Whitehill Secondary School
Glasgow City Council

9 February 2010

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects schools in order to let parents¹, young people and the local community know whether their school provides a good education. Inspectors also discuss with school staff how they can improve the quality of education.

At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the headteacher and staff about the strengths of the school, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we go into classes and join other activities which young people are involved in. We also gather the views of young people, parents, staff and members of the local community. We find their views very helpful and use them together with the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education.

This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of education in the school. We describe how well young people are doing, how good the school is at helping them to learn and how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff, parents and young people work together and how they go about improving the school. We also comment on how well the school works with other groups in the community, including services which support young people. Finally, we focus on how well the school is led and how staff help the school achieve its aims.

If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the school, please visit www.hmie.gov.uk. Here you can find analyses of questionnaire returns from young people, parents and staff, and details about young people’s examination performance. We will not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns are so small that they could identify individuals. Where applicable, you will also be able to find a report on the learning community surrounding the school.

Contents

1. The school
2. Particular strengths of the school
3. Example of good practice
4. How well do young people learn and achieve?
5. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s learning?
6. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving their school community?
7. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?
8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?
9. What happens next?

4. How well do young people learn and achieve?

Learning andachievement

Most young people are well behaved, enthusiastic and ready to learn. Relationships between staff and learners are positive and in most lessons young people engage well in their learning. Young people are good at helping each other in class and show mutual respect. They work together effectively in collaborative tasks. Young people are not yet sufficiently clear about their strengths and how to improve. Almost all feel safe and fairly treated.

Young people achieve success and develop additional skills including team working and creativity through an increasingly wide range of out of class learning activities. They are particularly positive about their opportunities within sport and the annual school show which involve large numbers of young people from all stages. Young people have developed confidence and skills in performing by participating in dance, drama and musical events. They are learning successfully about leadership and working together through programmes such as The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme. A foreign exchange programme has helped learners develop their understanding of international education and languages. Opportunities for all young people to take responsibility require to be strengthened. Enterprise activities and charitable fundraising work helps young people to become more enterprising and effective citizens. Young people receiving support from the WSC are involved in a number of projects, such as fundraising for Children in Need, which engage them in the wider work of the school. The school has begun to track and monitor how young people benefit from these developing opportunities.

At S1/ S2 the majority of young people attain appropriate national levels of attainment in reading and mathematics. Less than half do so in writing. The numbers attaining appropriate levels in mathematics by the end of S2 has increased. From S3 to S6, while there have been some improvements over the last year in a few of the main national measures of attainment, overall the school performs either in line with or less well than schools which serve young people with similar needs and backgrounds. Those young people requiring additional support in their learning are making appropriate progress. The school recognises the capacity for improvement at all stages and has taken appropriate steps to improve the school’s overall attainment.

Curriculum and meeting learning needs

At S1/S2 young people have a broad curriculum. At S3/S4 around a quarter of young people attend courses at local colleges and others participate in a range of skills based programmes. All young people in S4 participate in work experience. The school has identified the need to provide better opportunities for young people to build on learning at S3/S4. At S5/S6 there is a limited range of course provision and a lack of vocational courses. All young people in S1 to S4 benefit from more than two hours of high-quality physical education each week. At S5/S6 the level of physical education provision is below national expectations. Staff have begun to consider the implications of Curriculum for Excellence and to develop approaches that link young people’s learning across subjects. A few subjects, such as biology and home economics, have strong links with primary schools. Staff across the school should develop such links. Young people receiving support from the WSC benefit from a range of curriculum programmes and other additional opportunities within mainstream classes.

In most classes teachers use a range of approaches which meet young people’s needs well. They select tasks and make good use of information about young people to support them effectively in their learning. In a small number of classes tasks and learning activities are too easy. Higher attaining young people are not yet being challenged sufficiently across the school. Young people in the WSC are being supported effectively both within the base and mainstream school. Across the school, teachers know young people well as learners. Support staff and teachers provide strong support for young people with English as an additional language. Young people requiring additional support in their learning have appropriate plans in place with identified targets to support their progress. The education authority ‘Big Eat In’ project is encouraging young people in S1 to eat more healthily, to be more active and to become more involved in the wider life of the school. A successful peer mentoring programme involving young people at S5/S6 helps children transfer from P7 into S1.

5. How well do staff work with others to support young people’s learning?

The school is working successfully with a wide range of external partners, groups and agencies to support young people’s learning. Young people’s health and wellbeing is supported positively through their involvement with the East End Youth Network, Culture and Sport Glasgow, voluntary and youth groups. Parents are involved in the school’s literacy project and in adult literacy classes in the evenings. Young people’s involvement in the ‘Focus West’ programme encourages greater access to further and higher education. Productive links with the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian help to raise young people’s expectations for themselves and their aspirations for the future. The school has improved its approach to recording and responding to parental complaints.

6. Are staff and young people actively involved in improving their school community?

Staff have developed effective procedures to evaluate the school’s strengths and areas for development. Almost all staff take on responsibility for evaluating aspects of their own work, their department and the school using a wide range of approaches. These have led to important improvements in learning and teaching. The school is developing ways to track and monitor young people’s progress more effectively but this has yet to impact positively on their achievement. The school is successfully reducing the numbers of young people who persistently arrive late for school. Staff are increasingly seeking young people’s views about their learning. Young people have been consulted on aspects of health and wellbeing, including a whole school focus on smoking. They do not yet consider the pupil council to have an effective role in improving the school.

7. Does the school have high expectations of all young people?

Staff have high expectations of young people’s behaviour. A few staff do not have high enough expectations for young people’s achievements. Young people’s attendance has improved in recent years. The number of young people being excluded has declined significantly compared to previous sessions. All staff have been trained in appropriate child protection procedures. Almost all young people feel they are treated with respect. There are very efficient systems in place for recording and addressing successfully instances of bullying and racism. Young people’s understanding of equality issues is extended and enriched through both personal and social development and religious and moral education courses. The school promotes achievements well and recognises these through assemblies, newsletters, notice boards and certificates. There are suitable arrangements in place for religious observance.

8. Does the school have a clear sense of direction?

The acting headteacher has successfully encouraged staff at all levels to take on leadership roles. She has ensured clear procedures are in place to raise attainment and plan improvements across the school. The depute headteachers provide strong support. Together, they ensure that improving the quality of learning and teaching remains a priority. Principal teachers contribute well to improving the school. A range of whole school improvement groups are being led effectively by staff from across the school. Whitehill Secondary School is an improving school and the acting headteacher in providing a clear focus and a sense of direction has enhanced its capacity for improvement.

9. What happens next?

We are confident that, with support from the education authority, the school will be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The school and the education authority will inform parents about the school's progress in improving the quality of education. Our District Inspector will maintain contact with the education authority to monitor improvements in learners' achievement.

Quality indicators help schools, education authorities and inspectors to judge what is good and what needs to be improved in the work of the school. You can find these quality indicators in the HMIE publication How good is our school?. Following the inspection of each school, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish schools are doing.

Here are the evaluations for Whitehill Secondary School.

We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the school.

HM Inspector: Donald A Macleod
9 February 2010

When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our readers can see clearly what our judgments mean.

If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.

Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.

Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect you to a member of staff.

You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.

Crown Copyright 2010

HM Inspectorate of Education

Footnotes

1. Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers, residential care staff and carers who are relatives or friends.