of 340,000 making it Scotland’s fourth largest local authority. In 2017, the council established the North Lanarkshire Fairness Commission to develop policy recommendations aimed at tackling poverty and inequality in the area and the recommendations have been reflected in ‘The Plan for North Lanarkshire’. Our Local Area There are 9 community areas: • Airdrie • Bellshill • Coatbridge • Cumbernauld • Kilsyth • Motherwell • Northern Corridor • Shotts • Wishaw Educational Estate • 119 primary schools, 10 of which have attached language and communication support centres. • 80 primary schools offer Early Years provision. (57 Term Time and 23 Full Time.) • 23 secondary schools, 4 of which have an attached support centre. • 23 council managed Family Learning Centres • 9 additional support needs establishments • 16 NLC schools are recognised as Rural Schools Our Children and Young People • North Lanarkshire has 6,000 children in early years placements and 48,000 children in primary and secondary education. • 25% of our young people living in SIMD groups 1-2 and circa 11,000 have clothing grants. • 22.67 % of our children are entitled to Free School Meals • 25.28% of our children are entitled to free clothing grant • 8907 children are registered with an additional support need • 2072 children are registered as having English as an additional language • 1409 children are care experienced (currently and previously) Scottish Attainment Challenge Session 2021-2022 was the last year of Attainment Challenge programme incorporating the nine Challenge Authorities, of which North Lanarkshire was one. This has been replaced by the Strategic Equity Fund (SEF) model which now incorporates all local authorities. SAC funding is being directed to support the excellence and equity agenda. NLC effectively uses this funding to close the attainment gap that currently exists between those living in Scotland's least and most deprived areas. Our Plans and Priorities
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National Improvement Framework Education and Families are committed to promoting excellence; in terms of ensuring children and young people acquire a broad range of skills and capacities at the highest levels, and equity, removing barriers and implementing strategies to ensure every child and young person has the best opportunities to succeed and thrive, regardless of their social circumstances or additional needs. We have a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Our key improvement priorities are underpinned by the National Improvement Framework (NIF) Priorities. In December 2021 the NIF priorities were updated to reflect legislative changes incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in to law. The introduction of the new priority ensures that practitioners, at all levels, are aware of their responsibilities in relation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): • Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education • Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy • Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people • Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing • Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people The 6 drivers were also updated. Key changes include closer alignment of curriculum and assessment and integration of early years terminology throughout the drivers. This provides increased cohesion and reflects the progressive nature of the 3-18 Curriculum for Excellence. Plan for North Lanarkshire The Plan for North Lanarkshire [929kb] sets the direction for the council and partners. Its purpose is to communicate the shared priorities and provide a focus for activities and resources. This high-level strategic document outlines a long-term vision for North Lanarkshire - a vision where North Lanarkshire is the place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest, and Visit. Priorities of the Plan The Plan outlines five complementary priorities: • Improve economic opportunities and outcomes. • Support all children and young people to realise their full potential. • Improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. • Enhance participation, capacity, and empowerment across our communities. • Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base In addition to the recovery of all aspects of the Education and Families service following the pandemic, the Service remains committed to supporting the council by addressing the priorities above. During this recovery phase, our continued focus on reducing childhood inequalities, remained a key priority for both the council and its partners.
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An Overview of Our Improvement Planning Process Local Authority Improvement Planning Processes Local Authorities have a duty to improve standards in education, challenging and supporting educational establishments to ensure continuous improvement. North Lanarkshire’s quality improvement framework is based upon the European Framework for Quality Management (EFQM) approach. It empowers school leaders to secure continuous improvement while providing assurance to stakeholders on the quality of education provided for learners. Establishment Planning Processes All schools produce a School Improvement Plan (SIP) and report on progress through the School Improvement Report (SIR) as part of the Annual Improvement Calendar. The calendar provides a clear improvement planning timeline, so all Heads of Establishment and central officers understand their roles and responsibilities in supporting continuous improvement. There is integration of the SAC/PEF planning and reporting within the SIP, which enables establishments to strategically target key priorities and to use robust, evidenced-based approaches to secure improved outcomes for learners. SIRs summarise establishments’ progress against identified improvement plan priorities and include key data (attendance, exclusion, attainment and wider achievement). They include progress made to close the attainment gap between the most and least deprived children. Evaluative statements included within SIRs are based on rigorous, collaborative self-evaluation. Establishments grade their performance against the four identified Quality Indicators, linked to the National Improvement Framework (NIF), using the six-point scale from HGIOS?4. To complete the improvement cycle, establishments identify next steps and new priorities to be included in the following session’s SIP. Priorities are then broken down into SMART targets outlining outcomes/expected impact, measures of success, tasks, roles and responsibilities. SIPs are submitted for scrutiny. Reviewing Attainment and Improvement Education and Family Managers (EFM) and Heads of Service (HoS) play a key role in supporting authority wide improvement. They line manage Head Teachers and monitor the implementation of NLC’s quality improvement calendar and processes, as outlined above. They provide essential support and challenge, in all aspects of the improvement cycle, to ensure improved outcomes for learners. They lead and coordinate internal and external scrutiny activities including attainment reviews, Validated Self Evaluation (VSE) visits and HMIe Inspections. They contribute to authority wide self-evaluation and reporting processes including Standards and Quality reporting.
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Family Group Activity North Lanarkshire has a well-established Family Group system. This system enables head teachers to collaborate with other school leaders working in establishments with similar demographics to review practice, analyse attainment data and plan improvements based on similar priorities. It provides establishments with increased opportunities to engage with external partners to improve their practice for example through engagement in cross authority partnership work with South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) or participation in collaborative action research (CAR), supported by the Robert Owen Centre. Conducting secondary attainment reviews within Family Group forums supports effective moderation discussions building a shared understanding of best practice. Cluster Improvement Plans Cluster Improvement Plans are the responsibility of all head teachers and are coordinated by Cluster Chairs. Cluster Improvement and Integration Leads (CIILs) also contribute, by working with Cluster Chairs to analyse data from across the cluster, identifying priorities to create a Cluster Improvement Plan (CIP). The CIP provides a focus for planned interventions and facilitates effective collaboration and sharing of expertise and resources across the cluster. Validated Self Evaluation Processes Validated Self Evaluation visits (VSE) are an integral part of our improvement process. They provide an additional layer of support and challenge to facilitate continuous improvement. EFMs are responsible for ensuring that all establishments are included in a cyclical process for VSE. The frequency and format of the VSE visit reflects context: the purpose of the visit and the level of support required by the establishment to secure sustainable improvements. At the universal level, a VSE can be used thematically to highlight and share good practice. At the intensive level it can be used to provide immediate intervention and support to facilitate improvement. All VSEs are planned and implemented in line with our agreed VSE protocol. This protocol was evaluated and updated during session 2021-2022 to ensure it reflects best practice and maximises the opportunities available through our new operating model. Engagement with Education Scotland Education Scotland colleagues are engaged in supporting our improvement journey in a number of ways. Examples include: Provision of continuous lifelong professional learning opportunities, leading inspection and review activity and advising on curriculum development and innovation work through Regional Improvement Collaboratives. Our allocated Attainment Advisor has a key role in building the capacity of leaders and practitioners by supporting effective self- evaluation processes. How well are we doing? How do we know? What are our next steps?
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Securing continuous improvement whilst responding to the pandemic (2021-22) Effective leadership has been, and will continue to be, fundamental to educational recovery in the post pandemic phase. We have well established leadership programmes at every level. This builds individual and collective capacity which, in turn, improves outcomes for learners. Leadership of Change: NLC Programme of Work All service improvement activity at a strategic level is incorporated within the Plan for North Lanarkshire, Programme of Work. This programme commits all officers and staff from across Education and Families to a radical programme of change, involving the delivery of national and local priorities as determined by Scottish Government and North Lanarkshire Council. • How well do we use our vision, aims and values when making decisions about future improvement priorities? • How effective are our approaches to planning for continuous improvement? • How do we ensure a continued focus on improvements in outcomes for learners? • To what extent are our tools for change impacting positively on staff and improving outcomes for learners? “As a Quality Team, we aspire to support, challenge and build capacity of NLC providers to deliver high quality care and learning to improve outcomes for children and families.”
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Covid Impact on the Service Absence Statistics During the Covid pandemic, there were over 29,100 occasions when a young person had to self- isolate and over 2,000 occasions where a staff member had to. This was either to do with having Covid or being a close contact of someone who did. These periods of isolation challenged the Service to respond quickly to ensure continued Service delivery and to maintain high quality learning experiences for all young people. Robust absence recording processes enabled the Service to track and monitor the impact of absences at Local Authority, Cluster and individual establishment level, deploying additional cluster level resources as necessary. Clear procedures were in place to ensure all young people could access learning during periods of isolation and that any necessary financial supports, including free meal provision, were provided for all who were entitled. Individual clusters and establishments also implemented robust tracking procedures to ensure all families had access to supports as required. Providing Financial Support Securing Additional Staffing To support recovery and mitigate pressure on staffing resources, 378 additional teachers were recruited for session 2021-2022. The appointment of these additional members of staff, reflects the Service’s strategic approach and commitment to meet current and future challenges and to equip our service with the resources it needs to succeed at pace and at scale. Additional staffing was deployed strategically to empower clusters to utilise specialist staff to provide targeted specialist support for schools in literacy, numeracy, digital learning and wellbeing, improving outcomes for learners, and to maintain core staffing levels in emergency situations ensuring continued Service delivery.
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Building Leadership Capacity The pandemic may have instigated a shift to digital delivery of leadership programmes; however, it has facilitated the opportunity for colleagues across Scotland to participate in them. This has therefore allowed for greater networking across Scotland. Participation and interest in the programmes remains high with 83 Principal Teachers, 38 Depute Head Teachers and 12 Head Teachers registered this session. Of the 38 Depute Head Teachers registered, 24% of the cohort are from Local Authorities out with North Lanarkshire Council. This represents a 2% increase in uptake from other Local Authorities from last session. The other Local Authorities represented on the DHT programme can be viewed below: Additionally, combined evaluations across the leadership programmes showed that most attendees either agreed or strongly agreed with the four evaluative statements asked. Innovation and Improvement Hub The Innovation and Improvement Hub continues to be a central focal point for a variety of users across Education and Families, providing a bespoke platform for staff to access high quality professional learning experiences. The table below illustrates current levels of staff engagement per month across the period of February 2022-June 2022.
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Transformational Change: ASN We Aspire College Following five statutory consultations, in June 2021, we received approval from the Education and Families Committee, to create We Aspire College. This involved the re- location of SEBN schools: Pentland school to Townhead campus, Fallside school to a twin location of Coltness High school campus and the 7 Day Centre in Wishaw, Portland High school to Skills Academy building. Planning has also been underway to develop an Outreach programme as part of the We Aspire offer for next session. In addition, Glenburn college was created for senior ASN pupils from Glencryan and Redburn schools. During this session, transition planning has been underway to ensure Child Centred transitions are in place to support the moves to the new facilities on completion of building works. Increasing ASN capacity As part of the re-configuration of Intensive services transition planning and transition activities were undertaken this session to relocate primary aged pupils from Mavisbank School to Drumpark school to begin the new session in their new school. Pupils from Clydeview School were also supported with transition planning to their new school building, the former Daisy Park Centre within Firpark/Cathedral Primary School campus, for academic session in August 2022. Education and Families Committee gave approval to conduct a statutory consultation on the proposal to relocate Bothwellpark High School, create a P4-P7 Language and Communication Support Centre (LCSC) as part of St Aidan’s PS and develop a zero to five ELC service within the Edward Lawson Centre as a second phase of reconfiguring intensive ASN systems and services. This consultation was approved at committee and plans are moving forward which would see the new facilities available during school session 2023/2024. Empowering Staff There has been significant work done to upskill staff and to ensure that there is more effective planning and delivery in schools and establishments. This began following the school-based self-evaluation programme which was conducted in 2020. This gave a school specific view of what needed to be done to improve the culture and practice in schools and centres. The Inclusion Team and Talent and Organisation Development (TOD) team hosted a series of online workshops on the February in-service day, and these were open to all Additional Support Needs Assistants (ASNAs) and Classroom Assistants. Staff were shown how to access training on LearnNL and were encouraged to complete a training needs analysis. Attendance was excellent with approximately 650 attendees from a workforce of around 1000. There was a 60% response completion rate for the training needs analysis, equating to 395 attendees. As a result of this information, links have been made with New College Lanarkshire, who are now providing a free course to all ASNA and Classroom Assistant colleagues. There is now a more clearly aligned suite of training and development resources available to schools and centres to access which has been developed in relation to the ASN Review aspirations. Please refer to the table below.
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Modern Apprentices (MA) In academic year 2021-2022, there were 19 Modern Apprentices (MAs) recruited to work in ASN and mainstream schools. 17 candidates have been successful in securing positive destinations following completion of the programme as can be seen in the table opposite. Feedback from Heads Teachers has been positive. The quality of MAs, their enthusiasm and their great attitudes toward the role has been reported, and the energy they bring to the school is considered as very valuable for the Service. As part of the career pathway, training opportunities are provided for Modern Apprentices (MA) workings with our mainstream schools and ASN establishments. This training is in addition to the structured programme provided via College Providers. The table below identifies some of the training opportunities currently on offer. Other bespoke training opportunities continue to be identified within schools following visits and engagement with HTs and CIILs and plans to deliver these are implemented accordingly. Needs Based Pathway Following a thorough review, and the input of a working party comprising of a range of professionals, a new process was introduced to help ensure that robust, reliable and transparent decisions are reached. The ‘Needs-Based Pathway Review (NBPR)’ links closely with the Universal, Additional and Intensive support approach and the closer to home agenda. It replaces the previous ‘allocations’ model. There is an increased emphasis on the careful use of assessment information and detailed profiling of the child and young person. This process strengthens pupil and parental involvement in the process. The number of parental enquiries received following the process reduced this year by 37%. Training events are strengthening our shared vision and developing a strong understanding of the rationale for the NBPR process. The NBPR process articulates with Empowering our Clusters and the principles of Universal, Additional and Intensive support. Additional information requested as part of the new process in relation to care-experienced young people, reflects our commitments in relation to The Promise. 80% of applications to the NBPR were successful.
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Empowering Clusters The Empowering Clusters Model is recognised as a key function in ensuring integrated partnership working that is centred around the wellbeing of children and young people within their local communities. Last session we aimed to strengthen the empowering clusters model by focusing on recruiting staff, building teams, and creating robust processes while prioritising the health and wellbeing of our young people and their families. Key Developments include: • Robust cross sector data cleansing to streamline processes, facilitate early identification and intervention whilst improving equity of support. New processes strengthened the capacity for collaboration and integrated planning. • Further recruitment took place to build capacity, with 15 CIILS now in post on either a permanent or fixed term basis. • GIRFEC staged intervention training for all Heads of Establishment, raising awareness of integration of UNCRC and responsibilities associated with The Promise. • Locations for Wellbeing Hubs identified and developed. • Hub utilised from April 2022, to deliver supports such as enhanced transition groups, partnership programmes, and direct teaching and learning. Clear plans are in place to ensure all Hubs are operational for session 2022-2023. • As shown in the diagram, the Service maximised use of additional funding from the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund (CYPMHWB) to improve outcomes for children and families. Clusters will build on these support systems with a focus on improving attendance and reducing exclusions. • 3 strategy days planned and delivered to almost all CIILs, to create a shared vision and understanding of the role. • Sessions provided for Cluster Support Teachers (CSTs), providing an opportunity for teams to share skills, expertise and build capacity. • Needs Analysis conducted to inform a bespoke training programme for CSTS to equip them with the necessary knowledge, skills and confidence to deliver targeted support for learners. • Development of a dashboard to measure impact of targeted work with identified children and young people.
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Engaging with Parents National Action Plan on Parental Involvement 1 THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT, ‘LEARNING TOGETHER: NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT, ENGAGEMENT, FAMILY LEARNING AND LEARNING AT HOME 2018 – 2021’, WAS PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 2018. LAST SESSION, DESPITE SOME ONGOING RESTRICTIONS, NORTH LANARKSHIRE CONTINUED TO COLLABORATE AND ENGAGE WITH PARENTS AT BOTH SCHOOL AND AUTHORITY LEVEL. Engagement Throughout the Pandemic During the Covid-19 period the Deputy Chief Executive and other officers met with focus groups of parents (mainstream and ASN). This acted as a ‘sounding board’ and allowed us to get first hand views and updates from parents during this difficult period. We also supported parents and acted on their views/requests. Parents really appreciated these meetings and they felt informed and consulted. These meetings have continued beyond the pandemic. Training Offers To enable Parent Councils to effectively support the wider life of schools, various training sessions are offered over the course of each year. Parent Council members must undertake the Criterion Led Selection session, prior to participating in interview panels. Parental Engagement Strategy The Parental Engagement Strategy has a much wider focus than parent councils and parental views. This strategy focusses on parental involvement, parental engagement, family learning and learning at home. It is a focus on parental engagement in the widest sense. This will be reviewed next session, in collaboration with a variety of stakeholders, including parents.
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Engagement with the West Partnership The West Partnership is a collaboration of eight local authorities across the West of Scotland: East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. 35% of Scotland’s school population attend a West Partnership school. There are over 1000 nurseries, primary, secondary and Additional Support Schools (ASN) schools in the West Partnership, serving mainly urban communities. The West Partnership has the greatest proportion of children and young people living in SIMD 1 and 2 data zones, across Scotland. Workstream CLPL Each session, the West Partnership offer continuous lifelong learning opportunities, and last session, the uptake on West Partnership offers by North Lanarkshire colleagues was as follows: HT Mentor Last session, North Lanarkshire utilised West Partnership funding to invest in 4 Head Teacher Mentors. These individuals are experienced and credible retired Head Teachers, who have a track record of success in their own establishments. An induction programme has taken place and support has already taken place in one establishment, with plans for a wider reach of support for next session. Leadership CLPL Offers The West Partnership work in conjunction with the Mudd Partnership and offer a variety of coaching CLPL opportunities. Last session, NL accessed 100% of all available spaces on leadership learning set CLPL and coaching CLPL opportunities.
