Appendix 1 - Raising Attainment Update 2023-2024
Perth and Kinross Council · 23 October 2024
Back to Learning and Families Committee — 23 October 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Education & Children’ Improving Lives Together Ambition Compassion Integrity Education & Children’s Services Raising Attainment Strategy Attainment Report 2023-2024 Appendix 1
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Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................. 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 NIF Priority 1: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. ...................... 3 Case Study – Using Technology to Enhance Learning and Teaching ........................................... 4 Case Study – Closing Numeracy Gaps ............................................................................................. 5 Case Study – Closing Literacy Gaps ................................................................................................. 6 NIF Priority 2: Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged. ........... 9 NIF Priority 3: Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing. .................11 Case Study – Nurturing Relationships Ruthvenfield Primary School ..........................................13 Case Study Self – Regulation Professional Learning Programme ...............................................14 Case Study – Improving Attendance at Rattray Primary School .................................................15 NIF Priority 4: Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people. .....................................................................................................16 Case Study – S3 Construction Academy Perth High School .......................................................17 Case Study – Data-led Intervention .................................................................................................18 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................................18 Appendix 1 – Glossary of Acronyms................................................................................................19
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1 Executive Summary The Education Service Improvement Plan 2024-2025 was produced and submitted to the Scottish Government in August 2024. This annual plan meets the requirements set out by the Scottish Government on planning and reporting progress on the priorities set out in the National Improvement Framework (NIF) for education. This supplementary report provides more detail on the attainment data and provides an update on key achievements for the academic session 2023/24 in progress against the NIF. It is helpful to consider this report alongside the Education Service Improvement Plan 2024-2025 which considers the full breadth of services provided in the area, including those supporting children and families in a range of ways which may not relate directly to school-based attainment and achievement but act to support children and young people to achieve their fullest potential. The Scottish Government document ‘Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress’ has been developed to support the next phase of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. It aims to set high expectations, including annual, ambitious, locally identified stretch aims. The objective is to help ensure significant progress is made in recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and in achieving the mission of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. The new PKC Raising Attainment Strategy 2024-27 is the foundation of attainment focus. Introduction The report outlines progress towards each of the relevant priorities identified in the NIF and provides some exemplification of activity outlined in the Education Service Improvement Plan 2024-2025 against each of these priorities: • Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. • Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged. • Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing. • Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people. The outcome • Placing the human rights and needs of every child and young person at the centre of education is not addressed in this report due to a lack of attainment data around this priority. However, it remains a priority in our Education Improvement Plan and in each of our schools. The Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress (the Framework) has been developed to support the next phase of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC). It aims to set high expectations, including annual stretch aims, developed across all 32 education authorities, to help ensure significant progress is made in recovering from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and in achieving the mission of the SAC. These stretch aims in PKC last session were: • Achievement of literacy and numeracy levels for stages P1, P4, P7 and S3. • Achievement of literacy and numeracy levels looked after children in P1, P4 and P7. • Proportion of school leavers attaining one or more passes at SCQF level 5. • Proportion of school leavers attaining one or more passes at SCQF level 6. • Participation measure: proportion of 16-19 years olds participating in education, employment or training based on Annual Participation Measure (APM) produced by Skills Development Scotland (SDS).
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2 • Attendance and Exclusion measures in primary and secondary schools. • Average Insight tariff points for school leavers. • Average Insight tariff points for looked after school leavers. Excellence and Equity In order to identify if the actions taken to improve our priorities have been effective, measures are aligned to the strategy’s two overall objectives. 1. Excellence – we strive to improve performance across the board. In simple terms we aim to increase the combined ‘average’ of all individuals and raise the line. 2. Equity – we strive to reduce the “gaps” between those disadvantaged in different ways because of their circumstances. In simple terms, we aim to flatten the line across groups of different advantage/deprivation. These principles are shown simply above but progress will likely be a complex combination of these two factors. In showing progress, we aim to draw upon a broad range of evidence rather than relying on single, narrow measures. Changes are likely to be seen reliably over several years and year-by-year comparison should be done with care. At local authority level, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is used where necessary to understand the effects of poverty, in line with national level approaches. However, for many schools in PKC, SIMD is considered weak for differentiating pupil background or statistical analysis, and the ACORN classification is used preferentially. SQA Assessment Models 2020-2024 In 2020 qualifications were delivered purely as a result of teacher professional judgement over a shortened school year; in 2021 we followed an “Alternative Certification Model” (ACM) allowing young people more opportunity to evidence their learning than a one off examination; in 2022 there were mitigations and alterations to the assessment and examination landscape with SQA stating that evidence would be marked “generously” and in 2023 these alterations remained but rather than generously these scripts would now be marked “sensitively”. Each session since 2020 where the pass rate nationally was at a record high this has resulted in a year-on-year decline in national pass rates. In 2024 pass rates have fallen nationally by up to 4%.
