Hollybrook Academy

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About our school/nursery

Hollybrook Academy serves the area in the South Side of Glasgow.  The school is a two storey building situated in a quiet area of Govanhill. There are currently 106 pupils between first and sixth year.

The school caters for young people with additional support for learning needs arising from learning difficulties, including pupils with autistic spectrum disorders. 

Our staff includes a Head Teacher supported by a leadership team of two Deputy

Head Teachers and three Principal Teachers.  We have twenty four classroom teachers including

full time and part time teachers, nine fulltime and part time support for learning workers and 1.5

clerical assistants.

We work as active partners in Shawlands Learning Community and have recently started working

in partnership with Holyrood Secondary and Shawlands Academy to support their more

vulnerable learners.

Many of our pupils have previously attended: Howford Primary and Kirkriggs Primary, and we

work closely with the primaries sharing the  aspiration that all of our young people recognise and

achieve fullest potential.

We enjoy varied and creative involvement with community groups, an increasing number of  

business partners, including the BBC, and other local schools.

Over the years we have developed a strong partnership with our Parent Council, who is supportive and active in the school community.

We work to ensure that all of our young people feel safe and well cared for with the

opportunity to grow and develop into healthy young adults, in line with the Wellbeing Indicators

outlined in Getting it Right for Every Child.

It is our belief that our young people should not be defined by their additional learning needs and we help them to understand their rights and support them with their responsibilities.  The pupils in Hollybrook Academy actively participated in creating our House System and are involved in both the planning and implementation of this working group and others.

We are a fully inclusive school and celebrate diversity in a safe and welcoming environment.

School Vision & Values

We revisited the school’s Vision, Values and Aims last year in consultation with pupils, parents and carers and all our stake holders. We have agreed on the following:

Dream - Achieve - Inspire

Hollybrook Academy is a school of excellence where every child is both challenged and inspired to achieve beyond their expectations. The essence of Hollybrook Academy is captured within our core values which will enable children to Grow, Learn and Flourish to become STRONG, responsible, forward thinking and confident citizens. Our STRONG values form the basis of our behaviour for learning policy:

S is for developing self - confidence.

T is for teamwork.

R is for being responsible.

O is for others, showing them respect and tolerance.

N is for nurturing our talents.

G is for gaining skills for learning, life and work.

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Our achievements this year.  

• Higher than city average attendance
• 100% of our school leavers go to a job, training or college placement
• Strong performance in SQA exams, including links with pupils joining mainstream
• Developing a new Vision, Values and Aims
• Developing a school’s radio station, Radio Hollybrook
• Developing links and working with the BBC
• Being the National winners of the Prince’s Trust MOSIAIC Challenge
• Developing our access to college links
• Reduced exclusions
• Having an exhibition of our social enterprise artwork in the GOMA

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How well do children learn and achieve? (1.1, 2.1)

Our high expectations, combined with individualised approaches to teaching and learning, 

have resulted in very good levels of attainment and achievement. Our unauthorised attendance is below the city average, as are our exclusion levels. Our pupils enjoy school  and have regular opportunities to air and discuss their views.

A focus of our school improvement for this session was the Wellbeing Indicators, part of Getting it Right for Every Child. Each month we focused on how pupils be: Safe; Healthy; Achieving; Nurtured; Active; Respected; Responsible and Included. Each month we looked at a different goal and explored who can help pupils’ to achieve this, how they can help each other and themselves. We shared this with parents through termly learning goals and whole school events.

With such a strong focus on the wellbeing indicators, this translates to how pupils conduct themselves; they are polite, tolerant of different cultures and backgrounds and engaged in their learning.

Our young people have the opportunity to gain accreditation within the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework from National 1 to National 5, and across a range of awards including Scottish Studies, Volunteering, Cycling, Personal Development and Personal Achievement.

We also support interdisiclinery learning at all stages through the John Muir Award, The Princes’ Trust Award, Glasgow Vocational Programme, The Duke Of Edinburgh Award, MyMerit, Sports Leaders and our Social Enterprise work.

From S3 onwards pupils start to engage with colleges and by the time pupils are in S5 and S6 they all attend at least a day a week in college. In S3 and S4 pupils are part of Glasgow Vocational Programme where they have the opportunity to take part in digital media; kayaking; hair and beauty; film making; photography and drama.

In S5 and S6 pupils attend a range of different colleges in Glasgow  and have the opportunity to undertake a choice of the following: Hairdressing; Safe Road User; Personal Presentation; Woodwork; Car Valeting; Hospitality; The Tennant’s Cook School; Horticulture; Digital Media; Art; Sports Coaching; Performing Arts; First Aid and Childcare.

We are pleased with our improvement in performance and plan to continue extending our curricular range further especially in skills for life and work in order to maximise our pupils work readiness.

Attainment information – Summary of SQA Qualifications

National 1 Results

National 2 Results

National 3 Results

National 4 Results

National 5 results

In addition to the range of National Courses pupils also achieved awards in:

We also support achievement through a range of different wider school experiences. All pupils have the opportunity to attend a range of clubs both in school and in the wider community. The clubs are supported through a budget given to the Pupil Council to buy in materials and resources.

