Hermitage Academy Attainment Report
Argyll and Bute Council · 13 June 2023
Back to Helensburgh & Lomond Area Committee — 13 June 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTAINMENT REPORT AREA COMMITTEE HERMITAGE ACADEMY June 2023
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School information/school context: Hermitage Academy is a six year non-denominational comprehensive secondary school, located in Helensburgh, in Argyll and Bute. The current building was completed in 2008 and provides exceptional accommodation indoors and out to meet a huge variety of needs for our ever-growing range of courses. At census, the school roll stood at 1254 pupils. The FTE staffing complement is 91.8. The percentages of pupils accessing free school meal entitlement is 8.71%. Hermitage Academy serves a geographically diverse area, and a broad range of families in terms of socio-economic status and employment. The catchment includes both urban and rural areas and many families are also employed by the Ministry of Defence, in a wide range of occupations. Hermitage Academy has excellent links with all associate Primary Schools which are: Arrochar, Cardross, Colgrain, Garelochhead, Hermitage, John Logie Baird, Kilcreggan, Luss, Rhu, Rosneath and St Joseph’s. Hermitage Academy’s curricular vision states: “Hermitage Academy aims to provide an education for all our young people which will enable them to: achieve their potential, experience success and be well prepared for life beyond school.” We are fully committed to Argyll and Bute Council’s strategy, Our Children, Their Future, focusing on respect, openness and fairness. Our priorities take into account the main aims: Raise educational attainment and achievement for all; Use performance information to secure improvement for children and young people; Ensure children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed; Equip young people to secure and sustain positive destinations and achieve success in life; Ensure high quality partnership working and community engagement; Strengthen leadership at all levels. In 2021 all stakeholders were involved in establishing and refreshed set of vision and values for the school and these are summarised in “We ARE Hermitage” – Ambition, respect and equity. At Hermitage Academy, the priority is to ensure these are more than words and are embedded in all of our planning, research and support.
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S3 ACEL Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy June 2022 School Level % Achieved Reading Writing L&T Literacy Numeracy Hermitage Academy Third Level or better 91.1 92.1 91.1 89.3 86.9 Argyll & Bute Third Level or better 88.3 87 88.2 83.9 87.8 Hermitage Academy Fourth Level 52.3 51.4 50.9 50.9 64.0 Argyll & Bute Fourth Level 49.8 47.6 51.5 45.9 57.6 Evaluative Comment: Overall attainment in Literacy and Numeracy levels for session 21/22 is positive and these compare well to Local Authority figures. 8 of the 10 measures are above Local Authority averages. Listening and Talking at level four is an identified area for improvement within the school. This along with numeracy at level three are established school improvement activities that have been identified in partnership with our associated primaries across the HALCO cluster.
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National Qualifications – Pass rates NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS 2021-22 A-C Number of Presentations Number Attaining A-C % Attaining A- C Argyll and Bute % Attaining A-C National % Attaining A-C Advanced Higher 138 120 86.9% 85.50% 82.60% Higher 887 755 85.1% 80.90% 80.30% National 5 1226 1043 85.1% 79.70% 81.60% Level/Stage 2022 A B C D No Award Grade A-B Grade A-C Grade A-D National 5 (Nat. 41.20% A&B 35.40%) (Nat. 23.00% A&B 25.57%) (Nat. 17.43% A&B 18.69%) (Nat. 10.79% A&B 12.73%) (Nat. 7.60% A&B 7.60%) (Nat. 64.20% A&B 61%) (Nat. 81.60% A&B 79.70%) (Nat. 92.4% A&B 92.4%) S4-6 40.5% 27.9% 16.7% 10.4% 4.6% 68.4% 85.1% 95.4% S4 