GTCS – Excellence in Professional Learning Award
We are delighted to have won the General Teaching Council for Scotland’s Excellence in Professional Learning Award.
This video outlines our commitment to continuous development for the good of all young people.
We are a community of faith and learning in St Ninian’s High School and Professional Learning is understood by our staff as a continuous cycle throughout their career and is wide-reaching. Our in-house Career-Long Professional Learning (CLPL) programme offers rich opportunities to build teacher capacity and share best practices and is promoted through a weekly newsletter.
Staff at every level are leading and delivering CLPL sessions, sharing their expertise in a collaborative, creative and strategic approach. Our Professional Learning Programme offers an extensive programme of in-house CLPL available for all staff to attend, thus promoting the leadership and empowerment of every member of staff. We aim to rebuild this programme as we emerge from the constraints of covid.
This comprehensive CLPL programme offered to all staff is based on requests generated through the PRD process and is published on a weekly basis in school and across our Cluster. Staff are signposted to Professional Reading on the latest Educational pedagogy and thinking through links in the Head Teacher bulletins as well as online external CLPL sessions. In addition, there are tailored CLPL sessions offered to NQTs and Student Teachers.
The CLPL programme is relevant and reactive to our school community. It includes high-quality professional learning opportunities linked to improving teaching and learning, support for learning, health and wellbeing, digital technologies, faith matters and sustainable development which, in turn, lead to high-quality learning experiences for our pupils.
Our digital evaluation is an essential tool to inform our review, planning and enhancement of the programme.
Professional Review and Development
We look to identify the professional learning needs of our teachers arising through the PRD process which then shape the CLPL programme. Teachers can identify areas of desired professional learning with a clear focus on excellent outcomes for our pupils.
During the formalised PRD process, staff are encouraged to identify, plan and reflect on their own professional learning needs to ensure that they continue to develop their professional practice. Coaching and quality conversations are encouraged and there is a clear focus on self-evaluation where staff are supported in a safe environment to have professional dialogue and challenging discussions. Guidelines presented to all staff ensure PRD meetings are valuable, supportive and meaningful for every member of staff.
The Professional Standards for Teachers are linked to staff areas of development and are used to self-evaluate staff knowledge, values, skills and practice and recorded on the CPD Manager platform.
Staff are encouraged and supported through Masters level learning, and some staff are accredited with GTC Scotland Professional Recognition.
Shadowing / Coaching Programme
Our shadowing programmes offer staff the opportunity to be supported in preparation for positions of responsibility.
E.g. Aspiring to middle leadership, Pastoral Shadowing, and Probationer Teacher/ Student Teacher CLPL are offered as a series of sessions where staff can share their experience and expertise.
A mentoring and professional learning programme for Pupil Support Assistants has included sessions on Together Better Readers and Supporting Mental and Emotional Well Being of Young People.
Cross-Sector CLPL
We have cultivated strong collaboration with our Primary colleagues and have built Cross-sector CLPL opportunities. There is highly effective primary-secondary STEM working – where staff visit our local Primaries delivering numeracy, science and computing lessons.
Curriculum Development
The needs of our learners are fundamental to and inform our Professional Learning Opportunities;
Our curriculum offer for our young people has evolved and diversified where we have harnessed the interests and agency of our teachers to offer more bespoke pathways and curricular options;
For example, we have introduced a Beekeeping course led by a Biology Teacher who through her own professional learning and enquiry now delivers this NPA course in a local outdoor setting to a diverse group of pupils, including some of our ASN pupils and S6 pupils thus enhancing their skill set.
In addition, the following courses will be delivered by our own staff through our existing curricular departments this coming session;
Construction, Baking & Barista skills, Health Service and Customer Service.
Our Support for Learning team has trained staff and introduced innovative initiatives to offer bespoke groups to support our children with Additional Support Needs e.g. Mindful Art, Communication Comics, Achieve Team, Dyslexia Strategies and Resilience.
Pupil Voice
Pupil voice is gathered through the HGIOURS framework. Our Development Team have ensured that our pupils are leaders of learning and are at the forefront of our most recent initiatives for example S3 DYW Ambassadors, Rights and Equalities Group, Rights Respecting School Group, Eco Group, S3 Climate Conference
Health and wellbeing focus
HWB/ Positive Mental Health has been identified as a whole school focus. Staff are leading numerous initiatives to promote the positive wellbeing of pupils. The extended Pastoral team includes a PT with a specific remit for Mental Health and Well Being, a member of staff trained in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy who offers 1 to 1 counselling as part of her timetable and staff who are trained in Mental Health First Aid, Assist suicide prevention and Mentors in Violence Prevention.
Protected Time on Inset Days for Professional Learning
Whole-school professional learning sessions on inset days where staff can opt-in to their chosen session selecting from Health and Well Being, Learning for Sustainability, Laudato Si, Rights Respecting School, Positive Mental Health, Learning and Teaching and Developing the Young Workforce.
Learning & Teaching
Our Focus on establishing a Learning Community to enhance the high-quality learning and teaching provision for every young person in our school is a key priority.
A whole school workshop took place to produce agreed models of an excellent lesson and statements of excellent practice using the Professional Standards for teachers.
Innovative timetabling and staffing allow for cooperative teaching which fosters sharing of good practice and collaborative professional learning.
Introduction of Participation and Engagement measures and Well Being tracking for all pupils based on the Leuven Scale. This pupil online survey is now a key tool to gather data, track pupil progress and identify where support is required following every reporting period.
Digital Professional Learning
Our Digital committee throughout the periods of lockdown ensured that staff were fully supported in their rapid skill acquisition to deliver a high-quality online learning offer for our learners. A measure of our staff’s commitment during a very challenging and unforeseen period was the resounding endeavour to acquire the necessary digital skills to support our pupils’ continued learning. We have embraced this digital era and continue to embed digital literacy into the curriculum.
Laudato Si and Learning for Sustainability
Laudato Si and Learning for Sustainability have been amplified to a whole staff level through staff drive and passion to highlight as whole school priorities. They have shared their research and insight through a variety of Professional Learning presentations and activities and challenged staff to make direct links to the learning and teaching in their classroom. Every classroom has a visual display of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Looking Outwards
Departments/Faculties’ involvement in Local Authority collaborative Improvement visits has allowed for areas of development to be identified and for existing practice to be challenged and shared as good practice across the authority.
Looking Forwards
We intend to shape and rebuild our Professional Learning offer towards a full and immersive programme that all staff can access and will meet the development needs of our dedicated staff. We wish to harness the new Professional Standards as a self-evaluation tool where staff regularly ask critical questions of themselves and use them effectively to inform their practice.
Our renewed focus on Learning and Teaching will be at the centre of our Professional Learning strategic planning as we look to offer the best we can for our pupils, supporting them as effectively as we can. We intend to introduce a series of Planned Learning sessions for our staff to support enquiry-based learning. We hope to invite visionary and inspirational speakers to support staff on this journey as leaders of change. We are eager to continue to learn, progress and reach the heights of further excellence in our professional learning.
