Or, download Adobe Flash Player to watch the video online.
'The school has several international links. Pupils correspond in Scottish/Irish Gaelic with pupils in Ireland. The school's Gaelic choir has performed in Canada and the football team has had fixtures in Spain.' Headteacher
| A school is good to the extent that… | A school is excellent to the extent that… |
|---|---|
| Links with the community provide experiences which support the curriculum and enhance young people’s learning. Through community projects children and young people develop respect for others and positive relationships. | Partnerships with other establishments, organisations and businesses are used to broaden and deepen young people’s learning and to enable them to achieve success in wider contexts. This work is carefully planned by school leaders to enhance the curriculum and develop the perspectives of both children and staff. Community links are fully embedded into the life and work of the school. |
| Staff make effective use of local facilities and organisations when planning their timetables, lessons and learning activities. Such activities focus on developing a wider awareness of the world beyond school and encourage young people to perceive and use the community as a resource. They also enable young people to make positive contributions to the experiences of other people. | Staff take advantage of opportunities for community involvement which help them to improve their work with young people, provide innovative approaches to learning and address new challenges. Community-based activities are used to develop young people’s confidence and creativity, meet individual and group needs and prepare them for their future roles in society. These projects increase young people’s knowledge and understanding of skills for learning, life and work. Staff actively seek to link community projects to accreditation and award schemes. |
| Young people participate in activities and learning experiences within the community that are designed to develop skills in problem solving, decision making and making informed choices. | Staff draw on community resources to develop young people’s leadership skills. All pupils participate in enterprise activities, community involvement, work placements and shadowing, sports leadership awards or similar activities. School leaders ensure that opportunities for this type of learning experience are available for all young people. |
| Both staff and pupils contribute to local projects and engage actively in the wider life of the community. Members of the local community make use of school facilities. | Staff demonstrate a highly developed understanding and awareness of the needs of their communities. Members of the community see the school as central to community life. The school has a very high and positive profile within the community. |
| Classes undertaking specific curricular programmes have access to community-based activities. Staff and young people make productive contacts with groups beyond the school as part of projects or activities or through out-of-school activities such as music and drama. | All staff and young people are actively involved with the local community in some way and at some time. Individual staff and pupils, classes and groups have strong and sustained links with groups elsewhere in the UK or abroad. They share interests with them and provide and receive information, expertise or enrichment. |
| Staff call on the services of partners, agencies and community groups which they know can provide relevant and high quality additional experiences, to contribute to programmes in specific curriculum areas. | Staff actively enter into partnerships which are productive in helping to provide imaginative contexts, enhanced learning experiences and opportunities for personal development. Teachers build such contributions into the curriculum to improve learning and meet identified needs. |
‘We are involved with our local community through a range of enterprise activities, collaboration on building our sensory garden and providing use of our minibus.’ (headteacher)
Journey to Excellence: What's new RSS
PDF file: Partnerships: The school in its community improvement guide (97 KB)