Harlaw Academy

I want to start this blog by thanking pupils and parents/families for the significant improvements we have seen in respect of school uniform.  For me the important issue with this is less around uniform and more around the fact that pupils, staff and parents had all identified the need to make this a priority and had worked together to make a significant improvement.  In short, where we have a shared sense of a problem and take a collective approach to addressing it then we can bring about significant improvement.

In my discussions with pupils, teachers and parents there are some other areas where there seems to be a shared desire to bring about improvements.  These include; attendance/lateness, low level disruption and pupil attainment.  Over this term I want to work with people on making improvements in each of these areas – starting with absence/lateness.

The 3 basic messages around absence from school are simple ones:

• Pupils with high levels of attendance tend do better in school.
• Anything which disrupts school attendance (illness, family holidays in term time, truancy, exclusion) impact negatively on school performance and attainment.
• We need the support of pupils and parents/families to bring about improvement.

Whenever we write references for pupils the first two questions asked tend to relate to attendance and punctuality.  Put another way, “do they turn up for their work every day and are they on time for their work/ reliable”.

In relation to lateness we are regularly seeing around 50 pupils turning up late in the morning and similar numbers arriving late for lessons.  Teachers are wasting so much time going back in to update class registers, pupils are having their learning disrupted by late arrivals to class.  I am sure you can all think of times where someone arriving late has annoyed or disrupted you (waiting for a bus/taxi, at the start of a movie/show, flight delays, a friend turning up late for a party ….).  Indeed the times we get most annoyed by lateness seem to be where it really matters.

Education is one of the things which really does matter for young people.  It is so important that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child gives education two specific rights:

• Article 28 – the right to an education
• Article 29 – education should develop talents and abilities to the full

Over this term I want us all to give a high priority to improving attendance and reducing lateness.

We work very hard to try and help youngsters and families through times of transition in their schooling. three significant ‘transitions’ in relation to secondary school are;

1. the move from Primary to secondary
2. the times of subject choice during secondary school
3. the move from school to a range of post school destinations

In this note I want to say a brief word about the work we do to support the ‘transition’.

Primary/Secondary:  This session we have significantly developed our work in this area.  We now have half day visits for almost all curricular areas and will also have a 3-day visit nearer the summer where P7s will follow their secondary timetable.  In addition, we have a number of secondary staff visiting the Primary schools to meet the pupils and find out more about them and the work they are doing in P7.  We invite parents of P7s into a meeting around the time of the 3-day visit and I am currently working with the Primary Head Teachers to identify the best way of  meeting parents of P6/P7s in their local Primary Schools.  I want to make the transition for our P7s and their parents as enjoyable and reassuring as possible.  I want to ensure you feel a strong connection to Harlaw Academy and are part of its future success.

Subject choice:  Throughout this term we do a lot of work around subject choice.  We are presently speaking with S2 pupils about ‘broad pathways’ they can select to study in S3.  Alongside this S2 parents will have received an updated interim report, many parents attended an information evening on the choice process and choice information is on the school website.  The process around the senior phase choice (for pupils in S3-S5) is also underway.  There have been extensive discussions between schools to ensure that there is a wide offer available for pupils.  Whilst many pupils like to continue to study courses in Harlaw it is increasingly the case that youngsters can blend their study at Harlaw with courses in other schools, colleges or with other providers.  This requires a lot of co-ordination and planning by schools prior to the offer being available to pupils.  We are now at the stage of finalising choice booklets and documentation for the website, a parent information is planned for 7th February and updated interim reports will be issued soon.  Preparing for the offer is a very big job as is sorting through the choices once they come in.  We are extremely fortunate to have a very good group of staff who work on this complex task and I am grateful to all, particularly our Depute Head Teacher Mrs Lawrence, for ensuring that almost all pupils get into the courses they require.  In response to questions which arose from parents in the past we have done a lot of work to heighten the awareness of youngsters and parents around job opportunities and skills for work (see below for further details)

3 Post school destinations:  We have always tried to help every pupil into a positive post school destination.  Whilst many go on to Further/Higher education there are some who go directly into the jobs market, some who go into other training and some who start their own business.  There are still a few who need a bit longer to get themselves sorted and leave us with no clear idea of what they want to do next.  We are taking steps to ensure we do all we can to give young people from Harlaw the best chance of success when they leave school.  Back in September 2016 we held a business engagement event for parents/pupils at which we signed a strategic partnership with Aberdeen City Council aimed at helping Harlaw youngsters into work.  This partnership has seen our pupils being involved in site visits to Marischal Square and in the consultation on Union Terrace Gardens.  In January it led to one of our youngsters starting on an apprenticeship with building services.  It will see the Council and other key business partners having an involvement in our parent information events and it will lead to some pupils having business mentors to help them prepare for interviews (for jobs and/or places at university).  Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) is a priority for Harlaw and a priority for the country as a whole.  We are determined not to allow any downturn in the energy sector to impact on our pupils.  We need to help them to develop their skills and alongside this position the school to be ready to take advantage of future opportunities or indeed to encourage our pupils to play an  active part in creating a successful future for our City.

