Item 07 - Senior Phase Update
West Dunbartonshire Council · 17 September 2025
Back to Educational Services Committee — 17 September 2025 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Senior Education Officer – Policy, Performance and Resources Educational Services Committee: 17 September 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Senior Phase Update 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide a high level update on the Senior Phase attainment of our young people in the 2024/25 session, and to agree a consultation on the introduction of a 33 period week in our secondary schools. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that Committee: a) Note the initial findings of SQA results analysis for session 2024/25; b) agree the launch of the consultation on the proposal to change the start and end times of the secondary school day to accommodate a 33 period week; c) agrees that the consultation period should run from Thursday 18th September 2025 until Friday 31st October 2025; and d) agrees that a report outlining the results of the consultation and making appropriate recommendations be presented to a meeting of the Educational Services Committee scheduled to be held on Wednesday 26th November 2025. 3. Background SQA Results Analysis 3.1 In August of each year, the Local Authority is provided with the results of our young people presented for qualifications through our establishments. It is therefore possible to provide a high level update on the attainment of our young people at this time, but it is not until Insight is updated in September that a full analysis is possible. Secondary School Timetables 3.2 Our schools presently operate an asymmetric week of 32 periods, having 7 periods on Monday and Tuesday, and 6 periods on Wednesday to Friday. Schools in Scotland are required to provide 27.5 hours of teaching time for ITEM 7
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young people attending secondary school. Our existing asymmetric week provides this, but does not provide it in the most efficient way. 4. Main Issues SQA Qualifications 2024/25 4.1 How did our pupils do? Overall, we presented 2,182 candidates for 9,912 qualifications across National 2 – Advanced Higher. 83% of those presentations resulted in a passing grade. Level National 2 National 3 National 4 National 5 Higher Advanced Higher All Levels Number of presentations 9 274 1,746 4,679 2,950 254 9,912 Percent of those Passed 100% 100% 100% 80% 75% 77% 83% Figure 1 – Presentations at WDC level 4.2 How does this compare over time? We have been monitoring our performance since the introduction of the new National Qualifications in 2014. Overall: Advanced Higher has improved by 14.2 percentage points since the previous year; Higher has improved by 3 percentage points since the previous year; National 5 has improved by 2.6 percentage points since the previous year; and National 4 has improved by 13.1 percentage points since the previous year. 2022 2023 2024 2025 CHS 73% 74% 55% 75% DA 53% 86% 70% 73% OLSP 77% 75% 71% 77% SPTA 77% 66% 60% 80% VOLA 63% 54% 60% 74% WDC Average 72% 69% 63% 77% Advanced Higher Figure 2 – Performance at Advanced Higher 2022 2023 2024 2025 CHS 77% 80% 72% 81% DA 73% 78% 70% 72% OLSP 85% 85% 79% 81% SPTA 75% 76% 72% 72% VOLA 73% 70% 68% 72% WDC Average 77% 78% 72% 75% Higher Figure 3 – Performance at Higher
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2022 2023 2024 2025 CHS 78% 85% 82% 85% DA 79% 80% 80% 78% OLSP 88% 83% 85% 87% SPTA 81% 78% 70% 79% VOLA 73% 74% 78% 72% WDC Average 80% 80% 78% 80% National 5 Figure 4 – Performance at National 5 2022 2023 2024 2025 CHS 58% 100% 100% 100% DA 80% 100% 100% 100% OLSP 23% 99% 94% 100% SPTA 69% 71% 66% 100% VOLA 100% 100% 100% 100% WDC Average 66% 91% 87% 100% National 4 Figure 5 – Performance at National 4 4.3 How does this compare with national levels? At National 4 and 5 and Advanced Higher levels, West Dunbartonshire outperformed the national average. Higher is only slightly below the national average. One of our schools, Our Lady & St Patrick’s High School, has outperformed the national average at National 4, 5, Higher and Advanced Higher levels. Figure 6 - Grade A-C or ungraded “Pass” attainment rates for each National Qualification type Consultation 4.4 Local Authorities are required to provide 27.5 hours of teaching time for young people attending secondary school. Our existing asymmetric week provides this, but does not provide it in the most efficient way. Presently, young people spend 10 minutes each day in tutor time at the start of the day, but grouping these 10 minutes into a single period at the end of Wednesday would present greater options for timetabling across our schools. 4.5 To do this, we would need to alter the start time of each day – presently, school starts each day at 8:50am, but this consultation proposes that it would start at 9am each day.