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Club 365 Activities Programme Pre-lockdown statistics indicate that 21% of children and young people in North Lanarkshire are affected by low income and material deprivation (Local Child Poverty Action Report 2019). This translates into 31,888 pupils in SIMD 1-4 (the highest in Scotland) and more than 19,000 pupils are entitled to Free School Meals (FSM), 15,032 (inclusive universal entitled) of which are in primary education. North Lanarkshire Council has extensive experience in delivering and supporting various Summer Programmes and initiatives, albeit through localised service arrangements. Previous experience and activity include Club 365 (18 Sites), The Community Learning and Development Summer Programme, Active and Creative Communities Summer Activities and New College Lanarkshire Enhanced Summer School transition offer. Over the last 4 years, the national funding picture in relation to tackling holiday hunger has evolved with several funding packages being made accessible to local authorities to support vulnerable and low-income families throughout the pandemic. As part of this package, NLC was awarded £1.555m to continue free school meal entitlement during the summer holiday period and circa £0.765m to support summer holiday initiatives, which will provide coordinated access to food, childcare, and activities for low-income families. NLC strategically planned to use this investment to build on and enhance existing local provision, with the purpose of addressing the negative impacts associated with extended periods of isolation and lack of participation in normal activities during the pandemic. NLC built the programme around the 3 guiding principles, advised by Scottish Government and outlined in the diagram below. During the 2022 summer school holidays, eligible children and their families benefited from access to coordinated holiday activities, childcare and food provision, that meet their needs and support them to thrive. Our clear focus on co-creation with children, young people, and families, building on existing services and assets, knowledge of what works, partnership working and coordination, enabled us to maximise the benefits for our children and young people. 2, 925 children accessed mainstream Club 365
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Enhanced Additional Summer Club 365 Offering Club 365 3 Sites (ASN) The enhanced Club 365 offer for pupils with Additional Support Needs (ASN) operated across 3 hubs for 20 days, Monday to Friday between 10am to 2pm each day from Monday 4th July until Friday 29th July. Between 318 and 390 pupils accessed this service, per week during the summer holiday period. In addition to the ASN offer, 1100 activity passes were issued to families of pupils within the ASN sector providing cinema and leisure passes. The passes included access to North Lanarkshire’s swimming pools and the Time Capsule Waterpark. ASN Hub applications: Intensive Club 365 Summer Offer (Targeted Children and Young People) The intensive offer focused on empowering lead officers to work with children, young people and families at risk of experiencing disadvantage. This provision included individual, small group and family activities. These interventions were scoped out, planned and coordinated through the Virtual School. The Service received requests for summer supports, and these were submitted from Education, Children and Families staff including Social Work locality teams, Intensive Services, Kinship Team, Community Learning and Development and from school clusters. A total of 397 requests were received for individual young people and/or family supports with over 5500 being delivered via activities, vouchers for family days out or direct input from Virtual School staff. Bespoke support packages for a small number of young people who struggle to access and engage within a group setting are being delivered as individual summer projects. This has included activities such as trips to local parks, the seaside or places of interest, developing skills for life (budgeting and food/clothes shopping), hill-walking and interactive visits to the local fire service station. This approach maximises opportunities from available funding whilst working to further enhance the offer across each of the implementation levels: Universal, Additional, and Intensive. Activity Offers Demand increased by circa 440%! Universal offer: Free School Meal Vouchers On the 1st of July, 10,246 families of children and young people in receipt of FME received a £2.50 per day payment via direct bank transfer or voucher, equating to £80 per child.
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Although Covid related restrictions began to ease during session 2021-22, the Service continued to navigate significant organisational challenges presented by the pandemic. Driven by shared values, staff continued to collaborate and adopt a strategic approach to deliver positive outcomes for children and families. Ensuring Wellbeing, Equality, and Inclusion • How well do all staff understand their role and responsibility in supporting learners’ health and wellbeing? • How well do we know the steps we have taken have improved outcomes for children? • To what extent do our schools celebrate diversity? • How well do we use SAC/PEF to close the poverty related attainment gap?
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North Lanarkshire Council: Educational Psychology Service North Lanarkshire Council Educational Psychology Service (NLCEPS) fulfilled its statutory duties and delivered on National and Local priorities in 2021-2022 through the implementation of a range of psychological offers. In session 2021-2022: • NLCEPS provided a link Psychologist and a regular visiting pattern to NLC establishments (n=182). • Educational Psychologists (EP) delivered training, conducted research, undertook casework and provided consultation and advice at all levels of the system. • Educational Psychologist undertook key functions at an Authority level e.g., Fostering and Adoption, Birth-to-Three Panel, out of Authority casework. • Approximately 1850 cases were open to EPs in 2021-2022. • Data from Annual Planning Reviews reveal that EPs conducted work at a universal, additional and intensive level within establishments. Intensive level work was the most prevalent. Some key highlights for 2021-2022 include: • 30 workshops (Critical Incidents and Lifelines Lanarkshire) were delivered to 423 staff from Education, Health, CLD and Social Work. Evaluations revealed an increase in familiarity and confidence levels for practitioners. • 41 establishments undertook staff development in nurture. Evaluations revealed an improvement in practitioner confidence and an impact on children. • 75 trained practitioners have attended reconnector sessions this academic year to share practice and reinforce their knowledge surrounding Seasons for Growth. 30 children’s groups involving 247 pupils were run over the past year. Impact data indicates that children are calmer and are better able to manage their feelings. • 400 staff from 33 establishments opted into and were trained in using the Resilience Planning Toolkit to support GIRFEC assessment and planning. Evaluations revealed that practitioners increased both their confidence and knowledge and identified ways to develop their work with children. • Over 800 pupils participated in Anxiety and Wellbeing sessions. These materials were developed by NLCEPS. Pupils’ knowledge of the processes of stress and anxiety, as well as how to cope and manage these, increased. • 52 children and young people have received 9-session of the LIAM intervention which supports children to manage and reduce their anxiety levels. Impact is strong e.g., self-reported anxiety score decreased by 14 points following completion of LIAM (using the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression scale). See NLCEPS Standards and Quality Report for full details of the work conducted by Educational Psychologists and the associated impact data.
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Support for Pupils There have been a number of significant service reorganisations, worthy of note, which have improved supports for pupils by ensuring that resources and decision making are devolved to where needs arise. These have included: The formation of the Education and Families service The establishment of an NL Virtual School The reorganisation of our Intensive ASN services Our Empowering Cluster Model, which included 15 new posts - the Cluster Improvement and Integration Leads. The reorganisation of our secondary school week to include an enrichment afternoon. All of the above have facilitated better integrative practice across children's services thus enhancing pupil support networks and early intervention. Importantly, as one of the 28 health indicators reported on in the One Plan for North Lanarkshire, recent data has evidenced improvements in pupil exclusion rates as detailed below: Improving Attendance The Covid Pandemic impacted on 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 attendance rates. The service implemented a range of strategies to minimise impact on learners and to build resilience in the system. Establishments tracked attendance in a variety of ways including physical attendance rates and digital engagement figures. However, improving attendance rates at school continues to be a priority, and this is supported by the universal principles of leadership, culture, data analysis and early intervention. Additionally, there is an expectation that all establishment Action Improvement Reports for the 2022-2023 session will include an attendance specific outcome, for which individual establishment progress can be measured against. It is expected that all school leaders will continue to use our ‘What’s the Story’ data dashboard to analyse their own particular patterns and trends and inform their actions thereafter. Central officers will continue to keep this measure as a focus of their planned improvement discussions also.
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Health and Wellbeing Key Successes A total of 79 establishments have now been trained on nurturing approaches. The majority are from the primary sector (n=63). Over 50 staff from 14 establishments were trained in using the Resilience Planning Toolkit to support GIRFEC assessment and planning Staff from all establishments have attended initial training sessions on Lifelines and Critical Incidents The GIRFEC pathway, launched in 2020 is in use across the 23 clusters and staff awareness sessions have been held to update staff on developments. The LIAM, anxiety management model is now in use and has been delivered to 43 children. Over the period January to June 2021, 872 children and young people accessed new or enhanced services provided through the Community Mental Health fund. The majority of referrals (673) came from school staff with 108 children and young people coming through self-referrals directly for support. School Counselling Highlights In 2019-2020, the Scottish Government made funding available to provide counselling support for pupils aged 10 and over. This continued in year 2020-2021, with £1.037m of total available funding for school-based counselling. Funding was devolved to secondary schools to be managed on behalf of their cluster. Specific consideration was given to the needs of ASN schools, and they were considered for this purpose as a separate cluster. SEBN schools were grouped together for ease of distribution of funds between them. Counselling services are to be accessed using the existing PEF/SAC Procurement Framework. Currently there are 7 providers of counselling services on this framework. Information from the data collection has shown a continued increase in uptake of the school-based counselling offer. Analysis of Data/Impact A larger proportion of females seek support than males with the split being approximately 60/40 There is a similar level of demand concentrated between S1-S4 with lower demand in Primary aged children and young people in S5-S6 Anxiety, family issues and emotional and behavioural issues are the three most common reported themes Outcome data shows 85% of children and young people reported an improvement in their health and wellbeing after receiving counselling Evaluations gathered from children and young people stated 83% felt counselling helped them identify issues and set goals to work towards
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Next Steps: Road Map to Recovery As health and wellbeing (HWB) underpins all aspects of improving supports for pupils, the service devised a ‘Roadmap to Recovery’, which represents a three-year plan to deliver on our wellbeing priorities, such as improving attendance rates. It is expected that this plan will support consistency across our establishments, with the aim to ensure a suite of HWB interventions at each level, across all clusters. This plan was launched at our HWB Conference which took place on Wed 15 June 22 in the Motherwell Concert Hall -with over 240 delegates in attendance. This included all our Head Teachers and Heads of Establishments, along with our key partners, and colleagues from Social Work and Health. In order to evaluate impact, feedback from the conference was sought with the majority of respondents all strongly agreeing that its key aspirations were met. The conference introduced the Roadmap to Recovery which sets out a way forward in supporting the HWB of our learners over the next three years within the current context in North Lanarkshire. Integrating the Outcomes Star North Lanarkshire Council is committed to supporting all children and young people to realise their full potential. This requires us to engage with children, young people, parents, carers, and families to help all children and young people reach their full potential. It is also about empowering families to become more independent, resilient, and self-reliant. To support colleagues in measuring the impact of interventions with children, young people and their families and support them in their ‘journey of change’, we will be rolling out Outcomes Star evaluation tools from Triangle Consulting. This enables children, young people and their families to work together with colleagues to demonstrate the distance travelled. The tools (stars) engage families and colleagues in the journey of change and can provide timely management information to demonstrate impact of interventions. This outcomes approach to our work will measure success for individual families, for services and for the organisation as a whole. Measuring the Impact The report outlines the key measures that will be used to measure the success of the roadmap to recovery. The Service will report on these in next session’s (2022-2023) Standards and Quality Report. 198 staff are now licensed to use the Outcome Star tool to support our children and families.
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Scottish Attainment Challenge The Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) programme within North Lanarkshire (NL) has evolved significantly over the past three years. Session 2021-2022 was the last year of the Attainment Challenge programme incorporating the nine Challenge Authorities, of which North Lanarkshire was one. This has been replaced by the Strategic Equity Fund (SEF) model which now incorporates all local authorities. The SAC programme has continued to support NL’s cluster model, thus accelerating the cultural transformation needed to support all schools. This evidences that the strategic shift away from supporting a small number of schools, to a wider, universal offer, is now showing real benefits. The SAC focuses on accelerated, targeted improvement activity in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. The Service continues to strengthen several existing interventions which enact our strategic approach to improvement. Strategic workstreams include: • The Statutory Leavers’ Pathways Programme • The Virtual School for Care experienced Young People • The Digital School • The Cluster Based Improvement and Innovation Leads • The Pedagogy Team • The Literacy and Numeracy Hubs Partnerships: Police/Social Care, Community Learning and Development, Police and Fire Services. Early Intervention Family Learning Centres (FLCs) received funding through SAC to develop, enhance and target support for the youngest learners to bridge gaps that have been identified in core areas of literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Focussed training, facilitated by the Attainment Advisor, supported effective reporting and measuring of impact of SAC funding. This was attended by almost all establishments, with feedback being very positive. This area of continuous development and improvement is ongoing with joint working between the SAC team and ELC Quality Officers within NLC. On average 43% of the participants in group learning sessions came from SIMD 1-2 backgrounds
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Pupil Equity Fund In session 2021-22 Pupil Equity Funds of £10,926,499 were distributed to all primary, secondary and special schools across North Lanarkshire. The majority of funding was spent on additional staffing resources to deliver appropriate activities and interventions. The funding was used to directly support young people and their families affected by poverty. Pupil Equity Fund Highlights for NL Schools • 117 additional staff appointed by schools through PEF allocations • 108 schools with a specific focus on literacy • 97 schools with a specific focus on numeracy • 96 schools with a specific focus on health and wellbeing • 55 schools have invested in digital learning • 24 schools have used PEF funding to improve engagement with parents Table 1: NLC Primary schools PEF Priorities 2021/22
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Black Lives Matter North Lanarkshire Council is currently undertaking a range of strategic development work to ensure best practice in relation to Equality, Inclusion and Diversity, with a specific focus on Racial Equality. To support the Council’s broader strategic aims, colleagues from Education and Families and Community Learning and Development worked together to audit current practice, identify gaps and to produce a package of support materials designed to support reflection, professional dialogue and continuous improvement. They also worked with colleagues from across the Service to prepare and deliver a conference to showcase the work of the Black Lives Matter Working Group over the past 18 months. The conference aimed to: • engage with the diverse communities of North Lanarkshire on why Black Lives Matter • impart information and knowledge on North Lanarkshire’s historical links with the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its relevance today • promote the work of the council’s Black Lives Matter Working Group as set out in its action plan • hear from local people what their priorities are in relation to race equality and relations. The virtual conference was hosted by the council’s Elected Member Equality Champion; Councillor Heather Brannan-McVey, and Sir Geoff Palmer was the guest keynote speaker. There was a total of 131 people on the conference call. Participants were sent a post conference evaluation and 41 participants responded. 81% of the respondents reported that participation in the conference increased their knowledge of the ongoing work within North Lanarkshire Council around Black Lives Matter. The conference was rated 4.07 stars out of 5. Respondents highlighted the following suggestions for next steps: • build on the conference by having more events and workshops that bring people together • education- primary and secondary and in communities to raise awareness • employment – increase diversity in the workforce and in teacher recruitment • engagement – continue the research and establish a wider BLM working group to involve community representatives. “Let us all work together to get rid of racism. Let us all work together to make North Lanarkshire a better place to study, a better place to work, a better place to live.” Mary Ajose (Pupil A)
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Learning, Teaching and Assessment • How well do we motivate and engage learners? • How well do we deploy a wide variety of innovative and creative resources and teaching approaches? Curriculum • To what extent do we take account of all the factors that make NLC unique? • How effective is the leadership of curriculum development at all levels? At national and local level, the Covid pandemic prompted us to reflect on our curriculum and pedagogical practice. The release of the OECD report and Ken Muir recommendations further reinforced the need for review. The need to strengthen supports around the key areas of Literacy, Numeracy and HWB drove and informed strategic planning.
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Supporting Educational Recovery and Mitigating Impact of Pandemic Bulding Back Better Teachers The Building Back Better (BBB) teaching secondment began in August 2021. Prior to engaging with schools, BBB staff undertook an intensive training package including sessions from the Learning Hub, Leadership framework and Psychological Services to upskill them and increase their ability to audit, plan, implement, review, and evaluate the impact of targeted interventions, to raise attainment and improve outcomes for all children. Initially 23 teachers were seconded to this role, one from each Cluster within the authority. However, due to Covid related absences by December 2021 there were 4 BBB Teachers left. These teachers continued to support identified learners in primary schools across 4 clusters; Clyde Valley, Coatbridge High, Our Lady’s and St Ambrose cluster schools. A total number of 263 pupils were supported. 91 pupils received support for numeracy and 165 for literacy. As shown opposite, quantitative and qualitative data from all 4 clusters clearly evidence the positive impact of the targeted approach implemented by the BBB teachers and the subsequent positive impact on attainment data. Evidencing the Impact – Pre and Post BBB Support Notable reduction in the number of learners not on track (red) and an increase in the number of learners now on track to reach expected ACEL levels. The Service will build upon this approach next session to improve outcomes for learners. “The accelerated learning would not have been possible on the same timescale within a mainstream classroom alone without this support.” Teacher A “It has made me feel confident for when I am in class and answering maths questions.” Pupil A “Class teachers report that almost all (90%) children receiving this support have developed much more confidence and are much more engaged in their learning. They also have a greater understanding of what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve.” Head Teacher A
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Re-designing the curriculum Significant progress has been made in reviewing the curriculum offering for children and young people since the initial Review of Curriculum Arrangements (RoCA) was published in May 2020, aligned to the Plan for North Lanarkshire (PoW79). The work undertaken has led to improved outcomes for children and young people and in particular, those with the greatest barriers to learning and employment. The overarching theme remains Pathways, Packages and Partnerships. The review of the curriculum is ongoing. Recent council attainment reviews of school data have established the central importance of curriculum in tackling issues around attendance, inclusion, engagement and attainment as we emerge from the pandemic, and recommendations and reflections from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report, Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future (June 2021) and the Sir Ken Muir report Putting Learners at the Centre: Towards a Future Vision for Scottish Education (March 2022), demand that school staff and local authority teams provide a ‘strong, fresh narrative’ when looking at the curriculum offer at all levels; a single framework that is clear to follow, succinct and in plain English with practitioners as its principal audience. To this end, The Curriculum Implementation Strategic Leads Group created a resource to support primary and secondary establishments to review and update their Curriculum Rationale. Curriculum Rationale & ‘Curriculum Content Creation’ Toolkit The toolkit will be ready for launch in session 2022-2023. Optional ‘Curriculum Pathfinder’ Training will be provided to support effective use of the toolkit and to share good practice across the Service. Progressive Curriculum Pathways - Broad General Education (Literacy and Numeracy) Central Officers and a range of teaching colleagues collaborated throughout the session to co- construct Progression pathway resources. These are designed to be flexible, to build on effective practice, highlight knowledge and skills and exemplify pace and progression through a level. Whilst aspects are sequential, learning is not linear, and learners can move within and between pathways. Each pathway is split across three levels to highlight progress through a level. When complete the pathways will be available to establishments on a web-based platform, as well as a downloadable version. Each pathway has the same layout and format, ensuring consistency in planning. The pathways highlight higher order thinking skills to be taught and built upon and are not linked to a resource. This allows staff to have autonomy in selecting the most appropriate resource and contexts to suit learners’ needs and interests. Digital Literacy Skills and Computing Science progression pathways Digital Literacy Skills and Computing Science progression pathways, launched in August 2022, are designed to be flexible and build on effective practice, highlighting knowledge and skills and exemplify possible pace and progression. The current pathways provide progression from Early to Second Level, and Third Level will be added by January 2023. Vision & Values • Tackling poverty & Inequality • Person centred approaches • Promo�ng inclusion & Involvement • Promo�ng posi�ve well- being • Raising a�ainment • Rights Respec�ng • Trauma informed • Strengthening cultural capital • Crea�ng pathways to employment • Environmental concerns Na�onal Policy • UNCRC • The Promise Scotland • GIRFEC • Curriculum for Excellence • Developing the Young Workforce • Sco�sh A�ainment Challenge • OECD Report • Sir Ken Muir Report • HGIOS4? • Learning for Sustainability • Digital Learning & Teaching Strategy • A Blueprint for ELC • NIF Local Policy • The Plan for North Lanarkshire • Educa�on and Families Improvement Plan o SAC plan o West Partnership Regional Improvement plan o Mental Health, Wellbeing and Resilience Deliveryplan • Gaelic Language Plan 2021-26 • Workforce for the Future Strategy • Developing the Young Workforce plan Key Drivers for Curriculum DRAFT Co-creating progressive, skill based, curriculum pathways
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Action on Climate Together 2021 Pupil Conference As part of the planned programme of activities within North Lanarkshire Council to mark the occasion of the COP26 (ACT 2021) international climate conference in the city of Glasgow, a pupil conference was convened on Thursday 28 October. It was hosted digitally to maximise opportunities for participation during the Covid pandemic. Dr Heather Reid (meteorologist, physicist and television presenter) was the keynote speaker. The conference was focused on what people can do themselves to make difference. 100 schools and 7905 pupils and young people from all sectors participated in the day’s activities, and then enjoyed a series of planned follow up activities through STEM, green energy and learning for sustainability. Further Developing our Music Service Education and Families Instrumental Music Service has a long-established presence within school establishments and across the council. Strategic use was made of funding from the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland to ensure high quality Service delivery. The Instrumental Music Service delivered lessons across all education establishments, engaging with over 2,100 young people during session 2021- 2022. Our young people had access to a range of music tuition including brass, woodwind, percussion, guitar, strings, keyboard, harp, bagpipes and pipe drumming. Scottish Government funding for free music tuition should see a further rise in engagement in session 2022-2023. The highest engagement figure recorded by NLC is 2646, in 2018-2019. We aspire to return to these engagement levels and have identified a number of strategies to achieve this ambitious aim. Primary 4-7 survey results indicate that 816 new pupils are interested in accessing instrumental tuition as part of the service delivery. We are committed to ensuring appropriate supports are in place to ensure equity of access for our learners from most deprived areas (SIMD Data). Further plans are in place to track access next session, to provide targeted support as necessary, to remove barriers and support continued engagement with musical tuition. North Lanarkshire’s Pipe Band had a very successful year. The band was placed fourth at the British Championships, third at the European Championships, fourth at the Scottish Championships and first at the North Berwick Games. North Lanarkshire Schools Pipe Band drummers were crowned World Champions 2022. Almost 8000 pupils participated.
