Tarbert Academy
Argyll and Bute Council · 5 June 2024
Back to Mid Argyll, Kintyre & the Islands Area Committee — 5 June 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
Page 1
ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL SECONDARY SCHOOL ATTAINMENT REPORT AREA COMMITTEE Tarbert Academy 5th June 2024
Page 2
Tarbert Academy is a 2-18 school located in the village of Tarbert comprising three stages of schooling. The Pre-5 unit serves the village and near environs of Tarbert. The Primary serves the village and the surrounding community; and the Secondary serves the communities of South Knapdale and North Kintyre. In addition to its own Primary, the school's associated Primary is Clachan Primary School. Pupils in Rhunahaorine Primary School and Gigha Primary School can decide between Tarbert Academy and Campbeltown Grammar School - as both are funded for transport - with almost all choosing Tarbert Academy for secondary education. The school roll in May 2024 was 254 pupils with 29 in Pre-5, 108 in Primary and 117 in Secondary. 22% of the Secondary roll and 17.5% of Primary are placing requests. SIMD distribution is between decile 3 and 7 with no clear attainment gap (Lower SIMD pupils often outperform higher SIMD pupils). £15490 PEF has been allocated each year until 2025/2026. Our staffing comprises 25 teachers with 7 in Primary and 18 in Secondary, some of whom work part time. In addition, learning and teaching is supported by Pre-5 staff, technicians and classroom assistants. The school also has an allocation of Additional Support Needs staff from the Authority (15 ASN assistants and 2 Pupil Support teachers – some of whom work part time). Promoted posts consist of Head Teacher, Depute Head Primary, Depute Head Secondary, PT Support for Learning 2-18, 1 Primary PT, 4 Secondary Faculty PTs, PT Guidance, PT Enterprise. In our school office we are currently staffed by a senior clerical assistant and three clerical assistants The original school building was constructed in 1896 and is still used today. New accommodation was phased in during the mid-1990s and is used to house the Primary, Assembly Hall, Office and School Kitchen. In the year 2000, the school also became home to our Pre-5 unit and in 2014 an Early Level classroom with its own toilet block, kitchen and outdoor play area was built in the Primary Department. Further developments were made to the Pre 5 unit in 2019 to allow 1140h entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds to be met. From August 2021 we have been able to accommodate 2 year olds. Following consultation with staff, pupils, parents and agencies our current Vision, Values and Aims was launched in August 2019: Our vision is for Tarbert Academy to be part of a learning community that actively promotes and supports the school values and provides the opportunity for every learner to develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes they need to become a successful learner, confident individual, responsible citizen and effective contributor to society. We value: Respect for ourselves and others Unity, with every member of the 2-18 learning community working together to turn our vision into reality Achievement, with every learner having the opportunity to reach their full potential Nurture, ensuring every learner has the best start in life and a safe place to grow up Kindness, with every member of the learning community looking out for each other We aim to ensure that every learner develops the skills they need to allow them to live a fulfilled, active and adventurous life and to deal with adversity when it occurs
Page 3
Section 1 S3 ACEL Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy School Level % Achieved Reading Writing L&T Literacy Numeracy Tarbert Academy Third Level or better 100 94.1 100 88.2 Argyll & Bute Third Level or better 88.5 86.9 89.0 83.9 86.0 Tarbert Academy Fourth Level 29.4 29.4 29.4 52.9 Argyll & Bute Fourth Level 54.4 51.4 53.8 45.9 56.4 Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength in BGE Attainment: Very strong S3 level 3 data with % achieved greater than A&B average in all areas Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development in BGE Attainment: All 4th level data below A&B average in all areas. We will monitor this yeargroup’s insight data in S4 and beyond as this is different to previous years
Page 4
Section 2 National Qualifications 2023 – Percentage of Awards – A-C and A-D Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength: Nat 5 and Adv H pass rates above A&B and national data for A-C and A-D Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development: Higher data lower than A&B and national data for A-C and lower than A&B but equal to national for A-D 79.90% 57.70% 81.80% 76.93% 77.12% 79.44% 78.80% 77.10% 79.80% NAT 5 Higher Adv H Tar A % A-C Awards Tar A A&B National 91.00% 90.40% 100% 90.70% 92.10% 93.00% 90.50% 90.50% 92.70% NAT 5 Higher Adv H Tar A % A-D Awards Tar A A&B National
Page 5
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.