44.0% 27.7% 15.4% 9.4% 3.5% 71.7% 87.1% 96.5% S5 15.6% 30.3% 23.8% 16.4% 13.9% 45.9% 69.7% 86.1% S6 31.9% 26.4% 23.6% 13.9% 4.2% 58.3% 81.9% 95.8% Higher (Nat. 36.50% A&B 35.60%) (Nat. 24.32% A&B 24.56%) (Nat. 19.49% A&B 20.8%) (Nat. 11.74% A&B 12.61%) (Nat. 7.90% A&B 6.50%) (Nat.60.90% (A&B 60.00%) (Nat. 80.3% A&B 80.90%) (Nat 92.10% A&B 93.50%) S5-6 41.7% 25.0% 18.2% 9.6% 5.6% 66.6% 84.8% 94.4% S5 43.6% 25.6% 17.5% 8.7% 4.6% 69.3% 86.7% 95.4% S6 35.5% 23.0% 20.2% 12.6% 8.7% 58.5% 78.7% 91.3% Advanced Higher (Nat 35.00% A&B 30.80%) (Nat. 26.28% A&B 26.09%) (Nat. 21.35% A&B 28.99%) (Nat. 11.27% A&B 11.59%) (Nat. 6.20% A&B 3.20%) (Nat 61.2% A&B 56.7%) Nat. 82.60% A&B 85.50%) (Nat. 93.80% A&B 96.8%) S6 34.1% 26.1% 26.8% 12.3% 0.7% 60.1% 87.0% 99.3%
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Evaluative Comment 2021-22 A-C and A-D pass rates for Hermitage Academy demonstrate a positive picture and are above both local and national measures at all levels - National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher. The percentage of no awards is also positive as they are below both local and national measures, at all levels. We continuously work to improve the quality of pass and this is demonstrated by the percentage of As and Bs gained by our young people at all levels. Insight Dashboard 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 4 measures. Improving attainment in literacy and numeracy, increased post- school participation, Improving attainment for all and Attainment versus Deprivation. Improving attainment in literacy and numeracy Evaluative Comment The percentage of our young people who leave school with both literacy and numeracy at levels 4 or 5 has improved in session 2021-22 compared to session 2020-21. The percentage of pupils leaving Hermitage Academy with both Literacy and Numeracy at level 4 or 5 is above the Virtual Comparator value in both measures.
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Increased post-school participation Evaluative Comment Over the last three years the percentage of young people leaving school into a positive destination has grown steadily. 93.81% in 2019/20, 94.06% in 2020/21 and 96.1% in session 2021/22. In 2021/22 Hermitage Academy positive destination measures are above both National and Northern Alliance averages. The difference between school figures and that of both Local Authority and Virtual Comparator averages has reduced over the past year. We work closely with Skills Development Scotland and our wide range of partners to ensure that this improving picture continues into the session ahead.
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Improving attainment for all Evaluative Comment The improving attainment for all measure is split into looking at groups of young people. Highest 20%, middle 60% and lowest 20% of performers. The Hermitage Academy average for all three groups is considerably higher than National, Argyll and Bute and Northern Alliance values. The school average also sits above the virtual comparator measure for the highest 20% of performers. The lowest 20% value is below the Virtual Comparator measure and this is an established priority for the school through targeted intervention and support for identified groups of our young people.
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Attainment versus Deprivation School against National The Hermitage Academy average line runs consistently above the National trend across SIMD 1-10. Particularly strong figures are demonstrated at SIMD 1, 2, 6 and 10. We have used the information provided through insight to evaluate performance and identify areas for development across the deciles. School against Virtual Comparator The Hermitage Academy average line runs slightly above the Virtual Comparator average across SIMD 1-10. Particularly strong figures are demonstrated at SIMD 1, 2, 6 and 10. We have used the information provided through insight to evaluate performance and identify areas for development across deciles 3-5.