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Curriculum Review Learning Hub The Learning Hub was awarded the Excellence in Professional Learning Award for 2020 by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) based on their ongoing work to create a culture of professional learning. The Learning Hub professional learning model has a focus on the development of Literacy and Numeracy coaches across NL establishments, with coaching sessions and regular meetings to discuss new developments. The key focus of the Learning Hub is to engage with practitioners to support the development of their professional knowledge and understanding of best teaching practices for literacy and numeracy. This is done in a variety of ways: • Developing and delivering high- quality core CLPL and Intervention Training. • Bespoke engagement with establishments. • Supporting and tracking interventions Learning, Teaching and Assessment (Moderation) • 98 Teachers engaged in the new Digital Moderation Training. • 31 Whole School LTA engagements. • 465 teachers trained in approaches to LTA. • 11 schools participated in Education Scotland QAMSO programme. STEM A STEM Launch Event took place in September 2021 and was attended by 126 participants, representing almost every primary establishment in North Lanarkshire (NL). 84% of primaries were represented at training sessions last session, and increased engagement has been noted. A STEM Leaders programme was developed and launched last session. The programme was attended by 21 of the 23 school clusters, and very positively received by participants. NL formally exited the Raising Aspirations in Science Education programme following 2 years of grant funding to support the delivery of STEM across primaries. Over the course of last session over 2500 staff participated in 3200 hours of CLPL linked to STEM. A very positive RAISE Impact Report highlighted the key successes of the programme, including 91% of practitioners increasing STEM and science activities through the ongoing work of Pedagogy Team Primary Science Development Officer.
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Future Fridays In August 2021, North Lanarkshire Council began a programme with the goal of providing additional opportunities for Secondary School young people out with the classroom setting on a Friday afternoon. The ‘Future Friday’ enrichment afternoon programme aims to provide opportunities for all pupils within school communities to improve health and wellbeing; build relationships; develop leadership capacity; and gain employment and enterprise experiences whilst further enhancing and honing crucial life skills. Through these programmes, young people in NLC will gain additional accreditation, will enhance their CV / personal portfolio and augment their existing skills in more bespoke learning events. The programme offers significant opportunity for schools to further close the equity gap for all learners across North Lanarkshire. The programme is divided into 3 main offers 23 Principal Teachers, one per cluster, were appointed to coordinate establishment level offerings. Attendance
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Pathways The third evolution of the North Lanarkshire Council Pathways programme was launched in August 2021 to support young people most at risk of entering a negative post school destination due to a range of factors. These include lack of attendance and engagement and being statutory winter leavers, who are three times more likely to enter a negative post school destination than their summer leaving peers. The 2021-2022 programme supported 145 young people on a full-time bespoke curriculum away from school that incorporated employability and life skills, personal development, industry recognised qualifications and work-based learning opportunities with support from key partners. This all serves to enhance our young people’s ability to achieve and sustain a positive post school destination in this difficult post-pandemic phase. The programme for the first time included two intakes with 95 young people, predominantly winter leavers, participating from August to December and a further 45 S4’s who were school refusers, had low attendance and engagement and were identified as potentially entering a negative post school destination participating between January and June 2022. The tables below indicate the current destinations of the young people who engaged with Pathways. In addition to the core Pathways Programme a new 5-week ‘Introduction to Employability’ programme was introduced in all secondary schools as part of North Lanarkshire Councils Future Friday’s programme with the capacity to deliver to 230 young people. These sessions target pupils who are further removed from the world of work and require additional support in preparing to leave school into employment or further education. Sessions focus on identifying skills and qualities and how these relate to the world of work, what employability support is available to them and where to find it. It also assists young people with how to develop a CV or college application to prepare for the next step in their employability journey. Due to the programme’s success, Pathways was made permanent for the 2022-2023 academic session which allows the provision to expand with the recent launch of a Primary Pathways pilot, supporting 60 pupils in upper primary school with the aim of providing them with a vocational offer that will enhance their experience of school and re-engage them in the curriculum. Table 1.1 outlines the current destinations, as of the 1st June, of all young people who registered with cohort 1 of the programme. Table 1.2 outlines the current destinations, as of the 1st August, of all young people who registered with cohort 2 of the programme Those classed as being on continued support include: • young people who moved into college courses or training provision from January to July and have completed the course but decided against progressing to the next level • those who completed the Pathways programme in June and are work ready but have not secured employment or a modern apprenticeship • those who are not work ready due to a range of barriers to learning and employment and require additional support to take the next step toward employment • all young people on continued support will continue to work with the Pathways Team, Routes to Work and Skills Development Scotland to secure a positive destination • young people classed as not engaging have completed the Pathways Programme, finished college or training provision from January to June and are not currently engaging with the Pathways Coordinators, Routes to Work and Skills Development Scotland despite the best efforts of the team.
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Career and Employability Pathways – Developing the Young Workforce Developing the Young Workforce continues to be a whole-council, cross party priority which extends beyond the council to include key partners. All of this work is informed by, and feeds directly into, the council’s Workforce for the Future Strategy. Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) Strategy aims to prepare learners for their future pathways and the transition into the world of work. It provides meaningful and relevant work-related learning opportunities which equip children and young people with the skills, qualifications, and experiences they require to flourish in life beyond school into the world of work. This aspiration towards a first- class education and a skills-based curriculum, enables young people to maximise their talent and realise their full potential and contribute to the local and national economy. Some of the key developments in this area in 2021-2022 include: • To drive the DYW agenda the majority of North Lanarkshire Secondary Schools appointed Principal Teachers for DYW with the remaining schools intending to appoint in 2022-2023 • A CLPL calendar was launched to provide quick and easy access to 32 DYW related information sessions and CLPL opportunities for school staff, 14 of which were delivered specifically to North Lanarkshire School staff • In partnership with the DYW Regional Group and a range of council services, an online apprenticeship week event was delivered to introduce young people to the apprenticeship family and pathways into a career in construction. 23 interactive sessions were delivered over the course of the week with 2386 young people taking part with an average of 104 young people attending each session. All content was recorded and hosted on the Digital School allowing more young people to access as and when required. In session 2020-2021 we saw our highest percentage of young people leave school and enter a positive post-school destination. “The Pathways Programme was amazing. I didn’t like school but couldn’t leave because I wasn’t 16 so I really didn’t know what my future would look like. Pathways was the best thing I had ever done. It helped me with my confidence, I learned to have patience and handle situations in a better way and helped me become calmer when situations arise. The Pathways team opened my mind up to different possibilities and helped me see my potential.” Pathway Student “Just thought I would let you know that I am now a fully qualified nursery practitioner and my nursery have kept me on as a qualified member of staff! Just wanted to thank you for your help in getting me started in my career. Never would have managed it without your course so really thank you for everything!” Pathway Student
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Vocational Education Vocational learning programmes are offered to young people in all 23 secondary schools and 9 Additional Support Needs schools. The impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions that prevented practical delivery has required a renewed and refreshed focus to be placed on the importance of vocational training in schools. The ambition and hard work of the team has resulted in a sharp increase in the total requests for Foundation Apprenticeships in schools. Foundation Apprenticeships Level 4/5 and 6: The Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) programmes aims to link and identify pathways from school-based education in the senior phase, through work-based learning, into potential employment within North Lanarkshire (NL). Level 4/5 and 6 FA delivery aligns NLC’s Plan for North Lanarkshire providing NLC learners with the work- based skills required to access local employers and undertake potential Modern or Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) in a range of disciplines. In 2021-2022, the Vocational Education Team developed a range of partnerships with local and national employers, securing work placements for pupils currently undertaking their studies, developing clear articulation pathways with employers providing a quality work experience that will further develop their learning and interest in the industry. Level 4/5 and 6 FA programmes provide articulation pathways that will enable NLC students to become the “talent pool” for a range of employers who may wish to develop these individuals within their companies as their workforce for the future within North Lanarkshire.
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HNC In partnership with New College Lanarkshire and the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), session 2021-2022 saw the introduction of an HNC pilot programme, whereby young people would embark on year 1 of the course during S6. This HNC leads to year 2 of the HND with New College Lanarkshire and then on to year 3 of a degree within UWS, effectively allowing young people to achieve a degree one year earlier. The pilot was offered in cyber security, computer assisted design and construction management The initial success of this pilot programme in NL can be attributed to the equity model, strong inter-school relationships and locality arrangements which enable a broad and diverse offer of opportunities for young people in the S6 senior phase of learning. Delivery of the 1st year HNC programme, utilises a blended learning approach of digital and classroom learning. Virtual learning is delivered directly within an identified local High School (St Ambrose) with pupils attending NCL campus on Fridays for a full day. There are plans to extend this offer to include an HNC in Healthcare and Social Services, linking to the Workforce for the Future Strategy. Gaelic North Lanarkshire remains committed to delivering high-quality learning and teaching experiences within Gaelic Medium Education (GME). Our bespoke GME provision is delivered to children and young people at Tollbrae Nursery, Condorrat Primary and Greenfaulds High School. In session 2021-2022, 291 children and young people engaged with Gaelic education within North Lanarkshire Council. North Lanarkshire’s 5-year Gaelic Language Plan (2022-2027) was published in July 2022. It was co-constructed by our Education Team, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, both internally and externally. The plan centres around the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-2023 priorities: • Increasing the use of Gaelic • Increasing the learning of Gaelic • Promoting a positive image of Gaelic The plan outlines our high level aims for Gaelic across all areas of NLC services with provision. It was created in co-operation with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and approved by the Bòrd na Gàidhlig on the 2nd of February, 2021. Attainment data evidences a dip in attainment in all organisers in P1 and P7 from last session, and a dip in listening and talking (L&T) at the P4 stage. S3 data has also dipped when compared with 2019 data (last data set available for this stage). Despite this dip, most children are making expected progress in P1 and P4 L&T and reading, with almost all making expected progress in P1 writing and the majority at P4 writing; the majority of children are making expected progress at P7 L&T and reading, and the majority of S3 are making expected progress across all organisers.
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Active Schools During session 2022-2023, the priority of the Active Schools Programme was to return to the core aims of providing more high-quality opportunities for young people to take part in sport and physical activity, before school, during lunchtime and after school. A further priority was to develop effective pathways between schools and sports clubs in the local community. However, due to the ongoing restrictions associated with the Covid pandemic, this was not fully achievable. Despite these challenges, the team adopted creative approaches to maximise the impact of the service by offering schools a hybrid approach of curricular and extra-curricular support. Key achievements throughout the period include: • Inactive Girls Programmes delivered in 23 high schools • Tailored primary school programmes offered to all schools • The number of schools undergoing Bikeability training doubled • Leadership Programmes delivered in 23 high schools, plus 5 Future Friday Leadership Academies created • Student Placement partnerships in place with 2 colleges The continued support of schools throughout this period has laid a solid foundation on which the programme will build as it resumes its primary function in the 2022-2023 Academic year. Strathclyde Park: Outdoor Education Building on the strengths from session 2019-2020, the Strathclyde Park Outdoor Education Programme continued during session 2020-2021. Priority was given to schools who had not previously accessed this offer. Despite the ongoing restrictions, the improved infrastructure and additional trained staff, made it possible to accommodate 95 schools. Additional funding from Cycling Scotland, allowed more pupils to engage in the Bikeability programme within the school environment. Throughout holiday periods, the programme supported Club 365 by catering for mainstream pupils and also pupils from the ASN sector, e.g. Virtual schools and community ASN groups. Within the secondary sector, opportunities have been sought to accommodate young people for work placements, providing opportunities for them to develop their skills and experience, thus enhancing their future job prospects. This work supports the Service’s wider Developing the Young Workforce strategy. Young people such as Pathways pupils, university students and high school pupils have also been supported.
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Developing Digital Capacity Digital School CLPL Offers Digital Pathfinder Teachers delivered a total of 58 live CLPL sessions in 2021- 2022 with a varying focus, covering O365, Apple Education Digital Schools Award Scotland (DSAS) support and Digital Pedagogy. Digital Pathfinder teachers also took part in 3 bespoke CLPL programmes with Education Scotland, looking at Digital learning and teaching and Digital wellbeing, all of which formed part of the Digital School’s CLPL offer during the second half of the school year. One of the key CLPL offers was the ‘NL Presents…This is Digital’ series. This used the existing Digilearn delivery model, with North Lanarkshire contextualised content. 82 staff attended, representing all 23 clusters and feedback was very positive, particularly in relation to course design. The feedback from the CLPL sessions and especially the ‘This is Digital’ programme highlighted a strong desire for further CLPL offerings on improving pedagogy. Operational CLPL looking at improving digital skills declined in popularity as most of these areas are accessible via self-directed learning on a variety of platforms. The live Code-alongs were hugely successful in 2021-2022. A total of 206 classes and 4941 pupils took part in 10 sessions across a 2-week period, with every cluster being represented. The feedback from staff and pupils was extremely positive and there are plans for 3 further events in 2022-2023. The sessions also directly link with the core learning found in the Computing Science Progression Planner, and this serves an ideal introduction to the subject. 2021-2022 saw 13 additional schools achieve Digital Schools Award Scotland status. This was an increase of 118%, bringing the total of schools awarded DSAS now to 24 for 2021-2022.
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Digital Leadership A refreshed Digital Leadership Course has also been running since September 2021. This course is delivered by Head Teachers and staff who have led successful digital developments and Senior Officers from within North Lanarkshire Council. North Lanarkshire’s leadership framework has gone through a considerable scrutiny process and has successfully been endorsed by Education Scotland. As part of the programme, participants were asked to identify, undertake and report on a change initiative within their establishment. The aims of the programme were: • To develop leadership across practitioners • To provide a pathway for teachers to allow them to advance in their profession through critical thinking and reflection • To ensure sustainability and build the capacity of future leaders • To discuss and reflect issues pertinent to becoming an effective leader, focusing on digital learning and teaching • To consider digital developments within Scottish Education 27 practitioners completed the course and feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive. 93% of staff either agreed or strongly agreed that they would use the content delivered in their role across the school and 96% believed that the content met their needs as a learner. In total, 924 pupils accessed the classroom in 2021/22 with 86 staff receiving training.
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Senior Phase - Digital Consortium With the support of the NL Digital School, last session saw 105 pupils access Advanced Highers (AH) remotely across the authority. This was across 13 different schools and 10 different subjects. The digital delivery model now allows for a much broader selection of AH subjects for young people, increasing choice across all 5 columns and creating equity across the 23 schools. NL Virtual Classroom The Virtual Classroom continued to build on the success of its launch in January 2021 by amassing a total of 732655 visits to date. There were 117926 visits across the 2021-2022 academic year with 13371 unique users to the site. The NL Virtual Classroom SharePoint site is now home to 12 individual classroom spaces as well as thematic sections dedicated to Women in STEM, DYW, Black History Month, Computing Science and Future Fridays. Our development of the ‘This is Digital’ course, DSAS support sessions and live code-alongs were all showcased and highlighted by Education Scotland at the 2022 Scottish Learning Festival.
