The centre supports young people with a wide variety of additional support needs by removing barriers and using targeted interventions to enable them to succeed. The specialist staff work with young people in a variety of settings including schools, our own Skills Centre and West Lothian College.
The inspection team found a number of strengths in the school's work including:
• Whole school community involvement in improving the work of the school.
• Caring and supportive relationships across the school leading to young people who feel safe when learning.
• Young people's involvement in exploring their wellbeing and being able to express views on their progress including contributing to their
next steps in learning.
• A strong understanding of the needs of young people and their families. Senior leaders and staff provide equitable support to ensure that
the cost of the school day is not a barrier to wellbeing or pupil participation in activities.
The inspectors also noted a number of areas for improvement and these have been discussed with the headteacher and West Lothian Council. These include:
• Continue to improve the consistency of learning and teaching, ensuring all activities are motivating and well matched to the needs of young
people.
• Staff should now improve the curriculum to ensure that they widen all young people's experiences, leading to better learning.
• Improve young people's attendance to raise attainment across all areas of the curriculum.
Headteacher Andrew Miller, said:
"We are really proud of our learners influencing positive change in our school and our caring and supportive culture across the school.
"We are working hard together to make a difference to the most disadvantaged secondary aged learners in West Lothian and we are in a strong position to continue to improve - noted in our strengths.
"This year has been a challenging one, however, we had made a number of key improvements to address the areas for improvement and we will continue to do so and move forward in the right direction for the young people at Burnhouse."