Page 6
3a Improving Attainment in Literacy and Numeracy
Page 7
Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength: We are very pleased with our literacy data – showing a very strong pattern over the last 3 years Numeracy is also strong with 100% of leavers attaining SCQF 4 over the last 5 years
Page 8
Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development SCQF 5 data in numeracy was lower than VC in 2022 but it was back up to above VC last year – this was the only time in 5 years that the SCQF 5 data was lower than VC 3b Increased post-school participation
Page 9
Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength: For 2 out of the last 3 years, 100% of our leavers have gone on to positive destinations Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development: In 2021/22, 1 pupil did not immediately move on to a positive destination but we worked with DYW and SDS to help support the young person – they are now in a positive destination.
Page 10
3c Improving attainment for all Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength: For the last 5 years, total tariff points have been higher than the VC for our lowest attaining 20% of our leavers For 4 out of the last 5 years, total tariff points have been higher than the VC (lower than VC in 2019) for our middle attaining 60% of our leavers
Page 11
Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development: For 4 out of the last 5 years, total tariff points have been lower than the VC (higher than VC in 2021) for our highest attaining 20% of leavers. We are aware of this worrying pattern and are looking at ways of improving the situation as part of our school improvement planning.
Page 12
3d Attainment versus Deprivation Evaluative Comment – Areas of Strength: We do not have an obvious poverty related attainment gap in Tarbert – we have a very narrow range of SIMD values (usually between 4 and 7 with an occasional 3 due to placing requests) and none of our young people are in the poorest 2 deciles).
Page 13
Evaluative Comment – Areas for Development: We have a strong and effective Pupil Support team at Tarbert Academy and we will continue to target support, using PEF funding if required, to those who need it. 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: We offer a wide range of wider curricular opportunities and we are able to be flexible enough to satisfy the curricular requirements of all of our young people using our own staff or online learning links with other schools or colleges. Last year we offered: • 1 x FA Creative Digital Media • 5 x Enterprise and Employability Units • 8 x Leadership • Hi5 award • 1 x NPA Criminology (Level 6) • 1 x FA Social Services and Young People • Step Up to University: Foundation Academy Module • Bikeability DofE is offered to all pupils from S3 and we have been very successful for a small school over the years with awards up to Gold
Page 14
Section 5 Equity and Attainment – Evaluation of Key Factors Factor in attainment Attendance School Ave. Att. 22-23: 90.4% Exclusion No. of Exclusion Incidents 22-23: 0 No. of Exclusion Openings 22-23: 0 Additional Support Needs 36.75% SIMD 0.85% Quintile 1 2.56% Quintile 2 71.79% Quintile 3 22.22% Quintile 4 0.85% Quintile 5 Free School Meal Entitlement 5.4% Care Experienced (and previously Care Experienced) 4.5% English as Additional Language 0 Other (give details)
Page 15
Pupil Equity Funding Impact of PEF on closing the attainment gap £15490 PEF has been allocated each year until 2025/2026. We have used this funding over the years to target certain pupils for ASN Assistant support (prioritising Literacy and Numeracy) or Family Liaison Officer support as well as supporting families with the cost of school trips, uniform etc Although we have very few lower SIMD pupils, we do know our families very well and have a good idea of who would benefit from financial support as well as targeted ASN support or support with attendance Section 6 Other information Our S3 profiling class has been very successful over the last 3 years with their Youth Philanthropy Initiative projects which have raised £9000 for local charities so far. This year’s class will be presenting their projects to a judging panel, S1-3 pupils and some parents at the end of May. The winning group will get another £3000 to donate to a local charity (funding from the Wood Foundation). Head teacher is retiring in August 2024 Recruitment for his replacement is underway