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3 NIF Priority 1: Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. Pre-School Development Proportion of P1 children meeting all developmental milestones prior to starting school The proportion of P1s meeting all their expected developmental milestones has decreased in 2024 to 75% from the previous cohort of children. This cohort are the children born in 2020. The percentage of additional support needs (ASN) within this cohort is slightly higher. Of those, 44% did not achieve all milestones last year, with 68% not achieving all this year. This cohort has 54% of boys as opposed to 49% last year and research tells us that boys make slower progress at this stage of development. Within this cohort more children are recorded as not having achieved one Developmental Milestone. Last year there were 267, with a rise this year to 298. Particular Developmental Milestones that children have more issues with are attention, emotional, social and speech and language which all show an increase of 3%. Work continues across all Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings to mitigate the impact of these developmental concerns and to ensure that children are supported to achieve their potential through a focus on the overall quality of provision, outdoor learning, language development and emotional resilience.
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4 Broad General Education There has been steady progress over time in P1,4 and 7 Achievement of a Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels (ACEL). In 2022-2023 a targeted programme of work to improve writing with six pilot schools created significant improvement in writing in these schools. A further 20 schools have taken part in the National Improving Writing programme in 2023-2024. These schools have made significant improvements in 1st level writing attainment and the PKC 1st level writing attainment has risen to 73%, an increase of 2% on last session. Case Study – Using Technology to Enhance Learning and Teaching During the period from January to June 2024 Kinross High School participated in a small test of change to evaluate the impact that iPads had on learner engagement and motivation. 10 learners from Kinross High School, Pupil Support Facility from S1-3 used these iPads to determine if having the technology available to them consistently, every day would make a difference to their motivation and attainment. We were lucky to work with Skriva Stylus who provided us with 10 Skriva Styluses for this project too. This provided even more functionality for the iPad including use of creative drawing tools, use of handwriting app and recording learning in a number of ways. With the use of iPads learners had an increase in working independently and at their own pace to achieve learning goals. The introduction of iPads allowed learners to work more independently and at their own pace, enhancing their ability to achieve learning goals. Previously limited to 20-minute sessions twice a week for spelling practice, the iPads enabled up to 2 hours of self-guided, game-based learning weekly. This increased engagement led to improved spelling results over time with most learners increasing by 25-38% in their average spelling test result from December to February. Engagement with learning also rose significantly:
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5 Combined P1, 4 and 7 Literacy and Writing attainment has also continued to improve in 2023-2024. Over 50 primary schools have now engaged with Explicitly Teaching Text Types approaches to writing over the last three years and this has contributed to the continuing rise in writing attainment across the primary phase. Case Study – Closing Numeracy Gaps Big Maths at Grandtully Primary School It is widely recognised that Numeracy and Maths can be an area where, if a child misses a crucial step, it can impact their overall progress. Within Grandtully Primary School there are two multi-composite classes, P1-3 and P4-7. Trying to identify appropriate interventions for each child can be a complex process when dealing with so many individuals at different stages. Big Maths was identified as a tool to support the teaching of basic skills in maths and numeracy. The tool is intended to help teachers understand the level that a child is working at in order to inform their planning and teaching. As well as using it as an assessment and tracking tool, the core maths resources help the teacher tailor learning and teaching to each child through the identification of learning gaps, supporting children to move forward with their learning. From data analysis 11 children were identified who, based on PKC tracking, were either behind by a term or who were on track, but needed support to stay on track. Data was also used to identify those in Acorn 4/5, having additional support needs, being care experienced or having concerns in relation to attendance. Big Maths is cyclical and therefore builds on skills week after week progressively becoming more complex. In the three areas of the mathematical programme almost all children have reduced the gap in their learning according to their weekly assessments. This is despite several of the children having attendance percentages less than 90%. Almost all children have made progress which is in line with the pace of their peers. A few have exceeded the pace of their peers and are now either on track or ahead of expected levels. The small number who have not progressed at the expected pace have been identified as potentially having an additional support need which requires further diagnostic assessment. Feedback from children included the following statements: “Doing the assessments lets you see the areas you don’t know. Big Maths is fun!” “I like that you move up at your own pace. This motivates me because I am moving to the next level.” “Big Maths pushes you. Some questions you can find really hard but then you know that's the area you need to work on.”