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Our Achievements in 2021 – 2022 Across the Service, staff collaborated and adopted creative ways of engaging with children and families to raise attainment and recognise wider achievements, albeit in a different context. Embedding high quality digital learning and teaching remained a key driver. Learners were supported to develop their skills, attributes and capabilities to achieve and attain across the 4 CfE contexts for learning. Raising Attainment and Achievement • How well do we recognise and value the personal achievements of all learners? • How well does our work with partners and businesses ensure positive outcomes for our young people? • How well is our focus on literacy and numeracy leading to raising attainment across the curriculum?
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Attainment in 2021 – 2022 (Broad General Education) Overall Attainment Level Trends This section reports on teacher judgement of pupil Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL), against expected levels of national progress. This data is collected at P1, P4, P7 and S3 stages. Overall combined attainment levels in literacy and numeracy for 2021-2022 exceed previous attainment levels. Numeracy attainment levels continue to exceed literacy attainment levels. Encouragingly, this year’s ACEL data not only indicates a positive upward trend from last year’s data, but also indicates that we have surpassed levels previously identified in 2018 at P1, P4 and P7 stages for all organisers. Achievement of a Curriculum for Excellence Level Data (ACEL) NLC’s data for session 2021-2022 shows that attainment has increased at P1, P4 and P7, across all organisers. ACEL attainment at the S3 stage has decreased across all organisers when compared with 2019 data. Writing is the lowest attaining organiser in primary, and numeracy in secondary. • In numeracy, across all stages, most learners are making good progress with attainment levels ranging from 76.8% at P4 to 85.4% at S3 stage. • In literacy, across primary stages, attainment levels are highest in listening and talking. • Attainment in all literacy organisers at the P1, P7 and S3 stages indicate that most learners are reaching expected levels. At the P4 stage most learners are reaching expected levels in listening and talking, reading and numeracy. Writing levels are slightly lower, with the majority of learners reaching expected levels. Overall attainment levels are lowest at the P4 stage. Looking at ACEL data through both short (2021-2022 comparison) and long-term lenses (2018-2022 trends) gives two different perspectives. Attainment is also analysed against the local authority average and latterly national average, when this data is available. Comparison against NLC average 65 establishments’ attainment in numeracy is greater than or equal to NLC average. 67 establishments’ attainment in literacy is greater than or equal to NLC Average. Comparing 2021 and 2022 data, at establishment level: More than half (62-66%) of all primary establishments’ attainment levels for literacy and numeracy have increased. More secondary establishments have increased attainment in numeracy than in literacy. Due to the Covid pandemic, ACEL attainment was not collected at the S3 stage in session 2021 but was collected in 2022. This must be recognized when interpreting the data.
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Cohort Comparison – Tracking Attainment over time. (Value Added) By comparing historical data over a 4 year period we can track and compare ACEL attainment levels for the same cohorts of pupils in 2019 and then in 2022 to determine whether similar numbers of children have continued to achieve expected levels, or if this number has increased; whether establishments have ‘added value’. Cohort comparison figures show that despite challenges associated with the pandemic, attainment figures for identified cohorts have continued to increase (added value) from P4 to P7 and P7 to S3, across all organisers. However, comparison of attainment levels for last year’s P4 cohort (P1 – 2019 and P4 – 2022) indicates that this cohort require further support, particularly in writing and numeracy. Tracking cohort of children’s attainment in P1 (2019) to P4 (2022), in P4 (2019) to P7 (2022), and P7 (2019) to S3 (2022). Poverty Related Attainment Gap The table indicates that between 2021-2022 there is a narrowing of the gap in almost all primary stages for Literacy. This is particularly noticeable at P7, with the largest narrowing in reading (6.5%). The greatest gap in attainment between the most and least deprived is at the P4 stage in writing and in numeracy. The gap at S3 has increased across all organisers in comparision to provious years. As part of the Empowering Our Clusters model, establishments have access to additional teaching support staff to support increased attainment and closing the attainment gap.
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Attainment in 2021 – 2022 (Senior Phase) The Scottish government confirmed a return to traditional exams for session 2021-2022, and North Lanarkshire young people were presented accordingly. North Lanarkshire Council’s 2022 attainment has risen against the majority of key measures, in comparison with 2019 attainment data. This is the most reliable comparison as attainment data for 2021 and 2020 was collected via the alternative certification models, and 2019 data represents the last formal exam diet. The following information is based on SQA Results issued to candidates in August 2022, where 1% in any year is roughly equivalent to 36 pupils. So, a 3% improvement in any indicator equates to over 100 pupils achieving improved results. The percentages are based on the S4 roll at the start of the Senior Phase for each year group. These results may change following the results of the SQA appeals process. Five Year Trend in Attainment Data Overall pass rates across the majority of measures have maintained or improved on 2019 results. Attainment trend data indicates that the 2022 data is comparable and at times better that the five-year average. It is also clear from the gains in performance over 2020 and 2021 in the alternative certification models, that young people in North Lanarkshire responded well to the increased opportunities for feedback in this different assessment style to improve their understanding of course content. Tracking Five Year Trend in Attainment Data S4 Exam Results Summary There was also a significant improvement in the numbers of young people in S4 achieving 5 National 3 (6%) and National 4 (6.3%) qualifications, enabling over 200 more of our young people to be more employable on leaving school than in 2019. The table also shows significant improvements in the numbers of young people in S4 achieving 5 National 5 qualifications (3%), enabling over 100 more of our young people to have access to Higher level learning programmes in school and further education than in 2019. S5 and S6 Exam Results Summary A significant improvement was also noted in the numbers of young people in S5 achieving 3 Highers (3.4%). This has enabled over 100 more of our young people to have access to a wider range of higher and further education programmes, and greater credentials for the job market than in 2019. The table also shows significant improvement in the numbers of young people in S5 achieving 5 Highers (3.4%), similarly enabling over 100 more of our young people to have access to a wider range of higher and further education programmes in colleges and universities, and greater credentials for the job market than in 2019.
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S6 Advanced Highers Although there was a slight dip in advanced Highers passes, notably S6 Advanced Higher presentations were higher than the three-year average, which includes the alternative certification model years. Comparing Attainment 2019-2022 The majority of establishments have increased their attainment in S5 3+ Highers; almost all establishments have increased their attainment in S5 5+ Highers; almost all establishments have increased their attainment at S6 3+ Highers and most have increased their attainment at S6 5+ Highers. Pass Rates (A-C Pass Rates) The A-C pass rate for S4 National 5 was 84.6%, higher that the 82.3% figure for 2019. For S5 Highers the A-C pass rate was the second highest it has been since 2019 at 80.8%. The S5 Higher English pass rate was 84.1%, the second highest since 2019. Similarly, the S5 Higher Maths pass was 76.4%, the second highest. The percentage of pupils passing at A-C for S6 Highers was 71.2% across all subjects, compared with 66.9% in 2019. The S6 Higher English pass rate was 58.4%, the lowest figure over the last 4 years. The S6 Higher Maths pass rate was 54.3%, higher than 53.6% in 2019. Gap Analysis Quintile 1 (most deprived) to quintile 5 (least deprived) comparison data would appear to reflect that, in the main, the gap is wider for traditional exam data than for the alternative certification model years. The 2022 gap is bigger than the four-year average. Over 2,300 S4 pupils, from Quintile 1 were presented for at least 1 Nat 5 in S4. Over 90% of the pupils achieved success. Almost 1,350 S5 pupils from Quintile 1 were presented for at least 1 higher and 84% achieved success S6 Advanced Higher presentations were higher than the 3-year average
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Curriculum: Virtual School Virtual School SQA Virtual School SQA support provides individual teaching input to young people who are at significant risk of leaving school with no formal qualifications. Planning in partnership with schools, families and the team around the child, Care Experienced Support Teachers work with young people to achieve a range of qualifications. In session 2021 – 22 a total of 81 National 3 and 4 level qualifications were achieved by 32 young people – improving their future career prospects. Over the past three sessions 159 awards have been achieved by 75 young people. “One thing I did really well was being nice to people and trying new things”.
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1140 Hours Expansion Programme Workforce To date, NLC has employed 536 additional employees to support the implementation of 1140 hours Early Learning and Childcare (ELC). This is a significant achievement and recognises the excellent collaborative work of ELC, HR and ESC officers and services. The EY career pathway has provided 202 early years staff with the opportunity to work towards and achieve the qualifications detailed in the chart below, equating to 18% of the workforce. Upskilling Managers/ Leadership Despite ongoing challenges presented by the Covid pandemic, engagement in the EYC leadership programme remained high. An audit of the evaluations returned from the 3 programmes demonstrates that there has been an increase in knowledge, skills and abilities as a result of engagement in the programme. Quality: External Scrutiny- Care Inspectorate Between June to September 2022, the Care Inspectorate carried out unannounced inspections in eight local authority early learning and childcare settings. Commendably, the inspectors noted that 75% of ELC staffing were graded good or above. This notes a positive reflection on the leadership and management of settings with 75% also graded good or above. The inspection reports would indicate that the Leadership Programme and training calendar delivered by the ELC Quality Team is having a successful impact on upskilling the workforce. The high quality of the new ELC builds was reflected in 80% being graded as very good, with 75 % settings offering good or above play and learning for children. Based on the recent inspection reports, a more focused, proportionate approach from the peripatetic equity and excellence lead team will be allocated to settings who require support and challenge in meeting the National Standards. Capital Update During 2021–2022 there was significant progress in building our infrastructure capacity to enable the full expansion of 1140 hours of nursery provision for children. The capital programme has a value of £20 million and is on track to be completed in August 2022.
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Learning, Teaching and Assessment Service level self-evaluation processes highlighted the need to provide significant training on the Learning, Teaching and Assessment Moderation Cycle. 119 participants registered to attend the programme, 13% of the total were from our partner settings. Key themes emerging from the evaluations include: • Opportunity to reflect on knowledge “It was very worthwhile to have the information and be able to think about your own practice and how we can improve as a result. Will take on board a lot of the information given to us and put it into practice.” • Cascade information to wider team “The sessions provided an effective overview of the LTA elements, allowing me to refresh my knowledge and reflect on my role as a leader of learning within the centre. It also allowed me to see the pathway/cycle I will undertake to support my team's progression of LTA. These sessions were a great opportunity to share practice with my colleagues from across the authority and gain new ideas from them that we could lovingly lift and develop in our own setting.” • Supported an audit of current practice “This training has helped our Leadership Team to plan improvement priorities linking to effective Learning, Teaching and Assessment. My colleague and I have drafted a plan for a training programme for staff tailored to their needs and the needs of our service to help ensure that the elements covered in the training are carried out effectively within our setting. It has given us a fantastic starting point for making adaptations to our planning formats, recording of evidence and assessment methods next year.” • Improving outcomes for children and families “This training has allowed me to become familiar with the moderation cycle. It has also allowed me to broaden my knowledge of play-based pedagogy and child centred practice. This in turn will allow me to better lead my team to provide experiences geared towards the individual needs of children and their families. It will allow me to gather robust evidence to support their next steps in learning.” Early Years Training Calendar The ELC training calendar for 2021-2022 included themes around health and wellbeing, leadership, self-evaluation for improvement and curricular approaches. A range of partners co-facilitated the training. Facilitators included Education Scotland, Psychological Services, Speech and Language Therapy, NL Performing Arts, Pedagogy Team and NL education colleagues. A total of 1,324 ELC practitioners have attended at least one of the 28 courses/sessions included in the 2021-2022 ELC Training calendar, as outlined below. (Some of these courses have been repeated to maximise attendance at a time suitable for individuals.) 729 evaluations were returned. Almost all highlighted how participation would improve their practice. Mapping the Framework A reflective reference resource was created to support ELC settings to clearly identify their Improvement Priorities based on robust self-evaluation guided by the reflective reference resource which aligns and signposts staff to relevant National guidance documents.
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HMIE and Education Scotland North Lanarkshire Council’s governance is based upon the European Framework for Quality Management (EFQM) approach which describes the Vision and Values, Key Systems and Processes; and the Outcomes and Outputs that are desired from our activities. The EFQM criteria have been embedded within How Good is Our School 4? (HGIOS?4) so that each criterion is reflected in a number of quality indicators. To support continuous improvement, we regularly engage Education Scotland and HMIe for improvement work and for external scrutiny. Inspections HMIe paused their programme of routine inspections in March 2020 in response to COVID-19. Only establishments identified by HMIe for return inspections were inspected last session. Prior to the pandemic, 10 educational establishments were identified by HMIe as requiring further support and engagement to secure improvements. Officers prioritised providing bespoke packages of support for these establishments and now only 2 are awaiting further inspection from HMIe and 2 must submit a further progress report within 1 year of last engagement. 6 have now been completely signed off. Thematic Engagement and Voluntary Engagement HMIe Recovery Visits: Voluntary Engagement To support continuous improvement, in March 2022, HM Inspectors invited schools and settings to engage with them to talk about their current priorities as they respond to the impact of the pandemic. During April/May 2022, 4 establishments, 3 Early Years establishments and 1 primary school, offered to participate in HMIe’s voluntary engagement process. Feedback was positive and all establishments reported the benefits of engagement in this process. Thematic Inspections (November 2021) Education Scotland complete Thematic inspections to collect information to inform National Practice. Engagement in this process enables establishments to validate their practice, build capacity for improvement and contribute to National policy developments. North Lanarkshire’s Validated Self Evaluation Visits (VSE) 2 Validated Self Evaluation Visits were completed last session. Strengths and areas for further improvement were identified to validate self-evaluation processes, provide further support and challenge, improving outcomes for learners.
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NLC Statistics The Covid Pandemic continued to impact on 2021-2022 attendance rates. Robust systems were established to record covid related absence rates for pupils and staff. The service implemented a range of strategies to minimise impact on learners and to build resilience in the system. Due to the pandemic context, it is not reasonable to compare data from previous sessions. Pupil Attendance Improving attendance rates will remain a priority in North Lanarkshire Council and has been included as a ‘Core plus’ measure in our Local Authority Stretch aims. A strategic plan is in place to maximise the use of our Empowering Our Clusters model to increase the pace of improvements. Exclusions The exclusion rate decreased by circa 50% in the ASN sector. However, it increased in primary, returning to approximately pre-pandemic levels. Within secondary, although the figure increased from last session, it remains lower than pre-pandemic levels with a reduction of 609 exclusion openings. Reducing the exclusion rate will continue to be a key priority, next session. Local Government Benchmarking Framework Local Government Benchmarking Framework spreadsheets show NLC figures against a Scotland and family group average. The Improvement Service collate these for all 32 councils from already published national sources. They publish the data in March each year, so the 2021-2022 data isn’t available until March 2023. Data for session 2020-2021 includes: Educational attainment.xlsx Early years.xlsx Positive destinations + participation rates.x Education costs and satisfaction.xlsx Education attendance + exclusion.xlsx Links: SAC Report Educational Psychology Standard and Quality Report
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Next Steps: Planning for the Future Key Strategic Developments for NLC within Session 2022/23 Scottish Attainment Challenge and Pupil Equity Fund The Strategic Equity Funding is part of the refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge with a revised mission statement “to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty related attainment gap.” Local Authorities are asked to provide an overview of their approach and include stretch aims for various measures which should be informed by, and inform, school plans for progress. The stretch aims should set specific local authority targets for improving outcomes and should articulate ambitions for progress for all pupils in narrowing the poverty-related attainment gap in 2022-2023. Our Plan will continue to drive forward the key area outlined in previous SAC Plans whilst integrating this work within our own service improvement plan and the NL Programme of Work. The key workstreams will continue to evolve and support the overall ambition outlined in the NL programme of Work whilst ensuring the efficacy of approach around using education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty. Following a robust analysis of a range of local and national data, we have identified core and core plus stretch aims. Further details can be found in the SAC plan. Empowering Our Clusters We will continue to strength the Empowering Our Clusters model to improve outcomes for children and families. Insert Link to Service level Improvement Plan 2022-2023
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1 Summary of Education and Families Standards and Quality Report 2021-22 Introduction As a Council, we aim to make North Lanarkshire the best place to Live, Learn, Work, Invest and Visit. As a Service, we understand our contribution to this and strive to ensure our children benefit from high-quality educational experiences delivered by a motivated and skilled workforce. We want to ensure our staff benefit from a range of development opportunities to enhance their professional knowledge and skills and that there are opportunities for career progression. Above all, we want to ensure that our children and families understand that they at the heart of our decision- making processes and that we are committed to working in partnership with them to ensure they benefit from all the excellent opportunities available within North Lanarkshire. North Lanarkshire Council has a statutory duty to improve standards in education, challenging and supporting educational establishments to ensure continuous improvements and to report on their progress. The Standards and Quality (SQ) report should be available for all stakeholders and a copy must be sent to the Scottish Government. This document provides a summary of the main messages from the 2021-22 SQ report. The summary details progress towards planned improvement action and includes measures used to evidence impact for children, families and our workforce. Removing the barriers to achievement and ensuring excellence and equity for all is a key priority for North Lanarkshire Council. It is worth noting that although Covid restrictions eased during session 2021-22, the Service continued to navigate changing landscapes, especially in relation to absence levels, to secure positive outcomes for children and families. The Service managed over 29,100 occasions that a young person had to isolate and over 2000 where a staff member did. The Authority has a statutory duty to report against National Improvement Framework (NIF) priorities and therefore evidence against all NIF priorities permeate all sections. Further detail around aspects of Service improvements are available in the full Standards and Quality Report.
