Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

4 July 2018

Context

St George Church in Wales Primary School is in the small village of St George, near Abergele in Conwy. Currently 61 pupils attend the school, six of whom attend nursery on a part-time basis. The school is organised into three mixed-age classes. Most pupils are of white British ethnicity. A few pupils speak English as an additional language.

Around 17% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school identifies that 22% of pupils have additional learning needs.

The headteacher has been in post since September 2010. He has a teaching commitment of at least two and a half days each week. The school’s leadership team consists of the headteacher and a teacher with a part-time teaching and learning responsibility.

Strategy and action

The headteacher used the 2015 inspection outcomes as a catalyst for improvement. In the first instance, he identified the need for the school to become more outward looking to find and adopt approaches that would improve teaching and learning. Staff began to visit local schools identified as having good standards of teaching. Over a period of about eight weeks, teachers visited other schools to observe lessons, to identify good practice and to work on planning for pupils of different abilities. At the same time, the school adopted a ‘teaching charter’. This continuum of descriptors of teaching helped teachers to understand what good practice might look like within their classrooms. They were able to identify many of the traits of good practice cited in the charter through their observations of and work with their partner school. These measures were effective in raising teachers’ expectations of their work, in supporting them to reflect on their own practice and in bringing levels of consistency to the quality of teaching. For example, the follow-up report of 2016 noted that ‘all teachers use consistent approaches, such as sharing learning intentions with pupils at the beginning of lessons and useful plenaries at the end of each session’. As a result of raised expectations and a developing awareness of pedagogical approaches, most teachers now use a suitable range of assessment for learning strategies successfully. For example, foundation phase pupils now identify well strengths and areas for improvement in their own work and the work of others through verbal feedback and by using a traffic light grading system.

The school’s leaders used inspection recommendations about aspects of their leadership to improve teaching further. For example, they improved self-evaluation processes and began to make effective use of the performance management of staff. Leaders started to involve all staff in monitoring activities. These activities included a scrutiny of pupils’ books to evaluate how well feedback helped pupils to improve their work. These activities informed professional development for all staff, for example by looking at effective marking from other schools. Leaders drove this forward by setting a performance management target for all staff of improving the quality of marking and feedback for pupils. In 2016, inspectors identified that ‘arrangements for marking and feedback to pupils are effective and help pupils to understand what they have done well and what they need to do to improve further’. These were important team building activities that supported the staff to understand the collective role they had in accelerating pupils’ progress and the importance of helping each other.

Staff have developed this team ethos successfully to share planning. Collectively they plan pupils’ learning experiences using the HWB digital learning platform. This is effective in enabling all staff to view each other’s planning, for example to see how colleagues are catering for the needs of pupils of differing abilities.

Leaders are now beginning to make effective use of lesson observations to identify strengths and areas for improvement in teaching. These observations draw on the characteristics of effective practice set out in the teaching charter. They include suitable evaluations of the impact of teaching on pupils’ progress. However, at this stage in the school’s journey, the headteacher tends to carry out these observations with the support of challenge advisers. Other teachers at the school are not yet involved in formal lesson observations. The school has not yet reached the stage of setting bespoke individual targets for teachers based on an in depth analysis of their strengths and areas for development. Currently, lesson observations tend to revolve around the performance management process and do not feature as an ongoing strategy to promote professional growth.

Teachers receive useful additional professional development opportunities to improve aspects of their work. For example, training to use specific approaches to develop pupils’ talking and writing skills is effective. In combination with other improvement initiatives such as developments to marking and feedback, this training has a positive impact on pupils’ progress. Training to improve the understanding of and capacity to implement foundation phase pedagogy has had a positive impact overall. The school now ensures that there is a suitable balance of opportunities for pupils to learn through play and experiences as well as a good range of adult-led activities. In combination, this provision enables pupils to acquire, develop and apply their skills appropriately.

School leaders are building on recent improvements to build momentum for wider pedagogical changes. This supports the national agenda for curriculum reform appropriately. For example, leaders organise professional learning activities aimed at developing pupils as resilient learners and encourage staff to take greater advantage of digital resources to support pupils’ learning. The school continues to work with partners to collaborate effectively, for instance to plan authentic real-life learning experiences, such as ‘Fairtrade’ events.

