School Based Project
Specific Target: To strengthen the impact and effectiveness of monitoring and evaluation procedures including the tracking of data and target setting throughout school.
Who will this involved?
Governing Body
Senior Leadership Team
Teaching Staff
Support staff
Aims:
- To improve teachers’ knowledge and understanding of how data, in particular Average Point Scores (APS) can be used to measure and track pupils progress and achievement.
- To improve teachers’ confidence and ability to interpret data, explain what they have found and suggest interventions and strategies that will improve pupil achievement.
- To give Governors and all staff a clear picture of how well the school is doing by giving succinct summaries of progress review outcomes for each year group.
Method
- Design and create a universal system for tracking pupil data, which includes APS, target setting and levels of progress for each child/year group.
- Ensure that all staff are confident in using the system and that data is entered every half term.
- Hold termly pupil progress meetings with each class teacher and the SENCo to monitor, evaluate and discuss the progress of all pupils.
- Link pupil progress tracking into Teacher Appraisal (pupil progress target)
- To look at the impact that data has had on pupil learning? What has the data told us? What are we doing about it and why?
- To share this data with all staff and Governors to give them a clear a picture of how well the school is doing.
Success Criteria
All staff and governors will have a clear picture of each year group’s progress/attainment. A more effective, robust tracking system will enable teachers to identify areas for development and/or children who are not making expected levels of progress more frequently.
Links to NPQH development needs:
- Consider was of holding others to account
- Extend range of analytical methods to draw conclusion and make balanced decisions
Leading and Improving Teaching: My Reflections
I found this first unit really interesting and engaging. Here is a summary of my key learning points:
|
Area for development |
Action to be taken |
| Using effective monitoring strategies to identify priorities and measure the success of initiatives |
|
| Working effectively with the Chair of Governors, giving mutual challenge and support |
|
Outstanding Teaching training day
As a summary to what I have read so far in my first NPQH module ‘Leading and Improving Teaching’ these are the kind of ideas I would share with staff during a training day…
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Can you walk the talk?
After listening to and reading the accounts of practice, its hard to disagree with their suggestion that leaders need to walk the talk.
Behaviour is a moral activity. Adults should model mutual respect for one another and be visible around the school modelling this behaviour. I completely agree with the notion that if teachers deliver well planned, interesting lessons which engage all pupils and have very clear boundaries in place that pupils understand then behaviour problems should not occur. We are currently working as a team to come up with our own behaviour checklist to ensure that there is consistency throughout school. Although we don’t have many issues with behaviour I feel that there are sometimes low level issues such as shouting out or talking when the teacher is talking and these small issues can eventually build up to become much bigger issues.
When I become a Headteacher my behaviour checklist would look something like this..
1. Show respect for everyone and everything.
2. Have manners – Hold doors open for people and always say please and thank you.
3. Ensure that children walk around the school sensibly.
4. Use indoor voices – no shouting.
5. Have pride in all that you do – keep classrooms tidy and organised.
6. Celebrate successes however small they may seem.
7. Make expectations clear at the beginning of each session.
8. Encourage children to assess their own attitudes and behaviours.
9. Deal with any behaviour issues inline with school policy- minimise and move on.
10. Know and understand individuals – we are all unique.
I am confident that I already ‘walk the talk’ to model these behaviours around school but I feel that I need to be more present around school at crucial times during the day.
What I know about leading teaching…
I’ve recently started following teacher, researcher and assessment guru @dylanwiliam and have found his tweets both inspiring and thought-provoking.
“The only thing that really matters is the quality of the teachers” (Wiliam, 2010)
The Outstanding Teacher’s Toolkit
Outstanding teaching comes from dedicated teachers, rigorous lessons and frequent, purposeful AfL. Outstanding lessons include high student engagement, enthusiasm and a sense of excitement. It is the teachers that create these environments.
I have seen many outstanding lessons in the school where I work but what strikes me when I move from classroom to classroom is that although we do have a consistent approach to teaching and learning (tables are arranged in 4’s for Cooperative Learning, Kagan Structures are applied frequently, the teachers all use the Quiet Signal and our six ‘Keys to Success’ are displayed clearly in each classroom) each teacher has their own authentic style and this is what I think makes our school a special place. This week has been ‘Peer Development Week’ and teachers have been going into one another’s lessons to see what they can learn from one another and how they can support and develop each other. This culture of professional collaboration is crucial for successful and sustained continuous professional development.
“We know that experience alone is not enough. Just leaving teachers to their own devices does not work either – if it were, then the most experienced teachers would generate the greatest progress in their students and we know that is not true. Instead, what is needed are ways to support teachers to reflect on their practice in systematic ways, to build on their accessible knowledge base and, perhaps, most importantly, to learn from their mistakes.” (Wiliam, 2009)
In a small, one form entry primary school teachers can be professionally isolated. They may rarely attend courses or speak to other teachers who teach the same year group as them and this is why we have created phase teams within our school to allow teachers to plan and teach collaboratively with one another. Our phase teams share the same PPA time and teach the same topics so that they can share ideas and resources and often team-teach alongside one another. We have taken this ‘inside-out’ strategy one step further now as teachers are carrying out lesson studies together and developing their coaching skills through to develop and improve teaching.
