Clackmannanshire Council Online

Raising Attainment Improvements

A report on Clackmannanshire’s Raising Attainment Challenge project has highlighted improvements in Education across a number of areas, including literacy and numeracy.

A report to the People Committee (1 November) heard details of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) End of Year report which has been submitted to the Scottish Government.  Clackmannanshire receives funding from SAC for work to improve literacy and numeracy attainment, improve health and wellbeing and close the attainment gap between pupils from the most and least deprived areas.

Information from the report includes:

• Overall improvement across the authority in raising attainment in both literacy and numeracy, particularly with our P4 cohort.

• The focus on numeracy interventions, including a more comprehensive and consistent approach in structuring daily lessons, is having a positive impact in raising attainment.

• Children’s readiness for learning through supportive play and the creation of nurturing spaces is having an impact at Early and First Level. This is being supported by the /Readiness for Learning intervention, which is creating a more nurturing and inclusive approach to children’s behaviour, both at Primary and Secondary level

• Children’s mental health and wellbeing has been improving with 7 in 10 children stating that they are enjoying learning at school, and 8 in 10 that they enjoy life; a higher percentage than the responses from last year’s Realigning Children’s Services Data.  More young people are recording that “I feel happy” and “I know where to go to get the help”.  Wellbeing Counsellors across targeted schools are embedding a referral pathway to allow children and young people to access additional services and support.

• Exclusion rates across schools have reduced from 212 in 2016/2017 to 19 in 2017/2018.

• As a result of the focussed Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing interventions within the Attainment Challenge Programme, the quality of learning and teaching is improving across the authority. In recently inspected schools (2017 – 2018), 75% were rated “good” or above.

• 2018 SQA results show an improvement in the percentage of pupils achieving both Level 4 Literacy and Numeracy [90.8%] compared to the previous year with an improving trend over the last five years. There is improvement in the percentage of pupils achieving 2 or more Highers across the authority and more than a quarter of pupils achieving 5 or more Higher qualifications compared to last year.

Education Spokesperson Cllr Graham Lindsay commented: “I’m pleased to see this comprehensive report from Education staff, which gives detail about the many activities and interventions that are underway across our schools.  Thanks to this additional funding from the Scottish Government’s Attainment Challenge, programmes have been introduced that are best suited for our schools and are showing evidence of helping to improve outcomes.   I look forward to seeing the continued development of the Attainment Challenge in the months ahead.”