Supporting Improvement

Our Supporting Improvement documentation is designed to focus on what works and matters to secure the highest quality outcomes for our children and young people, with an unrelenting focus on learning and teaching.

It aligns with the National Improvement Hub and Glasgow's Local Improvement Groups, bringing together a range of frameworks and improvement tools to support collaborative approaches and the sharing of expertise. These will be used by learners, parents/carers, partners and practitioners, at all levels, enabling all schools to have a shared understanding of effective practice and next steps for improvement.

Self-evaluation activity undertaken within schools, in partnership with all stakeholders, is the responsibility of all staff. It is at the heart of school improvement. As collegiality is a key element of the national teachers' agreement, it is right that collegiality and partnership is at the core of sound educational practice and management, and is an explicit feature of Securing Improvement. Key messages apply across all sectors and underpin self-evaluation for school self- improvement.

Securing Improvement focuses explicitly on Glasgow's Improvement Challenge (GIC) which takes a holistic approach to taking forward improvements for all children, young people and families. Our direction of travel aligns well with government priorities, whilst maintaining our commitment to developing these within the context of Glasgow learners.

We are committed to closing the attainment gap, giving our young people the widest range of opportunities to achieve, to tackling the effects of poverty and disadvantage and the potentially negative impact this can have for children and young people.

Securing Improvement is one part of Glasgow City Council's strategy to meet its statutory responsibilities as outlined in the Education (Scotland) Act 2016, to provide education in a way that is designed to reduce inequality of outcomes for learners experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.

Our priorities are embedded within Securing Improvement, reflecting our aspirations and our continual focus on what is important to improve the lives of our children:

• Raising attainment and achievement through Glasgow's Improvement Challenge 2015-2020;
• Continue to improve how we meet the learning and care needs of children before they go to  school and as they progress through school, including how we support  their families; and
• As we move towards a Nurturing City, continue to improve how we meet the needs of children and young people, particularly with additional support needs 
• Make best use of our finance and resources to help ensure the best outcomes possible for our children and young people

These priorities are underpinned by our approaches to self-evaluation, leadership and professional learning.

Focus Tool

FOCUS is a Glasgow City Council developed intranet based application. Focus support schools to access and interrogate holistic data across the BGE in line with Glasgow's Improvement Challenge (2015-2020), which includes the government's Scottish Attainment Challenge. Focus lets schools examine their CFE levels through a number of lenses including EAL and SIMD. For benchmarking purposes schools have been allocated comparator schools. FOCUS also provides access to an equity profile which allows schools to examine themselves within a citywide context through a single graphic.