Dykesmains Primary School is in Saltcoats, North Aryshire. The current school roll is 186 children. A minority of children live in Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) deciles one and two.

The improvement issue

Developing how the school includes children’s voice and participation across the school is underpinned by the school’s values. Staff regularly seek opportunities for children to participate in discussions with staff, parents, carers and community members to create positive outcomes and shape their educational experience. They use proactive approaches to encourage children’s voice and participation and together evaluate the themes from HGIOS to promote a positive school ethos and create a culture of mutual respect and commitment to children’s rights.

Building on the success of school committee groups to gather strong children’s voice, the senior leadership team (SLT) sought to further develop this through:

• improving children’s engagement with learning and teaching, regularly seeking their views to identify how they are supported, challenged and inspired to learn
• shaping school learning environments such as outdoor spaces, extra-curricular opportunities and learning walks, and identifying resources that will support learning
• enhancing the school community’s understanding of children’s participation and its impact.

What the setting did

Improve children’s engagement with learning and teaching

What makes a great lesson

Staff and children created a ‘what makes a great lesson’ document. This helped teachers to achieve a consistent standard of learning and teaching throughout the school.

The Rights Respecting Schools committee held focus groups in all classes and created a class survey to evaluate effective lessons across the school. This helped the SLT identify what children found engaging, challenging and what they felt was having a positive impact on their learning.

SLT now uses the ‘what makes a great lesson’ document as a tool to evaluate lessons across the school, including teacher learning walks and pupil lesson evaluations. This has contributed to there being a common language to support the continued development of high-quality practice across the school.

School learning environments

Outdoor space

Pupil voice has resulted in improvement of outdoor learning experiences. To reduce conflicts in the playground and improve wellbeing, the school community agreed to prioritise improving the playground. Children and class councils contributed to planning and developing this in partnership with the parent council and school staff.

Play pedagogy

Children’s voice played an important part in the development of play pedagogy in P1-3. This is ongoing. Children’s voice has also led improvements in learning environments and experiences.

Community understanding of children’s participation

Staff used the Education Scotland Learner Participation in Education document as a self-evaluation tool to identify strengths and plan for improvement.

Wider opportunities

Staff evaluated HGIOS themes 4 and 5 with children across school year groups. This identified that children understood the value that wider opportunities play in enriching their experiences. Children identified areas to support their social, emotional and physical wellbeing. This led to opportunities for their participation in a wider range of activities led by staff across the school.

Leadership

Committee groups have been further developed to ensure that all children can participate in a committee of interest. This provides a platform for all children to voice their opinions, suggestions and concerns, promoting democratic values, responsible citizenship and empowerment. Learner representatives actively contribute to decision-making processes, such as choosing charity initiatives, planning school events and improving the learning environment.

What the sustained impact has been

Feedback from visitors shows that the children are confident when talking about the school, and that they feel they are listened to and an integral part of school improvement.

The learner participation initiatives have positively influenced the wider achievements of children and the school community. Through their active involvement in decision-making, leading initiatives and participating in a wide range of events, children develop essential skills, values, and qualities that extend beyond academic success. School leaders and staff prioritise and support children’s participation, recognising its significant impact on fostering engaged, responsible and well-rounded individuals within our school community.