The Scottish Attainment Challenge is about achieving equity in education, with a particular focus on closing the poverty-related attainment gap.
It is underpinned by The National Improvement Framework, Curriculum for Excellence and Getting it Right for Every Child.
PEF National Guidance
- targeted at closing the poverty-related attainment gap
to improve the educational outcomes of children affected by poverty
- must enable schools to deliver activities, interventions or resources which are clearly additional to those which were already planned
- parents and carers, children and young people and other key stakeholders should be meaningfully involved in the planning process
- funding must provide targeted support for children and young people (and their families if appropriate) affected by poverty to achieve their full potential.
National Improvement framework
The National Improvement Framework’s 4 key priorities are:
- Improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy;
- Closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children;
- Improvement in children’s and young people’s health and wellbeing; and
- Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school leaver destinations
- for all young people
The 6 key drivers of improvement identified by the NIF are:
- School leadership
- Teacher professionalism
- Parental engagement
- Assessment of children’s progress
- School improvement
- Performance information
North Lanarkshire’s Education and Families’ priorities are:
- Attainment and Achievement: improvement in attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy
- Equity: closing the attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged children and young people
- Health and Wellbeing: Improvement in children’s and young people’s health and wellbeing with a focus on mental health and wellbeing
- Developing the Young Workforce: Improvement in employability skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people
- Vulnerable Groups: Improved outcomes for vulnerable groups
Curriculum for Excellence
Scotland’s curriculum – Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) – helps our children and young people gain the knowledge, skills and attributes needed for life in the 21st century.
GIRFEC
Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) supports families by making sure children and young people can receive the right help, at the right time, from the right people. The aim is to help them to grow up feeling loved, safe and respected so that they can realise their full potential.
Most children and young people get all the help and support they need from their parent(s), wider family and community but sometimes, perhaps unexpectedly, they may need a bit of extra help.
GIRFEC is a way for families to work in partnership with people who can support them, such as teachers, doctors and nurses.
INTENT
Firpark Secondary has identified the need for 3 PEF PTs to help achieve equity in education focusing on closing the poverty related attainment gap while supporting the needs of all our young people following the national improvement framework, curriculum for excellence and getting it right for every child.
Mrs Brown- Targeted Support
- To further develop, monitor and evaluate a robust referral system for Targeted Support
- To further develop Targeted Support Model/ Pathway and liaise with all stakeholders especially outside agencies, including HSPO in building programme(s) of support for pupils, in order to improve the mental health and resilience of children and young people.
- To further develop a pathway to offer flexible, additional support to parents to develop their skills and confidence to engage in, and encourage, their children’s learning in school and everyday life – building parental engagement and involvement, in all aspects of the school including Health and Wellbeing.
- To further develop, monitor and evaluate a training programme for all staff to build capacity and sustainability of our ‘universal support’ level within our Targeted Support Model.
- To identify key staff and arrange for additional training for the support levels within out Targeted Support Model in order to build capacity and sustainability.
Miss Finnigan – Health and Wellbeing
- To raise awareness of the importance of living a healthier lifestyle by eating well and participating in physical activity. Participants will be pupils (targeted group), with support/ involvement from their parents.
Mrs McKellar – Digital Literacy
- Continue to develop a whole school approach to supporting pupils’ literacy/numeracy across the curriculum digitally, resulting in at least 80% of work being sent digitally to pupils with identified barriers to their learning.
- Raise attainment in Literacy S1-3 through targeted interventions
