Dunoon Grammar School
Argyll and Bute Council · 4 June 2024
Back to Bute and Cowal Area Committee — 4 June 2024 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTAINMENT REPORT AREA COMMITTEE Dunoon Grammar School 4th June 2024
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School Name Dunoon Grammar School School Address Ardenslate Road, Dunoon, PA23 8LU Head Teacher David Mitchell CONTEXT OF THE SCHOOL Dunoon Grammar School has a very long and distinguished history spanning over 350 years of growth, of which high standards of academic and personal development have been the hallmarks. Dunoon Grammar School is a mixed sex, interdenominational school which caters for pupils aged from eleven to eighteen years of age and serves the area of Cowal. Catchment is rural in nature and includes two large primary schools in Dunoon and 9 other primary schools. There are 734 pupils on the school roll. The teaching staff compliment is 58.2FTE. The Senior Leadership Team comprises of the Head Teacher and four Depute Head Teachers. There are 8 Principal Teacher Curriculum and 4 Heads of House (Guidance). We also have a Principal Teacher of Behaviour and Learning. In our school we are committed to providing appropriate learning opportunities for the young people, both in and out with school, and to secure positive destinations for all of our students. This is done in partnership with parents/carers and takes into account the needs of our young people. Our SIMD ranges from SIMD1 to SIMD 6. The pupil equity funding for session 2023-24 was £91,875. We have used this money to build on the excellent work that we started in our wellbeing hub. Our Family Wellbeing officer has supported families and young people. She regularly visits homes to support Young people who find it difficult to attend school. We have also employed a youth worker, a life coach and introduced a number of Principal Teacher posts to support improvement. These Principal teachers include, PT DYW, PT Learning and Teaching and PT Raising attainment. Our Principal Teacher Raising Attainment has introduced a more robust Tracking and monitoring system to support staff’s understanding of progress.
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Section 1 S3 ACEL Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy School Level % Achieved Reading Writing L&T Literacy Numeracy Dunoon Grammar School Third Level or better 75.3 68.8 75.3 70.3 Argyll & Bute Third Level or better 88.5 86.9 89.0 83.9 86.0 Dunoon Grammar School Fourth Level 33.3 28.3 33.3 42.0 Argyll & Bute Fourth Level 54.4 51.4 53.8 45.9 56.4 S3 ACEL – Gaelic (if applicable) School Level % Achieved Gaelic Reading Gaelic Writing Gaelic L&T Dunoon Grammar School Third Level or better 80.0 80.0 80.0 Dunoon Grammar School Fourth Level 20.0 20.0 20.0
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength in BGE Attainment: Both the English and Maths department have been working closely with Primary schools to address this issue. They have also been working closely with other school and establishments to share a clear understanding of levels. Our Gaelic pupils continue to perform well. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development in BGE Attainment: Reading, writing, listening and talking and literacy are all considerably lower than the A&B average. In extensive discussion with the English department, this is a result of lack of staff understanding and awareness of 3rd and 4th level. The English department has taken steps to rectify this for this session - namely the implementation of moderation sessions and clearer course plans that allow for more appropriate assessment opportunities. Numeracy is also below Argyll and Bute. The Maths department have been working closely with the cluster primary schools to address this issue. They have also been involved in moderation tasks with Cluster primary schools
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Section 2 National Qualifications 2023 – Percentage of Awards – A-C and A-D Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Our A-C pass rate at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher is higher that Argyll and Bute in all cases and higher than the National establishment at Higher and Advanced Higher. We are slightly below the National Establishment at National 5 level. We are extremely happy our performance at A-C level however, we are area aware some improvement is still required. At A-D we are generally in line with Argyll and Bute and the National establishment at National 5 Level. We are 3% higher than Argyll and Bute and 5 % higher than the National establishment at Higher level. A number of subject area perform extremely well. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Our A-D pass rate at Advanced Higher is lower that Argyll and Bute and the National establishment. We need to consider how to keep young people motivated once they receive offers from Universities. Action plans have been agreed with subject areas where areas for improvement are required. 90.30% 95.30% 91.70% 90.70% 92.10% 93.00% 90.50% 90.50% 92.70% NAT 5 Higher Adv H DGS % A-D Awards DGS A&B National 77.40% 79.50% 83.30% 76.93% 77.12% 79.44% 78.80% 77.10% 79.80% NAT 5 Higher Adv H DGS % A-C Awards DGS A&B National
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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: • 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.
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3a Improving Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Young people attaining a level 4 Numeracy is just below our virtual comparator. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Our attainment in Literacy and Numeracy has decreased from 2022. We have developed an action plan to ensure improvement. We have now implemented earlier banking of literacy and numeracy awards (start of S3) and an improved tracking and monitoring system of each pupil’s achieved level of literacy and numeracy. We have also incorporated an ‘upgrade’ opportunity to ensure that pupils’ achieved level is maximised.
