Portmarnock Community School
Portmarnock 
County Dublin
Roll Number : 91324p

SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION REPORT

Evaluation period : September 2017 to May 2018

SCHOOL SELF-EVALUATION REPORT
1  Introduction:
1.1 Context of our school:
Portmarnock Community School is a co-educational school, of approximately 900 students, established under the Deed of Trust for Community Schools. The school serves the community of Portmarnock and the surrounding area.  The school is under the trusteeship of the Loreto Sisters, the Archbishop of Dublin and Dublin and Dún Laoghaire ETB. It is multi-denominational, co-educational, offers a comprehensive curriculum, has a non-selective intake and promotes enlightened management reflected in high standards of academic achievement. Portmarnock Community School has a reputation for the provision of quality teaching and learning, earned through the excellence and commitment of its teaching staff.  The support of the Parents and the local community are also vital ingredients in the school’s continued success. 

1.2 The focus of our evaluation:
A school self-evaluation of teaching and learning was undertaken in Portmarnock Community School during the period from September 2017 to May 2018. As a school we focused on evaluating Assessment for Learning, AFL, as an overall approach to teaching and learning, including assessment, for our teachers and departments. The autonomy lay with each department to focus on one area within Assessment For Learning. This provided each department the opportunity to select an area that they felt was most relevant to their classroom context, thereby selecting the aspect that would provide the most relevant improvement for the enrichment of the student’s learning experience and ensure successful outcomes within their lessons.

1.3 Rationale:
During our first subject department meetings in September, each department looked at the current teaching methodologies being employed within their classrooms. Each teacher completed an individual review on what was currently working well within lessons and what needed improvement. From here, departments collaboratively selected one area of Assessment For Learning, that was a “best fit” for the advancement of the pedagogical environment within their subject area. Departments reported back their findings to the Senior Management Team at Easter 2018 and proceeded to work on this area for ongoing improvement.
The time frame for completion of the initial self-evaluation departmental focus was Easter of 2018.  Each department met at least five times, within this timeframe, to analyse and evaluate their ongoing work and to tweak their performance based on collaborative and collegial input and discussions within their professional learning community.
A varying diversity of assessment for learning techniques were utilised:
•	Exit cards
•	Self- assessment
•	Self- reflection
•	Peer assessing work
•	Peer assessment
•	Feedback forms
•	Traffic lights
•	Self- assessment rubric
•	KWL 
At Easter, each department completed their extensive final evaluation report, outlining, in great detail, their success and areas for improvement for the upcoming academic year.

2 Findings:
2.1 Departments identified their progress and success, in assessment for learning, in the following areas:
•	Students are more reflective
•	Students express their own learning/ students are more responsible for their own learning
•	Students manage their own learning
•	Students are thinking about what they are achieving/ have achieved
•	The process enables weaker students
•	Students recognise mistakes more readily 
•	The process reinforces individual learning
•	The process generated an environment where students are more careful with their own work
•	There was an improvement in understanding 
•	An incorrect answer now facilitated an opportunity/ a lead to correct the answer and used a source of revision
•	Students retained information for longer
•	Facilitated more student engagement 
•	Within the process students became more prepared for their lessons, which resulted in a lowering of student anxiety around their learning
•	The more practiced students became at peer correction the less dauted the were about the process
•	It modelled best practice
•	Students were more open-minded about their learning
•	It provided a more light-hearted approach to assessment
•	It promoted idea sharing
•	Teachers found that the process enabled the less able student- they could experience exemplars of good quality
•	Discussions, which took place around achieving certain success criteria, enabled students to become more active in their own learning
•	It allowed students to develop the skill of critical thinking and to give them a clear sense of what they were being assessed on
•	Students were motivated and engaged in the design process

2.1 Teachers, within their departments, outlined their own personal learning from the self-evaluation work that had been undertaken:

•	Teachers were more aware of students learning and achievements
•	Process was quick
•	Process was effective
•	There was immediate feedback
•	A good learning atmosphere was generated within the lessons and classrooms
•	Students became more confident and less anxious
•	The process promoted learning

2.2	teachers also outlined difficulties that they found during this evaluation process:

•	Need for clearer success criteria
•	The process is only effective if used within selected lessons
•	Assessment for learning needs to be differentiated for different ability levels
•	Students need to partake of this process from first year to enable them to become confident, familiar and skilled when using this method of assessment
•	Process took longer in certain subjects
•	Students confidence attained when teacher corrected the work
•	The process, even tough highly effective, took longer in certain cases which led to less content being covered
•	Throughout each department it was felt that lower ability students struggled with this form of assessment
•	Students can find it challenging as it is outside their comfort zone.

