School+Case+Study+1

=School Case Study 1 - Dingwall Academy roll 1065 pupils= Dingwall Academy has moved forward on CfE developments through a long process of curriculum self-evaluation and review and consultation with relevant stakeholders ranging from ASG colleagues to parents and learners. The Head Teacher has been involved in the Highland Curricular Achitecture Group, but colleagues at all levels are involved in CfE working groups, both in and beyond school, and Dingwall Academy is committed to a culture of distributed leadership. Significant features of this development to date have included: ** Description of School ** Dingwall Academy is 6-year semi-rural comprehensive situated in the town of Dingwall, in Ross-shire. The school roll stands currently at 1065, and this is likely to stay stable over the next few years, even though S1 numbers for 2011-12 will be 60 down on the present cohort. Approximately half the school complement is bussed to and from school daily. Dingwall Academy is part of an Associated School Group (ASG) along with 10 associated Primary Schools. There is a Gaelic-medium unit within the school, and the school has an Integrated Support Team which includes, amongst other things, provision for learners with visual and hearing impairment. The current staff complement, including Support, is 86.1FTE. Dingwall Academy’s vision for the implementation of a CfE structure in Years 1-3 has been taken forward principally by developing What has facilitated such changes has been the move from a 30 to a 33 period week, which has freed up staffing to support the new initiatives. Details of the Curriculum Plan and staffing “efficiencies” are provided in Appendices 1 and 6/7 respectively of the full document. Transition into the Senior Phase in S3 is being supported by the development of two half-year “masterclasses” to provide greater depth of focus within chosen curriculum areas. At the same time, greater flexibility in providing courses in the Senior Phase that match learners’ needs and aspirations is being promoted through a staged option process. The provision in S4-6 has been designed around the learner and his/her individual pathway towards likely destinations beyond school. Thus, S4-6 is seen as one cohort, with a number of different routes for individuals, six in the proposed model (see Appendix 4 of the full document). The model has been designed to allow for certificate courses, courses and elements that promote learner achievement, and work-related learning. Parental views have indicated a desire for more than five certificate subjects to be offered in S4. The norm is likely to be six, but adjusted according to the individual’s learning plan. The norm in S5 is likely to be five courses, and in S6, either three or four along with curricular enhancements that promote individual achievement or are work-related inserts. Partnership working is also a key feature of Senior Phase provision. For example, the school has for a number of years engaged with Inverness College’s Vocational Pathways day-release courses (largely, but not exclusively, Skills for Work), and also offers vocationally-oriented courses as part of Highland’s School-Business programme. Fuller details of the range of partnerships are provided in Appendix 5 of the full document. The school wishes to maintain its wide provision in Advanced Higher, with 15 courses projected for 2011-12, and also to build on early interest in the Scottish Baccalaureate in Science. Given the stable school roll projections, it is hoped that the current level of teaching input (3 x 50 minutes) can be sustained. Provision is envisaged for two periods of PE in the Senior Phase and a programme of RME that is not discretely timetabled. The school’s involvement with activity agreements in the 16+ initiative pilot phase has helped to develop positive and sustainable destinations for young people who are not going on directly to a job, training or to further or higher education. There is a staff complement of 86.1 FTE which is expected to remain stable over the next few years Dingwall Academy is a PPP school and staff and learners moved into it in 2008. All staff have their own teaching room, and senior students have access to an open and distance learning area. The library is a combined school-/public library. As stated, timetabling of key changes for CfE has been aided by the change from 30 to 33 periods of 50 minutes. Timetabling is done electronically and experience of managing learners’ options as part of CfE “dry-runs” to date is very promising. The Senior Management team of five which aims to meet on a weekly basis is strengthened by nominally fortnightly meetings with Middle Managers as an Extended Management Team, and CfE issues are standing items on agendas. Priorities include embedding and extending to other year-groups some of the initiatives which have been introduced through the consultation and consensus model, eg the Electives and House Tutor arrangements. The same approach will be taken with emerging initiatives such as tracking and portfolios, Masterclass arrangements for S3. S1-S3 assessment and reporting approaches, and Quality Assurance mechanisms, are currently being developed in line with Highland policy guidelines. In the Senior Phase, Dingwall Academy is striving to provide all young people a range of qualifications that go beyond traditional subjects, whether these be work-related or focused on individual learner achievement, and whether school or community-based or a combination of both. || //**Appendices**//  Download by clicking on each and Save to your desktop:
 * ** Executive Summary - **//download the full report [|here]//
 * the move from a 30 to a 33 period week to free up time for desired CfE elements
 * the creation of a set of electives in the Broad General Education Phase
 * the embedding of timetabled CfE Support for Learners
 * Junior Phase - Summary **
 * better joint curricular work with associated Primaries
 * a set of Electives to foster interdisciplinary learning as well as underpin the principle of Personalisation & Choice
 * a House Tutor system to support learners
 * adjustments to curricular provision including the incorporation of British Sign Language as a language choice in S1 and the introduction of integrated Social Subjects.
 * Implementation of Senior Phase Curricular Structure **
 * Staffing, Rooming and Timetabling **
 * Leading Whole-School Transition: 2010–2016 **
 * Development of Assessment, Reporting & Qualifications **

[|Appendix 1] Curriculum Map [|Appendix 2] S3 Options [|Appendix 3] S3 Options merged Gaelic [|Appendix 4] Senior Phase May 2011 [|Appendix 5] Partnerships [|Appendix 6] Teaching map 2010 - 30 [|Appendix 7] Teaching map 2010 - 33 [|BOCSH Senior Phase]Summary ||