Background 

North Ayrshire Council has a population of just over 135,000 people, providing education to approximately 20,000 children and young people aged 2 to 18. Approximately 46% of all children and young people live in Scottish Index of Multiple deprivation (SIMD) quintile 1. By contrast, only 9% of North Ayrshire’s children live in SIMD quintile 5. According to the most recent statistics, 29% of North Ayrshire’s children and young people are living in poverty. 

There are nine secondary schools. Greenwood Academy is a non-denominational secondary that serves the towns of Irvine, Dreghorn and Springside. The school has a roll of 1403 pupils, which includes several placing requests from nearby towns and out with North Ayrshire. Last session S1 pupils came from 18 different primary schools to start in August. 

Rationale 

Following lockdown in 2021, the school noticed an increase in the number of pupils with low attendance rates. Some pupils had disengaged completely, and some were attending for part of the week. There was an increase in the number of pupils with school anxiety and a fear of being in the busy school building.

Support from North Ayrshire Council (NAC) was provided through the ‘outreach and home tuition service’. It was apparent from statistics that the school had to look at providing further support. The school reported that pupils had already built strong relationships with Greenwood staff, and they felt best placed to support their young learners. 

Attendance rates were tracked every two weeks by decile and by monitoring whole-school attendance. The compared data with the previous two years, during the same period. From the 2017-18 attendance rates for pupils from deciles nine and ten had decreased. In 2021-22  they had fallen below 90% for the first time. There had been a more significant decrease in attendance rates from deciles three to eight. In 2021-22 the attendance rate of pupils from deciles one and two had fallen to 82.75%. 

Attainment Scotland Funding  

Pupil Equity Funding: Over £50,000 

What Greenwood Academy did

The school launched an awareness campaign with parents and carers, and letters were sent out highlighting the impact of low attendance on learning and positive destinations. Early intervention was a focus and building strong relationships with families crucial.

Attendance percentages were converted into days missed from school over an academic session to make the data easier for the school community to understand. The school raised the importance of attendance with pupils at assemblies and displayed the data in tabular format. This was to highlight that 80% equated to 38 days of missed learning.

In 2019 a member of staff was employed through Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) to support pupils. They identified pupils at risk of not achieving their full potential due to low school engagement and low attendance. The pupils were all in S2 and received in-school and after school support for literacy and numeracy. The pupils were tracked from S2 through to the end of S4. They attended after school sessions in smaller groups and for some, this was the only learning which they engaged with due to feelings of anxiety. 

Due to the success of this group, in 2020 the school added an additional group. This  involved pupils who had started S4 but were struggling to access full-time education on a regular basis. This was due to a number of reasons including family bereavement, anxiety, and a reluctance to access education in a busy secondary school with 1400 other pupils. They added some pupils who were in school but struggling to attend classes on a regular basis.

The pupils came into school on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon after the school day had finished. They worked in small groups. This sometimes this had to be scaled back to one-to-one sessions if pupils were feeling overwhelmed. In summer 2021, some of the pupils left school. Many returned, and the school continued to monitor and offer support for those who needed it. 

In 2021, the school identified pupils starting the Senior Phase who were offered after school curriculum support. Joint working was strengthened with the health and social care partnership (HSCP) and through ‘Team Around the Child’ (TAC) meetings. All other partners agreed to work together to ensure that the pupils were supported to attend the after-school sessions. HSCP colleagues supported the pupils by providing transport and moral support to enter the school building. On occasions they encouraged parents to attend alongside their child and provided a cup of tea while their child accessed the support session. 

In August 2021, an in-school ‘Secondary Transition Resource’ was introduced to support young people at risk of disengagement. Two teachers, a youth worker and a classroom assistant provide small group work, to support and encourage pupils into classes.

