Larkhall Academy

John Mullen is Senior Depute Headteacher at Larkhall Academy. Here he reflects on the development of their Professional Learning Programme.

Eyebrows raised.

My exact reaction when in March 2018, my Headteacher, during our 1-1 session, said enthusiastically ‘Why don’t we create our own Professional Learning Programme?’ Pregnant pause…. ‘We could get Tony to launch it!’ Tony McDaid is the Executive Director of South Lanarkshire Council Education Resources).

Eyes slightly wider this time, mouth open.

And that was it. The beginning of our Professional Learning journey at Larkhall Academy. I remember leaving the meeting, my usual scepticism in place, thinking ‘How on earth are we going to pull this off for the beginning of the 2018-2019 session?’ Followed by my usual process of questioning, acceptance, engagement and excitement.

We got to work.

From the outset, we needed a reason for doing this. A clear rationale which would run like a thread through the whole programme, connecting all of our activity, session upon session. We settled on the theme of School Improvement. Everything in the programme had to have a positive impact, in terms of increasing the capacity and capability of staff to deliver improved outcomes for young people. Ultimately, we were looking to invest heavily in the development of our people, increasing their professional knowledge and skills, enhancing their confidence and sense of purpose. This in turn leading to enhanced levels of engagement in our young people, greater enjoyment of learning, improved relationships and ultimately better outcomes for our pupils.

It was clear from the outset that our colleagues were invested in this. A wide range of staff at every level committed their time and energy. Staff engaged in learning with enthusiasm and commitment with high quality professional interactions evident. The sessions employed coaching approaches to encourage colleagues to think deeply and reflect on their current practice and how we might do things differently. And Tony did come along to kick of the formal programme as well.

In total during that first year, we delivered a programme of 22 events, some scheduled during In-Service Days and focussed on clear and agreed Improvement Priorities with others taking place regularly after school. From the outset, we focussed on things that would make a real difference to young people in their day to day learning, such as taking account of pupil voice to affect positive change in the classroom, delivering highly effective feedback focussed on improvement, using Google Classroom to improve outcomes and sharing proven strategies to help raise attainment.

A large part of our programmes also focussed on developing leadership and improving the quality of our collaborative working. To this end, we invited prominent guest speakers to share their insights with our colleagues, including Sir John Jones and Sir Harry Burns. Programmes of development were introduced for those aspiring to middle leadership, either through Pupil Support or the curricular route. We also began working with colleagues in Education Scotland to develop our Collaborative Middle Leadership Programme. During the following session 2019-2020, we built on these themes and sharpened our focus around improvements in learning and teaching, in line with the key components of our learning and teaching framework. Our Education Scotland report arising from the March 2020 inspection commended our commitment to professional learning and growth. And then, the week after, the world changed. And through necessity, did our approach.

From a programme largely driven by school leaders, our professional learning during the pandemic and subsequent periods of lockdown was driven by our staff. Through the help of key colleagues across several Departments, we developed our online teaching skills at pace and always with the same goal in mind – achieving the best possible outcomes for the young people of our community and supporting them as effectively as we could. This ground level development in adversity could only have happened if the correct culture was in place. A culture where stakeholders are valued and supported to improve.

So what comes next for Larkhall Academy’s Professional Learning Programme? Well, in the current session, we have considered carefully the recommendations in our Inspection report and developed Teacher Learning Communities to facilitate specific improvements in the classroom. We have engaged with the new GTC Scotland Professional Standards at senior and middle leadership levels and commenced further work with our faculty colleagues. And we’ll look to evaluate fully the impact of our professional improvement activity on young people and how this affects their progress and development. We look forward as a staff to the session ahead, committed to this improvement journey.