2.3	Teachers outlined the areas for improvement for the upcoming academic year:
 
•	Make success criteria clearer
•	If one strategy does not work, look at other strategies 
•	Use ICT to share exemplars of high quality work and skill
•	Use ICT for assessment
•	Aim self-reflection that suit particular ability levels
•	At the commencement for this process use this strategy on low stakes homework and tasks
•	Keep the process as a novelty to ensure continued success
•	Keep the focus narrower
•	Use new methods like “show me boards”

3: Summary of School Self-Evaluation findings:

From our staff findings:
•	Learning intentions need to be shared to ensure that formative feedback can be anchored within the learning experience in the classroom: ie- “what am I learning” needs to be shared and understood clearly before we can claim to be effectively evaluating “how well I have learned it”. 
It is paramount for the success of all ongoing evaluation processes, that as a school we ensure that all stakeholders, within our school community, have an integral role in our School Self-Evaluation process. Therefore, in the upcoming academic year, September 2018/ 2019, parents and students will also complete a survey. This will provide additional relevant data to facilitate and promote our work and performance within Portmarnock Community School and to complete a full and comprehensive picture of the Teaching and Learning at Portmarnock Community School.
Our intention is that, as a school, we will have completed our evidence gathering by October Mid-term 2018.

Appendix to School Self-evaluation Report: Legislative and regulatory checklist			
Issue 	Relevant legislation, rule or circular 	Is the school fully meeting the requirements of the relevant legislation, rule or circular? 	If no, indicate to be developed	
Valid enrolment of students 	M51/93 	X Yes  No		
Time in school 
- Length of school year (minimum of 167 days for all year groups) 
- Length of school week (minimum of 28 hours for all year groups)	Circular M29/95 	
X Yes  No

X Yes  No		
Standardisation of school year 	Circular 034/2011 	X Yes  No		
Arrangements for parent/teacher and staff meetings 	Circular M58/04 	X Yes  No		
Implementation of national literacy strategy 	Circular 25/12 	X Yes  No		
Implementation of Croke Park agreement regarding additional time requirement 	Circular 025/2011 	X Yes  No		
Development of school plan 	Section 21 Education Act 1998 	X Yes  No		
Guidance provision in secondary schools 	Circular PPT12/05, Education Act 1998 (section 9(c))	X Yes  No		
Whole-school guidance plan 	Section 21 Education Act 1998 	X Yes  No		
Delivery of CSPE to all junior cycle classes 	Circular M12/01 Circular M13/05 	X Yes  No		
Exemption from the study of Irish 	Circular M1 0/94 	X Yes  No		
Implementation of revised in-school management structures 	Circular M29/02, Circular 21/98, Circular 30/97, Circular 29/97 	X Yes  No		
Limited alleviation on filling posts of responsibility for school year 2011/12 	Circular 53/11 	X Yes  No		
Public service (Croke Park) agreement - special needs assistants 	Circular 71/11 	X Yes  No		
Parents as partners in education 	Circular M27/91 	X Yes  No		

Issue 	Relevant legislation, rule or circular 	Is the school fully meeting the requirements of the relevant legislation, rule or circular?	If no, indicate aspects to be developed
	
Implementation of child protection procedures  	Circular 65/11 			
	Please provide the following information in relation to child protection 	 Yes  No		
	• Number of cases where a report involving a child in the school was submitted by the DLP to the HSE	7		
	• Number of cases where a report involving a child in the school was submitted by the DLP to the HSE and the school board of management informed 	7		
	• Number of cases where the DLP sought advice from the HSE and as a result of this advice, no report was made 	1		
	• Number of cases where the DLP sought advice from the HSE and as a result of this advice, no report was made and the school board of management informed 	1		
Implementation of complaints procedure as appropriate 	Section 28 Education Act 1998 	x Yes  No		
	Please provide the following information in relation to complaints made by parents during this school year 			
	• Number of formal parental complaints received 	3		
	• Number of formal complaints processed 	3		
	• Number of formal complaints not fully processed by the end of this school year 	0		
Refusal to enrol	Section 29 Education Act 1998 			
	Please provide the following information in relation to appeals taken in accordance with Section 29 against the school during this school year
 			
	• Number of section 29 cases taken  against the school 	0		
	• Number of cases processed at informal  stage 	0		
	• Number of cases heard 	0		
	• Number of appeals upheld	0		
	• Number of appeals dismissed 	0		

Issue	Relevant legislation, rule or circular 	Is the school fully meeting the requirements of the relevant legislation, rule or circular?	If no, indicate aspects to be developed	
Suspension of students	Section 29 Education Act 1998 	

1

0
1
0

1		
	Please provide the following information in relation to appeals taken in accordance with Section 29 against the school during this school year N/A 			
	• Number of section 29 cases taken against the school 			
	• Number of cases processed at informal stage 			
	• Number of cases heard 			
	• Number of appeals upheld 			
	• Number of appeals dismissed 			
Expulsion of students	Section 29 Education Act 1998 	

0

0
0
0

0		
	Please provide the following information in relation to appeals taken in accordance with Section 29 against the school during this school year 			
	Number of section 29 cases taken against the school 			
	Number of cases processed at informal stage 			
	Number of cases heard 			
	Number of appeals upheld 			
	Number of appeals dismissed