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2 Leadership of Change: Creating the best place to live, learn, work and invest! This section focuses on; • how our vision and values permeate and drive all aspects of our work • how our strategic approach is driving forward improvements to meet current and future service demands • how we purposefully deploy staff to improve outcomes for learners, despite challenges presented by Covid related absence levels • the effective processes in place to build a workforce for the future, providing career development opportunities and high-quality leadership development programmes • progress towards our aspirational aim to reconfigure the way we support learners with additional needs and their families and evidences our relentless focus on Excellence and Equity. Key Theme: Improvement Activity Main NIF Driver: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? What's the Story: School Support and Challenge Programme To improve outcomes for learners through consistent implementation of NLC's Quality Improvement Framework. •Refreshed quality improvement framework and bespoke training for senior leaders (Central Team and School Leaders) to ensure continued focus on support and challenge to improve outcomes for learners. •Increased leadership and empowerment - through NIF workstreams and practitioner networks to implement OECD review outcomes. •Improved use of data to inform improvement agenda. • Introduction of new VSE model. •Support package created to support consistency of standards across all establishments. New policy document(s) created. Training calendar created. Analysis of attendance and feedback to inform further training needs. Improved VSE and Inspection outcomes. Improved quality of evaluative statements and judgements. Evidence of improved use of data to support improvement agenda. Increased accuracy of TPJ. Evidence of positive impact of development work led by NIF workstreams and practitioner networks e.g., creative of progressive pathways, new VSE models and materials. New procedures re improvement reporting and planning procedures created by workstream. Excellent partnership working between colleagues in SAC team, the Attainment Advisor and EFMs is strengthening support and challenge around establishments. Data drop-in sessions in June were well attended and feedback from participants evidenced positive impact in upskilling and building staff capacity. In line with HMIe guidance to pause external scrutiny activity, we paused planned implementation of VSE programme. We will begin implementation of the revised VSE programme in session 22/23. During April/May 2022, 4 establishments, 3 Early Years establishments and 1 primary school, offered to participate in HMIe’s voluntary engagement process. Feedback was positive and all establishments reported the benefits of engagement in this process. HMIe completed 10 follow up inspections during session 2021-22. 6 establishments have now been signed off by HMIe. NLC has been asked to produce an update report for 2 establishments, within 1 year of last engagement and 2 establishments require further support before being signed off by HMIe.
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3 Key Theme: Improvement Activity Main NIF Driver: Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Quality Assurance of Vulnerable Pupils’ Planning: Establishment of effective processes for identifying, tracking and monitoring identified pupils to align supports and improve outcomes for learners. •Introduction of agreed processes for recording, collecting and storing data for identified pupils. •Continued implementation of GIRFEC Refresh. •Introduction of new HART/MAST Processes Accurate data available to track, monitor and inform planning processes to support positive outcomes for learners. Processes established to ensure accurate data is available to track, monitor and inform planning processes ensuring learners benefit from increased access to planned supports. GIRFEC refresh (phase 1 and 2) delivered across all clusters. New HART/MAST processes will be launched in Aug.22. Improving Cluster Support Systems: Planning for Children’s Wellbeing Meetings will be structured and implemented efficiently to align supports and improve outcomes. Work with multiagency colleagues to review current processes. Create an agreed operating model. Review staffing structures to support effective implementation of the model. CLPL and awareness raising events to support shared understanding. Phased implementation of new approaches. Progress updates. Phased implementation of processes to enable the integration of operating systems (SEEMIS and SWIS System) to support effective integrated working. (P0.31.1) Evidence of learners benefitting from improved Early Identification and Intervention and deployment of cluster- based supports. Initial evidence gathered demonstrates the potential benefits of the new operating model however, staffing challenges impact on the pace of the full review and subsequent implementation of the new operating model. This target will be fully launched in Sept. 22. Clear processes established to support full implementation in Aug 22. (Diagram above)
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4 Key Theme: Improvement Activity Main NIF Driver: Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Strategies to develop a skilled workforce for the future •Continued implementation of NLC’s leadership programmes • Strategic recruitment & deployment of staff •Promotion of West Partnership opportunities Statistics of attendance at leadership programmes. Statistics re. involvement in West Partnership opportunities. Additional staff deployed effectively to support recovery. 378 additional teachers recruited and used to support recovery and to mitigate pressures on staffing resources. Reflects our strategic approach to meet current and future service demands. Staffing was deployed strategically to improve outcomes for learners and ensure continued service delivery. Initially 23 teachers were seconded to the Building Back Better (BB) role, one from each Cluster within the authority. However, due to Covid related absences by December 2021 there were only 4 BBB Teachers left. These teachers continued to support identified learners in primary schools across 4 clusters: Clyde Valley, Coatbridge High, Our Lady’s and St Ambrose cluster schools. A total number of 263 pupils were supported. 91 pupils received support for numeracy and 165 for literacy. NL accessed 100% of all available spaces on the WP leadership learning set CLPL and coaching CLPL opportunities. Leadership Participation and interest in the programmes remain high with 83 Principal Teachers, 38 Depute Head Teachers and 12 Head Teachers registered last session. Of the 38 Depute Head Teachers registered, 24% of the cohort were from Local Authorities out with North Lanarkshire Council. This represents a 2% increase in uptake from other Local Authorities from the previous session. West Partnership The graph shows the uptake of West Partnership continuous lifelong learning opportunities by North Lanarkshire colleagues.
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5 Key Theme: Curriculum Rebuild Main NIF Driver: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Support for Pupils: To develop an effective support system to improve attendance rates for identified pupils and reduce exclusions. •Pupil support networks created to empower staff to find local solutions and creative approaches to improving attendance and reducing exclusion. •Processes established to facilitate early identification and intervention to reduce the likelihood of high absence rates or exclusions. Improvement in NLC Attendance data. Reduction in NLC exclusion data. Quantitative and qualitative data evidencing the number of referrals and outcomes of referrals. New Pupil Support Networks created to enable staff to collaborate, sharing expertise to build creative systems to support pupils. These processes support integrated practice and improve children and families' access to the correct support delivered at the correct time in their local community. We have applied for GTCS accreditation for this programme. Due to impact of covid related absences - attendance figures remain out with 'norm'. Therefore, this target will be continued next session. ASN Change Programme: To review processes, practice and infrastructure to ensure effective use of available resources to support and improve outcomes for learners. •Phased implementation of the 'We Aspire model' to support children and young people with intensive social and emotional needs to be educated in a range of bespoke learning environments designed to support delivery of an alternative curriculum, increasing pupil motivation and engagement. •Phased implementation of "We Aspire Model" to support children and young people with significant additional support needs (Physical/Medical/Developmental) to be educated in a bespoke learning environment that meets their needs. •Review of strategic workforce planning to develop new roles and allocation processes to support early identification and to empower local clusters to strategically distribute resources to meet the needs of their learning communities. Increased integration and curriculum experiences for identified ASN learners (No of pupils). New support staff allocation model agreed and implemented. Increased attainment and achievement data. Reduction in numbers of applications for specialist provision. Pupils from Mavisbank have now successfully transitioned to Drumpark PS. Pupils from Clydeview School have now transitioned to their new school building, the former Daisy Park Centre, within Firpark/Cathedral Primary School campus. Phased implementation of other aspects of the We aspire model will continue next session. The new learning assistant model has still to be implemented following challenges with recruitment and contract negotiation processes. However, 19 Modern Apprentices (MAs) were recruited to work in ASN and mainstream schools. The new ‘Needs-Based Pathway Review (NBPR)’ process was created and launched. This model ensures increased emphasis on the careful use of assessment information and detailed profiling of the child and young person. It strengthens pupil and parental involvement. 544 applications were submitted, and 433 children were placed. The number of parental enquiries received following the process reduced by 37%, this session.
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6 Ensuring, wellbeing, equality, and inclusion This section focuses on: • how we build and sustain effective partnerships to improve the wellbeing of our children and families • our commitment to listening to and working with partners – including parents • how the Service continues to strengthen several existing interventions and partnerships for example with Community Learning and Development and Social work, to enact our child and family centred approach to equity and inclusion. Key Theme: Pathways Programmes Main NIF Driver: Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? 1140 Programme Implementation Plan: Improve outcomes for children and families through effective delivery of the 1140 hours plan. •Implementation of staffing exercise to ensure appropriate staffing structures are in place in all establishments to support effective delivery of 1140 hours. •CLPL and Quality Officers remits designed to support improved pedagogical practice, improved quality of learning environments and improved learning experiences. •Targeted use of SAC funding and early years staff's expertise to increase opportunities for family engagement. •Increased involvement in empowering clusters model to support early identification and support for children and families. •Plan created to prepare for the expansion of deferred entry programme. •Continued capital investment to improve learning environments. All establishments will be graded good or above (Meeting the Standard: Care Inspectorate). Evidence of improved implementation of NLC planning and reporting processes to support consistency and improvement. Evidence of CLPL impacting positively on staff skills, knowledge and engagement with pupils (qualitative and quantitative data.) Self-evaluation results evidence improvements in quality of learning environment and learning provision HGIOELCC 2.3 and 3.2. SAC monitoring data. Evidence of use of capacity information and deferred entry intelligence in deferred entry implementation plan. Evidence of continuing investment in EY provision & infrastructure. Evidence that strategic improvement remits are aligned to Early Years' Programme of Work. 536 additional employees recruited to support the implementation of 1140 hours. Between June to September 2022, the Care Inspectorate carried out unannounced inspections in eight local authority early learning and childcare settings. 75% of ELC staffing were graded good or above. 75% of Leadership and management of settings was also graded good or above. The training calendar has impacted positively as evidenced in qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 1,324 ELC practitioners have attended at least one of the 28 courses/sessions included in the 2021-2022 ELC Training calendar. Following robust recruitment procedures all Quality Officers posts have been filled and strategic remits assigned, ready for full implementation in Aug.22. Covid related absences impacted on service delivery periodically throughout the session however, a range of mitigating actions were taken to ensure no service provision had to cease. Data also indicates that SAC funding was used effectively to improve outcomes for children and families.
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7 Key Theme: Pathways Programmes Main NIF Driver: Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan: Continued implementation of the delivery plan to align key areas of development to maximise positive impact on mental health and wellbeing (pupils and staff). •Continued implementation of the 4 key strands of the Mental Health Wellbeing and Resilience Delivery Plan; Nurture and Resilience, Promoting Positive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Mental Health Curriculum, Staff wellbeing: promoting positive mental health and emotional resilience. •Introduce the new strand - Pupil Support. •Creation of one-year plan to consolidate developments. •Preparation of a three-year plan to further develop approaches to Mental Health, Wellbeing and Resilience. •Link the strategic elements of this plan to an updated practice model incorporating GIRFEC and a cluster- based model of working. Wellbeing Quality Framework within Education and Families created. Integration of this plan with a cluster based GIRFEC model building in identified measures of success, at cluster level. Evidence of all establishments using the SEEMIS Wellbeing application to record assessments and plans. Increased use of Outcome Star to support planning and assessment processes for children, young people and families. Self-evaluation (HGIOS 3.1) results demonstrating improved outcomes and increasing consistency of approaches across schools and clusters. Details around the success of this priority are outlined fully in the Educational Psychology report, SAC report and HWB road to recovery document however, key highlights include: Partnership Review and Action Plan (SDQ Survey): To use results of the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire to ensure future plans and interventions are based in robust evidence. •CLPL for establishments to support robust analysis and planning using SDQ data. •Service level analysis of data to support Service level planning. Strategic training calendar. CLPL training records (Quantitative and qualitative data). Evidence that new assessment and planning processes are impacting positively on outcomes for learners. (Qualitative and quantitative data.) Almost all establishments attended sessions or training on how to maximise use of SDQ data to inform planning processes.
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8 Key Theme: Pathways Programmes Main NIF Driver: Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? GIRFEC Refresh (Planning for Children's Wellbeing) Learners will benefit from consistent understanding and application of GIRFEC processes. •Continue to develop a strategic approach to GIRFEC refresh to develop a shared understanding of updated processes and procedures across all aspects of the Service. •Key roles and responsibilities identified. •CLPL to support shared understanding. All establishments using GIRFEC Wellbeing app to store key documents e.g., CSPs, ensuring consistency across the Service. Improved experiences /outcomes for children who are subject to child protection procedures. Reduction in number of learners at the intensive level. Increased evidence of early identification and intervention enabling learners to move out of additional and intensive levels quickly. CLPL/training records and feedback from staff evidencing impact of new approaches. Prioritised using app to record and store CSPs, as part of phased implementation process. Cluster Improvement and Integration Leads (CIILs) delivered GIRFEC refresh training across all clusters to improve consistency of understanding and implementation of staged intervention processes. 400 staff from 33 establishments opted into and were trained in using the Resilience Planning Toolkit to support GIRFEC assessment and planning. Evaluations revealed that practitioners increased both their confidence and knowledge and identified ways to develop their work with children. 41 establishments undertook staff development in nurture. Evaluations revealed an improvement in practitioner confidence and an impact on children. 30 workshops (Critical Incidents and Lifelines Lanarkshire) were delivered to 423 staff from Education, Health, CLD and Social Work. Evaluations revealed an increase in familiarity and confidence levels for practitioners. Outcome Star Tool: To increase use of the Outcome Star to enhance assessment and planning approaches to improve outcomes for learners. •Phased implementation of training programme to support effective use of Outcome Star tool to support assessment and planning processes as part of the GIRFEC model. Strategic training calendar. CLPL training records (Quantitative and qualitative data). Evidence that new assessment and planning processes are impacting positively on outcomes for learners. (Qualitative and quantitative data.) This training started in June and continued into Aug/Sept. To date, 198 staff are licensed to use the Outcome Star tool to support our children and families. The planned input on the effective use of the resource at the wellbeing conference - helped develop a shared understanding of the benefits of the tool and this was then supported by targeted CLPL to upskill users on the operational aspects of the tool. Data of use of tool and impact will be collected during session 22-23.
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9 Learning, Teaching and Assessment We have a relentless focus on improving outcomes for children and families and raising attainment. This section exemplifies some the ways we have adapted our curriculum, pedagogical practice, and processes to support us in this endeavour. Key Theme: Curriculum Rebuild Main NIF Driver: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Literacy and Numeracy (Building Back Better, BGE). To improve attainment in literacy and numeracy through the delivery of refreshed curriculum pathways and high-quality learning experiences. •Progressive frameworks created for literacy and numeracy, detailing key learning at all stages and supporting progression, within and across CfE Levels. •Continued implementation of Assessment and Moderation CLPL to support increased accuracy in teachers’ professional judgements. Increased attainment - Literacy and Numeracy. Bespoke CLPL supporting improved pedagogical practice in literacy and numeracy. Improved authority wide Quality Assurance processes supporting effective moderation processes and improved outcomes for learners. Progressive curriculum pathways created for Early, First and Second level of the Curriculum for Excellence. Pathways are flexible, to build on effective practice, highlight knowledge and skills and exemplify pace and progressions through and across levels. Pathways will go through NLC’s robust Quality Assurance processes between Aug. 22 - Dec. 22 and will be ready for full release in Jan. 2023. The Central team will monitor and evaluate the impact of these planners by tracking children’s attainment in literacy and numeracy and seeking feedback from staff. Specific attainment information is included at the end of this report. Secondary literacy and numeracy BGE planners will be created in 2022-23 to support progressive knowledge and skills development through the Broad General Education. (BGE) Assessment and Moderation 98 Teachers engaged in the new Digital Moderation Training. 31 Schools engaged in whole school training for Learning, Teaching and Assessment. 465 teachers trained in new approaches to Learning, Teaching and Assessment. 11 schools participated in Education Scotland QAMSO (Assessment and Moderation) programme. Music Service Recovery: To ensure all leaners have equal access to NLC's music tuition. •Phased return of pre-covid delivery music model. •Following introduction of free music tuition complete a scoping exercise (staff and learners) to create a delivery model that supports excellence and equity of access. Data to evidence increased uptake of music tuition. Interrogation of data evidencing equity of access for all learners. Creation of new delivery model. Despite restrictions, the Service successfully offered tuition to 2,100 learners but there is scope for further growth in this area and so it shall remain a priority for next session. Continued focus on this priority for session 2022-23.
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10 Key Theme: Curriculum Rebuild Main NIF Driver: Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Senior Phase Review To improve attainment and achievement through refreshed curriculum pathways and pedagogical approaches. •Steering group to review the senior phase curriculum offering considering OECD recommendations and changes to SQA qualification processes. •Create new curricular pathways. •Maximise links with West Partnership colleagues to support improvements. Improved attainment and achievement as a result of improved senior phase curriculum offering. Progressive pathways evidence a range of routes to qualifications. Evidence of increased opportunities to develop the 4 CfE capacities. Effective links with a range of partners to integrate DYW skills. Improved attainment measures at the senior phase. Curriculum Toolkit created and ready for implementation in Session 2022-23. This toolkit is designed to support school leadership teams to systematically review and refresh their curriculum rationale ensuring all learners benefit from a curriculum that reflects CFE design principles and reflects their local context. It covers all aspects of the curriculum: Broad General Education and Senior phase. This was a change from the original plan but reflects recommendations form the OECD report. Launch toolkit in session 2022-23. Plan and implement CLPL to support effective use of the toolkit. HNC In partnership with New College Lanarkshire and the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), session 2021-2022 saw the introduction of an HNC pilot programme, whereby young people would embark on year 1 of the course during S6. This HNC leads to year 2 of the HND with New College Lanarkshire and then on to year 3 of a degree within UWS, effectively allowing young people to achieve a degree one year earlier. The pilot was offered in cyber security, computer assisted design and construction management. Vocational Education Vocational learning programmes are offered to young people in all 23 secondary schools and 9 Additional Support Needs schools. Foundation Apprenticeships In 2021-2022, the Vocational Education Team developed a range of partnerships with local and national employers, securing work placements for pupils currently undertaking their studies, developing clear articulation pathways with employers providing a quality work experience that will further develop their learning and interest in the industry. Level 4/5 and 6 FA programmes provide articulation pathways that will enable NLC students to become the “talent pool” for a range of employers who may wish to develop these individuals within their companies as their workforce for the future within North Lanarkshire. 78 of our young people achieved a level 4/5 result and 16 achieved a level 6 result.