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4.6 Presently in our asymmetric week schools have 7 periods on Monday and Tuesday, and 6 periods on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Monday and Tuesday, school stops at 3:50pm, and on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday school stops at 3pm. This gives us a total of 32 periods in our present week. This consultation proposes that we would begin each day at 9am, and add an additional period 7 to Wednesday, meaning that school would stop at 3:50pm that day. This would give us a total of 33 periods in the week. Existing Model Day Start Time End Time Number of Periods Monday 08:50 15:50 7 Tuesday 08:50 15:50 7 Wednesday 08:50 15:00 6 Thursday 08:50 15:00 6 Friday 08:50 15:00 6 Proposed Model Day Start Time End Time Number of Periods Monday 09:00 15:50 7 Tuesday 09:00 15:50 7 Wednesday 09:00 15:50 7 Thursday 09:00 15:00 6 Friday 09:00 15:00 6 4.7 The schools affected by this proposal are: Clydebank High School Dumbarton Academy Our Lady & St. Patrick’s High School St. Peter the Apostle High School Vale of Leven Academy Our secondary school provision in Choices, Kilpatrick and Riverside does not follow the asymmetric school week. 4.8 Appendix 1 to this report provides more detail on the proposal, and the benefits we believe will be realised were the proposal to be adopted in our schools. 4.9 We intend to consult with the following groups: a) the Parent Councils of the schools listed in 4.7 above, b) the parents of the pupils of all schools listed in 4.7 above, c) the parents of any children expected by the education authority to attend any affected school within two years of the date of publication of the proposal paper,
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d) the pupils at any affected school (in so far as the education authority considers them to be of a suitable age and maturity), e) the staff (teaching and other) at any affected school, f) any trade union which appears to the education authority to be representative of the persons mentioned in sub-paragraph (e), g) any other education authority that the education authority considers relevant All these groups will be invited to respond to this consultation, as would the Archdiocese of Glasgow of the Catholic Church. Reponses can be made using the following online form: https://forms.gle/XqdRnpT94Rhd6tnx8 4.10 We plan for the consultation to run from Thursday 18th September 2025 until Friday 31st October 2025 inclusive. 4.11 As part of this consultation, we plan to hold public meetings to discuss the proposal. The public meetings for this proposal will be: 21st October 2025 – in person and online at 6pm in Vale of Leven Academy; 22nd October 2025 – in person and online at 6pm in Our Lady & St. Patrick’s High School 23rd October 2025 – in person and online at 6pm in Dumbarton Academy 28th October 2025 – in person and online at 6pm in Clydebank High School; and 29th October 2025 – in person and online at 6pm in St. Peter the Apostle High School. All of the public meetings will be available online: https://meet.google.com/cwz-kazc-quy These meeting will be publicised through the school channels. 4.12 Once the consultation period is complete, a report on the findings will be produced and brought to the meeting of the Educational Services Committee scheduled to be held on 26th November 2025. Should the outcome be favourable, this will provide time for the new timetable structure to be implemented for the start of the 2026/27 school year. 5. People Implications 5.1 There are no direct people implications resulting from the consultation. 6. Financial Implications 6.1 There are no associated costs with this report. Time to complete the activities noted in the consultation would be covered by central officers.
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7. Risk Analysis 7.1 Failure to conduct a consultation would mean the Council would not be well informed of the views of stakeholders when considering implementing change. 8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 An Equalities Impact Assessment has been undertaken for this proposal. 9. Consultation 9.1 This project has been the subject of extensive discussion by Secondary Head Teachers and Depute Head Teachers with a responsibility for timetabling. 9.2 Legal Services and the Section 95 Officer have been consulted on the content of this report. 9.3 As detailed in section 4.9 of this report and in appendix 1, consultation with all consultees will be conducted on the proposal in this report. 10. Strategic Assessment 10.1 Undertaking a consultation works towards all three of the Community Planning Partnership priorities of ‘empowered’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘wellbeing’ by ensuring that the views of local citizens are sought and incorporated into our plans, and that we work to promote the wellbeing of our children, young people and families. Andrew Brown Senior Education Officer – Policy, Performance and Resources Date: 22 August 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: Andrew Brown Senior Education Officer Email: andrew.brown@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: Appendix 1: Proposal Paper, incorporating Educational Benefits Statement Background Papers: None Wards Affected: All wards