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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: The introduction of a number of these awards, for example Musical Theatre and Criminology, has helped to provide appropriate breadth and depth to the learning pathways for our young people. As part of the school improvement plan we are working with SCQF Partnership and have been accredited at bonze. The next step is that departments are looking at appropriate pathways within their own areas to provide the opportunity to continue progression within the faculty. The most recent example of this is cyber security with the Business Studies and IT Faculty. During session 2021/22 we presented 22 pupils for their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze awards and this has led to a progression route for further pupils sitting Silver. This has also been a very positive aspect of our support for young people with additional support needs. Equity and Attainment – Evaluation of Key Factors Factor in attainment Evaluation of key issues in school Attendance School Ave. Att. 21-22: 87.83% Measure 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 Attendance 92.63% 91.67% 90.83% 92.06% 87.83% Authorised Absence 4.82% 5.07% 6.01% 4.22% 6.51% Unauthorised Absence 2.52% 3.24% 3.11% 3.69% 5.65% Attendance Number of Pupils (%) - Authority Average 91.24% 90.30% 90.01% 90.05% 87.38% Attendance Number of Pupils (%) - National Average Not collated 90.70% Not collated 86.70% Not collated
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The table above demonstrates attendance rates for the last five years. 2021/22 attendance is at the lowest level for five years. This is mainly due to the increase in unauthorised absence. Exclusion No. of Exclusion Incidents 21-22: 17 No. of Exclusion Openings 21-22: 80 Measure 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 Exclusions: Exclusion Openings - number 120 88 143 168 80 Exclusion Incidents - number 31 29 46 47 17 Number of Pupils 25 23 37 30 16 The table above demonstrates a significant reduction in both the number of young people excluded from school and the number of openings this relates to. Our whole school nurture approach and trauma informed training has improved relationships across this school. This is something that was highlighted by Education Scotland when they visited the school during session 2021/22. Promoting Positive Relationships and Behaviour continues to be a school priority moving forward. Having achieved our Bronze Nurture status we are now carrying out all the requirements for silver and look forward to our next accreditation visit. Additional Support Needs In 2021/22, the school roll had 434 young people with an additional support need (34%) Performance of pupils with Additional Support Needs S4-6 The graph below demonstrates the default comparison of the performance of our young people who have additional supported needs. It highlights a positive picture of performance against the VC, Local Authority and National figures.
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Free School Meal Entitlement The table below demonstrates information around free school meals for the last five years. One of the targets for our Family Liaison Officer is to aid families who have not applied for the grant but that we know are eligible. Support with completing and submitting the paperwork for the grant has been very much appreciated by our families so far this year. Measure 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 21/22 Free School Meals (number of pupils) 108 97 98 132 107 Free School Meals (% of number of pupils) 8.57% 7.74% 8.05% 10.53% 8.71% Free School Meals (%) - Authority Average 9.45% 11.31% 10.75% 12.29% 12.94% Free School Meal - National Average for Secondary Schools (%) 14.40% 15.00% 15.60% N/A 15.14%
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Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) Family Liaison Officer (FLO) Our Family Liaison Officer is funded by PEF and they work with our most vulnerable young people to provide intense support to pupils and families. This helps to build close partnerships with agencies such as Social Work Services, local Foodbanks and Young Carers. Pupils and families are identified via the child planning processes and staged intervention. As a result, pupils spend more time in class engaging with staff across the school, ensuring greater educational outcomes. Pupils and parents, have advised that they feel that the FLO knows them and their families well and will therefore report difficulties straight to them including lack of food, ability to buy uniform, shoes etc. Parents will also request support to complete benefit applications and free school meal entitlements. As a result of these relationships, the young people in the families the FLO works with spend less time presenting with dysregulated behaviours, out of class, with an improved sense of self-worth and ambition as well as an increased understanding and use of self-regulation strategies. The FLO has a bank of uniform items which are regularly issued to support young people and families to meet the requirements of the school’s uniform guidance. Numeracy We have utilised Pupil Equity Funding to increase staffing across the Maths Department. This has allowed us to create small groups and one to one Numeracy time within the department to help provide additional support to young people who have been identified through our targeted intervention process. The increased staffing has helped our young people to engage with work that covers gaps in their learning from the pandemic and from periods of non-attendance at school. Nurture Principal Teacher Pupil Equity Funding helps to provide a S1 Weekly Nurture Group to support a successful transition from Primary to Secondary. Feedback from all young people and their parents has been incredibly positive, recognising that the Nurture sessions helped them to settle in and enjoy S1 at Hermitage Academy. The PT post also provides 1-1 bespoke Nurture Plans and makes sure that they are in place for young people requiring additional support to regulate behaviours, navigate social situations, and related therapeutic inputs. Breakfast Club Hermitage Academy whole school Breakfast Club is now very much part of our daily routine. All young people are invited to come along for free breakfast items such as toast, cereal bars, yogurts, as well as croissants and waffles at the end of month for a treat. This ensures all young people in the school, regardless of need or background are able to begin their day with a hearty breakfast in order to be able to focus on learning and teaching in the classroom. The universal offer removes any stigma which might be attached to receiving the breakfast.