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6 Case Study – Closing Literacy Gaps Colourful Semantics at Breadalbane Academy Tracking data identified that a number of pupils were not achieving expected levels of literacy and assessment demonstrated that the focus needed to be on grammar. A number of staff were trained by Speech and Language Therapists to deliver Colourful Semantics. This is an approach that aims to teach children how to build and understand sentence structures. It helps develop skills in understanding questions, developing narrative, understanding written text and developing vocabulary. As a teaching approach, colourful semantics can be particularly useful for children who struggle with: • Putting sentences together in a meaningful order. • Confusing the order of words in sentences. • Missing out verbs and other key details in sentences. • Always using the same sentence structures. Children worked individually or in small groups with a class teacher and pupil support assistant for 20-30 minutes 2-3 times per week to work on building sentences using the structure of colourful semantics. Impact The intervention was successful with 5 pupils closing the gap by 1 more tracking period and demonstrating improvement on assessment attainment. Another pupil is now on track to achieve the expected level of literacy. Next Steps Due to the success of the intervention, it will be run again. However, the mode of delivery could be changed to more focussed blocks of input-practice-input-practice.
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7 Primary Combined Literacy and Numeracy over Time Secondary S3 Literacy and Numeracy In S3 the improvements created in 2022 through the deployment of focused intervention strategies were maintained in 2023. In 2024 there was further improvement in all areas of literacy and numeracy. Senior Phase In 2024, SQA pass rates at National 5 and Higher remained very similar to those of the previous session. However nationally pass rates fell by around 2% which left our position relatively improved. In terms of pass rates, we are 5th out of 32 Local Authorities for both qualifications. Our pass rate at Advanced Higher fell from 77% to 74% against a Scottish average of 75.3%.
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8 National 5 Pass Rate 2019-2024 Highlighted series green for Perth & Kinross and blue for Scotland. Shaded areas represent years utilising alternative approaches to assessment, ACM etc. Higher Pass Rate 2019-2024 The table below represents our 2024 performance in terms of A-C pass rates in relation to the national average and our comparator authorities. Pass rates in National 5 and Higher are positive in PKC while our Advanced Higher pass rate has fallen less than the national pass rate at this level. Nat 5, Higher and AH Pass rates (A to C) PKC, National and Comparator Authorities PKC Scotland Argyll & Bute Aberdeenshire Highland Scottish Borders Stirling Nat 5 79.7 77.2 75.9 77.6 75.8 76.9 78.1 Higher 76.4 74.9 72.2 76.4 71.7 74.9 78.7 AH 74.1 75.3 76.4 70.9 83.0 74.0 72.4
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9 NIF Priority 2: Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged. Pre-School Development Pre-school Development Milestones: Gap between SIMD Quintile 1 and Quintile 5 children meeting all milestones The poverty-related gap remains an issue with an increasing gap. Analysis of data indicates this is due to several variables. • In 2023.24 the gender balance between the number of boys and girls shows a higher percentage of boys transitioning to Primary 1 than 2023.24. Previous data shows boys tend to meet their developmental milestones later than girls. Indeed in 2023-24 there is a higher percentage of boys than girls not meeting their milestones. • There is an increased number of children with ASN not meeting one or multiple milestones. • The number of children in SIMD Quintile 1 has reduced which has amplified the effect of those not meeting milestones compared with Quintile 5. Using Acorn while the gap has grown from 12.5% to 16.9% the effect is not so dramatic. Improvement work continues across all ELC settings, with a focus on removing barriers to learning and increasing practitioners' knowledge and understanding of how children develop and learn, specifically in relation to different gender needs. The cohort of children moving to school this year were born in 