The Royal High School is situated in the west of Edinburgh. It is a non-denominational school, with young people who transition from four local primary schools. The school roll is approximately 1,400 young people. Over 60% of young people come from Social Index of Multiple Deprivation deciles nine and ten. A few live in lower decile areas.

The improvement issue

Senior leaders are committed to ensuring that all young people experience high-quality learning and teaching across the school. Senior leaders want to work in partnership with young people to ensure that they become confident, responsible, successful and committed to learning. This includes making best use of digital technology to support this process.

Senior leaders and staff recognised that there was a need to improve the use of digital technology, to help enhance learning and teaching strategies across the school. As a result, this was identified as a key improvement area for the school.

What the setting did

The school has been using one-to-one devices since 2014. In addition, in 2021, all young people received a device that they could use to support learning in school and at home. However, staff recognised that there was more to do to ensure that these devices had maximum impact on learning and teaching.

As a result, staff have worked together to develop a learning and teaching digital strategy that ensured a consistent and high-quality approach to using digital technology in lessons and at home. Digital learning and teaching needed to be more integral to how young people learn. The strategy also recognised that teachers required training and support to enhance their use of digital technologies to improve their practice. The strategy development work was led by staff and young people as part of a digital learning group. Prior to making recommendations to staff and young people, the group trialled the use of various software applications options for sharing work and resources and to provide feedback to young people. Training was also provided for staff, young people and parents on how to use the tablets, including how to access and use the most useful accessibility functions. The majority of young people have been using tablets from P6. A team of ‘Digital Dynamos’ (staff and young people) supports anyone who may need additional help. This can include supporting trials of new features or applications in classes. Digital learning is now embedded in the school’s annual career-long professional learning programme for staff. The school also provides staff with regular opportunities to share interesting practice.

What the sustained impact has been

The creative use of digital technology has significantly enhanced learning and teaching in school and at home. Meaningful use of digital technology continues to be embedded in supporting learning and engagement across the school. All young people use digital technology to access curriculum materials and activate learning. They are more experienced in using a range of software applications. Increased use of digital technology helps to support the school’s blended learning strategy, which ensures a consistent approach to learning online. Hybrid learning continues to be used for those who cannot attend in class. Young people have a stronger understanding of accessibility functions on the digital device, and this is helping the school to adapt and support learning for all. Staff are increasingly sharing all learning resources with young people. They are creating learning resources collaboratively and providing personalised audio and written feedback. The school monitors the impact of these and other interventions as part of its ongoing evaluation processes. For example, staff and young people visit lessons and provide feedback on where they see good learning, including through the use of digital technology.

Findings from annual surveys, focus groups and feedback from young people, staff and parents demonstrate a consistently high rate of satisfaction with learning and teaching in the school. These findings also highlight examples of successful digital practices. Positive feedback from families also report that they feel more empowered to support their children’s learning.

The school has achieved the Digital Schools Award, the Cyber Resilience Award, the Digital Schools European Award and is now an Apple Distinguished School. Staff continue to extend the use of digital technology to enhance creativity, collaboration and communication between young people and staff. This is helping to enrich and personalise learning. Digital learning is supporting attainment and achievement and is helping to remove barriers to participation and learning.