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Other information Investors in Young People – Gold Accreditation During session 2021-22, we received gold accreditation from Investors in Young People. This makes Hermitage Academy the first school in Scotland to gain national recognition at bronze, silver and now at gold level. The report paid particular attention to our commitment to upskill younger staff, empower them to take ownership over their career development and to enable their voice to have an impact. Some positives highlighted in the report are: There was a clear commitment by the Head Teacher to ensure all staff are empowered to develop their full potential and have ownership over their career progression. A number of Young Staff are project leads and have completed or are completing leadership qualifications. Strong engagement with stakeholders has resulted in measurable improvements in education, learning and employment opportunities for Young People. Younger staff involvement in extracurricular activities, clubs and working groups and leading on projects is exemplary. Within Hermitage Academy there is a focus and commitment to support Young staff and Young Pupils with mental health and wellbeing challenges. Influencers were aware of the importance of their role to provide support. Guidance staff and a number of class teachers have been trained in mental health first aid to support young pupils. Investors in Young People recognised the passion that staff at Hermitage Academy have to ensure continued development of Youth employment practices and noted that we should consider ourselves ambassadors of fair work practice. Focus West We have been delighted to welcome Focus West from the University of Strathclyde into Hermitage Academy. Focus West have worked with our S4 cohort to deliver a range of activities and events to encourage and prepare pupils for Higher Education at college or university. This gives our pupils time to reflect on their prelim experience and begin to think about opportunities open to them beyond school. Focus West have also been working one to one with a targeted group of S5 and S6 pupils to support them with the UCAS application process. Tullochan Training Academy The school has been developing an exciting partnership with Tullochan Training Academy. Tullochan annually supports over 1000 young people aged 7-24 through a range of development programmes in Primary and Secondary schools alongside their post-school projects. There are a number of our senior pupils working in-school with the Tullochan Team focussing on identifying individual Skills and Qualities, Confidence Building and Building Self-esteem, Team Building, Goal Setting, Motivations to work, and Career Identification. These sessions are designed to empower young people and to ensure they have an understanding of how important future planning is. We also have some young people out on work placements with the Training Academy – such as Furniture Fix, The Design House, The Common Good Café and with Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust. We look forward to developing our partnership working with Tullochan Training Academy further in the future.