2019/2020. Families at that time had limited opportunities for social interactions at a crucial early developmental stage in a baby`s development. Research is taking place nationally to study the pandemic's impact on child development, with the national picture indicating increased concerns. Health colleagues have highlighted Speech & Language as an area of particular concern. Broad General Education Significant progress was made in closing the poverty related attainment gaps for literacy and numeracy in P1, P4 and P7 in session 2022-2023 as a result of focused data-led intervention at school level, supported by central officers in the Raising Attainment Team as shown in the following data table. Overall, the gap closed by 3% in 2023. This improvement has been maintained in session 2023/24. % point Gap between ACORN 4/5 and ACORN 1 Area 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Reading 20% 23% 18% 20% 18% 17% Writing 21% 25% 21% 23% 19% 18% Listening and talking 16% 22% 18% 16% 13% 14%
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10 Mathematics & Numeracy 19% 23% 19% 20% 17% 17% All Areas 19% 23% 19% 20% 17% 17% Care Experienced Children and Young People The percentage of care-experienced primary school pupils at P1 achieving expected levels in literacy and numeracy combined remained fairly static in 2023-2024. However, there were increases in both P4 and P7. This continues a sustained upward trend in attainment for this group, although year on year comparison is statistically challenging due to the very small number of pupils involved. For this reason, we use three year rolling averages. The proportion of care experienced young people in S3 who achieve the national benchmark of level 3 has improved every session from 36% in 2016/17 to 69% in session 2022/23 as a result of focused intervention work in school. However, in 2024 this dipped slightly to 60%. In session 2023/24 focussed work has been undertaken by the PRAISE team, and wider outreach team with around 35 primary aged care experienced pupils. In addition to supporting emotional regulation, the team has worked with schools and care-experienced young people or those on the edge of care to identify interventions to address any gaps in learning. Attainment gap between most and least deprived cohorts at National 5 and Higher in PKC compared to the national picture (Gap between SIMD 1 and 5). Over time since 2019 we can see a sustained trend of improvement for this measure at National 5 and Higher level as seen in the following graphs which run contrary to the national trend.
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11 Care Experienced Children and Young People Our pass rate for National 5 has remained steady at around 74% since 2021 which represents improvement relative to the national picture. Our Higher pass rate for this cohort has dropped to 49% and will require further analysis and attention. NIF Priority 3: Improvement in children and young people’s health and wellbeing. In this section our reported measures are attendance and exclusion. While health and wellbeing are complex and multifaceted areas of school improvement in the context of this report these remain our key measures and indicators. Attendance Primary attendance has improved slightly in 2024 with figures of 92.5% in 2021/2023 and 93.1% in 2022/2024. However, it remains 2% lower than pre-pandemic levels (95% in 2018/19). Secondary attendance remained static in academic year 2022/2024 (86.9%), compared with 2022/2023. While it has been positive to arrest the decline in attendance this remains a significant drop from pre-pandemic levels (90.5% in 2018/19). On the other hand, whilst final national data is not yet available, it is anticipated that these figures will be in line with national attendance patterns. Levels of attendance remain lower than the whole population for groups such as children and young people in more deprived areas, those with additional support needs, those that care experienced and Young Carers. Improving levels in both sectors and for groups most vulnerable to low attendance will continue to be a key improvement focus moving ahead. Over the course of this year a range of supports have been provided to our schools through our Attendance Policy; Staged Interventions Framework; Socially and Emotionally Based Absence programme, Connecting Families Project and Attendance Forums. This remains a key focus.
