Best Practice: Ramsgrange Community School

1. Review of Mission Statement

Commenced in Sept 2006

When carried out?
Which classes were involved?

Students in the Student Council reflecting the thoughts of all students in their tutor groups.
Teachers, Parents Council, Board of Management

School Planning
Following on the meeting in Geldrop where each school discussed and compared their mission statements we felt that a review of the mission statement was vital in order that it would reflect the ethos and traditions of the school while at the same time reflecting the changing world in which the school now exists.
A staff planning meeting was held and the mission statement review was set for 2006/7. This was to ensure that review of other policies would reflect the new mission statement.
A sub-committee was formed including the teacher with responsibility for school planning.
The students through their tutor groups were asked to examine the current mission statement and report through the Student Council.
The Parents Committee, who are mainly former students of the school, were asked for their input in light of trying to maintain the tradition and school spirit moving forward.
The staff were divided into small groups, each group was made up of teachers who served many years in the school and new teachers - again in an effort to combine the old traditions with the new and these groups examined the old mission statement and also mission statements of other schools.
The Board of Management were also involved to bring the thoughts of the trustees and other stakeholders.

The final wording is almost complete and will be available by the end of the school year.

Also during the year a similar process took place to produce a mission statement for our Post Leaving Certificate Courses. This time the students involved were the adult students together with the Co-ordinator and teachers involved in post leaving certificate education. This Mission Statement is complete together with all its associated policies and procedures.

The Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC), a national awarding body, has agreed our quality assurance procedures which is a significant achievement.

Students working on the finished mission statement

Evaluation

What went well??

The fact that we had an opportunity to review the mission statement with the partner schools in Geldrop.

Student consultation went very well as did the work of the teachers.
The idea of gathering the thoughts of the "old" and "new" in terms of pupils and teachers means that ownership of the mission statement was a great idea.

The "time frame" involved in change needs to be reduced as momentum is lost if the process is too drawn out.

Is this best practice transferable to other schools?
Yes. We learnt from our involvement in the Europroject and SDP Project that the idea of always involving the experienced teacher with the new teacher means that interest is maintained from year to year. We would recommend that other schools would do the same with both pupils (past and present) and teachers (new and old) to ensure that there is always a combination of experience and youth to ensure ownership moving forward.

A copy of the Mission Statement for the Post Leaving Certificate Courses together with the aims behind it. The other Mission Statement will not be finalised in time but we will make it available at the end of May.

2. Anti Bullying Code

Commenced in Sept 2006
A sub committee was formed from the relevant departments: SPHE, School Chaplain, Career Guidance, Board of Management, Parents Council, Teaching Staff, and Student Council.
It involved changing School policy.

The sub committee obtained samples from a selection of other schools. Theses were reviewed along with our own revised mission statement as these are closely linked. The most relevant information was extracted from the other codes and we added to the recommended information devised by the sub committee. The revised code is now in the process of being circulated to all the relevant departments mentioned above.

A finished document is expected to be ratified by the Board of Management in May 2007. SPHE students from a range of age groups 14-16 yrs, were consulted on their opinions and ideas regarding bullying and all of this information was collated and added to the final draft.

Evaluation

Student consultation went very well; they had a lot of vital information to share regarding the different types of bullying present today and methods of prevention that we as adults may not have been aware of. Areas of improvement could include more rigid deadlines, as sometimes the process has proven to take too long in coming to decisions.

Is this best practice transferable to other schools?
Yes we feel it is a good model if rigid deadlines are set at the beginning of the task and everyone is willing and needs to get involved.

Copies of the original school code and other schools codes.
Revised copy will be forwarded in May.

3. Anti Litter Policy

Anti Litter Policy
We wanted to draw up a policy on litter in our school as we felt it was a major problem.

Commenced in Sept 2005

A staff meeting was held and the issue of litter was discussed at length, a sub committee was formed to tackle the problem and the staff agreed to raise the issue in their own relevant subjects over a period of two months. The sub committee of five people met with the target group of students and had another discussion on the issue, it was agreed that a policy be draw up and this was completed by the first year students. The central area where the students eat their lunch was divided into five distinct sections, a rota of students to look after each area was drawn up and basins and extra bins were put in place. Posters encouraging students to recycle were put up around the school and recycling bins were increased in numbers.

The issue of litter was raised in many different subjects across the curriculum including; CSPE, religion, geography and SPHE.

There was also an assembly held for each year group and the system was explain to them and they were also told of the importance of having a litter free environment.

Here you have examples of the Litter posters produced by the first year students - these are placed on the wall alongside the rota of students responsible for tidying up the basins in that area. The map was produced to show where each group of students has been assigned a seating area for lunch breaks - this makes it easier to see who is/is not cleaning up as agreed.

Evaluation
Student consultation went very well; they had a lot of vital information to share and they were quite vocal in their opinions on the litter situation in the school. There is a major area that needs to be improved and that is the follow in making sure that the students in charge complete the task each day. There were no sanctions put in place to ensure this, this area will have to be rectified at the next review in May.

Is this best practice transferable to other schools?
Yes we feel it is a good policy once sanctions are put in place and is completely thought through.

Information about the original materials (language, downloadable, available, number of pages...)
Copies of the anti litter code, the central area plan, the list of students in charge.
Photos of the area with basins and bins.

Click here to read the Litter project (year two)