 

At this time of year we often wish each other a happy, prosperous and/or successful new year.  Happiness, prosperity and/or success will however need more than a wish if they are to happen.  They will need work – indeed they will need relentless amounts of focussed hard work.

Over the holidays I read a book called ‘Bounce’ by Matthew Sayed.  It is one of numerous books which looks at the ideas behind success and failure.  It covers a lot of different ideas but some which stick in my mind include;

• the importance of putting in the hours – 10,00 hours is what the research seems to say you would need to be a master of a craft.
• the fact there are no short cuts or quick fixes – it is about relentless dedication, practice and determination to succeed
• coaching is a big help – finding someone who can pinpoint what you are not good at and focussing on improving that area (making the marginal gains in the key areas)
• failing is a big help – as long as you learn from failure and build on it
• growth mindset – moving from thinking you cannot do something to thinking you cannot do it (yet)
• chance plays a part but you can do things to increase your odds of success – if you believe you are an unlucky person you tend to be more risk averse and as a result you are not there when opportunities present themselves, if you believe you are more fortunate you often find yourself in the right place at the right time.  Put yourself in a position where you have more chance of success
• you cannot do it alone – you need to surround yourself with successful people and with critical friends able to support you when you need it but also able to give you tough and precise messages too
• oh and in order to matter it has to matter to you – I can want every child at Harlaw to do well but it will not happen unless they want it

All of this applies whether we are looking at; happiness (relationships), prosperity (wealth in financial and emotional terms) or success (in exams, in sports or any other field).

I hope we all have a happy, prosperous and successful year in 2017.  Whilst I will do all I can to help achieve this it requires you to be put in the effort, to accept support, to learn from failures and most of all to care enough to do something about it.

As school returned on Monday 9th January staff emphasised the messages from last term around raised expectations and in particular the advice presented here: Expectations Poster Decenber 2016 – in the main the response from pupils has been very positive and the work ethic in this first week of term has been good.

As the first week ended we used the winter weather arrangements for the first time.  Whilst the snow did not come to much it was helpful to practice our winter arrangements which include a shortened lunchtime and earlier finish.  I was glad we did this on Friday as it allowed us to get the pupils on their journey home at 3.00pm  in daylight and decent weather.  At 3.15 (our usual finish time) the skies were heavier and by 3.30 there was a covering of snow.

 

 

 

Apologies for the lack of blogs in December – I hope to be back to a weekly one in the New Year.  In this one I will quick run through what has been happening in December.

In the first week of December some of our pupils took part in the consultation on plans to re-develop Union Terrace Gardens.  As well as the Architects, Councillor Marie Bolton and David Ewan from the City Centre Directorate came and met a group of S2 pupils to hear their views.  It was really good to see those involved in the re-design of the city listening to young people and even better to hear the ideas being put forward by our pupils.

During the second week of December I ran a set of assemblies where we discussed raising expectations in all aspects of school life.  I attach a summary of the points raised and hope I have the support of parents in taking this forward Expectations Poster Decenber 2016.  We also raised the topic at the staff meeting that week and looked at ways ‘raised expectations’ relate to coursework and classwork.

During the third week of December we were presented with level 1 of the Rights Respecting Schools Award.  I have mentioned our work around the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child previously and this award is a formal recognition of this work.  I am delighted to say that Harlaw Academy is the first secondary school in Aberdeen City to gain the award.  We are now helping others to achieve the award and also looking at how we can work towards level 2.  My thanks and congratulations go to the pupils/staff involved in this achievement.

During the fourth week of December we were presented with the Northsound Schools Energy challenge trophy.  Each year Northsound along with OPITO and the Energy Institute run a quiz.  Sixteen schools from the City and Shire took part this year and Harlaw was successful through the various heats and won the event.  It is the third time Harlaw have won this award and indeed we are the first school in the 16 years of the event to win it 3 times.  Again my thanks and congratulations go to the pupils/staff involved in this success.

The fourth week of December also saw us; run a very enjoyable Christmas concert and Christmas assemblies which raised over £100 for Alzheimer Scotland, raise money for the Salvation Army through a Christmas jumper day, deliver 10 food parcels donated by a local church to local families in need, take 6 boxes of food to TLC foodbank @inchgarth.  These very real examples of Harlaw Academy working in and with its community are something which all our pupils and families should feel very proud about.

The emphasis here at Harlaw was to work hard through the last week.  I was disappointed that some families chose to take their children off early and even more at those who indicated they had done so because we would not be doing anything important during the last few days.  I was round the school a lot over the last week and was very encouraged by quality and quantity of work taking place.

All of our many achievements in 2016 have come about through hard work, ability and determination.  These are also the qualities which will be needed if we are to be successful in 2017.