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12 Attendance levels over time Exclusion Overall, 2023-2024 exclusion levels have reduced from session 2022-2023. They remain significantly lower than the levels in 2018-2019. A small increase in primary exclusions has been more than offset by a reduction in secondary exclusions. Schools have continued to share best practice in the provision of alternatives to exclusion to support vulnerable children and young people and central guidance and support has been key to this. Our levels of exclusion are at their lowest levels recorded notwithstanding the period affected by school closure. Care Experienced Children and Young People
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13 These figures are smoothed out over a three-year rolling average to mitigate against smaller cohort size and, as a result of a range of interventions and developing practice, are on a consistent trend of improvement since 2016-19. Further improvement here remains a key priority. A range of health and wellbeing interventions support the stretch aims relating to attendance and exclusion. Below are three examples of this work, one focussed directly on attendance the other two examining the outcomes of authority wide interventions designed to support relationships and behaviour in school, and therefore promote attendance and engagement. Case Study – Nurturing Relationships Ruthvenfield Primary School The PKC Nurturing Relationships Programme is a social and relational approach which encourages staff to test out different approaches with the aim of improving relationships between all and creating an environment and ethos in which children, young people and staff feel safe and accepted. Research suggests that creating such an environment and ethos allows learners to thrive regardless of any individual barriers and promotes individual development, social and problem-solving skills, and impacts on their ability to progress in their learning because they feel safe, accepted, and understood. Forty schools within Perth and Kinross have now signed up to the programme across four phases of implementation with a further two phases planned to meet the aim of 100% of schools in Perth and Kinross having started their nurturing relationships journey by June 2026. An annual practice sharing session took place in May 2024, where Ruthvenfield Primary School shared their journey so far. Practitioners shared that they utilised the Glasgow Motivation and Wellbeing Profile (GMWP) with all their pupils to determine a starting point for their journey. The GMWP responses identified a group of target learners who reported lower feelings of affiliation compared to the wider school population (85% for the target group in contrast to the school average of 92.3%). Further self-evaluation activities were conducted to examine their data in relation to Nurture Principle 1, Learning is Understood Developmentally where findings revealed a common theme around activity and play. Subsequently, exploring the 6 stages of play development and types of play was identified as an area of focus for a test of change. Free-flow play across P1-7 was then introduced into the school day, this was facilitated by staff and led by the learners and their interests. Impact The impact of the change project was evaluated in term 4, where a review of data found an increase of 8.5% in affiliation for an identified target group of learners and a 0.5% increase in the wider pupil population. In addition, observations revealed that learners are seeking more variety of play experiences, literacy and numeracy skills are being applied to play and social skills were observed to have improved. Following the success of this change project the school have decided to adopt it with a further adaptation of incorporating opportunities to guide and support relationships and manage conflict. This adaptation has been identified from learner feedback and will be implemented in the 24/25 session as part of work on Nurture Principle 5, All Behaviour is Communication.
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14 Case Study Self – Regulation Professional Learning Programme A 10-week professional development self-regulation course for Pupil Support Assistants working with distressed and challenging behaviours took place from February to June 2024. Two groups involving 20 schools and a total of 45 staff members, each met once a week. The course aimed to enhance participants' knowledge and understanding of self-regulation and executive functions, increasing their ability to support the development of pupils' self-regulation skills. Self-regulation strategies address impulse control, inhibition control, and cognitive flexibility, employing strategies like hard/easy and choice/no choice. Good self-regulation therefore enhances readiness for learning and can prevent the escalation of any problematic behaviours, supporting both educational outcomes and personal development. Previous evaluation within Perth and Kinross demonstrated enhanced impact on children from more deprived backgrounds. A key strategy fostered during the course is the use of scripts for children to support self- regulation. Participants from this training course found impact in the use of structured and individually tailored scripts to support better regulatory abilities in their pupils. This practice was embedded within classroom language. Specific examples of impact on target children include: • Increased Classroom Inclusivity: One child, who previously spent time outside the mainstream classroom environment, is now more integrated within the classroom setting, significantly improving their inclusivity and participation in educational activities. • Participation in Extracurricular Activities: One child, who had never attended sports day due to fear, now participates actively. Both the child and their parents have expressed satisfaction with this positive outcome. • Improvement in Literacy and Numeracy: For one group of children, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of sums completed without adult supervision and the number of words read by children. These improvements are direct results of the project measures implemented. • Reduction in Emotional Outbursts: In one participant’s classroom, a significant reduction in emotional outbursts within the classroom environment has been observed, indicating better emotional regulation among the children. • Improved Playground Disagreement Management: The management of playground disagreements, which can delay the start of classroom lessons, improved significantly. There was a notable decrease in the time taken for the whole class to settle back into classwork tasks after playtime. • Increased Self-Management: Children showed an increased ability to manage their own minor, normal playground disagreements. This led to a decrease in the time class teachers spent helping children manage more significant issues arising from the playground. • Organised Transition to School Transport: The end-of-day transition to school transport became more organised for a group of children with ASN. The children developed responsibility for managing their own movements under adult supervision. • Increased Independence: There was a decrease in repeated adult direction, creating a more orderly process. The children became more independent, and the supervising adult considered it both a safer and more peaceful end to the school day, with satisfaction noted for both staff and pupils.
