We’re pleased to be recognised as an Apple Distinguished School for
2024–2027 for inspiring, imagining, and impacting teaching and learning
school wide through continuous innovation.

Our Story

See how we use Apple technology in innovative ways to inspire, imagine, and impact teaching and learning:

Inspire

Our empowering learning vision is focused on meaningful pathways and empowering pedagogy for young people. This means students at Selkirk High School are able to help design and access a very broad curriculum which links to opportunities locally, nationally and beyond whether they study tractor repair or cyber security, criminology or history, physics or horticulture. Our students connect and collaborate with a range of partners to develop their meta-skills such as creativity, communication and critical thinking. Our agreed teaching approach promotes innovation, develops deep thinking and encourages student leadership of their own learning in both classrooms and in unfamiliar contexts.

Imagine

Our curriculum breadth ensures students can choose a pathway meaningful to them. In addition, our Achievement Journey focus on qualifications, skills and values allows students to record, celebrate and share their achievements in a visual CV which develops metacognition, pride and confidence. Our approach to technology allows pupils to see their potential – a striking example of this is in creative subjects where we have seen a leap in uptake and attainment. The unique Skills In Action courses have developed community partnerships and rich opportunities for pupils to develop their meta-skills in wide-ranging contexts with focuses including communication, coding and enterprise.

Impact

All staff have an ‘Impact Story’ recording their progress and engagement in our co-designed professional learning programme and coaching trios – empowering staff to lead and drive continuous improvement. Every faculty also has a ‘Faculty Impact Story’ demonstrating leadership of change at every level. Our doors are always open to inform and inspire practitioners and leaders from far and wide. These opportunities are enthusiastically taken to share our ‘Impact Stories’, curriculum development and the nurturing ethos underpinning all we do. Our equitable, inclusive and accessible use of technology empowers all learners to fulfil their potential overcoming whatever barriers they face.

Next Steps

We will continue to develop a curriculum designed to deliver our Selkirk High School Vision empowering all our learners to reach their potential.
We will be focusing on deep thinking, expanding curriculum options across the whole school and embedding Oracy.

View our story as a PDF

We are proud to be recognised as an Apple Distinguished School for 2021-2024 for our success in integrating technology throughout the school in an innovative way that inspires and supports every pupil on their achievement journey.

Read our 2021 Story here:

Selkirk High – Our Apple Distinguished School StoryDownload

Vision

Our vision is for all learners to use technology to access deep thinking consistently in their learning, develop the SHS Golden Skills and apply their learning in real world contexts to develop confidence, self-belief and ambition. Our students must know that the most amazing opportunities across the country and beyond are accessible to them, the young people of Selkirk, no matter their background or identity. This vision of ‘Meaningful Learning’ is founded on evidence about our learners, their experiences and their destinations and is at the heart of professional development which is characterised by its rigorous evidence base, its focus on pedagogy and its responsiveness to new circumstances. We are a small school but the world is here!

**iPad devices breaking down barriers of classroom walls!** In September 2021, S2 Students worked live with @digitalworldhq to track poachers with big data and artificial intelligence in real time across the world

Learning and Teaching

Learning and Teaching improvement is founded on evidence. This currently highlights the need for greater consistency in key pedagogical areas. Apple technology means that our feedback and metacognition focus this year has resulted in consistently rich experiences involving immediate, relevant and detailed feedback using audio, video and interactive keynotes and quizzes. Staff share successes and support each other to try new ways of working both in dynamic sessions and informally. Our Professional Development Cycle includes initial evaluation, relevant training to support identified needs, trialling experiences and further evaluation at key points. Across an ever broadening range of opportunities now including Coding, Creative Thinking, Cyber Security and Digital Enterprise, students are using iPads to develop their Golden Skills: learners are creating wonderful digital art, collaborating on feedback and sharing learning in a range of media. Increasingly independent, many learners benefit from the accessibility features to personalise their learning. Whether in rural, modern languages or PE, iPads are used to record, evaluate and enhance learning through iMovie, Clips, Pages and Keynote, and to engage with opportunities for real world engagement. Using OneNote, Pages and Book Creator, pupils record and demonstrate their Achievement Journey in Qualifications, Skills and Values to create visual CV’s. These include audio, video, photography and text and contributions from teachers, parents and partners and serve as an ongoing and inspiring testimony to the progress of students.

Pupils use their iPad in all curricular areas to enhance their learning

Success

Students are loving it! Our Digital Vision is at the heart of our Improvement Plan and every teacher can now share an Impact Story linked to our vision. Most of our teachers are Apple Teachers and others are getting there. More and more staff are leading professional development opportunities. Whole School self-evaluation includes recording of professional development progress and activity, SLT 5-a-day pupil voice activities, snapshot surveys as well as attainment analysis. Engagement has increased in our most challenging groups; Parent feedback is very supportive. We collate lesson examples regularly from across the school and measure against SAMR. More and more students are accessing new courses resulting in an increased uptake in digital qualifications eg Cyber Security and Digital Enterprise.

What’s Next?

Our focus on ‘deep thinking’ will be supported by our ‘Open Doors’ policy to validate self-evaluation and SAMR. S1/2 students will experience Skills Afternoons ‘off timetable’ which will allow them to put their Golden Skills and Values into Action across a range of ‘real world’ experiences supported by partnerships beyond school. Progression in Skills and Digital will be enhanced by new courses in both Coding and Creative Thinking which we will be amongst the first in Scotland to offer. All learning in Qualifications, Skills and Values will be recorded digitally in students’ Achievement Journeys which will be embedded in session 2021-22 and will provide the basis for future planning as students take ownership of their learning and their lives.