An educational experience in Scotland : Our Lady's High School, Cumbernauld

Abstract

The report looks at Our Lady's High School which is a Scottish Comprehensive School covering an age range from 11 to 18. The school forms part of North Lanarkshire which has adopted Raising Achievement For All as its key policy direction. This policy aims to discover ways of helping young people develop their capabilities. Our Lady's High School is working hard to reach its objectives to raise achievement in the area. The report looks at different aspects of the school's work. These include School Management, Discipline, Pastoral Provisions, Guidance, Assessment, Curriculum, the School Development Plan, Monitoring Classroom Practice, Professional Development and Extra-Curricular Activities. What has been achieved is then compared and contrasted with the local situation. Here, the Maltese National Minimum Curriculum is taken into account as well as literature studied during the Diploma Course. Many similarities between the school visited and the local situation were observed. Our Lady's High School presents lots of hard work being done which serves as a good example for Maltese schools in our attempt to raise achievement even locally. The various issues described in the report encourage an evaluation of what is currently happening in schools. This analysis of what students are gaining from their years of school is important in promoting school effectiveness.