School+Case+Study+5

St John’s Academy is a 3-18, all through RC School with capacity for a nursery of 100 pupils (50/50), 400 primary pupils and 600 in the secondary. The school is at the centre of the North Inch Community Campus with state of the art community facilities for Arts, Sports and Leisure serving the area of North Perth, in particular Muirton Park, North Muirton and Fairfield. This is an area under major re-generation to address the multiple social and economic deprivation challenges. An ongoing concern for the school is the poverty of ambition which is a feature for many families. As a denominational school our catchment is far reaching, taking pupils from all areas in Perth City and rural Perth and Kinross. St John’s Academy is also a ‘Sports Comprehensive’ in partnership with our neighbouring secondary school, Perth Grammar Currently we have just over 20% of our pupil population who require EAL support, mainly for Polish. 30% of our children enrolled for Primary 1 intake for session 2011-2012 are Polish. According to the Scottish Standard Index of Multiple Deprivation, 8% of our families are listed in the lowest decile, 16% in the bottom 2 deciles and our average FME for our all through school is 14%. These figures represent the highest deprivation statistics of all PKC schools. ** Principles ** The main aspects of this initiative have been: ** Developments – Nursery/Primary ** Nursery/primary developments are centred on: ** Developments – Junior Phase ** Junior Phase developments have included: ** Developments – Senior Phase ** Senior Phase developments have included: ** Learning and Teaching ** The Learning and Teaching development has included: Development of IDL has included: Significant time and resources have been applied to the development of Support for Pupils and Their Learning, including: Work here has included:
 * Case Study 5 - St. John’s RC Academy Roll **** 1100 Pupils – All-through **
 * ** Executive Summary - **//download the full report [|St John's full report]//
 * Focus for School Improvement Plan 2010-15
 * Learning & Teaching
 * Curriculum
 * Self Evaluation, Quality Assurance, Quality Improvement
 * Focus on inset and collegiate time
 * Collegiate Groups leading developments
 * Development of 3-18 curriculum:
 * Cross sectoral development
 * Cross sectoral teaching and learning
 * Piloting cross sector management and leadership structures
 * Joint planning with nursery and primary staff at early level
 * Primary staff developing planning formats for learning, teaching and assessment
 * Pilot of NAR materials
 * Development of Profiling and Portfolio pro forma
 * Incorporation of B tC3, BtC4 and BtC5 key points into school Improvement plan
 * Key focus within Inset time, collegiate time and department time on learning and teaching issues
 * Focus on techniques such as Co-operative Learning and revisiting of Assessment is for Learning strategies
 * Development of Learning Rounds
 * Development of Interdisciplinary learning moving to a more systematic approach to integrated learning across areas of the curriculum throughout the junior phase
 * Specific development of IDL through Sports Comprehensive Programme
 * Development of integrated social subjects
 * Development of support structures
 * Mapping of Experiences and Outcomes across the curricular areas
 * Incorporation of B tC3, BtC4 and BtC5 key points into school Improvement plan
 * Models for Senior Phase proposed and discussed.
 * Discussion re number of courses studied (5-7)
 * Timetabling models devised up to 2015-16
 * Development of partnership with Perth City Schools, Perth College, Business Partners, local Community Learning & Development, North Inch Community Campus Partners including Live Active Leisure to develop skills for life, work and learning
 * Major focus on Co-Operative Learning and Assessment is for Learning to improve learning and teaching
 * Learning Rounds as a model for capacity building
 * Interdisciplinary Learning **
 * Gathering evidence from planning of the extensive opportunities being developed for IDL
 * Dedicated time allocated on Inset days and collegiate time for planning IDL across PE, HE, DET, Science, Social Subjects, Mod. Langs., English, Maths
 * Sports Comprehensive initiative has provided a vehicle to develop IDL in PE, HE, Science and DET
 * Development of transition programme focussed on values, leadership and skills
 * Focus on literacy across learning across LMG and secondary school
 * Support for Pupils and Their Learning **
 * Discussion on Inset, SLT meetings, extended leadership team meetings, whole staff meetings to agree support model for 2011-12 and beyond
 * Phased approach – 15 minutes per day in 2011-12
 * 30 minutes per day 2012 and beyond
 * Vertical “house” groups established
 * Year 1 – focus on profiling, building a portfolio, study support
 * In house training for staff May/June 2011
 * Assessment, Reporting and Profiling **
 * Piloting “profiles/portfolio” from Nursery, Primary and Secondary
 * Piloting of NAR materials across Primary and Secondary
 * Focus on Assessment, Reporting and moderation in LMG and Secondary
 * CPD **

Included: All Appendices are contained within the full report. ||
 * All priorities on SIP 2011-12–15 inform the focus for Inset time and collegiate time
 * Presentations, papers, discussions, feedback all available for staff on GLOW and school server
 * Use of ongoing evidence from self-evaluation to identify future priorities
 * Development of faculty approach for leadership and management
 * Engagement/Consultation with the School Community **
 * Series of presentations to parents/parent council
 * Involvement of pupils in piloting resources/materials/portfolios
 * Consultation/feedback from pupil voice/evaluations across the school || //**Appendices**//