Standards & Quality Report
Each year the school publishes a Standards and Quality Report which highlights the school’s major achievements in the previous year.
The School’s Standard and Quality Report will be sent to parents in June each year.
This report will also be available on the school’s website.
School Improvement Plan
The School Improvement Plan (SIP) will also be available on the website too. The SIP is designed to highlight the school’s priorities and how these link with the local education authority’s policies. The projects are designed to improve the school and are a three-year plan. The improvement agenda is discussed with parents and pupils as well as staff and all parents are encouraged to take part in this process.
Performance Information
The school’s performance at local and national level is set out at the end of this handbook in table form (Appendix 1). The trends and information on overall school performance at SCQF levels and leaver destinations are also included.
Transferring Education Facts about Pupils
The Scottish Government and its partners collect and use information about pupils to help to improve education across Scotland. This note explains why we need this information, how we use it and what we do to protect the information supplied to us.
Why do we need your data?
In order to make the best decisions about how to improve our education service,
Scottish Government, education authorities and other partners such as the SQA need accurate, up-to-date data about our pupils. We are keen to help all our pupils do well in all aspects of school life and achieve better examination results. Accurate and up-to-date data allows us to:
- Plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of all pupils.
- Plan and deliver better policies for the benefit of specific groups of pupils.
- Better understand some of the factors which influence pupil attainment and achievement.
- Share good practice.
- Target resources better
Data policy
Information about pupils’ education is collected through our statistical surveys in partnership between the Scottish Government and Local Authorities through the ScotXed Programme which aims to help schools and Local Authorities by supporting efficient collection, processing and dissemination of statistical information. The Scottish Government then provides analysis of the data to support research, planning, management and monitoring of education services as well as to produce National Statistics publications.
Education data within Scottish Government is managed effectively by secure systems and is exploited as a valuable corporate resource, subject to confidentiality restraints. As part of its data policy, Scottish Government will not publish or make publicly available any information that allows individual pupils to be identified, nor will data be used by Scottish Government to take any actions in respect of individuals.
Data is held securely and no information on individual pupils can or would be made publicly available by Scottish Government.
The individual data collected by Scottish Government through the Pupil Census is used for statistical and research purposes only.
Your data protection rights
The collection, transfer, processing and sharing of ScotXed data is done in accordance with the Data Protection Act (1998). We also comply with the National Statistics Code of Practice requirements and other legislation related to safeguarding the confidentiality of data. The Data Protection Act gives you the right to know how we will use your data. This note can give only a brief description of how we use data. Fuller details of each individual ScotXed survey, including the purpose of each and the published data, can be found on the ScotXed website (www.scotxed.net).
Scottish Government works with a range of partners including Education Scotland,
Skills Development Scotland and the SQA. On occasion, in order to help meet our aim of improving the life of young people in Scotland, we may make individual data available to partners such as the National Registers of Scotland to carry out research relating to the national population census and also academic institutions and organisations to carry out additional research and statistical analysis to meet their own official responsibilities. Any sharing of data will be done under the strict control of Scottish Government, and will be consistent with our data policy. This will ensure that no individual level data will be made public as a result of the data sharing and that these data will not be used to take any actions in respect of an individual.
Decisions on the sharing of data will be taken in consultation with relevant colleagues and individuals within and outwith Scottish Government. At all times pupils’ rights under the Data Protection Act and other relevant legislation will be ensured.
Concerns
If you have any concerns about the ScotXed data collections you can email the Head of Schools Analysis, Mick Wilson, at mick.wilson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or write to The ScotXed Support Office, Area 2D, Victoria Quay, Leith, EH6 6QQ. Alternative versions of this page are available, on request from the ScotXed Support Office, in other languages, audio tape, Braille and large print
Extra-curricular Activities
Staff and parents at SES work hard to provide a variety of interesting, enjoyable and challenging activities and experiences, 
which help our young people to develop as confident individuals and responsible citizens. These range from regular lunch-time and after-school clubs offering activities such as netball, swimming, football, highland dancing and badminton to more ambitious projects and trips.
In September 2016 a group of Geography Higher students went on a trip to Aviemore. There are in addition, numerous one-off events and excursions throughout each session, which greatly enrich the educational experience of pupils.
The school strongly encourages pupil participation in a number of more challenging activities, which require high levels of commitment from pupils, but bring great rewards in terms of personal development.
Young Enterprise and Traditional Music are both areas of endeavour in which the school has an enviable record of participation and competitive success at local and national level. The Duke of Edinburgh award, which we offer in partnership with Community Education, is also well established at the school and many of our pupil’s progress through to the silver and gold stage before leaving school.
The following list provides an overview of extra-curricular activities taking place this session (2016-17):
Secondary Primary
Highland Dancing (all year) Highland Dancing (all year)
Swimming Club (all year) Swimming Club (all year)
Senior Choir Junior Choir
Scripture Union Science Club
Girl Guides Rainbows/Brownies
Duke of Edinburgh Sradagan
Boys Football Club
Science & Engineering Club (Secondary pupils studying Physics or Technology)
Junior and Senior School Choir’s
The Junior and Senior School Choirs have an excellent reputation at both local and National Mods. Although all children receive tuition in Gaelic singing as part of the curriculum, the school choir is run as an additional activity, and some practice is required after school hours, as well as some during the school day. The school’s Gaelic Music Instructor, Mr. Iain MacIver is in charge of all matters relating to the choir.
If you wish your child to join the choir, there are certain criteria that must be adhered to upon entry:
- The choir must have 25% of its members fluent in the medium of Gaelic.
- Children are required to be able to sing in unison with others. It is important for all children to be able to do this, as songs often have an emphasis on part/ group singing.
- Children must be able to learn up to several songs at once. There is a very strong work ethic, which can let others down if children fail to practice all songs required.
- During competitions, children are expected to stay with the choir party at all times, for practice purposes.
If you feel that your child can meet these criteria, please make an initial appointment with Mr. MacIver.
We are undoubtedly indebted to the number of staff, parents and community members who give their time and commitment to supporting and delivering the variety of extra –curricular activities available to our children and young people.
Please note that we are currently working on developing a section on our school website to celebrate our children’s achievements, whether they be curricular or extra-curricular.
Activities Week
Our ‘flagship event’ for Secondary pupils however is the annual 
Activities Week, which is held during the last week of the summer term and offers pupils a remarkable set of opportunities.
Activities week takes place during the last week of the summer term. Normal timetable is suspended and pupils participate in a programme of activities and experiences which we hope will excite, engage, challenge and inspire them.
In putting the programme together, we try to cater for all ages, abilities and tastes, so in addition to a variety of outdoor and sporting activities, there are opportunities in the creative and expressive arts. All activities are fully compliant with the relevant health and safety guidelines and ‘adventurous’ activities such as sailing, kayaking and climbing are always led by fully qualified instructors. Pupils are able to participate in at their top choices.\
There are significant costs associated with Activities Week – instructors, equipment, materials, transport etc – and although it is usually possible to access some financial support from corporate sponsors, the school has to find a shortfall of some £3,500 to cover costs. To help address the funding gap, parents are asked to make a flat-rate contribution – currently £15 per child. Additional funds are raised throughout the year by means of sponsored activities and the fundraising efforts of our extremely supportive Parent Council.
Most pupils look forward to Activities Week as the highlight of the school year and these photos may help to explain why!