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15 Case Study – Improving Attendance at Rattray Primary School During the first attendance forum in 2024, Rattray Primary School shared their approach to supporting attendance. The presentation below identifies how the school used data analysis to identify issues and the approaches chosen to address them. It particularly focuses on an innovative approach using football and engagement with Blairgowrie and Rattray Community Trust to promote attendance, engagement and health and wellbeing. Improving Attendance at Rattray Primary School
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16 NIF Priority 4: Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations for all young people. Proportion of Young People (aged 16-19) in education, training or employment To supplement the school leaver information, SDS also reports the Annual Participation Measure (APM). This measure reports on participation in education, training or employment for all 16–19-year-olds from across the population rather than focusing specifically on school leavers and is therefore a broader and preferred measure of recording positive outcomes. The measure shows 92.5% of young people are in education, training or employment. The figures are slightly below the Scottish average (92.7% in August 2024) and the number not participating totals 213 individuals, with 213 unconfirmed. P&K remain in broadly the same position as last year. Unconfirmed has gone down from 3.9% to 3.7% and those Not Participating has gone up slightly by 3.5% to 3.7%. This represents a direct correlation to the reduction in unconfirmed and can be linked to the lack of information sharing from HMRC this year. Key Developments in 2023-24 • A 16+ Operational Group has been formed, which includes representation from Education, Skills Development Scotland and Skills & Employability Support Teams. This group attends 16+ meetings in schools to monitor the implementation of the 16+ Framework and meets fortnightly to review progress and identify any areas of good practice, or that may require support. This has streamlined communication channels across the associated services, improved information sharing and speeded up the pace at which we can respond to joint challenges. • PKC 16+ Framework has now been adopted by Dundee City Council and will likely become a regional approach. • A new version of the Workit work experience management system has been launched and school staff have received training and guidance. 597 pupils accessed a placement in 2023/24, an increase of 147 on the previous year. • Closer links have been fostered with the Local Employability Partnership and associated sub-groups. This has provided 16+ networks in schools a stake in the groups that help to shape post-school provision and ensures that schools have the right information at the right time.