Features of the support are an appropriate curriculum and outdoor learning. This approach continued from 2022-23, with core staff being off timetable to provide support in the family home. This, along with the after-school sessions, saw a further 11 pupils achieve qualifications, including:

• National 3 and 4 in English and Applications of Mathematics
• Level 5 in Literacy and Numeracy
• National 3 Modern Studies
• National 3 History

The success of this work led to a change of leadership around targeted support and in August 2023. Two principal teachers (PTs) of inclusion were appointed through PEF. One remit was to oversee the development of online provision for targeted pupils and to track engagement and progress. The other post was to develop an alternative curriculum that could be delivered after school or at an off-site location.

Over time, both teachers of inclusion have worked together to develop a provision fit for purpose that caters for the needs of the young people. The principal teachers met regularly with a depute headteacher to review the strategic direction of the work and monitor and track the pupil attendance and impact on engagement. Internal school processes have been developed to ensure that pupils are referred for consideration for alternative provision as a recommendation from TAC meetings. This is reviewed by a team of staff and then young people progress to the appropriate intervention. These provisions include: 

• a secondary school transition resource
• an internal support resource
• offsite provision at Townend Community Centre 
• ‘Project Restore’ which is a 12 week reducing anxiety programme 
• after school provision 

In March 2023, the possibility of delivering courses on a Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from a local community centre was explored. This has gone from strength to strength and now offers opportunities for young people to work in small groups and on a one-to-one basis every day of the week.

Core staff provide specialist inputs daily and the principle teachers for inclusion offer SQA awards and bespoke interventions including ‘Project Restore’. It is different from other interventions as it directly addresses the barriers to being in school. Through careful tracking the school has developed an approach to working towards five key qualifications, including in literacy and numeracy. 

The PTs of guidance and inclusion work in partnership with third sector organisations such as Barnardo’s to access support for young people ensuring the development of skills for learning, life and work and positive destinations. 

In partnership with ‘Developing the Young Workforce Ayrshire’, the school explored the possibility of opening a community café, served by the events management pupils. They worked closely with Community Learning and Development and sought support from the authority and a local community council. The pupils have been working at Townend Community Centre since August 2023, serving coffee to invited guests and parents while they wait on their child finishing the learning sessions. Parents are encouraged to attend with their child when anxiety levels are high.  

The community café, ‘Caféchino,’ formally launches in March 2024. Pupils have taken part in a branding exercise and are looking forward to serving members of the public soon. The community café will provide an opportunity for young people to gain further qualifications in barista, customer services, and personal development awards, while developing their social skills. This will be offered to identified young people as their confidence grows. 

At the end of the 2023-24 session, qualification data and positive destination statistics will be reviewed to reflect on the impact of interventions. 

Impact 

Since the interventions, attendance and engagement has improved, although this remains a priority. The school is below the national average and there is still a gap between pupils in Deciles 1/2 and those in other Deciles. The school has captured impact through both quantitative and qualitative data throughout the year. 

Attendance statistics from August 2023 to February 2024 show 86.31% in comparison to 85.12% the previous year.

Eleven S3 pupils were supported by the STR provision from 2021-22. Six of these pupils had a total of 12 exclusions from school. From 2022-23, the same six pupils had a total of 9 exclusions. From 2023-24, the number of exclusions for the same group of 11 pupils has reduced to two.

Fourteen S2 pupils were supported by the STR provision from 2022-23. Eight of the 14 pupils had a total of 11 exclusions during the first year of being supported. This has reduced to three pupils with one exclusion each. 

In 2023 we introduced two S1 pupils to the provision. They have zero exclusions to date. 

The STR provision also supports three S4 pupils. There have been zero exclusions for these pupils since 2022. 

The community café has provided skills-based qualifications for the young people. This includes qualifications in barista skills, customer services and Level 5 personal development awards. This can count towards their Saltire Award as volunteering hours. 

The current group includes pupils from across S1 to S5. Attendance and engagement are tracked individually for pupils with an ongoing review through the TAC process. A sharper focus on S4 non-attendance has allowed a more proactive approach to intervention to improve outcomes for young people. 

The attendance of the pupils at school and engagement in learning is improving. There has been an improvement for 71% of the pupils during 2023-24. This is compared with the same period in 2022-23.