This year our staff have all began to use online communities such as Twitter to share and collaborate with schools far and wide and this has really transformed CPD in our school. Every day I see conversations about teaching and learning on Twitter either between two members of staff at our school or with other schools. Often this may just be a sharing of ideas but sometimes it is to arrange visits to one another’s schools to share good practice.
Getting the basics right: Modelling and Behaviour Management
Learning cannot take place if it is disrupted by poor behaviour. Headteachers need to be very clear about their expectations and should leave nothing to chance. Behaviour checklists are a good idea as they ensure that there is consistent approach throughout the school. NLE and Head of Ripley St Thomas Academy showed a great example of a behaviour checklist. Liz and her staff came up with non-negotiables in terms of behaviour and organisation and these are used as a checklist each morning and again in the afternoon by all staff. The list includes things like meeting and greeting the children at the door, the consistent use of the quiet signal and expectations for what children should do on entry into each lesson. There is a clear expectation that all staff adhere to this checklist. In our school we already have a consistent approach to gaining attention (using Kagan’s quiet signal) but are in the process of devising a checklist like Liz’s to suit the needs of our younger children.
BETT 2013
Last week I had the pleasure of spending two days down in London visiting the BETT show with our ‘Techno Team.’ Being an ICT enthusiast it was great to be able to visit this annual event once again not only to see new technologies but also to meet some of the fantastic professionals I follow on Twitter!
Upon arrival at the Excel Centre, TEAM Silas excitedly went their separate ways to visit the workshops, seminars and conferences they’d previously earmarked using the fantastic BETT App! My first destination was the School Leaders Summit where Russell Hobby from the NAHT was speaking about the changing role of the school leader. This was a really interesting session which focused on the Headteacher as the lead professional within the school and the three dangers of this professionalism…
1. Self image- the things that once made you great will not make you successful as a leader. Leaders need to get their sources of satisfaction from others successes rather than their own. For me this is particularly pertinent at the moment. Being fresh out of the classroom and used to being the person leading and driving ICT across the school I am in the process of accepting that this person is no longer me. I’m excited that someone however, has filled these shoes perfectly well and am now getting great satisfaction from seeing her work unfold.
2. Misunderstanding or misusing the phrase ‘I’m a professional’. Russell talked about how teachers should not get to choose their own standards but should have some autonomy in how they master them. Performance Management is necessary in order to monitor and maintain standards but should it be called Performance Development?
3. Isolation as a professional- school leaders need to face up to the increasing demand to face outwards in this changing climate. My school is a strategic partner to a Teaching School and this has created stronger links with local schools but Twitter has opened up doors further afield and this is an avenue I’m keen to explore further!
Russell ended his seminar by reinforcing the main role of a school leader- leading teaching and learning.
Following this seminar there was a panel discussion led by a variety of school leaders and representatives of NCSL and NAHT. This involved some great discussions around relevant school leadership issues and how the role of a school leader has changed over the last five years. Here are my key learning points/thoughts…
- The increased emphasis on collaboration
- Heads having more freedom to decide on the direction of their school
- The challenge for young leaders
- The pros and cons of growing your own leaders
- Distributing leadership
- The importance of having a work/life balance
A school leader is not a one man band. They should conduct the orchestra and let the musicians take the credit!
The following day I had the opportunity to listen to ‘Super Head’ Dame Sylvia Morris in the BETT Arena! She gave us her outstanding insight into school leadership and shared with us many things to think about. Firstly, the idea if leadership at all levels. Dame Sylvia runs her school by the notion; ‘don’t come in unless you’re prepared to lead.’ She suggested that the sign of a good leader was if they could leave their school for the day and not return to chaos! She referred to the fact that most of her audience were probably a lot more ICT-savvy than she was but that as a leader she didn’t need to know the most or be the best at everything but she did need to play a strategic role in school developments and how they were making a difference. She then went on to discuss learning at all levels nd the importance of taking measured risks. This is something I couldn’t agree more with and is something I feel the Headteacher I work alongside is very good at. Headteachers need to be brave. They need to stand up for what they believe in and take risks in order to improve the life chances of the children in their schools.
Dame Sylvia finished by saying that Headteachers have a lot to do but what’s important is that they do it with ding its and humanity. You can’t argue with that.
Oops!
Just a quick blog post to rave about my most recent read, ‘Oops!’ By Hywel Roberts. If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know I am a keen Twitter user! I use this micro blogging site to connect and share practice with school leaders from all over the world. This is where I first read about ‘Oops!’ and connected with its author @Hywel_Roberts.
The book is all about helping children to learn accidentally. It’s aimed at class teachers and encourages reflection on lesson planning, questioning and ways of ‘hooking children in’. Throughout the book, the author makes constant reference to creativity and seeking the support of people around you and even more importantly those above you as he suggests that the permission to innovate ultimately comes from the top. For him it’s about expectation, passion and energy and I couldn’t agree more!
Over the last few weeks I have made reference to this text during informal chats with staff and also in staff development meetings and after many requests we decided to purchase three copies for staff to share. I was delighted when these went from the staff room like hot cakes!!
If you haven’t already got yourself a copy I wholeheartedly recommend you do.
A quote from the book…
“For the free man there should be no element of slavery in learning. Enforced exercise may benefit the body but enforced learning will not stay in the mind. Therefore avoid compulsion and let your children’s lessons take the form of play.”
Plato – The Republic
My Journey to Headship... 