On a daily basis, pupils can drop in to the S1/2 Lunchtime club where they are supported to develop friendships through a more structured programme of activities and play. This includes games, film, media, books, role paly and a weekly arts and craft club.

The S3/4 pupils have their own common room. They were allocated a small budget to purchase resources and materials. This is  led by our support for learning workers and has been a welcome addition by the pupils.

Senior pupils have a similar experience, but with an emphasis on growing maturity and responsibility. The Seniors’ room is equipped with magazines, games, a fridge, music and a kettle. They work collectively to maintain this.

There are also clubs to support specific areas of interest. These include the tri club, football, guitar, girls’ fitness, craft, reading, gaming, DJ, karate, internet café  and choir.

Pupils who struggle to do homework at home also have the opportunity to attend a homework club, where they have the support of staff members to complete their home learning tasks.

4

How well do we support children in their learning and development? (5.1, 5.3)

Our curriculum continues to evolve in line with the national guidelines of Curriculum for Excellence, taking into account the recommendations of Developing Scotland’ Young Workforce. Curriculum for Excellence has been introduced to raise standards of learning and teaching for all 3 to 18 year olds.  All children from pre-school to the end of S3 receive a rounded education known as a Broad General Education (BGE). Our curriculum aims to help prepare children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need in a fast changing world and prepare them for post school.  Our curriculum has a strong focus on bringing real life into the classroom and taking lessons beyond it.

In line with their Curriculum for Excellence entitlement, our pupils learn in all 8 curricular areas until the end of S3. 

By the end of S3 pupils have engaged in workshops with employers and businesses to help them think about their choices for S4 and beyond. On the back of this they build a profile that helps them to reflect on their learning and achievement. This is done in conjunction with parents and carers. This year we started this engagement earlier by introducing Learning Logs in S1, as well as on-going reporting, open evenings and parents nights. Parents and carers are also welcome at any stage through the year to come to school to discuss any aspect of their child’s progress.

In S4, S5 and S6 all pupils have a transition review to help them prepare for the coming year. This included parents/carers and a representative from Skills Development Scotland who is there to help thinking about post school options. We also include any other relevant agencies pupils, parents and carers want involved such as social work and voluntary organisations.

Our staff are highly committed to ensuring all our learners’ needs are understood and met. All our staff have a range of professional learning opportunities including Masters levels qualifications to maximise their own skills and understanding. We also have young people trained as mentors and next year as sleep counsellors to support pupils.

Embedding the Nurture principals and running the daily Nurture group continues to be a priority. This has been achieved through dedicated staff training, developing a nurture room and with on-going liaison with Psychological Services and Nurture colleagues in Glasgow City Council.

All staff, including support for learning workers have leadership roles and responsibilities in learning and teaching. Distributive leadership has been recognised through our education authority perspective as being a major strength in the school with a strong positive ethos and a culture of purposeful learning permeating the school. All our working groups, driving the School Improvement Plan Priorities, are led by teaching staff.

Pupil support is at the core of all we do and there are effective systems in place to ensure pupils have the right support in place and that more individual support can be put in place to help a young person who is facing challenges, for example a bereavement or mental health problems. We work closely with Educational Psychology and have internal Joint Support Team meetings to help plan for our most vulnerable pupils.

5

How well do we improve our work? (5.9, 9.4)

Self-evaluation is a driver of improvement in the school. Parents receive an annual summary of the school’s Standards and Quality Report and the School Improvement Plan (SIP) and the Head Teacher shares relevant parts of the School’s Improvement Plan with pupils through the pupil council, weekly assemblies and our Rights respecting Schools group.

A clear commitment to improvement through self-evaluation has been consistently demonstrated through staff’s commitment to Whole School Working Groups. The groups play a pivotal role in meeting the school’s improvement priorities and carrying out self-evaluation processes. All of our staff, partner agencies, learners, parents/carers and other stakeholders are involved.

Through our professional development and review process we offer opportunities for all staff to reflect on improvement and keep our skills relevant and up to date.

There is a professional reading wall in the staffroom for staff to share and access up to date articles, research or education news. Staff also have a range of professional learning opportunities. This is for both teaching and support staff.

Hollybrook already has links with other ALN schools through the tri-schools partnership. This will be extended this year to develop more detailed moderation practices and allow good practice to be shared. This also includes working with Shawlands Academy, the other secondary in our Learning Community.

Our core business is learning and teaching and through the monitoring of learning, cooperative teaching and cross curricular activities we have supported the sharing of good practice and planning for improvement. Analysis of pace, progression and appropriate challenge in the classroom is an on-going and collegiate activity. Staff reflect and evaluate their work through forward planning, pupil tracking, departmental meetings, staff meetings, Curriculum for Excellence meetings and departmental Standards and Quality reports.

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Here is what we plan to improve next year.

• Review our processes and procedures for moderation in the Broad General Education
• Continue to work towards becoming a nurturing school.
• Increased vocational and voluntary opportunities for young people in line with the Scottish Government’s Developing Young Workforce.
• Work with parents and carers to enhance their understanding of Curriculum for Excellence.
• Continue to develop opportunities for Pupil Voice.
• Continue to maximise opportunities for pupils to have heath & wellbeing embedded into their daily routine through:

• Nutrition Action Group
• Good Sleep programme
• Morning fitness sessions