Campbeltown Grammar School
Argyll and Bute Council · 5 June 2024
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre & the Islands Area Committee — 5 June 2024 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTAINMENT REPORT AREA COMMITTEE Campbeltown Grammar School 5th June 2024
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School information/school context – include SIMD etc. Campbeltown Grammar School was founded in 1686. The new school opened in February 2018 and is very much built for education in the 21st Century. The sports facilities are excellent and comprise of a large games hall, 1 smaller gymnasium with a climbing wall and an all-weather pitch, serviced by floodlights. Campbeltown Grammar School is a non-denominational secondary school located within the remote small town of Campbeltown on the Kintyre peninsula with a population of less than 10,000. The school’s catchment area spans across the South Kintyre area and our associated primary schools include Castlehill, Dalintober, Drumlemble, Carradale, Glenbarr, Rhunahaorine and Gigha primaries. Our current roll for the 2022-2023 session stands at 380 with 16% of young people receiving free school meal entitlement. Our current staff FTE stands at 33.31 (as of January 2024). 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: SIMD Range Percentage of Pupils Deciles 1 - 4 14.7 Deciles 5 –8 20.6 Deciles 9 - 10 64.7
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Section 1 S3 ACEL Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy School Level % Achieved Reading Writing L&T Literacy Numeracy Campbeltown Grammar School Third Level or better 82.2 82.2 84.9 82.3 75.4 Argyll & Bute Third Level or better 88.5 86.9 89.0 83.9 86.0 Campbeltown Grammar School Fourth Level 43.8 42.5 34.2 33.8 42.5 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 Third Level or better NA NA NA Fourth Level NA NA NA
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength in BGE Attainment: The % achieving fourth level Literacy has improved by 2.1% on last year’s performance. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development in BGE Attainment: The S3 ACEL data clearly indicates that prompt, planned interventions are required to improve the learner’s experiences. All of the S3 data lies below the Argyll & Bute average. In particular, 4th level Reading and L&T and Numeracy at both 3rd and 4th levels are a focus for improvement. Improvements are required at all levels. All staff have engaged in professional learning in moderation and understanding standards. Three Quality Assurance and Moderation Support Officers (QAMSOs) have been trained to support teacher judgements. A BGE Transitions Teacher has been appointed to support pupils and staff. Evidence is being gathered from across all curricular areas to ensure that pupil performance is based on a broad range of evidence. An improvement in professional understanding of standards will lead to an increase and improvement of reported ACEL levels.
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Section 2 National Qualifications 2023 – Percentage of Awards – A-C and A-D Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Compared with 2019, there is a slight improvement in attainment. %A-D Awards at National 5 equal the National attainment. % A-D Awards at Advanced Higher are slightly higher than the National attainment. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development S6 pupils are not being engaged in their learning. 25% of N5 sat by S6 pupils resulted in no award. The curriculum is being broadened to engage S6 learners. There is a more robust presentation policy which ensures that learners are maximising their time spent engaged in learning. The S4 subject offer will increase to 7 subjects. Robust Tracking and Monitoring systems are being put in place. A robust interventions policy has been introduced to ensure that learners are supported to improve learner’s experiences. 75.10% 68.10% 64.30%76.93% 77.12% 79.44% 78.80% 77.10% 79.80% NAT 5 Higher Adv H CGS % A-C Awards CGS A&B National 90.50% 88.90% 92.90% 90.70% 92.10% 93.00% 90.50% 90.50% 92.70% NAT 5 Higher Adv H CGS % A-D Awards CGS 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 Literacy at level 4 is below the Virtual Comparator. There has been some improvement on the previous years. Literacy at level 4 is much closer to the Virtual Comparator than it has been since 2020. Numeracy at level 5 is below the Virtual Comparator. Numeracy at level 5 is slightly higher than 2021. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Literacy at level 5 is below the Virtual Comparator. Literacy at level 5 is the lowest it has been since 2020. Numeracy at level 4 is below the Virtual Comparator. Numeracy at level 4 is the lowest it has been since 2020. Improvements in literacy and numeracy continue to be a focus at CGS. QAMSOs and a Transition Teacher have been appointed to support moderation and to deliver interventions
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3b Increased post-school participation
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Positive destinations are at the highest level in three years. The percentage of school leavers in a positive destination is higher than the virtual comparator, Argyll & Bute, the Northern Alliance and the National Establishment. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development We will continue to work on supporting our young people to develop the skills that lead them to positive destinations. We will continue to develop pathways for our young people that lead to positive destinations. We will further develop our partnerships with employers, colleges and universities. We will continue to explore routes to apprenticeships. We continue to raise the aspirations of our young people.
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3c Improving attainment for all
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Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength Attainment for the lowest 20% is in line with Argyll & Bute and the Northern Alliance. Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Attainment for the lowest 20% is below the virtual comparator Attainment for the highest 20% is below the virtual comparator Attainment for the middle 60% of learners below the virtual comparator. We continue to review and evaluate our curriculum, learning and teaching and interventions. Rigorous tracking systems are being developed to ensure that the correct interventions take place to support an improvement in attainment.
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3d Attainment versus Deprivation
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Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development Further development of tracking systems and interventions will support improvement in attainment for all pupils, and particularly those in lowest SIMD deciles. Our PEF-funded Increasing Attendance Strategy and the redesign of our curriculum map to ensure learner engagement and success in an increased number of subject areas, will all contribute to raised attainment. We are committed to improving attainment for the least-advantaged young people and are working with our partner Osiris to deliver professional learning in high-quality learning and teaching, with a particular focus on improving attainment outcomes for the least-advantaged young people. Section 4 Wider Achievement Qualifications
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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: Currently, wider achievement qualifications are not offered. PT DYW and SP DHT are working with departments and the college to widen the offer. This is a focus for the Curriculum School Improvement Group. This is something that we are working on improving and was a key Action Point in the February HMIE Review. The numbers of qualifications are low compared to the need/number of periods available for Wider Achievement on the timetable. These numbers are low because they were not fully utilised, however, the school recognises the value in these qualifications for all our learners and this will be a priority moving forward. Extra-Curricular skills development – Kintyre Sea sports deliver sailing qualifications, Heart start & First aid qualifications, Music in the Community project, Leadership award and Duke of Edinburgh award. Section 5 Equity and Attainment – Evaluation of Key Factors Factor in attainment
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Attendance School Ave. Att. 22-23: 88.1% Exclusion No. of Exclusion Incidents 22-23: 20 No. of Exclusion Openings 22-23: 41 Additional Support Needs SIMD Free School Meal Entitlement Care Experienced (and previously Care Experienced) The young people moved into the senior phase and attained passes in all subjects. English as Additional Language Other (give details) Pupil Equity Funding Impact of PEF on closing the attainment gap
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A Wellbeing officer has been appointed to work with pupils on improving attendance, engagement and participation. Section 6 Other information • Campbeltown Grammar School continues to be involved in community events. Staff and pupils have supported successful coffee mornings, music events, sporting event, music performances and dances. The ethos in the school continues to be positive. • We have introduced our new school motto- Committed to Success! Aim High. • We continue to develop embedding our Aims through our planning and into our Curriculum- Community, Ambition, Respect and Equality. • Our young people have taken an active role in local charity events and have raised an impressive amount of money for both local and national charities. • Our young people have achieved awards in piping, brass and highland dancing. • Many of our young people participate in swimming and have achieved awards in both local and national competitions. • One of young people won the World Clydesdale Championship in the youth driving and young stockman class. • We continue to build on our partnership with Kintyre Sea Sports. Many of our pupils have achieved certification in sailing and are working towards upgrading these awards. • Both of our Rugby teams have been enjoying building their skills and taking part in competitions.