VOLUNTARY SECONDARY SCHOOL

School Self-Evaluation Report

Evaluation period: December 2011-May 2012

Report issue date: May 2012

 School Self-Evaluation Report
1. Introduction

1.1 The focus of the evaluation

A school based self-evaluation of teaching and learning was undertaken during the period
December 2011 to May 2012. During the evaluation, teaching and learning in the following was
evaluated:
 The Quality of Learning Outcomes for Students - Attainment levels of first-year
students in Literacy

This is a report on the findings of the evaluation.

1.2 School context

This school is a co-educational rural school which offers the Junior Certificate, Transition Year
and Leaving Certificate programmes to its students. The school has an open enrolment policy.
Its feeder primary schools include DEIS schools. A significant proportion of students come from
homes that suffer from social or economic disadvantage. A minority of students attending the
school has an educational assessment.

2. The findings

The evaluation (based on a student questionnaire, teacher discussion, the CAT and WRAT4
tests and an evaluation of oral competencies) indicate that while a large number of students are
doing well, a significant minority of students have literacy challenges.

The WRAT4 test was administered to our first-year students. 10.64% of the students achieved
a score of 111 or greater in the WRAT4 test, while the majority of students (74.5%) scored
between 91 and 110, and 14.9% of students achieved a score of less than 90.
In marking the oral proficiency test, a scale of one to five was used. If performance was rated at
one, speech was very unclear, very inarticulate, very hesitant, very incoherent and very broken
sentences were used. If performance was rated at five, speech was clear, articulate,
continuous, coherent and full sentences were used. The results of the oral proficiency test were
as follows: 5.3 % of the students tested obtained a score of two, 68.4% of the students
obtained a score of three and 26.3% obtained a score of four.

First-year students were also surveyed in order to ascertain their attitudes and dispositions to
reading.
 63.53% were members of a library
 62.5% of the students spent more than two hours reading each week, while 29.2%
spent two hours reading each week, and 8.3% spent less than two hours reading
(these students read tabloid newspapers only). Students liked to read a variety of genre
including newspapers, novels appropriate to the age group, sport magazines, motor
magazines and comics.
 The types of material students read varied: 18.9% read novels, 8% read biographies,
21.9% read magazines, 18.9% read newspapers, 5.5% read comics and 26.8% read
articles on internet sites
 Most students felt reading improved their vocabulary and reading skills; some students
read because their teacher encouraged them to read. Other reasons for reading
included to learn, to find information, to relax and to use your imagination.
 57.6% of the students surveyed said they would use a reading space if one was
provided. They also expressed a preference for computers and access to the internet.
Overall students saw the value of reading; they felt that material should be varied and up-to-
date, a reading space should be comfortable and computers were desirable in a reading space.

The outcomes of discussions among staff at subject department level were shared with the
whole staff. The literacy needs of the different subjects, the expectations and concerns of
teachers regarding the promotion of literacy in his/her subject area and the strategies that
teachers currently used were discussed. There was whole-staff agreement that continuing
professional development on different types of strategies that could be used to enhance
student attainment in literacy was required.
3. Summary of school self-evaluation findings

3.1 Our school has strengths in the following areas:

 A large proportion of students performed well in tests given

 A strong staff commitment to promoting literacy
 A print rich environment
 Good support from the learning support department
 Good structures to support students
 An excellent ICT structure

3.2 The following areas are prioritised for improvement:

 Enhancement of student performance in WRAT 4 comprehension test of first-year

students
 Development of oral skills of first-year students
 Promotion of interest in reading among the first-year students

