Scalby School

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Scalby School's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Scalby School is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.scalbyschool.org.uk

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

22 | SCALBY SCHOOL

Michael McCluskie, head teacher

A bright future for

Scalby School

Scalby School is a coeducational 11-16 comprehensive school

in the north of Scarborough with an average ability cohort.

Twenty per cent are categorised as “disadvantaged”,

meaning they receive, or have received, free school meals. The

school is in one of the government’s designated “opportunity

areas” which is to benefit from £6 million of extra funding to

boost social mobility. While more can be done at Scalby to close

the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers, the

school has significantly improved the educational outcomes for

these students in the last three years. Former head teacher and

now CEO of Scalby Learning Trust, David Read, here chronicles

their “improvement journey”.

In 2017, the school posted its best-ever overall GCSE results. Indeed, its Progress 8

score of 0.58 placed Scalby in the top 10 per cent of schools nationally and meant

that students achieved over half a GCSE grade more per student than a school

performing at the national average. Of greatest satisfaction, however, were the

results for disadvantaged students. Firstly, disadvantaged students gained a positive

Progress 8 score of 0.05 per cent, which means that on average a disadvantaged

student at Scalby achieved half a GCSE grade higher per qualification than the

national average for disadvantaged students, placing the school in the top 12 per

cent for this measure. Furthermore, 60 per cent of Scalby’s disadvantaged students

achieved at least a grade four in English and mathematics – only slightly below

the national average for all students irrespective of background. Of note, in GCSE

English, 68 per cent of disadvantaged students gained at least a grade four, which

was above the national average for all students.

REPORT CARD

SCALBY SCHOOL

»Head teacher: Michael

McCluskie

»Deputy head teacher:

ChrisRobertson

»CEO of Scalby Learning Trust:

David Read

»Founded in 1942

»Based in Scalby, Scarborough

»Type of school: Co-educational

comprehensive academy for

students aged 11-16

»No. of students: 1,000

»No. of staff: 125

»www.scalbyschool.org.uk

Scalby School

23SCALBY SCHOOL |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2018

Closing the gap

It is important to state that

while Scalby has been a popular,

oversubscribed school for many years,

with headline examination results

above national averages, it has not

historically been as successful with

disadvantaged students as it has in the

last two years. Indeed, in 2014, there

was a 39 per cent gap between the

number of disadvantaged students

gaining five or more GCSEs including

English and mathematics and the rest

of the cohort.

Our improvement began with the 2015

appointment of one of our assistant

head teachers, Chris Robertson,

to a new role of achievement co-

ordinator with the daunting task

of simultaneously improving results

overall while closing the gap between

disadvantaged students and the rest.

Chris started by visiting other schools

that had been successful in “narrowing

the gap” and the main piece of advice

gathered was to identify the specific

barriers to learning in our school

context, then plan to address them.

Subsequent data analysis of the 2014

results showed that attendance was an

issue for some disadvantaged students.

Low reading ages was another

problem for a number of students.

We also looked at where teachers

were successful with disadvantaged

students when other teachers were

not. This revealed two things which,

on reflection, were unsurprising. Firstly,

the more successful teachers tended

to have excellent personal relationships

with their students, and, secondly, they

thought carefully about how to engage

all students when planning lessons.

Conversations with disadvantaged

students further showed that many

did very little revision at home, and

conversations with their parents

revealed that many did not realise how

much home study was required in

order to be successful in examinations.

Three waves

Chris consequently produced a

detailed plan to address each of these

issues, linked to the pupil premium

budget. The plan had a three-wave

structure, which is often used in

schools. Wave one was provision

that all disadvantaged students

would receive in the classroom. The

fundamental part of this was that

all teachers were expected to mark

disadvantaged students’ work first

when they collected books in and,

where necessary, provide additional

verbal feedback to them afterwards.

Teachers were also expected to ensure

that they included disadvantaged

students in any classroom discussion

to keep them regularly involved. As a

teacher at the time, this seemed like a

gimmick, though I applied it the same

Success is not only about

examination results

Developing the culture

and character of

students inside and

outside of the classroom

Leadership and

management

are outstanding.

Senior leaders

are extremely

well focused

and have

achieved much

since the last

inspection

Ofsted

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

24 | SCALBY SCHOOL

as everyone else and it certainly did

make me think more carefully about

how I planned for and worked with the

disadvantaged students in my classes.

The SLT then monitored lessons

regularly to ensure that this approach

was being consistently applied.

At wave one, we purchased all the

materials for practical lessons for

disadvantaged students, such as food

for those studying catering, using the

pupil premium fund to do so. The

fund was also used to buy revision

materials for final-year students. Wave

two provision involved additional

offerings to groups of students, such

as revision classes after school. Wave

three involved personalised individual

support for students, such as a reading

improvement programme or a personal

mentor, either from a local employer

or senior member of staff who would

also contact parents as required to

establish a constructive relationship

with the family.

The leadership team created a

spreadsheet with data relating to

every disadvantaged student, to assess

their individual needs. It was decided

whether they required just wave one

provision or needed to access provision

at waves two and three, and, if so,

what. In short, there was a provision

plan for every disadvantaged child in

the school. This was also reviewed every

half-term when the performance data

for each student was produced and

their provision amended accordingly.

Other key action areas

The other key actions were to increase

the staffing of the attendance team,

which led to improved numbers in

school and the introduction of a new

literacy development programme to

address issues such as low reading

ages, enabling students to better

access examination courses. The

leadership team also made explicit

to both year 11 students and their

parents, through an information

evening, the importance of home

study prior to examinations coupled

with information on revision

techniques. Following these actions,

the summer of 2016 saw a significant

improvement in results both overall

and for disadvantaged students,

which were improved upon again in

2017 as we refined our three-wave

plan; we developed our after-school

classes for underperforming students

and directed them to these with

parentalsupport.

The school is rightfully proud of the

improvements it has made in raising

the educational outcomes for our

disadvantaged youngsters. It shows

how a school can improve significantly

with skilled, committed individuals

such as Chris Robertson and a detailed

evidence-based strategy. This can

only work, however, if the plan is

applied consistently by everyone and

the leadership team are relentless

in ensuring that it is. This makes

for continual hard work and an

unremitting focus, but when staff see

the students’ faces on results day, all

the effort is worth it.

Behaviour and

safety are

good. Students

have positive

attitudes to

learning

Ofsted

“

»BEING THE BEST WE CAN BE

At Scalby School, we pride ourselves on being a learning community

where students make progress across all of their subjects every day

and where teachers participate in weekly professional development

activities to improve their practice.

We practise our leadership skills at all levels of our school life; our

students have responsibilities to lead improvements for our school

community and our staff have opportunities to demonstrate their

leadership skills, ready for the next step in their careers.

We are relentless in our ambition to ensure that all of our students

and all of our staff are challenged and supported so that they can

maximise their potential.

Above all, our curriculum ensures that we develop the culture and

character of our students. We believe these social attributes are just as

important as academic qualifications in preparing our young people to

be responsible citizens, who contribute positively to our community.

This is what “being the best we can be” means at Scalby School.

Scalby School: a

learning community

www.scalbyschool.org.uk

This article was sponsored by Scalby School. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy