Craigroyston Community High School has been short-listed in the prestigious Tes (formerly Times Educational Supplement) School Awards. The local school is nominated in the English Teacher or Team of the Year category.
The Tes Schools Awards celebrate the extraordinary commitment, quality and innovation shown by teachers and support staff across the UK, and it’s a major achievement to even make the shortlist.
The school’s progress has been remarkable, as their submission shows:
The English department at Craigroyston strive to improve literacy, foster a love of reading, and raise attainment through excellent relationships with learners. The journey the department has come on is immense. Only eight years ago, just three pupils achieved a Credit in Standard Grade English and no pupils sat Higher; yet in the 2017/18 session the department helped 39 pupils achieve Higher qualifications in English or ESOL – the largest number to date – whilst a further two pupils passed Advanced Higher English.
These excellent results can be attributed, in part, to a continuous push to embed literacy across the curriculum. Every junior pupil is involved in the ‘Reading for Adventure’ initiative which involves pupils spending one period of English a week in the library reading a book of their choice to encourage the idea of reading for pleasure.
The school also has a number of volunteer ‘Paired Readers’, consisting of both senior pupils and volunteer adults from outwith the school, who spend time with vulnerable pupils reading one-to-one with them to help develop reading skills.
The English department aim to ensure all pupils’ needs are catered for within the faculty and as such have implemented a variety of courses and opportunities to meet these needs. For pupils who struggle with literacy, the department pioneered a Literacy Intervention programme which focuses on core literacy skills relevant to real world situations. This intervention is aimed at senior phase pupils, ensuring they leave school with the literacy levels needed for employment and everyday life, whilst our junior pupils with literacy difficulties are timetabled into SRA – an intensive reading programme.
For pupils who excel in English, the department offer an after school Gifted and Talented class which pushes the most able pupils through activities such as entering writing competitions and facilitating debates.
Finally, to ensure that EAL pupils are able to flourish, we introduced the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) qualification into our curriculum. This has enabled EAL pupils to achieve higher grades than they may have done in the English exam, making university a more attainable possibility, and since we began offering the course every single pupil entered for the exam has passed.
The opportunities offered to pupils through the English department is vast. Every year we pay for pupils to attend the Edinburgh Book Festival which is an excellent way to encourage enthusiasm for reading and love of literature.
Pupils have had the opportunity to work with and interview authors, such as Jason Reynolds and Claire Askew.
Our pupils write book reviews for the Teen Titles publication and regularly attend the awards ceremony. We also use social media to promote the successes of our pupils in English and across the school through our department Twitter page (@EnglishCraigie).
The dedicated and innovative teaching of the English department ensures that all pupils experience a wide range of opportunities as well as reach their academic potential during their time at school. The department lives by the motto ‘high expectations and no excuses’!
Successes Within the English Department
- Journey from 8 years ago: 3 credits and no Highers to 17/18 session 39 Highers in English and ESOL, 42 National 5s in English and ESOL, 36 National 4 passes, 2 Advanced Highers which resulted in the Department being the highest attaining in the school and against comparative schools within the local authority.
- Year on year trend of attainment improvements
- Continuous strive towards embedding literacy across the curriculum: Reading for Adventure, Book Club, Literacy Intervention, Paired Reading and SRA.
- Employing a Primary Specialist to support Literacy Interventions and upskill English Department in teaching the fundamentals of reading and writing.
- Range of opportunities: Gifted and Talented, Book Festival, ESOL qualifications and S3 ESOL.
- Celebrating successes through social media presence.
- Forward thinking and innovative teaching – One Note iPad, texts that are relevant and Sumdog for English.
- Celebration of ESOL and English continuously throughout the year through events and celebrations. We also have celebrated EAL learners via linking with local High Schools and holding parental engagements evenings.
- Inclusive of all pupils and celebrate all traditions and values – LGBT+ Club and Young Interpreters founded within the Department.
- Attending Teen Titles Awards with numerous reviews being published. Pupils have been selected on numerous occasions for BBC interviews and hosting interview sessions with Scottish Rap bands.
- Interviewing and hosting authors such as Jason Reynolds and Claire Askew.
- Transitional focus with primary schools surrounding literacy – library, paired reading sessions by seniors’ pupils and numerous celebrations with authors with a mix of S1 and P7.
- ‘High Expectations & No Excuses’
A S6 pupil explained how support and encouragement from Craigroyston’s English Department staff has helped the student to achieve what once seemed an impossible dream:
“My time developing my literacy skills within the English Department has boosted my skill set and confidence. The bond I have with my teachers in English helped to shape me into who I am today.
“I was conscious of my dyslexia and was assured consistently by the English Department to not see this as barrier but that I just learned a different way to other pupils. Dyslexia didn’t shape my personality or my ability and I learned this from them.
“I just learned how I best could achieve across all subjects from the interventions that happened in English such as Reciprocal Reading. This made something like summarising a lot easier to understand for me or clarifying what words meant.
“There is never a moment when the English teachers do not have a moment for a question I may have. They embrace and love learning. They also have a great sense of humour and are fair. They always want to push us and make sure we become the best we can be.
“They are forward thinking and build excellent relationships with pupils, including recognising the potential I couldn’t see in myself. We have been to the Book Festival, shows up town and revision sessions that are fun and well attended.
“There is something for everyone in the English department and I always know it is somewhere everyone feels included and safe. There is always something for you to achieve yet also challenge yourself. They get the best results in the school and it is easy to see why when they have a passion for English as much as do changing our lives for the better.
“I never thought that I would be able to achieve such great things such as going to university but with the support and encouragement I have received over the years they have made it possible.”
The awards have 19 categories, including primary school, secondary school, headteacher and healthy school. New for 2019 are the Teaching Assistant of the year and School Business Manager of the year awards.
The list of this year’s categories is as follows:
- Classroom support assistant of the year
- English teacher or team of the year
- Maths teacher or team of the year
- Science, technology and engineering teacher or team of the year
- New teacher of the year
- Headteacher of the year
- Innovative use of technology to influence outcomes
- Sustainable schools award
- International award
- Community and collaboration award
- School business manager of the year
- Healthy school of the year
- Creative school of the year
- Early years setting of the year
- Primary school of the year
- Secondary school of the year
- Alternative provision school of the year
- Lifetime achievement
- Overall school of the year
- Craigroyston Community High School, Edinburgh
- Fulham Cross Girls’ School, London
- Joseph Cash Primary School, Coventry
- Jane Thurston – Moat House, Stockport
- Round Diamond Primary School, Stevenage
- Sedgefield Community College, Stockton-on-Tees
- The Limes College, Surrey
- Wymondham College, Norfolk.
There are no other nominees from north of the border in that category, so that surely makes Craigroyston Community High School the best in Scotland?
The results will be announced at a gala event at London’s Park Lane Grosvenor House Hotel on Friday 21st June.
Congratulations to staff Eimear Haskins (head of department), Amelia Donald, Eric Freund, Catriona Grant and Emma Watson – and congratulations too to Craigie’s incredible students!
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