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11 Key Theme: Curriculum Rebuild Main NIF Driver: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Digital (Progression in Learning). To improve learner engagement and attainment through effective use of digital pedagogies. •Progressive framework created for digital literacy detailing key learning and supporting progression, within and across CfE levels. •Continued development of NL Digital School and the Universal learning offer of the Virtual Classroom. •Continued implementation of strategies to support digital inclusion. Bespoke CLPL delivered by Digital Team, supported by Pathfinders, facilitating improved pedagogical practice. Improved digital quality assurance processes. Progressive pathways implemented consistently across establishments to ensure high quality learning experiences. A range of data evidencing continued improvements in digital school and virtual classroom engagement. Data evidencing continued support for digital infrastructure and device deployment. Digital Literacy Skills and Computing Science progression pathways for Early to Second level created ready for launch in August 2022. These are designed to be flexible and build on effective practice, highlighting knowledge and skills. They include suggestions to support pace and progression. Third Level will be added by January 2023. 68 learners engaging in digital learning materials as part of Future Friday offering. 13 new schools achieved digital schools award taking us up to 24 in total. 924 pupils visited the immersive classroom and 86 staff were trained in its use. 4941 pupils participated in live code along sessions to develop their knowledge and skills. All 23 clusters were represented at this training to support cascading of information. 58 core training sessions were offered by the digital team. The Virtual Classroom continued to build on the success of its launch in January 2021 by amassing a total of 732655 visits to date. There were 117926 visits across the 2021- 2022 academic year with 13371 unique users to the site. What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Gaelic Language Plan Refresh: To develop a strategic approach to ensure effective delivery of Gaelic Education within NLC. •Promote and support Gaelic Medium Education (GME)across NLC. •Work with relevant stakeholders to establish and maintain a Gaelic language plan implementation group with senior representation from all Council departments. •Complete a feasibility study to inform a proposal for the establishment of a Gaelic Medium 3-18 campus. •Introduction of GME as part of 1+2 language offer. •Develop a Promotion and Creation of a communication strategy to promote and raise awareness of Gaelic provision. •Increased access to Gaelic activities & culture through planned community events. Capacity data to evidence increased GME provision. GME Language Plan. Feedback evidencing increased levels of pupil confidence and awareness of Gaelic. Programme of planned community events evidencing increased opportunities for parental and community to learn Gaelic. 25% of NLC Primary Schools offer Gaelic as part of 1+2. 100% of BGE/Senior phase pupils' requests to take Gaelic as a Modern Language accommodated. All parents who wish to learn Gaelic are accommodated through existing resources such as CLD and the Gaelic Activities Lead. Gaelic plan created. Time required to implement the plan and measure impact of planned improvements.
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12 Key Theme: Learning for Sustainability / Sustainable Development Main NIF Driver: Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Active Travel Strategy: To improve learners’ health and wellbeing and reduce our carbon footprint through increased opportunities for active travel. •Audit and identify safe walking routes. •Support schools to revise travel plans. •Develop a communication strategy to promote active travel. •Highlight links with sustainability and NLC's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. Increased numbers of pupils walking to school. Increased number of pupils cycling to school. Increased engagement in Bikeability training. Monitoring of travel plans. Stakeholder feedback. The number of schools undergoing Bikeability training doubled. Focus on safe walking routes will be carried forward to next session as the strategic decision was made to more this focus to supporting Club 365 and developing a hybrid model of support for schools, as we recovered from the pandemic and associated restrictions. Expanded Outdoor Education Programme: To improve learners Health and Wellbeing through the delivery of high-quality outdoor learning experiences. •Develop a strategic expansion programme to increase the number of primary 7 pupils attending the outdoor education programme at Strathclyde Park each week by 100%. •Integrate this offer in to P7 transition programmes. •Continue to support establishments to increase opportunities for pupils to engage in high quality outdoor learning experiences through the provision of bespoke CLPL for staff. Data evidencing increased pupil participation figures. Analysis of P7/S1 transition evidencing integration of Strathclyde Park outdoor education offer. Quantitative and qualitative data re. Outdoor education CLPL offer. Despite the ongoing Covid restrictions, the improved infrastructure and additional trained staff, made it possible to accommodate 95 schools. We will continue to build capacity to accommodate more schools and reach our aspirational target of accommodating 119 Primary schools. We will also continue to provide bespoke support for ASN provision. Key achievements throughout the period include: • Inactive Girls Programmes delivered in 23 high schools • Tailored primary school programmes offered to all schools • Leadership Programmes delivered in 23 high schools, plus 5 Future Friday Leadership Academies created • Student Placement partnerships in place with 2 colleges
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13 Key Theme: Learning for Sustainability / Sustainable Development Main NIF Driver: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? STEM (Raise Curriculum) To improve attainment through the delivery of high-quality STEM learning experiences. •Build capacity and support sustainability in STEM learning and teaching throughout primary establishments through the STEM leader programme. •Create and promote opportunities for staff to consider and plan STEM as a context for developing literacy and numeracy skills. •Build awareness and capacity of staff within ASN and ELC sectors to deliver STEM based learning. •STEM ELC and ASN group established. •Further development of STEM CLPL for staff. •Contextualised learning, teaching and assessment through COP 26 event. •Skills development supported through the creation of a skills progression pathway in engineering and technologies. •Primary Science Development Officer group established to focus on development of skills progression framework. Evaluations of STEM leader sessions. Attendance target: one STEM leader per cluster. RAISE evaluation of impact comparison to baseline data. Creation of Literacy through STEM and Numeracy through STEM CLPL. CLPL attendance data and feedback re. impact on teachers' skills, knowledge and confidence. Attendance data for COP 26 event. Skills development framework shared with primary establishments. CLPL in engineering and technologies created to support framework. Collated feedback from practitioners. A STEM Launch Event took place in September 2021 and was attended by 126 participants, representing almost every primary establishment in North Lanarkshire (NL). 84% of primaries were represented at training sessions last session, and increased engagement has been noted. A STEM Leaders programme was developed and launched last session. The programme was attended by 21 of the 23 school clusters, and very positively received by participants. Over the course of last session over 2500 staff participated in 3200 hours of CLPL linked to STEM. Global Citizenship Programme: Learners will have an increased understanding of global issues and perspectives and will understand how they can impact positively locally, nationally and internationally. •Resources created to promote the integration of key components of global citizenship into curriculum rationale. •Plan and deliver COP26 event. •Map link with key components and 4 CfE Capacities Package of support materials for establishments created. COP26 programme of events and feedback from delegates and participants. As part of the planned programme of activities within North Lanarkshire Council to mark the occasion of the COP26 (ACT 2021) international climate conference in the city of Glasgow, a pupil conference was convened on Thursday 28 October.100 schools participated in the day’s activities, and then enjoyed a series of planned follow up activities through STEM, green energy and learning for sustainability. Supporting learning resources/experiences were shared on NLC's virtual Classroom. Over 8000 people particpated in the conference.
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14 Raising Attainment & Achievement This section showcases progress made in improving attainment and in providing all learners, including those affected by poverty, with the necessary supports to reach their full potential. It includes an analysis of Local Authority attainment data. Key Theme: Pathways Programme Main NIF Driver: Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Post-16 Programme Expansion •Review consortium and classroom teaching models. •Identify learners to be involved in the programme. •Identify possible routes to qualifications. •Work with learners to create bespoke programmes. •Monitor and track progress. Data re. school leaver destinations and numbers of young people in the senior phase (pathways programme). Data re. levels of engagement with DYW Delivery Plan/programmes. The 2021-2022 programme supported 145 young people on a full-time bespoke curriculum away from school that incorporated employability and life skills, personal development, industry recognised qualifications and work-based learning opportunities with support from key partners. This all serves to enhance our young people’s ability to achieve and sustain a positive post school destination in this difficult post-pandemic phase. In session 2020-2021 we saw our highest percentage of young people leave school and enter a positive post- school destination. Continue to build on this next session. Future Fridays (Expanded Achievement Programmes). Develop a bespoke curriculum offering for secondary pupils designed to expand opportunities for achievement. •Appoint PTs to lead delivery of Future Friday programme. •Continue to monitor and track pupil uptake of Future Friday offering (Expanded Achievement Programmes). •Strengthen offer to maximise opportunities for learners to experience depth, challenge and opportunities to apply skills in a range of diverse learning experiences. Audit information. Qualitative and quantitative feedback from all stakeholders. All PTs appointed and are effectively coordinating establishment level offers under the direction of the strategic lead, EFM and HoS. Qualitative and quantitative data evidence improving attendance rates and positive impact however, this strategic approach will continue to enable the team to reach their aspirational target wherein all learners participate in the programme before leaving school. In addition to the core Pathways Programme, detailed below, a new 5-week ‘Introduction to Employability’ programme was introduced in all secondary schools as part of North Lanarkshire Councils Future Friday’s programme with the capacity to deliver to 230 young people. These sessions target pupils who are further removed from the world of work and require additional support in preparing to leave school into employment or further education. Sessions focus on identifying skills and qualities and how these relate to the world of work, what employability support is available to them and where to find it. It also assists young people with how to develop a CV or college application to prepare for the next step in their employability journey.
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15 Key Theme: Pathways Programme Main NIF Driver: Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Work Related Learning (Pathways, Packages and Partnerships): Develop an effective approach to careers education through effective partnership working ensuring that opportunities reflect current and future employment opportunities therefore improving outcomes for learners. •Scope existing partnerships. •Engage with a range of stakeholders to identify new/potential partnerships. •Map potential links with relevant curriculum advice and guidance. •Create a menu of options for school leaders. •Develop and deliver CLPL, as appropriate. Data re. engagement with partners. Increased quantity and diversity of qualification pathways for learners. Data re. engagement with college providers and 3rd sector. Procurement framework and financial records. In partnership with the DYW Regional Group and a range of council services, an online apprenticeship week event was delivered to introduce young people to the apprenticeship family and pathways into a career in construction. 23 interactive sessions were delivered over the course of the week with 2386 young people taking part with an average of 104 young people attending each session. All content was recorded and hosted on the Digital School allowing more young people to access as and when required. Last session, a Primary Pathways pilot was launched, supporting 60 pupils in upper primary school with the aim of providing them with a vocational offer that will enhance their experience of school and re-engage them in the curriculum. Virtual School SQA support provides individual teaching input to young people who are at significant risk of leaving school with no formal qualifications. Planning in partnership with schools, families and the team around the child, Care Experienced Support Teachers work with young people to achieve a range of qualifications. In session 2021 – 22 a total of 81 National 3 and 4 level qualifications were achieved by 32 young people – improving their future career prospects. Over the past three sessions 159 awards have been achieved by 75 young people. Covid restrictions impacted on ability to fully implement all planned interventions and approaches in relation to this priority. We will continue to focus on this priority next session.
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16 Key Theme: Improving Outcomes Main NIF Driver: Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Refreshed SAC and PEF Plan: To refresh and integrate SAC and PEF planning to build capacity and strengthen connectivity for children and young people. •Develop synergies between various funding streams while retaining a focus on supporting vulnerable children and families. •Further develop the empowering cluster model in order that collaboration between services can be accelerated and linked to a common purpose of closing the poverty related attainment gap. •Effective analysis of data to identify the poverty related attainment gap and to track progress made to reduce this gap. •Agreed criteria used to identify establishments for targeted support (focus establishments). •SAC leads will continue to drive forward improvements in key areas; leadership, pedagogy and HWB. •Provision of CLPL to support establishments to develop targeted approaches and interventions. Improved attainment in focus schools (ACEL & Intervention data). Increased leadership opportunities available: middle leadership, DHT, HT and Early Years. (quantitative and qualitative data). Increased evidence of integrative practice - supported by SAC colleagues. Evidence of uptake and impact of CLPL to improve pedagogical practice and outcomes for learners. In session 2021-22 Pupil Equity Funds of £10,926,499 were distributed to all primary, secondary and special schools across North Lanarkshire. The majority of funding was spent on additional staffing resources to deliver appropriate activities and interventions. The funding was used to directly support young people and their families affected by poverty. Pupil Equity Fund Highlights for NL Schools • 117 additional staff appointed by schools through PEF allocations • 108 schools with a specific focus on literacy • 97 schools with a specific focus on numeracy • 96 schools with a specific focus on health and wellbeing • 55 schools have invested in digital learning • 24 schools have used PEF funding to improve engagement with parents Feedback from establishments and central staff evidence increased alignment of SAC/PEF approaches and overall improvement approaches. Collaborative approaches to data collection and improvement planning and reporting processes evidence targeted support for school leaders to identify data informed improvement priorities and to used professional learning opportunities to upskill staff and improve outcomes for learners.
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17 Key Theme: Improving Outcomes Main NIF Driver: Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Improve attainment and close the poverty related attainment gap. Introduction of mid- term ACEL collection points. Alignment of SAC and EFM supports. Data analysis training sessions Effective use of ‘What’s the Story’ Dashboard. Increased attainment trends over time. Cohort comparison shows value added. Reduction in poverty related attainment gap. Achievement of a Curriculum for Excellence Level Data (ACEL) NLC’s data for session 2021-2022 shows that attainment has increased at P1, P4 and P7, across all organisers. ACEL attainment at the S3 stage has decreased across all organisers when compared with 2019 data. Writing is the lowest attaining organiser in primary, and numeracy in secondary. • In numeracy, across all stages, most learners are making good progress with attainment levels ranging from 76.8% at P4 to 85.4% at S3 stage. • In literacy, across primary stages, attainment levels are highest in listening and talking. • Attainment in all literacy organisers at the P1, P7 and S3 stages indicate that most learners are reaching expected levels. At the P4 stage most learners are reaching expected levels in listening and talking, reading and numeracy. Writing levels are slightly lower, with the majority of learners reaching expected levels. Overall attainment levels are lowest at the P4 stage. Further analysis of cohort comparison data (2019-2022) shows that P4 – P7 attainment levels have increased across all organisers. However, P1-4 attainment is down, most noticeably in numeracy and writing. This could imply that our youngest learners are the most impacted by covid pandemic. This data will be used to inform future planning. Equity Analysis of data indicates that there is a narrowing of the attainment gap in almost all stages for primary literacy. Analysis of data also indicates that there is a narrowing of the attainment gap in primary stages from last session for numeracy. 23 family learning centres were supported through additional funding to enhance and support to bridge gaps in Literacy, Numeracy and HWB.
