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Introduction
Kelso
High School is one of nine secondary schools in the
Scottish Borders. It is a co-educational comprehensive
school for pupils ranging from 11 to 18 years old. Pupils
come to Kelso High School from the town of Kelso, the
villages of Ednam, Eckford, Heiton, Stichill, Smailholm,
Morebattle, Roxburgh and Yetholm. The school enjoys
close links with its associated primary schools: Broomlands
and Edenside in Kelso, Morebattle, Ednam, Sprouston
and Yetholm
At the
start of session 2001/2002, the school roll was 685.
There were 58 teachers employed in the school. In addition,
there were 20 support staff made up of administrative
staff, janitors, librarian, departmental auxiliaries
and technicians.
The school
has strong, positive links with its surrounding community
which is proud of its local school. It is very well
supported by parents and has a School Board and a Parent
Teacher Association, both of which work hard to support
the school. The Kelso area has lower unemployment levels
than some other parts of the Scottish Borders and the
High School had good relationships with local employers
who also help pay for the Celebration of Achievement
Evening (see later).
Evaluating
and building up the school ethos
The general
perception of the ethos in Kelso High School is that
there is a good atmosphere in the school and that pupils
are happy to be there. The fact that the staying on
rate for S4 to S5 has increased from 62% in 1999 to
81% in 2001 is an indication that this is so. The staying
on rate for pupils from S5 to S6 has also increased.
In order
to obtain an accurate picture of the ethos in Kelso
High School, the key areas of School Ethos and Support
for Pupils were audited during session 2000/2001. The
main audit tool questionnaires were based on exemplars
given in the SEED HM Inspectors' publications. The following
groups were surveyed:
- 150
Pupils (a representative sample)
- Parents
(100 returns)
- All
teaching Staff
- All
support Staff
The responses
from the questionnaires were collated and analysed,
helping us as a school to recognise our strengths and
areas needing development and to focus on issues that
we prioritised for further investigation and action.
An action plan to address the 30 issues raised by pupils
has been prepared and progress towards addressing them
will be reported as part of the next Development Plan
in March/April 2002. These issues were presented to
and discussed with pupils at three assemblies in September
2001. Pupils welcomed the recognition and promise of
action that the assemblies gave.
Other
factors that we feel contribute already to our ethos
are our additional activities and our House System.
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This
is the first of four Case Studies during the 2001-2002 session.
Most of the schools contributing to our Case Studies last year
on the theme of 'Increasing Pupil Participation' acknowledged
that full positive participation of all pupils was still some
way ahead, despite their overall progress and often outstanding
achievements. We therefore decided that 'Overcoming Barriers
to Participation' would be the theme for this year's Case Studies.
The four studies involve two secondary schools, one of which
is part of a New Community School partnership, a primary special
school and, for the first time, a schools' cluster, comprising
a High School, its four feeder primary schools and two nursery
schools. This
issue features Kelso High School in the Scottish Borders. The
school, in common with others, has been taking forward a wide
range of developments to improve both their ethos and performance.
In the Case Study, they focus primarily on how they are trying
to overcome barriers to pupils' participation in their own learning
by increasing reward opportunities for effort and achievements
across all areas of the school's activities, by making learning
and teaching more effective and by reducing low level disruptive
behaviour in class.
Kelso
High School