Outcomes

The school has made strong progress since its most recent inspection in improving the quality of teaching and in implementing foundation phase pedagogy
The school has developed a shared understanding of what constitutes good teaching
Staff collaborate successfully and make good use of professional learning opportunities to improve their practice
The quality of teaching ensures that many pupils make good progress from their starting points.
The school is using and developing a suitable range of approaches to keep the quality of teaching under review
Leaders show the capacity to improve teaching at a whole-school level

Next steps as identified by the school

Further develop the school’s capacity to identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching independently
Continue to use first-hand evidence to identify aspects of teaching that require improvement at whole school level
Use the analysis of evidence of the quality of teaching to set individual improvement targets for teachers that reflect their individual needs as professional learners.
Develop arrangements for teachers to reflect on the progress they have made against improvement goals

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Context

Neyland Community School is in Neyland in Pembrokeshire. Currently 333 pupils attend the school, 52 of whom attend the nursery. The school is organised into five mixed-age and six single-age classes. Nearly all pupils are of white British ethnicity.

Around 18% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school identifies that over 40% of pupils have additional learning needs. No pupils speak Welsh at home

The headteacher has been in post since September 2006. Two of the three other members of the leadership team and most teaching staff who were in post at the time of the inspection continue to work at the school.

Strategy and action

The senior leadership team agree that the findings of the inspection team came as a shock initially, but they were determined to make the improvements necessary. All agree that the recommendations helped the school to focus on the most important areas and enabled them to say no to initiatives that, although interesting, were not right for the school’s stage of development. Leaders reflect that they had previously been trying to do too many things at once and this had led to a lack of consistency and embedding of agreed practices.

Leaders recognise that at the time of the inspection a lack of consistency across and between year groups was an issue. After the inspection, the leadership team constructed a list of non-negotiables for general classroom routines and for the six recommendations. These non-negotiables were what they expected to see in all classes. At staff meetings, teachers discussed the non-negotiables and had good opportunities to feed into the process. The non-negotiables have evolved as teachers have trialled new practices. For example, the school found that one of the original non-negotiables around feedback and marking was too complicated and cumbersome for teachers and pupils. In a few cases, teachers were spending more time writing comments than pupils had taken to complete the work. This led to teacher discussions about the purpose of marking and feedback and an agreement from all teachers to have meaningful conversations with pupils about how they can improve their work. Teachers also agreed a marking code that all classes use consistently and importantly, pupils understand. Through whole staff discussion, teachers reached a consensus that marking should always be meaningful and that the quality of the feedback to pupils was more important than the quantity. School leaders follow-up well on how marking helps to improve pupils’ understanding by conducting work scrutiny with pupils and asking them how the comments of their teacher and peers help them to produce better work.

The non-negotiables have evolved into a learning charter that the school revisits each half term. Prior to the learning charter meetings, leaders carry out a range of self-evaluation activities linked to the priorities and agreements in the charter. These activities include work scrutiny with pupils, listening to learners, governor feedback and lesson observations. Minutes from staff meetings demonstrate clearly how leaders follow-up on all monitoring activities and provide staff with honest feedback and clear next steps. Leaders take the time to celebrate all that is going well and emphasise the progress that everyone has made.

Leaders observe every teacher every term against an agreed charter priority. The school uses the proforma from the regional consortium for assessing the quality of teaching and learning. When leaders first introduced regular formal lesson observations, teachers saw the observation more as a performance and felt they were under the spotlight. Leaders state that using the consortium proforma has helped teachers and themselves rethink the purpose of lesson observations. They now focus more clearly on the impact of teaching on pupil outcomes rather than on the teacher as an individual. After each observation, the teacher receives brief oral feedback. The senior leader writes up the observation notes and meets with the teacher for an in-depth professional dialogue about pupils’ standards, the teacher’s contribution to charter priorities, areas of strength in teaching and any further development or support needed. Senior leaders meet after the round of lesson observations to pull together whole school strengths and areas for development as well as progress toward the charter priorities. They report their findings honestly and openly to staff. For example, discussions around lesson observations identified pace as an area for development as pupils stated that they had to listen too much before doing anything. Teachers introduced the ‘ten second rule’ to try to ensure that they engage pupils actively throughout the lesson and do not become embroiled in lengthy explanations. Lesson observations also started a discussion about differentiation as leaders felt that although most teachers differentiated activities they were not always considering well enough the starting points of the pupils in the class. These discussions led to teacher agreement about how to differentiate activities and the importance of having frequent check-ins with pupils to understand how well they are coping with the demands of the lesson. Senior leaders undertake most lesson observations.

At the time of the inspection, the senior leadership team consisted of a headteacher, deputy headteacher and two senior teachers. After the secondment of one of the senior teachers, the headteacher extended an invitation to four members of the teaching staff to sit in on and participate in senior leader meetings. These middle leaders now take responsibility for projects such as lesson study, mastery maths, continuous and enhanced foundation phase provision and moderation. This has distributed leadership and responsibility well across the school and has improved the professional learning opportunities for these aspiring leaders.