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18 Key Theme: Improving Outcomes Main NIF Driver: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Our Plans Evaluation What do we want to achieve? How are we going to do it? How will we know if we are successful? How did we get on? Improve attainment and close the poverty related attainment gap. Alignment of SAC and EFM supports. Data analysis training sessions Effective use of ‘What’s the Story’ Dashboard Increased attainment trends over time. Reduction in poverty related attainment gap. Senior Phase The Scottish government confirmed a return to traditional exams for session 2021-2022, and North Lanarkshire young people were presented accordingly. North Lanarkshire Council’s 2022 attainment has risen against the majority of key measures, in comparison with 2019 attainment data. This is the most reliable comparison as attainment data for 2021 and 2020 was collected via the alternative certification models, and 2019 data represents the last formal exam diet. The following information is based on SQA Results issued to candidates in August 2022, where 1% in any year is roughly equivalent to 36 pupils. So, a 3% improvement in any indicator equates to over 100 pupils achieving improved results. The percentages are based on the S4 roll at the start of the Senior Phase for each year group. These results may change following the results of the SQA appeals process. Five Year Trend in Attainment Data Overall pass rates across the majority of measures have maintained or improved on 2019 results. Attainment trend data indicates that the 2022 data is comparable and at times better that the five-year average. Improvement in the numbers of young people in S4 achieving 5 National 3 (6%) and National 4 (6.3%) qualifications. Significant improvement in the numbers of young people in S5 achieving 5 Highers (3.4%), enabling over 100 more of our young people to have access to a wider range of higher and further education programmes in colleges and universities, and greater credentials for the job market than in 2019. The majority of establishments have increased their attainment in S5 3+ Highers; almost all establishments have increased their attainment in S5 5+ Highers; almost all establishments have increased their attainment at S6 3+ Highers and most have increased their attainment at S6 5+ Highers. Equity: Closing the poverty related attainment gap Quintile 1 (most deprived) to quintile 5 (least deprived) comparison data would appear to reflect that, in the main, the gap is wider for traditional exam data than for the alternative certification model years. The 2022 gap is bigger than the four-year average. Over 2,300 S4 pupils, from Quintile 1 were presented for at least 1 Nat 5 in S4. Over 90% of the pupils achieved success. Almost 1,350 S5 pupils from Quintile 1 were presented for at least 1 higher and 84% achieved success
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North Lanarkshire Council: Improvement Plan 2021-22: POW Evaluation Summary Themes Plans Being Implemented in 2021 - 2022 Summary of Key Actions Measures of Success NIF Priority/Priorities Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) Impact/Evaluative Summary Literacy and Numeracy (Building Back Better, BGE). To improve attainment in literacy and numeracy through the delivery of refreshed curriculum pathways and high quality learning experiences. •Progressive frameworks created for literacy and numeracy, detailing key learning at all stages and supporting progression, within and across CfE Levels. •Continued implementation of Assessment and Moderation CLPL to support increased accuracy in teacher's professional judgements. Increased attainment - Literacy and Numeracy. Bespoke CLPL supporting improved pedagogical practice in literacy and numeracy. Improved authority wide Quality Assurance processes supporting effective moderation processes and improved outcomes for learners. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children Teacher professionalism Assessment of children's progress School improvement Progressive pathways created for Early, First and Second level. Materials are designed to be flexible, to build on effective practice, highlight knowledge and skills and exemplify pace and progressions. Pathways will go through QA processes between Aug. 22 - Dec. 22 and will be ready for full release in Jan. 2023. The Central team will use qualitative (ACEL results) and quantitative Acel results to measure the impact of new pathways. Work on S1-S3 planners continues. Digital (Progression in Learning). To improve learner engagement and attainment through effective use of digital pedagogies. •Progressive framework created for digital literacy detailing key learning and supporting progression, within and across CfE levels. •Continued development of NL Digital School and the Universal learning offer of the Virtual Classroom. •Continued implementation of strategies to support digital inclusion. Bespoke CLPL delivered by Digital Team, supported by Pathfinders, facilitating improved pedagogical practice. Improved digital quality assurance processes supporting improved outcomes for learners. Progressive pathways implemented consistently across establishments to ensure high quality learning experiences. Qualitative and quantitative data evidencing continued improvements in digital school and virtual classroom engagement. Quantitative data evidencing continued support for digital infrastructure and device deployment. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children Teacher professionalism School improvement Performance information Digital Literacy Skills and Computing Science progression pathways, launched in August 2022, are designed to be flexible and build on effective practice, highlighting knowledge and skills and exemplify possible pace and progression. The current pathways provide progression from Early to Second Level, and Third Level will be added by January 2023. All key actions successfully completed. Senior Phase Review To improve attainment and achievement through refreshed curriculum pathways and pedagogical approaches. •Steering group to review the senior phase curriculum offering in light of OECD recommendations and changes to SQA qualification processes. •Create new curricular pathways. •Maximise links with West Partnership colleagues to support improvements. Improved attainment and achievement as a result of improved senior phase curriculum offering. Progressive pathways evidence a range of routes to qualifications. Evidence of increased opportunities to develop the 4 CfE capacities. Effective links with a range of partners to integrate DYW skills . Improved attainment measures at the senior phase insert WP data) Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Teacher professionalism Assessment of children's progress School improvement Curriculum Toolkit created and ready for implementation in Session 2022-23. Continued need to support data collection at establishment and local level to evidence learners progress in CFE capacities. Ongoing Covid restrictions continued to impact on ability to maximise use of DYW partnerships. Music Service Recovery: To ensure all leaners have equal access to NLC's music tuition. •Phased return of pre-covid delivery music model. •Following introduction of free music tuition complete a scoping exercise (staff and learners) to create a delivery model that supports excellence and equity of access. Data to evidence increased uptake of music tuition. Interrogation of data evidencing equity of access for all learners. Creation of new delivery model. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people School improvement School leadership Main NIF Driver(s) Despite restrictions the Service successfully offered tuition to 2,100 learners but there is scope for further growth in this area and so it shall remain a priority for next session. Gaelic Language Plan Refresh: To develop a strategic approach to ensure effective delivery of Gaelic Education within NLC. •Promote and support the potential for Gaelic Medium Education (GME)across NLC. •Work with relevant stakeholders to establish and maintain a Gaelic language plan implementation group with senior representation from all Council departments. •Complete a feasibility study to inform a proposal for the establishment of a Gaelic Medium 3-18 campus within the Council Area. •Introduction of GME as part of 1+2 language offer. •Develop a Promotion and Creation of a communication strategy to promote and raise awareness of Gaelic provision. •Increased access to Gaelic activities & culture through planned community events. Capacity data to evidence increased GME provision. GME 1+2 update data. GME Language Plan. Quantitative feedback evidencing increased levels of pupil confidence and awareness of Gaelic. Programme of planned community events evidencing increased opportunities for parental and community to learn Gaelic. 25% of NLC Primary Schools offer Gaelic as part of 1+2. 100% of BGE/Senior phase pupils' requests to take Gaelic as a Modern Language accommodated. All parents who wish to learn Gaelic are accommodated through existing resources such as CLD and the Gaelic Activities Lead. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy School improvement Performance information Main NIF Driver(s) Gaelic plan created. Time required to implement the plan and measure impact of planned improvements. Support for Pupils: To develop an effective support system to improve attendance rates for identified pupils and reduce exclusions. •Pupil support networks created to empower staff to find local solutions and creative approaches to improving attendance and reducing exclusion. •Processes established to facilitate early identification and intervention to reduce the likelihood of high absence rates or exclusions. NLC Attendance data. Exclusion data. Quantitative and qualitative data evidencing the number of referrals and outcomes of referrals. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Improvement in children and young people's health and wellbeing School leadership School improvement Performance information Robust procedures established to support clear data cleansing and collection which supported integrated practice and improve children and families' access to the correct support delivered at the correct time in their local community. Due to impact of covid related absences - attendance figures remain out with 'norm'. Therefore, this target will be continued next session. ASN Change Programme: To review processes, practice and infrastructure to ensure effective use of available resources to support and improve outcomes for learners. •Phased implementation of the 'We Aspire model' to support children and young people with intensive social and emotional needs to be educated in a range of bespoke learning environments designed to support delivery of an alternative curriculum; increasing pupil motivation and engagement. •Phased implementation of "We Aspire Model" to support children and young people with significant additional support needs (Physical/Medical/Developmental) to be educated in a bespoke learning environment that meets their needs. •Review of strategic workforce planning to develop new roles and allocation Increased integration and curriculum experiences for identified ASN learners (No of pupils). New support staff allocation model agreed and implemented. Increased attainment and achievement data. Reduction in numbers of applications for specialist provision. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) As part of the re-configuration of Intensive services transition planning and transition activities were undertaken this session to relocate primary aged pupils from Mavisbank School to Drumpark school to begin the new session in their new school. Pupils from Clydeview School were also supported with transition planning to their new school building, the former Daisy Park Centre within Firpark/Cathedral Primary School campus, for academic session in August 202. Phased implementation of other aspects of the We aspire model will continue next session. The new learning assistant model has still to be implemented following challenges with recruitment and additional time to collaborate with HR and unions to create bespoke job descriptions that align with new service delivery models. New ‘Needs-Based Pathway Review (NBPR)’ process created and launch. This process links closely with the Universal, Additional and Intensive support approach and the closer to home agenda; it replaces the previous ‘allocations’ • Post-16 Programme Expansion •Review consortium and classroom teaching models. •Identify learners to be involved in the programme. •Identify possible routes to qualifications. •Work with learners to create bespoke programmes. •Monitor and track progress. Data re. school leaver destinations and numbers of young people in the senior phase (pathways programme). Data re. levels of engagement with DYW Delivery Plan/programmes. Number of secondary pupils engaging in the Future Fridays programme. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people School improvement Assessment of children's progress Performance information In session 2020-2021 we saw our highest percentage of young people leave school and enter a positive post-school destination. Engagement figures continue to improve for Future Fridays. We will continue to focus on this. Work Related Learning (Pathways, Packages and Partnerships): Develop an effective approach to careers education through effective partnership working ensuring that opportunities reflect current and future employment opportunities therefore improving outcomes for learners. •Scope existing partnerships. •Engage with a range of stakeholders to identify new/potential partnerships. •Map potential links with relevant curriculum advice and guidance. •Create a menu of options for school leaders. •Develop and deliver CLPL, as appropriate. Data re. engagement with partners. Increased quantity and diversity of qualification pathways for learners. Data re. engagement with college providers and 3rd sector. Procurement framework and financial records. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people School improvement Teacher professionalism Performance information Covid restrictions impacted on ability to fully implement all planned interventions and approaches in relation to this priority. We will continue to focus on this priority next session. Future Fridays (Expanded Achievement Programmes). Develop a bespoke curriculum offering for secondary pupils designed to expand opportunities for achievement. •Appoint PTs to lead delivery of Future Friday programme. •Continue to monitor and track pupil uptake of Future Friday offering (Expanded Achievement Programmes). •Strengthen offer to maximise opportunities for learners to experience depth, challenge and opportunities to apply skills in a range of diverse learning experiences. Audit information. Qualitative and quantitative feedback from all stakeholders. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Improvement in children and young people's health and wellbeing. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people School leadership School improvement Main NIF Driver(s) All PTs appointed and are effectively coordinating establishment level offers under the direction of the strategic lead, EFM and HoS. Qualitative and quantitative data evidencing positive impact however, this strategic approach will continue to enable the team to reach their aspirational target wherein all learners participate in the programme before leaving school. Overview of Recovery and Change Activity (Delivering our Programme of Work and Service Improvement Curriculum Rebuild Support for Children and Families Pathways Development
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Refreshed SAC and PEF Plan: To refresh and integrate SAC and PEF planning to build capacity and strengthen connectivity for children and young people. •Develop synergies between various funding streams while retaining a focus on supporting vulnerable children and families. •Further develop the empowering cluster model in order that collaboration between services can be accelerated and linked to a common purpose of closing the poverty related attainment gap. •Effective analysis of data to identify the poverty related attainment gap and to track progress made to reduce this gap. •Agreed criteria used to identify establishments for targeted support (focus establishments). •SAC leads will continue to drive forward improvements in key areas; leadership, pedagogy and HWB. •Provision of CLPL to support establishments to develop targeted approaches and interventions. Improved attainment in focus schools (ACEL & Intervention data). Increased leadership opportunities available: middle leadership, DHT, HT and Early Years. (quantitative and qualitative data). Increased evidence of integrative practice - supported by SAC colleagues. Evidence of uptake and impact of CLPL to improve pedagogical practice and outcomes for learners. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. School improvement School leadership Performance information Qualitative feedback from establishments and central staff evidence increased alignment of SAC/PEF approaches and overall improvement approaches. Collaborative approaches to data collection and improvement planning and reporting processes evidence targeted support for school leaders to identify data informed improvement priorities. Covid related absences impacted on availability of additional staffing to support focus school. Data from schools who retained the support shows the positive impact of this support. 1140 Programme Implementation Plan: Improve outcomes for children and families through effective delivery of the 1140 hours plan. •Implementation of staffing exercise to ensure appropriate staffing structures are in place in all establishments to support effective delivery of 1140 hours. •CLPL and Quality Officers remits designed to support improved pedagogical practice, improved quality of learning environments and improved learning experiences. •Targeted use of SAC funding and early years staff's expertise to increase opportunities for family engagement. •Increased involvement in empowering clusters model to support early identification and support for children and families. •Plan created to prepare for the expansion of deferred entry programme. •Continued capital investment to improve learning environments. All establishments will be graded good or above (Meeting the Standard: Care Inspectorate). Evidence of improved implementation of NLC planning and reporting processes to support consistency and improvement. Evidence of CLPL impacting positively on staff skills and knowledge and engagement with pupils (qualitative and quantitative data.) Self-evaluation results evidence improvements in quality of learning environment and learning provision HGIOELCC 2.3 and 3.2. SAC monitoring data. Evidence of use of capacity information and deferred entry intelligence in deferred entry implementation plan. Evidence of continuing investment in EY provision & infrastructure. Evidence that strategic improvement remits are aligned to Early Years' Programme of Work. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Improvement in children and young people's health and wellbeing. Teacher professionalism School leadership Parental engagement 536 additional employees to support the implementation of 1140 hours. Between June to September 2022, the Care Inspectorate carried out unannounced inspections in eight local authority early learning and childcare settings. 75% of ELC staffing were graded good or above. 75% of Leadership and management of settings was also graded good or above. CLPL training calendar has impacted positively as evidenced in qualitative and quantitative data. A total of 1,324 ELC practitioners have attended at least one of the 28 courses/sessions included in the 2021-2022 ELC Training calendar. Following robust recruitment procedures all Quality Officers posts have been filled and strategic remits assigned, ready for full implementation in Aug.22. Covid related absences impacted on service delivery periodically throughout the session however, a range of mitigating actions were taken to ensure no service provision had to cease. Data also indicates that SAC funding was used effectively to improve outcomes for children and families. Mental Health and Wellbeing Delivery Plan: Continued implementation of the delivery plan to align key areas of development to maximise positive impact on mental health and wellbeing (pupils and staff). •Continued implementation of the 4 key strands of the Mental Health Wellbeing and Resilience Delivery Plan; Nurture and Resilience, Promoting Positive Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Mental Health Curriculum, Staff wellbeing: promoting positive mental health and emotional resilience. •Introduce the new strand - Pupil Support. •Creation of one-year plan to consolidate developments. •Preparation of a three-year plan to further develop approaches to Mental Health, Wellbeing and Resilience. •Link the strategic elements of this plan to an updated practice model incorporating GIRFEC and a cluster-based model of working. Wellbeing Quality Framework within Education and Families created. Integration of this plan with a cluster based GIRFEC model building in identified measures of success, at cluster level. Evidence of all establishments using the SEEMIS Wellbeing application to record assessments and plans. Increased use of Outcome Star to support planning and assessment processes for children, young people and families Self-evaluation (HGIOS 3.1) results demonstrating improved outcomes and increasing consistency of approaches across schools and clusters. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing School leadership Teacher professionalism Assessment of children's progress Details around the success of this priority are outlined fully in the Educational Psychology report, SAC report and HWB road to recovery document. Partnership Review and Action Plan (SDQ Survey): To use results of the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire to ensure future plans are based in robust evidence and that future plans meet the needs of our learners. •CLPL for establishments to support robust analysis and planning using SDQ data. •Service level analysis of data to support Service level planning. Strategic training calendar. CLPL training records (Quantitative and qualitative data). Evidence that new assessment and planning processes are impacting positively on outcomes for learners. (Qualitative and quantitative data.) Improvement in children and young people's health and wellbeing. School improvement Assessment of children's progress Teacher professionalism Almost all establishments attended sessions or training on how to maximise use of SDQ data to inform planning processes. GIRFEC Refresh (Planning for Children's Wellbeing) Learners will benefit from consistent understanding and application of GIRFEC processes. •Continue to develop a strategic approach to GIRFEC refresh to develop a shared understanding of updated processes and procedures across all aspects of the Service. •Key roles and responsibilities identified. •CLPL to support shared understanding. All establishments using GIRFEC Wellbeing app to store key documents e.g. CSPs, ensuring consistency across the Service. Improved experiences /outcomes for children who are subject to child protection procedures. Reduction in number of learners at the intensive level. Increased evidence of early identification and intervention enabling learners to move out of additional and intensive levels quickly. CLPL/training records and feedback from staff evidencing impact of new approaches. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing School leadership Teacher professionalism Assessment of children's progress Prioritised using app to record and store CSPs, as part of phased implementation process. CIILs delivered GIRFEC refresh training across all clusters to improve consistency of understanding and implementation of staged intervention processes. Following a robust data cleansing exercise, a new process was designed and piloted din one cluster to support improved data collection re. number of children who require intensive level planning. This will be extended to all clusters as part of the Empowering our Clusters model, next session. Outcome Star Tool: To increase use of the Outcome Star to enhance assessment and planning approach to improve outcomes for learners. •Phased implementation of training programme to support effective use of Outcome Star tool to support assessment and planning processes as part of the GIRFEC model. Strategic training calendar. CLPL training records (Quantitative and qualitative data). Evidence that new assessment and planning processes are impacting positively on outcomes for learners. (Qualitative and quantitative data.) Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing School leadership Teacher professionalism Assessment of children's progress This training started in June and continued in to Aug/Sept. To date, 198 staff are licensed to use the Outcome Star tool to support our children and families. The planned input on the effective use of the resource at the wellbeing conference - helped develop a shared understanding of the benefits of the tool and this was then supported by targeted CLPL to upskill users on the operational aspects of the tool. Data of use of tool and impact will be collected during session 22-23. Global Citizenship Programme: Learners will have an increased understanding of global issues and perspectives and will understand how they can impact positively locally, nationally and internationally. •Resources created to promote the integration of key components of global citizenship into curriculum rationale. •Plan and deliver COP26 event. •Map link with key components and 4 CfE Capacities Package of support materials for establishments created. COP26 programme of events and feedback from delegates and participants. Improvement in attainment, particularly literacy and numeracy. School improvement Teacher professionalism Performance information As part of the planned programme of activities within North Lanarkshire Council to mark the occasion of the COP26 (ACT 2021) international climate conference in the city of Glasgow, a pupil conference was convened on Thursday 28 October.100 schools participated in the day’s activities, and then enjoyed a series of planned follow up activities through STEM, green energy and learning for sustainability. Supporting learning resources/experiences were shared on NLC's virtual Classroom. STEM (Raise Curriculum) To improve attainment through the delivery of high-quality STEM learning experiences. •Build capacity and support sustainability in STEM learning and teaching throughout primary establishments through the STEM leaders programme. •Create and promote opportunities for staff to consider and plan STEM as a context for developing literacy and numeracy skills. •Build awareness and capacity of staff within ASN and ELC sectors to deliver STEM based learning. •STEM ELC and ASN group established. •Further development of STEM CLPL for staff. •Contextualised learning, teaching and assessment through COP 26 event. •Skills development supported through the creation of a skills progression pathway in engineering and technologies. •Primary Science Development Officer group established to focus on development of skills progression framework. Evaluations of STEM leader sessions. Attendance target: one STEM leader per cluster. RAISE evaluation of impact comparison to baseline data. Creation of Literacy through STEM and Numeracy through STEM CLPL. CLPL attendance data and feedback re. impact on teachers' skills, knowledge and confidence. Attendance data for COP 26 event. Skills development framework shared with primary establishments. CLPL in engineering and technologies created to support framework. Collated feedback from practitioners. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people School improvement Teacher professionalism Assessment of children's progress A STEM Launch Event took place in September 2021 and was attended by 126 participants, representing almost every primary establishment in North Lanarkshire (NL). 84% of primaries were represented at training sessions last session, and increased engagement has been noted. A STEM Leaders programme was developed and launched last session. The programme was attended by 21 of the 23 school clusters, and very positively received by participants. Over the course of last session over 2500 staff participated in 3200 hours of CLPL linked to STEM. Expanded Outdoor Education Programme: To improve learners Health and Wellbeing through the delivery of high-quality outdoor learning experiences. •Develop a strategic expansion programme to increase the number of primary 7 pupils attending the outdoor education programme at Strathclyde park each week by 100%. •Integrate this offer in to P7 transition programmes. •Continue to support establishments to increase opportunities for pupils to engage in high quality outdoor learning experiences through the provision of bespoke CLPL for staff Data evidencing increased pupil participation figures. Analysis of P7/S1 transition evidencing integration of Strathclyde Park outdoor education offer. Quantitative and qualitative data re. Outdoor education CLPL offer. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing. School improvement Teacher professionalism Main NIF Driver(s) Despite the ongoing Covid restrictions, the improved infrastructure and additional trained staff, made it possible to accommodate 95 schools. We will continue to build capacity to accommodate more schools and reach our aspirational target of accommodating 119 Primary schools. We will also continue to provide bespoke support for ASN provision. Active Travel Strategy: To improve learners heath and wellbeing and reduce our carbon footprint through increased opportunities for active travel. •Audit and identify safe walking routes. •Support schools to revise travel plans. •Develop a communication strategy to promote active travel. •Highlight links with sustainability and NLC's commitment to reducing its Increased numbers of pupils walking to school. Increased number of pupils cycling to school. Increased engagement in Bikeability training. Monitoring of travel plans. Stakeholder feedback. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing School improvement Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) The number of schools undergoing Bikeability training doubled. Focus on safe walking routes will be carried forward to next session as the strategic decision was made to more this focus to supporting Club 365 and developing a hybrid model of support for schools, as we recovered from the pandemic and associated restrictions. Health and Wellbeing Learning for Sustainability / Sustainable Development
