Rothesay Academy
Argyll and Bute Council · 3 June 2025
Back to Bute and Cowal Area Committee — 3 June 2025 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTAINMENT REPORT AREA COMMITTEE SCHOOL BADGE Rothesay Academy 3rd June 2025
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School information/school context – include SIMD etc. Rothesay Joint Campus is a fully comprehensive, non-denominational 3-18 learning establishment which serves the local communities on the Isle of Bute. The campus, which is located in the town of Rothesay, was opened in 2007 and is made up of Rothesay Pre 5 Early Years Unit, Rothesay Primary School and Rothesay Academy. Other primary schools in the cluster who feed into Rothesay Academy are North Bute Primary School and St Andrew’s (RC) Primary School. In recent years we have played a major role in the resettlement of Syrian, Sudanese, Ukrainian and Vietnamese refugee families. This has been a very successful and rewarding initiative for our school community. The school has been at the centre of recovery and support for our families and our focus is on nurture and support. The social/economic demographic of the communities which we serve is mixed and the table below indicates the range of Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) deciles of our young people: In addition, the percentage of young people accessing Free Meal Entitlement (FME) is 29.1% for Rothesay Academy and 32.5% for Rothesay Primary which is above the national average. Our School Values are: Respect, Kindness, Aspiration, Achievement & Equality. We are a UNICEF Rights Respecting School and have recently achieved our Silver Award. SIMD Range Percentage of Pupils Deciles 1 - 4 65% (RAcad) 72.5% (RPS) Deciles 5 –8 26.1% (RAcad) 20.2% (RPS) Deciles 9 - 10 8.4% (RAcad) 7.3% (RPS)
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Section 1 S3 ACEL Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy School Level % Achieved Reading Writing L&T Literacy Numeracy Rothesay Academy Third Level or better 78.4 74.5 78.4 66.7 82.4 Argyll & Bute Third Level or better 91.9 87.5 89.8 86.3 92.1 Rothesay Academy Fourth Level 41.2 35.3 49.0 35.3 43.1 Argyll & Bute Fourth Level 67.2 65.6 69.6 64.1 64.4 Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development in BGE Attainment:
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Year group has 40% FME compared with whole school FME of 27%. Year group has 63.8% of pupils with ASN (last session school as a whole was 32.3% ASN) Issue of attendance impeding progress for a significant minority of year group Numeracy Level 3 Numeracy below authority average Level 4 Numeracy below authority average • Continued focus on introducing more challenging work in S3 as well as earlier and continued assessment for numeracy award in S3 in order to focus learners on strengths and areas for development. • SEAL Training (Recovery programme) for targeted learners. • Working with primary to ensure greater progression pathways. • Much more robust tracking and monitoring at every tracking period (S1-3) including focus on SIMD • Discrete numeracy period in S1 & S2 to build skills Literacy Level 3 Literacy – all aspects below authority average Level 4 Literacy – all aspects below authority average, increase on last session across all areas (L&T: +14%, R: + 7.7%, W 9.5%) • Moderation and a re-focus on understanding of attainment of a level. • Formalised assessment calendar for BGE including assessment across other curricular areas • Much more robust tracking and monitoring at every tracking period including focus on SIMD • More focus on interventions in BGE and measuring their impact • Discrete literacy periods in S1&2 to build skills • More focus on whole school literacy Section 2 National Qualifications 2024 – Percentage of Awards – A-C and A-D
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Percentage of awards Percentage pass rate at N5 was particularly disappointing in all year groups. We have a positive presentation policy and it is clear that we need to revise aspects of this.
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A-D passes at all levels are showing that we are not getting enough pupils “over the line” at A-C. We had an increased number of pupils sitting Adv Higher this year and some lost motivation once they had unconditional acceptance from university. This has led to a decrease in percentage pass rates at A-C and A-D. Areas for development Review of all tracking and monitoring systems to ensure earlier interventions. Review of option choices on offer in Senior Phase. Increased expectations of learners at all levels. Continued relentless monitoring of attendance. Training to refresh approaches in learning and teaching through Bruce Robertson’s “Power Up Your Pedagogy”. Section 3 Insight Data What is Insight Scotland? Insight is a professional tool, aimed at teachers and other staff. It is used to help secondary schools and local authorities identify areas of success and where improvements can be made for pupils in the senior phase. The dashboard has four measures:
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• Improving Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy (presented below as separate Literacy and Numeracy graphs) • Increasing Post-School Participation • Improving Attainment for All • Attainment Versus Deprivation The school’s data below is compared to what is termed The Virtual Comparator. The virtual comparator consists of a sample group of school leavers from schools in other local authorities who have similar characteristics to the school leavers from the school in question. This allows the most accurate and meaningful comparison of attainment data. 3a Improving Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Level 4 & Level 5 Literacy has remained broadly in line with the VC Level 5 Numeracy has improved by 20.2% over the past 2 years and is now in line with the VC Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Continue to make bespoke arrangements for pupils who experience emotionally based school avoidance where appropriate. Ensure by October of S4 that evidence of literacy and numeracy levels is recorded for as many pupils as possible. Reviewed tracking and monitoring and earlier intervention. Ensure targeted N4 pupils in S4 are achieving SCQF 5 in literacy. Target S4 leavers to ensure as many as possible achieve SCQF 5 in literacy. Reviewed tracking and monitoring and earlier intervention. 3b Increased post-school participation
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength We remain in line with the VC and have been either in line or above the VC for the past 5 years. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development
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We will continue to develop positive relationships with local employers. We will continue to support learners with college and university applications and attendance at open days We will continue to develop a wide range of pupil pathways so that all learners are able to fulfil their potential. 3c Improving attainment for all
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Middle 60% of learners have improved over past two years Highest 20% of learners now broadly in line with VC Significant improvement in total tariff points on last year and is much closer to VC.