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3b Increased post-school participation
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength We have developed better links with DYW and have appointed a new Depute Head Teacher with responsibility for positive destinations. More robust tracking procedures have been introduced to ensure improvement Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Our positive destination figure has decreased from 2022. In 2002 we were above the local, Virtual comparator, Northern Alliance and National establishment However, in 2023 we are below all these comparators.
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3c Improving attainment for all
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Young people in the lowest 20% are performing well Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development We have to improve our attainment for young people in the middle 60% and for young people in the highest 20%
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3d Attainment versus Deprivation
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Young people who reside in SIMD 4 are performing better that our Virtual comparator Young people who reside in SIMD 1 are performing similar to the Virtual comparator Young people who reside in SIMD 6 are performing similar to the virtual comparator Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Young people who reside in SIMD 2 perform worse than our Virtual Comparator Young people who reside in SIMD 3 perform worse than our virtual comparator Young people who reside in SIMD 5 perform worse than our virtual comparator
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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: NPA – Computer games Development – 9 young people E-sports qualification NPA Drama – 2 young people S4 Construction Craft Skills – 11 young people – 8 young people passed Hairdressing National 4 and National 5 – 23 young people Maritime National 5 – 5 young people – 1 pass Early Education and Childcare National 4 – 10 passed NPA Beauty Skills – 8 passed NPA make up skills – 5 passed Higher Beauty – 5 passed Higher Psychology Higher Sociology FA childcare – 2 pupils NPA Sport leaders – 14 pupils NPA Team sports – 12 pupils NPA Individual sports – 10 pupils SCQF level 7 referee – 7 pupils SCQF level 7 – Swimming Teaching qualification – 1 pupils Level 4 work placement A large number of pupil achieved a Saltire award We have introduced a number of new qualifications for 2024-25, DJ skills, Personal finance, STEM ambassador, Laboratory skills, creative industries, STACS award, Arabic, Barista Skills and Fitness and Exercise We are also re-introducing the Duke of Edinburgh to the school curriculum.
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Section 5 Equity and Attainment – Evaluation of Key Factors Factor in attainment Attendance School Ave. Att. 22-23: 87.70% Exclusion No. of Exclusion Incidents 22-23: 29 No. of Exclusion Openings 22-23: 70 Additional Support Needs 54.9% - we have seen an increase in young people arriving in secondary school with a level of need including low confidence in literacy and numeracy. SIMD Our young people reside in SIMD 1-6 SIMD 1 – 12.7%, SIMD – 7.8%, SIMD 3 – 14.7%, SIMD 4 – 12.3%, SIMD 5 – 27.7%, SIMD 6 – 24.6% Free School Meal Entitlement 20.6% Care Experienced (and previously Care Experienced) 20.6% - Our DHT monitors our care experienced young people. There are regular case load meetings at Pastoral support meetings English as Additional Language 4.7% - We have seen a positive response from our EAL young people, Other (give details)
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Pupil Equity Funding Our Family liaison officer has been working closely with targeted families and those young people who find it difficult attending school. We allocated a teacher who works with the family liaison officer and makes visits home to support young people’ learning. The family liaise officer also provides our breakfast club. This is open to all young people however, we also target pupils. The Family liaison officer has also been supporting our Head of House team with attendance. She has been making contact with young people and their parents to discuss attendance patterns. Our Youth worker has been working with vulnerable young people. These young people are targeted by the Head of house team. There has been a marked increase in confidence of the young people the Youth Worker has bee supporting. The Life coach works in the school for 2 day a week. She works with targeted groups and individual young people. Majority if these young people reside in SIMD 1-3. She supports them with their learning but also with their resilience. She has been working with our care experienced young people. We introduced the MCR pathways programme this session. This has had a big impact on the young people involved. Our mentors are reporting a marked improvement in the young people’ confidence and targets. We have three Principal Teacher PEF, Raising Attainment, Learning and Teaching and DYW.
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Section 6 Other information Dunoon Grammar School has had a positive and productive year. The school’s involvement in the community continues to grow from strength to strength. The school continues to develop confidence in our young people and ensure and develop them both academically and socially. The school continues to be recognised at local, National and International Level. • We continue to work with our community partners on a number of projects - Dunoon Burgh Hall - Dunoon Film festival - Our Local primary schools - Dunoon Museum - Historic Kilmun - Learning Centre activities - The Dunoon Project • We continue to work with our National partners, The Wood Foundation and Apps for Good. This year 2 of our teams won the Apps for good competitions. • We continue to offer a wide range of Extra Curricular activities and school trips • A group of our young people took part in a trip to Tanzania this session. This is our 2nd trip to Tanzania. We are planning the 2025 trip • We continue to offer our exchange programme to France and Germany. The school are now planning a Spanish exchange. • We are working toward becoming an accredited Reading school