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What's the Story: School Support and Challenge Programme To improve outcomes for learners through consistent implementation of NLC's Quality Improvement Framework. •Refreshed quality improvement framework and bespoke training for senior leaders (Central Team and School Leaders) to ensure continued focus on support and challenge to improve outcomes for learners. •Increased leadership and empowerment - through NIF workstreams and practitioner networks to implement OECD review outcomes. •Improved use of data to inform improvement agenda. • Introduction of new VSE model. •Support package created to support consistency of standards across all establishments. New policy document(s) created. Training calendar created. Analysis of attendance and feedback to inform further training needs. Improved VSE and Inspection outcomes. Improved quality of evaluative statements and judgements. Evidence of improved use of data to support improvement agenda. Increased accuracy of TPJ. Evidence of positive impact of development work led by NIF workstreams and practitioner networks e.g. creative of progressive pathways, new VSE models and materials. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy School leadership School improvement Performance information New procedures created by workstream. Excellent partnership working between colleagues in SAC team, the Attainment Advisor and EFMs is strengthening the support and challenge around establishments. Training calendar and materials to support implementation ready for August 22. Data drop in session in June were well attended and qualitative feedback evidences positive impact on sessions in upskilling and building capacity. In line with HMIe guidance to pause external scrutiny activity, we paused planned implementation of VSE programme. We will rollout the programme in session 22/23. During April/May 2022, 4 establishments, 3 Early Years establishments and 1 primary school, offered to participate in HMIe’s voluntary engagement process. Feedback was positive and all establishments reported the benefits of engagement in this process. HMIe completed 10 follow up inspections during session 2021-22. 6 establishments have now been signed off by HMIe. NLC has been asked to produce an update report for 2 establishments, within 1 year of last engagement and 2 establishments require further support before being signed off by HMIe. Quality Assurance of Vulnerable Pupils’ Planning: Establishment of effective processes for identifying, tracking and monitoring identified pupils to align supports and improve outcomes for learners. •Introduction of agreed processes for recording, collecting and storing data for identified pupils. •Continued implementation of GIRFEC Refresh. •Introduction of new HART/MAST Processes Accurate data available to track, monitor and inform planning processes to support positive outcomes for learners. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing School leadership School improvement Performance information Processes established to ensure accurate data is available to track, monitor and inform planning processes ensuring learners benefit from increased access to planned supports. GIRFEC refresh (phase 1 and 2) delivered across all clusters. New HART?MAST processes will be launched in Aug.22. Improving Cluster Support Systems: Planning for Children’s Wellbeing Meetings will be structured and implemented efficiently to align supports and improve outcomes. Work with multiagency colleagues to review current processes. Create an agreed operating model. Review staffing structures to support effective implementation of the model. CLPL and awareness raising events to support shared understanding. Phased implementation of new approaches. Progress updates. Phased implementation of processes to enable the integration of operating systems (SEEMIS and SWIS System) to support effective integrated working (P0 31 1) Evidence of learners benefitting from improved Early Identification and Intervention and deployment of cluster-based supports. School improvement School leadership Performance information Initial evidence gathered demonstrates the potential benefits of the new operating model however, staffing challenges impact on pace of the full review and subsequent implementation of the new operating model. This target will be fully launched in Sept. 22. Justice Plan: Improved standards of public protection reducing impact on children and families. •In line with the aspirations of Equally Safe, Scotland’s strategy to eradicate violence against women and girls, a comprehensive strategy and plan will be developed. •Ensure a coherent approach to improvement activity which will include a focus on prevention and early intervention as well as enhancing practice, including through the further roll out of the safe and together model and the implementation of the UP2U programme within justice services. •UP2U is a domestic abuse behaviour change programme designed to help people make positive changes to their behaviour in their relationships. •Trauma-informed practice champion (underpinning approaches to strengths bases practice and family support) Strategy created. Quantitative data around reported incidents. Analysis of trends and patterns. CLPL data. (Quantitative and Qualitative data). Feedback from UP2U and continuing monitoring data. Improvement in children's and young people’s health and wellbeing. Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people. Parental engagement Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) UP2U update Justice Services utilised a proportion of covid recovery monies to purchase a training package for 56 staff across children and families to implement the ‘UP2U Family Practice’ programme accessible for non-court mandated individuals. This version of UP2U was designed specifically for child and family practice scenarios where unhealthy relationship behaviours exist. This now offers a consistent intervention approach across children and families and Justice which strengthens North Lanarkshire’s response to behaviour change work with perpetrators of domestic abuse. Two staff from aura support were trained in the Family Practice version as well as staff in the virtual school. UP2U Family Practice not only targets domestic abuse behaviour but can be used to address a wide variety of unhealthy behaviours such as parental neglect, physical chastisement, emotional abuse and anger management. The training phase of the implementation is still ongoing and in 2022 the operational phase will commence across the six locality children and families teams as well as intensive services. A champions model will be adopted with one champion in each area supporting the implementation as it progresses. UP2U Creating Healthy Relationships is the version of UP2U delivered to court mandated individuals who are subject to supervision as a result of domestic abuse offences. The UP2U service is now fully operational and the programme is delivered by Justice social workers in a case management setting on a 1:1 or a 2:1 basis. We also have a centralised UP2U team who support locality teams with the delivery of the programme to high-risk individuals who are screened using our new UP2U screening panel process. Justice support staff also provide a voluntary partner support service for any partner or ex-partner of the UP2U participant who may be at risk during the course of the intervention. The programme can be delivered in a group work Improvement Activity
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North Lanarkshire Council: Improvement Plan 2022-23 Themes Improvement Priority 2022-23 Summary of Key Actions How will we measure our success? NIF Priority/Priorities Main NIF Driver(s) Main NIF Driver(s) Improve outcomes for children and families through the introduction of our Improving Our Clusters Support Systems: Processes and Procedures Empowering Our Clusters Model launched outlining clear roles, responsibilities and accountably. Monitoring and tracking processes implemented and used to evidence impact and inform future interventions. Attendance and launch and Engagement with the resource: Target - Most stakeholders attended the launch and almost all accessing the page tiger resource to develop their understanding and improve outcomes for children and families. Quantitative data re. engagement with the resource (Target 91-99% of establishments). Qualitative feedback from staff to evidence improved understanding. Cluster Improvement and Integration Lead (CIIL) monitoring data provides a robust data base evidencing impact. Data re. number of children and families supported via the Empowering Cluster model. Increased establishment and authority level attendance figures. Reduction exclusion figures. Reduction of learners who require intensive level planning. Quantitative and qualitative data evidencing strengthened integrated practice. Outcome star data evidencing improved outcomes for children and families. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education School and ELC leadership Parent/carer involvement and engagement Empowering Our Clusters Model : Strategic use of staff to improve attainment and outcomes for learners. Strategic use of cluster staff to raise attainment, strengthen integrated working, improving outcomes for children and families. Clearly defined roles for Cluster Attainment Teachers (CAT), Cluster Resource Teachers (CRTS) and Cluster Support Teachers (CSTS). Data evidencing impact of CATs, CRTs, CSTs. Improved service level attainment and attendance data. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy Performance information School and ELC improvement Pathways Pilot (Upper Primary). Primary Pathways programme piloted with identified pupils in upper primary school with the aim of providing them with a vocational offer that will enhance their experience of school and re-engage them in the curriculum. Scoping exercise to quantify the number of learners to be involved in the pilot programme. (60 young people). Increased attainment and attendance levels for almost all (91- 99%) identified learners. Positive qualitative feedback from staff, young people and parents. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing. School and ELC improvement Performance information Yr. 2: Keeping the Promise (Delivery Plan for CEYP): To implement the delivery plan demonstrating our strategic approach to meeting the principles of the Promise and improves outcomes for Care Experienced Young People (CEYP). •Enhancement of health, mental health, and wellbeing supports for identified learners. •Strengthening integrated planning around educational and vocational pathways & the virtual school model. •Continuation of the Close to Home programme designed to improve capacity to support children and young people closer to their communities. •Ongoing reconfiguration of aftercare services. •Extend Pilot Contextual Safeguarding. •Continue implementation of 10-year programme of transformation in the delivery of care and family support in Scotland placing the voice of the child at the heart of planning. •Work with relevant stakeholders to review policies and procedures to embed legislation incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots Law. •Expansion of support to kinship families though the new kinship team. Evidence of positive impact of effective implementation of the Corporate Parenting Plan. Data evidencing increased access to bespoke HWB supports for learners (quantitative and qualitative data.) Improved attendance and positive destination data for CEYP. Data evidencing number of CEYP being supported 'Close to Home.' New aftercare operating model. Improved staff awareness and positive outcomes for learners involved in Contextual Safeguarding pilot. (Quantitative and Qualitative data.)Evidence of integration of UNCRC in to processes and procedures. Programme of support available for Kinship Carers. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education. Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people. School and ELC improvement Performance information ASN Change Programme: To continue to review processes, practice and infrastructure to ensure effective use of available resources to support and improve outcomes for learners. •Continue phased implementation of the 'We Aspire model' to support children and young people with intensive social and emotional needs to be educated in a range of bespoke learning environments designed to support delivery of an alternative curriculum; increasing pupil motivation and engagement. •Continue phased implementation of "We Aspire Model" to support children and young people with significant additional support needs (Physical/Medical/Developmental) to be educated in a bespoke learning environment that meets their needs. •Review of strategic workforce planning to develop new roles and allocation processes to support early identification and to empower local clusters to strategically distribute resources to meet the needs of their learning communities. •Monitor the impact of NBPR process. Increased integration and curriculum experiences for identified ASN learners (No of pupils). New support staff allocation model agreed and implemented. Increased attainment and achievement data. Reduction in numbers of applications for specialist provision. Reduction in number of appeals post NBPR. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education. Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people. Post-16 Programme Expansion •Identify learners to be involved in the programme. •Identify possible routes to qualifications. •Work with learners to create bespoke programmes. •Monitor and track progress. Data re. school leaver destinations and numbers of young people in the senior phase (pathways programme) will increase. Data (qualitative and quantitative) re. levels of engagement with DYW Delivery Plan/programmes. Number of secondary pupils engaging in the Future Fridays programme will continue to increase. Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Performance information Curriculum and Assessment Work Related Learning (Pathways, Packages and Partnerships): Develop an effective approach to careers education through effective partnership working ensuring that opportunities reflect current and future employment opportunities therefore improving outcomes for learners. •Scope existing partnerships. •Engage with a range of stakeholders to identify new/potential partnerships. •Map potential links with relevant curriculum advice and guidance. •Create a menu of options for school leaders. •Develop and deliver CLPL, as appropriate. Quantitative data re. increased engagement with partners. Increased quantity and diversity of qualification pathways for learners. Data re. engagement with college providers and 3rd sector. Procurement framework and financial records. Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Performance information Curriculum and Assessment Strategy Equity Fund & PEF Plan: To refresh and review planned approaches to build staff capacity, strengthen integrated practice and support excellence and equity. •Develop synergies between various funding streams while retaining a focus on supporting vulnerable children and families. •Further develop the empowering our cluster model in order that collaboration between services can be accelerated and linked to a common purpose of closing the poverty related attainment gap. •SAC leads will continue to drive forward improvements in key areas; leadership, pedagogy and HWB. •Provision of CLPL to support establishments to develop targeted approaches and interventions. Improved attainment in focus schools (ACEL & Intervention data). Increased leadership opportunities available: middle leadership, DHT, HT and Early Years. (quantitative and qualitative data). Increased evidence of integrative practice - supported by SAC colleagues. Evidence of uptake and impact of CLPL to improve pedagogical practice and outcomes for learners. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing School and ELC leadership Performance information Support for Children and Families Overview of Recovery and Change Activity (Delivering our Programme of Work and Service Improvement Pathways Development Strategic Equity Fund 2022-23 and Increased attainment
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Introduction of Core Stretch Aims •Effective analysis of data to identify the poverty related attainment gap and to track progress made to reduce this gap. •Agreed criteria used to deploy additional empowering our cluster staff to support equity and excellence agenda. •Align resources to work towards achieving NLC core and core plus stretch aims. ACEL Literacy P1, P4 and P7 Combined : Overall -74.00%, Q1 - 67.87%, Q5 - 83.70%. ACEL Numeracy P1, P4 and P7 Combined : Overall -82.38%, Q1 - 75.09%, Q5 - 90.26%. 1 or more at SCQF Level 5: Overall - 88.50%, Q1 - 81.50%, Q5 - 97.20%. 1 or more at SCQF Level 6, Overall - 66.0%, Q1- 52.6%, 83.10%. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Performance information School and ELC improvement Introduction of Core Plus Stretch Aims •Effective analysis of data to identify the poverty related attainment gap and to track progress made to reduce this gap. •Align resources to work towards achieving NLC core and core plus stretch aims. Participation Measure: Overall 93.60%, Q1- 89.0%, Q5- 96.80%.HWB Measure: Primary Attendance: Overall 94.60%, Q1 92.20%, Q5- 96.80%.HWB Measure Secondary attendance: Overall 88.90%, Q1- 85.10%, Q5 - 92.10%. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Performance information School and ELC improvement Improvement Refreshed Quality Assurance Framework: To improve outcomes for learners through consistent implementation of NLC's Quality Improvement Framework. •Implementation of refreshed quality improvement framework and bespoke training for senior leaders (Central Team and School Leaders) to ensure continued focus on support and challenge to improve outcomes for learners. •Increased leadership and empowerment - through NLC Leadership programme, NIF& WP workstreams and practitioner networks to drive forward identified improvement areas. •Continued use of data to inform improvement agenda - with a specific focus on Overall improvement data and Q1 vs Q5 data. • Implementation of new Validated Self Evaluation (VSE) model. •Support package created to support consistency of standards across all establishments.• Introduction of Improvement visits. • Analysis of external scrutiny results to identify trends, share good practice across the system and inform future improvement planning. New policy document(s) created. Training calendar created. Analysis of attendance and feedback to inform further training needs. Improved VSE and Inspection outcomes. Improved quality of evaluative statements and judgements. Evidence of improved use of data to support improvement agenda. Increased accuracy of Teacher professional Judgements (TPJ). Evidence of positive impact of development work led by National Improvement (NIF) workstreams and practitioner networks e.g. creative of progressive pathways, new VSE models and materials. Analysis of HMIe inspections results and subsequent action plans. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing Performance information School and ELC leadership Digital In continuing the development of the Digital School and driving forward the Council’s priority of Digital First, the aims of the Digital School have been consolidated into 3 linked areas. Transformational Change – focus on the transformation of the digital infrastructure and connectivity across the school estate. This will also include project management of devices and experiences such as interactive panels and Immersive Classrooms Building Capacity – continual development of sustainable CLPL for all staff. This will progress to the development of digital pedagogical approaches across learning, teaching and assessment and empower establishments to lead digital improvement priorities. There will be continued promotion of Digital Schools Award Scotland and Microsoft Educator. Learning Experience – links to the first area of transformational change. This will focus on the devices and technologies in establishments and the impact these have on individual learners experiences. As well as continuing to develop consistent experiences and access for learners across North Lanarkshire. Establishments supported to achieve equitable digital learning experience and the start of connectivity capacity programme of work. Staff confidence continues to increase by ore visible digital learning experiences across schools. Continued improvement in establishments attaining Digital School Award Scotland. Young people are supported in learning through digital devices which run on current programmes. Refresh Programmes in place managed by establishment leaders . Self-evaluation toolkit issued to all establishments. Improvement in skills and sustained, positive leaver destinations for all young people. School and ELC improvement Curriculum and Assessment Leadership Model for Town and Community Hubs: Learners will benefit from high quality learning environments designed for 21st Century curriculum delivery. •Continued implementation of schools and Centres modernisation programme. •Leadership review to identify a Town and Community Hub Leadership model. Community Town Hub implementation plan. Regular progress update(s) - infrastructure and finance. Consultation evidence. Leadership Model - proposals. Final model. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education School and ELC improvement Main NIF Driver(s) Review and relaunch NLC's Parental Engagement Strategy to increase opportunities for meaningful engagement with parents/carers Create a strategy that focusses on parental involvement, parental engagement, family learning and learning at home. Identify and implement effective mechanisms to ensure a variety of stakeholders including parents/carers are able to contribute and shape this strategy. Launch the Strategy in Aug. 23. Qualitative and quantitative data evidencing stakeholder involvement in all stages of the process. Draft Strategy produced. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education. School and ELC improvement Main NIF Driver(s) Yr 2: Quality Assurance of Vulnerable Pupils’ Planning: Establishment of effective processes for identifying, tracking and monitoring identified pupils to align supports and improve outcomes for learners. •Introduction of agreed processes for recording, collecting and storing data for identified pupils. •Continued implementation of GIRFEC Refresh. •Introduction of new HART/MAST Processes Accurate data available to track, monitor and inform planning processes to support positive outcomes for learners. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education. School and ELC improvement School and ELC improvement Yr. 2: Improving Cluster Support Systems: Planning for Children’s Wellbeing Meetings will be structured and implemented efficiently to align supports and improve outcomes. Work with multiagency colleagues to review current processes. Create an agreed operating model. Review staffing structures to support effective implementation of the model. CLPL and awareness raising events to support shared understanding. Phased implementation of new approaches. Progress updates. Phased implementation of processes to enable the integration of operating systems (SEEMIS and SWIS System) to support effective integrated working. (P0.31.1) Evidence of learners benefitting from improved Early Identification and Intervention and deployment of cluster- based supports. Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education. School and ELC improvement Performance information Yr. 2: Early Years Improvements: Improve outcomes for children and families through effective delivery of the 1140 hours plan. •Implementation of revised staffing exercise to ensure appropriate staffing structures are in place in all establishments to support effective delivery of 1140 hours. •CLPL and Quality Officers remits designed to support improved pedagogical practice, improved quality of learning environments and improved learning experiences. •Continue to increase opportunities for family engagement. •Increased involvement in empowering clusters model to support early identification and support for children and families. •Plan created to prepare for the expansion of deferred entry programme. •Continued capital investment to improve learning environments. All establishments will be graded good or above (Meeting the Standard: Care Inspectorate). Evidence of improved implementation of NLC planning and reporting processes to support consistency and improvement. Evidence of CLPL impacting positively on staff skills and knowledge and engagement with pupils (qualitative and quantitative data.) Self-evaluation results evidence improvements in quality of learning environment and learning provision HGIOELCC 2.3 and 3.2. QA/Monitoring data. Evidence of use of capacity information and deferred entry intelligence in deferred entry implementation plan. Evidence of continuing investment in EY provision & infrastructure. Evidence that strategic improvement remits are aligned to Early Years' Programme of Work. Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people. School and ELC improvement Main NIF Driver(s) Learning for Sustainability / Sustainable Development Active Travel Strategy: To improve learners heath and wellbeing and reduce our carbon footprint through increased opportunities for active travel. •Audit and identify safe walking routes. •Support schools to revise travel plans. •Develop a communication strategy to promote active travel. •Highlight links with sustainability and NLC's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. Increased numbers of pupils walking to school. Increased number of pupils cycling to school. Increased engagement in Bikeability training. Monitoring of travel plans. Stakeholder feedback. Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing School and ELC improvement Main NIF Driver(s)