St Edward’s Primary School is a Roman Catholic primary school, which is situated in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire. The current school roll is 198 across nine classes. Forty six percent of the school roll live within the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) deciles one and two.

The improvement issue

Senior leaders wanted to actively involve children in improving their school. They also wanted to increase the opportunities children have to develop leaderships skills for life, learning and work.

What St Edward’s Primary did

Senior leaders introduced the Young Leaders of Learning (YLL) programme, developed by Education Scotland, to help develop pupil leadership opportunities within the school. The YLL programme supports children to have meaningful opportunities to contribute to all aspects of school life through;

• having an increasing say in their education and the school;
• being actively involved in on-going self-evaluation activities, which lead to improvement;
• taking part in reciprocal visits to other schools to identify what is working well and areas for improvement; and
• being involved in school improvement activities in their own school.

Timeline of implementation

May 2022

All Primary five and six children received online training from Education Scotland to become YLL. They were all informed about what being a YLL at St. Edward’s Primary School would involve. This supported children to make informed decisions on whether they would like to become a YLL. Those who became a YLL, participated in the first year of implementing the programme at St. Edward’s Primary School.

June 2022

St. Edward’s Primary School was paired with another nearby primary school who were also participating in the YLL programme. The partnership involved visiting each other’s school. The visits supported YLL in identifying what is working well in their own school, areas for improvement, and to share effective practice.

October 2022

YLL completed self-evaluation activities regarding learning and teaching from the YLL training pack.

They also used How Good is OUR School? (HGIOURS?) to identify the school’s strengths and areas for improvement. The children discussed the five areas and decided Theme 3 - School and Community would become the first focus area for improvement. YLL evaluated the school using Theme 3 discussion questions and features of highly effective practice.

YLL identified improving the playground would be their first focus area.

November 2022

YLL hosted a visit to St Edward’s from the partner school. Children were responsible for the planning the visit. They created a presentation to showcase what they were proud of about their school. They took their visitors on a tour of the school. The YLL from the partner school asked questions linked to their school’s area of improvement. The YLL from the partner school provided feedback on their experience to the children and headteacher of St Edward’s Primary School. They shared what they liked about the school, what the school could do to improve and what ideas they would take back to their school. The YLL from the partner school agreed that improving the playground at St. Edward’s Primary School was an important area to focus on.

The partner school reciprocated the visit. The visit supported the YLL from St. Edward’s Primary School to develop ideas about how they could improve their playground. They also identified other areas of practice they would also like to develop. For example, they liked the partner school’s approach to play in the upper stages and their use of Pupil Enquiry Based Learning (PEBL).

December 2022

YLL reviewed what practice they liked from their visit to their partner school. They discussed what ideas they could use at St. Edward’s Primary School to improve outcomes for children.

A highlight from the visit included the partner school‘s use of PEBL.

The YLL discussed the visit with the headteacher, with a focus on PEBL and how they could implement this in their own school.

February 2023

The YLL took forward the improvements to the playground. They researched new playground equipment. They shared a proposed plan with the headteacher and gathered feedback from other children. They met with the Parent Council to ask if they would assist with some of the cost for new equipment. The YLL also carried out fundraising activities to support the cost. New playground equipment was purchased.

March 2023

YLL further engaged with HGIOURS? They evaluated their school against the four remaining themes.

The YLL shared their findings with the headteacher and children who had responsibility for pupil leadership groups to drive forward improvement areas.

August 2023

St Edward’s Primary School has formed a new YLL partnership with another primary school within the same cluster.

St. Edward’s YLL develop and deliver training to children from the new partnership school. The training sessions focussed on;

• What is a YLL?
• How do YLL contribute to improving their school?
• How do you identify an area for improvement?
• How to host a YLL partner visit?

Using completed self-evaluation information, the YLL decided which HGIOURS? theme they would take forward next session.

PEBL was identified for implementation in upper stages from the next school term/session.

September 2023

Further training with new YLL from the partner school.

School staff received training and began implementing PEBL in the upper stages.

November 2023

YLL decided to focus on theme one, Our Relationships from HGIOURS? as the next area of improvement.

They undertook self-evaluation activities linked to theme one to identify the school’s strengths and areas for improvements.

St. Edward’s Primary School hosted the first visit with the new school partnership.

What the sustained impact has been

The YLL programme has supported children to have a greater voice in decision making for their school. YLL children feel more empowered to share their opinions regarding how to improve aspects of their school. They have highlighted how much they feel they are listened to and that their opinions are valued. All YLL feel they are part of real change within the school.

The role of being a YLL has increased children’s confidence and the development of their self-esteem. They have experienced a sense of pride when sharing the good practice from their school, with others. The programme has provided an opportunity for children to develop a range of leadership skills, including communication, collaboration, problem-solving, creative thinking and working within a budget.

YLL and school staff have established strong, positive relationships with the original partnered school. They continue to share good practice between schools.

The school playground has been improved. Children report that they enjoy their playtimes better now that they have new and improved equipment to use during break times.