achievement for all learners
Teacher 1: I think one of the main areas of excellence or of the contribution of excellence in this school would come from the recognition and the celebration of success. We are recognising and celebrating success at every level, whether it's in the classroom or whether it's through our extra curricular work, kids get the opportunity to realise their potential in every area. It's recognised and it's celebrated, and I think that works through and permeates the whole curriculum, because if we pick up on that - at any stage - their success there grows throughout the school. They know that we won't let them underachieve at any level.
Pupil 1: You're always achieving what you can - your full potential. That's the motto: everybody has to aim high and everybody always does here.
Headteacher: Attainment and achievement are the number one priorities in the city, in Scotland, and I would suggest in every single school. It's a fact of the matter that results are what people ask us about - for university, for colleges, for jobs and so on. But on top of that, it's absolutely essential that in the achievement agenda, young people are recognised for the softer achievements that they have; the softer skills, the softer indicators, their self-esteem, their confidence, their team work, their integrity; at the simplest level, their attendance, their time-keeping and so on.
Teacher 2: Very often, youngsters can have low self-esteem in embarking upon their time in a secondary school. We've made strenuous efforts to turn that around by explaining to youngsters that they are valued in terms of what they do and what they can achieve, and that nothing other than their best will do in terms of attainment.
Pupil 2: The teachers are always going out of their way to help us, encourage us to do best on exams and be the best we can be and achieve our potential.
Headteacher: Youngsters respond very well to good lessons, good work, to motivation, to success. It might not be ‘cool’ at times to be the most successful in the world, but it's less ‘cool’ to be very unsuccessful and we, in common with most schools - if not, all schools - have tried very much to make it a culture of achievement; have tried very much to make peer group pressure the pressure of success rather than the other way, where people want to hide their light under a bushel.
Pupil 1: I managed to achieve five Highers last year and this year I'm doing another three - and even an Advanced Higher, which I never thought I'd be able to achieve. Because the teaching is so good, and with the extra help and support we all get, I think I'm actually going to be able to pass them all and help me get into university.
Teacher 3: We have established an ethos where it is ‘cool’ to achieve, so the children love to come and tell us what they've achieved and we use every opportunity to celebrate this. Whether it's the football team winning, the debating club winning, whether it's a class test; we use assemblies - every opportunity - to celebrate all of these things.
Teacher 4: As a whole school, we discuss progress of children and of classes, and we ensure that the pace of learning is correct for these children. We feedback to parents on a regular basis whether kids are on track and on target. Parents are regularly involved; they are regularly invited to meetings and constantly following tests, following internal components of exams and prelims, etc. Straight away parents are notified and given the opportunity to come up and discuss the next steps.
Teacher 5: Parents trust us with their children’s education as a result of this leadership and ethos that we've built over the years. They know our expectations for their children are as high as they are for our own.
Pupil 3: They’re always urging you to do your best, to reach your potential. I never thought I would pass all my exams and they made me confident. Last year I got five Highers - passed them all, and this year I'm doing another three Highers. Thanks to the teachers, hopefully I'm going to pass them and get into university.
Headteacher: The youngsters will identify with those of us who have high expectations, high standards and high demands. Their parents respond to those kinds of high expectations and demands and the youngsters, by and large, will try to achieve what we know they can achieve.
Pupil 2: The teachers have such high expectations for us and that encourages us to try even harder and make ourselves and everybody around us proud.