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UK Schools - Ethics Cup A group of senior pupils represented the school fantastically well at the University of Glasgow Regional Ethics Cup competition. They discussed topical ethical issues such as gun laws, plastic straw bans and banning short domestic flights with schools from around Glasgow and Cumbria. Our team did so well that they qualified for the Finals in St Andrews as one of only twelve schools across the UK. Rights Respecting Schools – Gold Award Hermitage Academy has been awarded with Unicef UK’s Rights Respecting School Award at Gold: Rights Respecting. The assessors thanked the young people, the Senior Leadership Team, and staff for their warm welcome to the school, for the opportunity to speak with adults and children during the assessment and for the detailed evidence provided to support the process. Their report included "It was evident that children’s rights are embedded across the school and underpin every facet of school life". RRSA ACCREDITATION REPORT, GOLD: RIGHTS RESPECTING (2022) We would like to congratulate all of our young people, staff, parents and partners for their contribution and commitment towards this achievement. It was acknowledged that there is "a clear enthusiasm and commitment for a rights-based approach which is supported by the SLT, staff and young people, all of whom recognise the impact of knowing their rights". A special congratulations to our Rights Respecting School Pupil Group for their dedication to leading and steering change within the school and the wider school community. Their fundraising work and involvement in incorporating pupil voice into the School Improvement One Page Plan has encouraged our young people to take action to uphold their rights and the rights of others locally and globally. Hi5 Scotland Awards 147 of our S1 pupils were awarded with a Hi5 Award Certificates from Youth Scotland after taking part in a variety of STEM Activities as part of the P7 Transition Hooked on Hermitage Project. S3 pupils were also awarded with Dynamic Youth Award Certificates as a result of their contribution to leading and creating the STEM experiment video resources to allow all P7 transition pupils and teachers to complete their Hi5 Awards digitally. WEIR-WISE Programme: Discovering Engineering with S2 Girls The Faculty of Engineering at Strathclyde University, in partnership with the Weir Group, offer the Young WEIR-WISE: Discovering Engineering with S2 Girls programme which has seen a number of our young people be inspired to discover the satisfaction behind a career in engineering. Over the years, our S2 STEM Ambassadors have attended this event virtually and in person to participate in a number of exciting STEM-based activities run by University of Strathclyde staff and engineers. Having enjoyed the hands on challenges and lectures provided by the programme, our S2 and S3 STEM Ambassadors have since lead STEM programmes targeted at S2 and S1 pupils to allow them the opportunity to explore all things STEM through various experiments and challenges. The challenges set and lead by our STEM Ambassadors have given a number of junior pupils the opportunity to complete a number of Young STEM Leader badges to celebrate wider achievement.
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Bookcase Zambia Project In collaboration with the Rights Respecting School group, the Bookcase Zambia project within the school raised over £600 for our partner school. This money was sent to our friends at Dream Livingstone in Zambia and they have managed to support the education and exams fees of 6 young people this year. Engineering UK Robotics Challenge The Hermitage Academy Lego Robotics team came 2nd in the West of Scotland heat of the Engineering UK Robotics competition and qualified for the UK finals in Birmingham. The Robotics Challenge is an exciting, practical activity where students learn how to build, program and control autonomous Lego robots. The competition involves using these skills to complete a series of ‘Eco’ themed missions using Lego Mindstorms EV3 sets. Students also have to research, design and present their own solution to a contemporary engineering problem faced by STEM professionals tackling environmental problems. Over 550 schools from around the UK entered the competition and the Hermitage Academy team won the chance to compete against the top 50 schools in the final at the ‘Big Bang Fair 2022’ in the NEC Birmingham. Mentors in Violence Protection (MVP) 50 of our S5 and S6 pupils received training and have qualified to become Mentors in Violence Protection (MVP). We already have staff trained which took place earlier in the session. Lessons for our S1 pupils, led by our S5/6 mentors have been carried out recently and has very much supported our ambition of becoming a trauma informed school as part of our nurture journey. Armed Forces Day We held our first and extremely successful Armed Forces Fayre at Hermitage Academy in June. Pupils were able to visit stalls and activities supported by the MOD and Police Scotland, Royal Navy PT Instructors, HMS Neptune Medical staff, Forces for Children Scotland, the bomb squad and the Army Cadets. Pupils enjoyed the activities and stalls during the day and our Armed Forces Ambassadors highlighted to their peers about the work they are doing within the school. Our Sports Leaders supported the Navy PT Instructors with the physical activities. The Royal Navy Family support workers and the British Legion Royal Navy veterans visited the stalls and answered questions from our N5 and Higher RMPS pupils on their experiences of conflict. Each year group had the opportunity to salute our Armed Forces to show respect and give thanks for the important work they do.