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17 • Robertsons Construction 17-week pilot programme with Perth High School has been modelled by Bam Construction as part of community benefits associated with the new Blairgowrie Recreation Centre. 8 Blairgowrie High School pupils commenced the programme in August 2024. Case Study – S3 Construction Academy Perth High School PKC Education & Learning approached Robertsons to pilot a Construction Academy for S3 pupils at Perth High School as part of community benefits associated with the new Perth High School build. This proposal was planned and taken forward by the school in partnership with PKC E&L, Robertsons and their associated supply chain as a 17-week pilot initiative. Eight S3 pupils took part in the programme one morning a week during March – June 2024. This took place at a site on the school grounds as pupils were too young to take part in work experience on a real-life construction site. This allowed them to get a very genuine experience and work alongside Robertsons and supply chain staff. Alongside a genuine interest in construction, a range of factors was considered in putting the group together, including attendance rate, engagement in school and other factors that would put young people at risk of underperforming or not achieving. The rationale for targeting this group of pupils in S3 with a specific intervention in partnership with Robertsons is wide-ranging. In taking part in the project, we anticipated that this project could: • Support improvements in attendance among the group of young people. • Support improvements around pupils’ positive engagement in school. • Provide opportunities to celebrate the work of the young people, to build confidence, self- esteem and a sense of positive agency. • Provide opportunities for young people to develop skills for life, learning and work and increase the likelihood of young people accessing positive destinations. • Provide real, accessible routes into the construction industry for young people in this cohort and a mutually beneficial outcome in terms of local recruitment and meeting the needs of the local economy The outcomes of the project have been varied on an individual basis and are complex in terms of quantifying an overall picture of the project, however the qualitative data is very encouraging and has provided food for thought for future cohorts and approaches. • Almost all young people involved in this project have gone on to secure places on the Perth UHI Multi-skills link course for S4, which involves many construction skills. The only S4 participant has secured a full-time college place for multi-skills and a construction apprenticeship. • Three young people have been identified by Robertson’s staff as having significant potential and dedication to lead the next cohort of trainees. This will allow them to keep a relationship with the team and there is potential to access apprenticeships when they are sixteen (some partner companies have already expressed interest in their development). • All young people involved have reported having a greater understanding of the world of work. • All young people involved feel that this will be beneficial to them in terms of being ready to take on a job or training in Construction. • This program has provided opportunities to celebrate the abilities and progress of these young people, both with the pupils themselves and with parents, where appropriate.
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18 Conclusion There is evidence that the actions from our Raising Attainment Strategy and the Education Improvement Plan 2022-23 have improved outcomes for children and young people in terms of attainment through the lenses of excellence and equity. The current iteration of our Raising Attainment Strategy 2024-27 will consolidate these successes while addressing areas which require further attention. Our team approach to improving employability and skills in PKC with our partners in DYW (Tay Cities); SDS; UHI (Perth) and local employers continues to deliver success in this measure with a real focus for the session to come to support those young people most in need of additional interventions. Our Education Improvement Plan 2024-25 through its three main areas for improvement: improving leadership of change; improving learning teaching and curriculum and transforming our ASN provision will explore these areas where maximum impact can be created for our children and young people. Case Study – Data-led Intervention Schools are required to collect information from young people regarding their plans for the future. This includes their Anticipated Leave Date (ALD), Preferred Route (PR), Preferred Occupation (PO) and any additional notes regarding College/University/Employment. All staff in schools who share responsibility for gathering and entering this data, including office staff, were provided with training by the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Data- sharing Team. Guidance and information was also included in the PKC 16+ Framework. The 16+ Operational group quality assure the completion of the data gathering by schools and intervene where completion rates are below PKC or national average. Significant improvement has been seen in data entry over the last 12 months with PKC now above the national average in all 3 areas. Most Recent Data as of May 2024: Anticipated Leave Date Preferred Route Preferred Occupation PKC 99% 89% 86% Scotland 90% 81% 80% Having a complete data set as early as possible in pupils’ senior phase and supports our ability to create meaningful work-based learning opportunities in school and progression pathways through the senior phase and beyond. This data also supports overall school planning, tracking and monitoring and ensures young people receive their full entitlement to support from SDS Careers Advisers at the right time. We have in 23/24 worked alongside colleagues in UHI Perth and other stakeholders to agree an approach that allows us to share high level data to support their future planning and curriculum design based on pupils’ career aspirations.
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19 Appendix 1 – Glossary of Acronyms Acronym Meaning ACEL Achievement of a Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Level ACM Alternative Certification Model ALD Anticipated Leave Date APM Annual Participation Measure ASN Additional Support Needs CECYP Care-experienced Children and Young People CfE Curriculum for Excellence DYW Developing the Young Workforce ELC Early Learning and Childcare NIF National Improvement Framework PKC Perth and Kinross Council PO Preferred Occupation PR Preferred Route SAC Scottish Attainment Challenge SCQF Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework SDS Skills Development Scotland SIMD Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation SQA Scottish Qualifications Authority UHI University of the Highlands and Islands