Johnstone High School continues on improvement journey with visit by inspectors

A visit by inspectors to Johnstone High School details how the school has made improvements to support children’s health and wellbeing and learning.

Staff from Education Scotland, who originally inspected the school in November 2016, revisited in February 2018 and spoke with pupils, staff and parents.

The original inspection set out areas for improvement, agreed by inspectors, the school and Renfrewshire Council.

The latest findings detail how the school responded to this, including building a strong foundation for improving young people’s health and wellbeing.

The report noted: “A variety of developments across the school are improving staff’s understanding of their roles in relation to improving young people’s engagement in learning, young people’s relationships with others and their health and wellbeing.

“These developments are having a positive impact on young people’s awareness of their own wellbeing.”

Inspectors also picked up on how the school’s senior leadership team is prioritising developing a culture of school improvement which involves pupils, staff and parents and added: “As a result the school community feels that this is creating a more inclusive and supported learning and working environment. The head teacher and senior leaders provide clear direction for a more streamlined approach to improvement planning by focusing on two priorities, health and wellbeing and learning, teaching and assessment.”

Young people in lessons are ‘quietly attentive, motivated and engaged’ while the school was seen to benefit from a ‘strong partnership’ with its Parent Council.

Parents also spoke positively about improvements and progress the school has made.

While the impact of the new self-evaluation arrangements can’t yet be measured, staff were praised for showing a good awareness of their responsibility for improving outcomes for learners.

Opportunities for young people to contribute to school improvement and develop their leadership skills have also increased.

The school’s tracking data predicts improvements in attainment will be reflected in this year’s exam results but more time is needed to see the full impact of the improvements in learning and teaching on young people’s attainment.

Johnstone High head teacher Lynne Hollywood said: “We are delighted with the outcome of the visit by Education Scotland as it recognises the shared commitment and hard work of our pupils, parents and staff to ongoing school improvement.

“We have had two key priorities this session – the health and wellbeing of our young people and providing high quality learning and teaching in every classroom. Education Scotland welcomed this and noted how we are actively developing a culture of school improvement.

“Our attainment is improving in a number of key measures and 94 per cent of our leavers go on to a positive, post-school destination, an eight per cent increase over the last two years.  Education Scotland also noted the improvements we had made to our S1-3 curriculum and the increased range of opportunities available to both pupils and staff.”

She also thanked the entire school community for their contribution to Johnstone High’s improvement journey and added: “It is an exciting time for us. We have a clear vision and direction and will continue to drive improvement and positive outcomes for our young people.”

Renfrewshire Council’s Education and children’s services convener, Councillor Jim Paterson said: “It’s heartening to see Johnstone High is making good progress with the health and wellbeing of children one of the top priorities. Work has also been done on providing high quality learning and teaching with improvements expected across this year’s exam results.

“I am confident that with the strong vision and leadership of the head teacher and her senior team that the school will go on to build further upon this good work.”

Education Scotland has no plans to revisit the school and a progress report from Renfrewshire Council and the school will take place within the next year.