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Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development A small group of learners in S4 who have left with no or very few qualifications due to significant attendance issues. We will continue to target support for attendance. We have seen improvements overall in our attendance but for a small group in S4 (over the past two sessions) this has proved challenging. All staff are engaging in training to refresh approaches to Learning & Teaching and this will have a positive effect on pupil engagement. We will continue to improve tracking and monitoring of all learners to ensure early intervention We will continue to build on our current pathways so that our curriculum offer enables all pupils to achieve.
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3d Attainment versus Deprivation
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength SIMD 1, 3 and 5 pupils performed better than VC Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Improve tracking & monitoring to target learners who are struggling Continue to explore new pathways and qualifications for learners Small number of SIMD 9 pupils have ASN and this is skewing performance. Section 4 Wider Achievement Qualifications National Certificates; Higher National Certificates; Scottish Vocational Qualifications; National Progression Awards; Skills for Work qualifications; Foundation Apprenticeships; Scottish Baccalaureate Overall evaluative comment/narrative on Wider Achievement Qualifications in your school: • In session 2023-24 our learners in our Senior Phase achieved over 180 wider achievement awards. This was an increase from 50 in the previous session. Most of these awards were at level 5 or level 6. • We have now built opportunities for wider achievement into our senior curriculum and this is leading to an increase in achievement. • We are continually enhancing our pathways and will be introducing NPA in Horticulture as well as National 5 Laboratory Skills next session. • We continue to work with Argyll College very successfully to offer a small number of courses in Sport & Recreation and Childcare Education • We continue to offer and NPA in Beauty which is very popular and for which we employ our own tutor. Section 5 Equity and Attainment – Evaluation of Key Factors
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Factor in attainment Attendance School Ave. Att. 23/24: 87.2% (87.3% in Argyll and Bute) Persistent Absence: 51% (45% in Argyll and Bute) Exclusion No. of Exclusion Incidents 23/24: 2 No. of Exclusion Openings 23/24: 10 Rate per 1000 pupils: 7.2 (18.5 in Argyll and Bute) Additional Support Needs Census 2023: 41% (40% in Argyll and Bute) SIMD Census 2023: 73% of pupils in Deciles 1-3 (18% in Argyll and Bute) Free School Meal Entitlement Census 2023: 22% (14% in Argyll and Bute) Care Experienced (and previously Care Experienced) Census 2023: 5.1% (14 pupils) English as Additional Language Census 2023: 5.4% Other (give details) Pupil Equity Funding
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Impact of PEF on closing the attainment gap Our use of PEF monies to provide additional nurture through The Anchor, a Nurture Assistant, 0.2FTE of our Family Liaison, Health & Wellbeing Officer and Breakfast Club is improving outcomes for targeted children. Almost all learners involved in these initiatives have improved or maintained their attendance and behaviour. This is having a positive effect on their learning and attainment. All learners in S3 who have been targeted have achieved level 3 or 4 in Literacy and Numeracy. Section 6 Other information Our pupils are currently rehearsing for our 3rd RJC school show in 3 years. The cast of Matilda will be entertaining our community in mid-June. We achieved our Silver Rights Respecting School Award this session. We were the first Joint Campus in Argyll & Bute to do so. This means that as a school community we are Rights Aware. We are one of only 4 schools in Scotland piloting the Film & Screen Curriculum. One of our S6 pupils was chosen to be Screen Scotland’s first ever Young & Ambassador for the Film & Screen Curriculum. We have 3 staff across campus trained in Film & Screen Education. This was a major undertaking and they all passed with flying colours! Our pupils enjoyed a variety of trips this session, most notably, the Geography Yorkshire Dales trip, the Loch Eil Outward Bound trips, the Manchester Football Trip. We are also re-introducing our Ski Trip to Italy for next session.
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Our S3 and S4 pupils organised a Christmas Hamper food collection and donated 52 Christmas Hampers to be distributed by social work to our most vulnerable families.