4.3 The following legislative and regulatory requirements need to be addressed:

 None
 Appendix to Post-primary School Self-Evaluation Report:
legislative and regulatory checklist – reporting to the school community
Which area of school life is
involved?
Valid enrolment of students
The school calendar and the
school timetable
Standardisation of school
year
Parent/teacher meetings and
staff meetings
Implementation of national
literacy and numeracy
strategy
Implementation of agreement
regarding additional time in
school for teachers
Development of school plan
Engagement with school self-
evaluation process
Guidance provision in
secondary schools and
whole-school guidance plan
Delivery of CSPE to all junior
cycle classes
Exemption from the study of
Irish
Implementation of child
protection procedures
Implementation of complaints
procedure as appropriate
Appeals in the case of refusal
to enrol students, suspension
and expulsion (permanent
exclusion)
Is the school fully meeting the
What is the relevant legislation, rule or
requirements of the relevant
circular?
legislation, rule or circular?
Sections of the Education Act 1998 and the
Education (Welfare) Act 2000, and Circular
Yes No
M51/93 set out the conditions for students to
be validly enrolled in a school
Circular M29/95 sets down the length of the
school year - minimum of 167 days for all year
Yes No
groups
Circular M29/95 sets down the length of the
Yes No
school week - minimum of 28 hours for all year
groups
Circular 034/2011 gives the dates for school
Yes No
holidays
Circular M58/04 sets out the arrangements for
Yes No
these meetings
Circular 25/12 describes the whole-school
approach required by the strategy, and the
Yes No
implications for timetabling, assessment and
reporting students’ progress
Circular 025/2011 requires teachers to do an
additional 33 hours of out-of-class work each Yes No
year, so as not to reduce teaching time
Section 21 Education Act 1998 requires all
Yes No
schools to have a school plan
Circular 40/2012 outlines the SSE process and
Yes No
what it requires of schools
Circular 09/2012 sets out the current
arrangements for guidance planning and
Yes No
provision and refers to Section 9 of the
Education Act 1998
Circular M12/01 Circular M13/05 set out the
required provision for Civic, Social and Political Yes No
Education
Circular M10/94 sets out the conditions
necessary for students to be exempt from Yes No
studying Irish
Circular 65/11 and the Child Protection
Guidelines oblige schools to ensure that:
liaison persons have been appointed ; the
Yes No
procedures have been communicated to the
whole school community; and the procedures
are being followed
Section 28 Education Act 1998 provides for Yes No
procedures to address complaints about a
school Complaints have been resolved
or are being resolved
Yes No N/A
Section 29 Education Act 1998 provides for Yes No
appeals procedures in these cases, which are
dealt with first of all by the school. Where Appeals have been dealt with or
cases are not resolved at school level, an are being dealt with
external appeals committee hears the appeal
Yes No N/A
and makes a decision.
 Appendix to School Self-Evaluation report: policy checklist – reporting to
the school community
Policy
Enrolment policy
Code of behaviour, including
anti-bullying policy
Attendance and participation
strategy
Health and Safety Statement
Data protection
Special education needs policy
Social, personal and health
education(SPHE)/Relationships
and sexuality education (RSE)
policy
Substance use policy
Internet acceptable use policy
Child protection policy
Parents as partners in education
Deployment of special needs
assistants
Source Has the policy been
approved by the Board
of Management?
Section 15 of the Education Act 1998 obliges
schools to have and publish an enrolment
Yes No
policy that respects the principles of equality
and parental choice
Section 23, Education (Welfare) Act 2000,
and the 2008 National Educational Welfare
Board Guidelines set out regulations and
Yes No
good practice for schools to follow in drawing
up and implementing a code of behaviour and
an anti-bullying policy
Section 22 Education Welfare Act 2000
requires schools to develop a strategy to
Yes No
support high levels of student attendance and
participation in school life
All schools should have a health and safety
statement that is regularly reviewed (see Yes No
Section 20 Health and Safety Act 2005)
School procedures relating to gathering,
storing and sharing data on pupils should
comply with data protection legislation - Data Yes No
Protection Act 1988
Data Protection (Amendment Act) 2003
Various pieces of equality and education
legislation, especially the Education for
Persons with Special Education Needs Act
(EPSEN) 2004, require schools to be inclusive Yes No
of students with special educational needs
and to provide for them appropriately using
the resources available
Schools are required by various circulars to
provide SPHE in the junior cycle and RSE
Yes No
throughout the school, and to have policies to
support this provision.
A Department directive and guidelines issued
to schools in 2002 require schools to develop
Yes No
and implement a substance use policy in
consultation with parents and students
Schools should have and implement a policy
to instruct students on safe and responsible Yes No
use of the internet
Circular 0065/2011 sets out requirements
(see above for details of policy and Yes No
implementation)
Circular M27/91 requests schools to set up a
parents’ association, and promotes Yes No
partnership between home and school
Circular 71/11 allows for SNAs to be deployed
Yes No
flexibly to respond to the needs of schools
 OUR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Summary of main strengths as identified in last SSE on (specify date):
Summary of main areas requiring improvement as identified in last
SSE (specify date):
 A large proportion of students performed well in tests given
 A strong staff commitment to promoting literacy
 A print rich environment
 Good support from the learning support department
 Good structures to support students
 An excellent ICT structure
 Student performance in WRAT 4 comprehension test of first-year students
 Development of oral skills of first-year students
 Promotion of interest in reading among the first-year students

EVALUATION THEME IMPROVEMENT TARGETS REQUIRED ACTIONS (RELATED TO PERSONS TIMEFRAME FOR SUCCESS REVIEW DATE
(RELATED TO STUDENTS’ TEACHING AND LEARNING THAT RESPONSIBLE ACTION CRITERIA/MEASURABLE
ACHIEVEMENT) WILL HELP TO ACHIEVE THE OUTCOMES
TARGETS)
A 10% improvement in Internal CPD on literacy December A 10% improvement in May 2012
Attainment in Literacy student performance strategies 2011 student performance in
in WRAT 4 test WRAT 4 test
Each subject department to All teachers Feb-April 2012
implement 2 of strategies agreed
at whole-school level
 Display of and student
use of subject-specific
terminology
 Use of crossword
puzzles
 Student use of writing
frames

Students to improve Focus on development of oral English teachers Feb-April 2012 Students to improve by May 2012
Attainment in Literacy by at least 1 on the language at least 1 on the scale
scale devised for  Placemat exercise All teachers for assessing oral
assessing oral  English department English teachers competence
competence focus on development
of oral skills
 Strategies such as promoting
“key word” approach
A 50% improvement in Development of school library Management and Feb-April 2012 A 50% Increased May 2012
Attainment in Literacy interest in reading  English department use Teachers interest and
for a lesson each engagement in reading
fortnight
 Student use at
lunchtime

Development of reading
resources and reading area
materials of interest to students
(for example, newspapers)
 Farmers’ Journal

DEAR time All teachers