Improved attainment at all levels helps to improve learner destinations.
The School Profile illustrates the value we have added to the educational and other outcomes for young people in our community. Upward trends in attainment, achievement and positive leaver destinations all point to the fact that young people leaving us are better prepared to take their place in society and lead fulfilled lives. As for many secondary schools in Scotland, the conversion of performance at SCQF level 5 to Higher remains an issue. We are, however, committed to continued work in this area.
Increased attendance and reduced exclusion figures give greater sense of engagement, pride and belonging to school community amongst students and staff.
A range of indicators show that there has been a steady improvement in all of these measures.
More parents/carers and members of the community are actively involved in the learning process, providing positive role models.
This has been an area where it has been hard to make great progress. Parents and carers are undoubtedly interested in their children’s wellbeing and progress as evidenced by our parental consultation attendance statistics, which are consistently over 80%. However, our experience has been that parents are less willing to get more directly involved with the secondary school. There may be many reasons for this – increased levels of employment amongst parents as children get older, expectations of a lessened parental role within the school, lack of confidence or a negative experience in term of parents’ own experience of school. We have tried to involve parents in a variety of ways and hope that, over time, more parents will become familiar with our work and more confident about how they can get more involved in the life of the school. The development of a focus group attached to SELS and the invitation of targeted parents/carers to coffee mornings with the Head Teacher are just two of the things we are currently trying. Parents have been most helpful in recent fundraising activities and it is hoped that this will encourage more to get directly involved in the school. The establishment of the School Council, which brings together the Dunbar Grammar school Association (Dunbar PTA), Student Council (in the form of representation from the Head Boy and Girl), and staff representative group, not to mention the regular contribution from affiliated community members, has helped to galvanise and promote parental and carer involvement.
School offers opportunities for participation to the wider Dunbar community, thus providing a focus for integration.
Though we are continually encouraging staff and students to get involved in community projects such as our Charity and Eco groups, this is an area on which we have yet to make any great impact.
The school promotes responsible citizenship within the community giving young people the confidence to engage in the democratic process at all levels.
This is an area at which the school excels. Through the PSE programme, Student Council, House system and Activities Week programmes, in particular the S3 visit to the Battlefields of Belgium and Northern France, we do our best to instil in our students a sense of citizenship, community involvement, compassion and unconditional positive regard for fellow human beings.