Leaders know their staff well. They have moved at a pace that staff are comfortable with and have involved staff in many important decisions around what the school should do to achieve consistency and grow its professional practice. Three teachers explored and trialled the lesson study approach last year. They are building their experience of the approach during the autumn and spring terms of 2017/2018 with the plan of coaching Year 5 and Year 6 teachers in the methodology in the summer term. Leaders check constantly that what they are doing is right for their school and are not afraid to stop doing something if it is not working for their teachers or pupils. The school is just beginning to introduce peer observations, as previously not all teachers were comfortable with this activity. Feedback from the first round of peer observations was positive with teachers mostly welcoming the opportunity to share their practice. Senior leaders and a few teachers have had the opportunity to observe practice in other schools.

The headteacher recently undertook an audit about perceptions of professional development in the school. She ranked the school as emerging, bronze, silver or gold against a range of statements and questions about the school’s current approach to staff development. The questions focused on topics, such as whether there is a clear vision for effective professional development, the role of leaders in modelling good professional development, how comfortable are staff in sharing their practice and how well the school supports staff to grow and develop their professional practice. Leaders have used the outcomes from the audit to inform a priority in the school development plan. Targets against the priority include engaging teachers in longer-term professional learning activities rather than attending one off courses or events and for staff to participate in whole school or phase development activities. The school has already started this phase of its journey by buying in an external provider to lead a staff development day on what makes excellent teaching. This day encouraged staff to think about their practice and to share ideas and methodologies. After this day, and the ensuing professional discussions, staff amended the learning charter to reflect that their lessons would contain a series of mini plenaries to check pupils’ understanding and offer more frequent opportunities for pupils to influence how and what they learn. Teachers in Year 3 and Year 4 have all attended the same four-day professional development course on how to engage pupils in co-operative learning. The course, joint fortnightly after-school planning sessions and co-operative learning as the focus of the lesson study trial have led to a consistent approach across these classes and a greater focus on pupils’ social and communication skills and their emotional wellbeing. Teachers have worked together to think about, for example, how the organisation of their classrooms and their questioning leads to greater levels of co-operation and reduced anxiety for pupils.

Outcomes

The school now ensures that:

Monitoring activities lead to clear actions
Leaders have a much better understanding of the strengths and areas for improvement in their school
All staff now take responsibility for the practice in their classes
There are greater levels of consistency, particularly in marking and feedback
The whole school considers the impact of teaching on learning
Staff are more confident to take part in peer observations
The school distributes leadership more effectively
Staff have greater opportunities to develop professionally and learn together

Next steps as identified by the school:

Provide more opportunities for and embedding of peer observation
Consider the financial implications of rolling out the lesson study approach across the school if it proves successful
Make more use of research to inform practice, including staff taking part in action research projects
Become more external facing and arrange for more staff to visit other providers to share and see other good practice
Develop the capacity of staff to reflect on their practice and against the new professional standards

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Context

Oldcastle Primary School is in the centre of Bridgend. There are 421 pupils on roll, including 57 in the school’s nursery class. Pupils are organised into 15 classes.

Around 8% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. A very few pupils are looked after by the local authority. No pupils speak Welsh at home, and a few pupils speak English as an additional language, and many of these pupils have only very recently joined the school. The school identifies that around 14% of pupils have additional learning needs. A very few pupils have a statement of special educational needs.

The school is currently a pioneer school and is working with the Welsh Government and other schools to take forward developments relating to the curriculum and other professional learning.

Strategy and action

The headteacher took up his post in March 2013. One of his first actions was to carry out a series of lesson observations to make an informed judgement about the quality of teaching in the school. His observations found that, although all staff were working hard, they were not necessarily focusing on the right things to help them improve their teaching and in turn pupils’ learning. Prior to his appointment, teachers had attended numerous external one off professional development courses and sabbaticals. The headteacher identified that teachers had a range of different strengths and areas for development. He did not believe that attending further external events would bring about the improvements needed. He wanted to improve teaching by using internal mechanisms of support. The headteacher introduced an intensive twelve-week coaching and mentoring system to assist further teacher development. The school released a senior teacher from her classroom duties for one year to run the programme and to establish partnerships with other schools and institutions to develop newly qualified teacher and student development programmes.

The coaching and mentoring programme was personal and bespoke to the teachers involved. Individual programmes focused on areas identified as needing improvement through lesson observations and book scrutiny, as well as on areas the teacher identified as wanting to hone. The teacher coach met with every teacher at least once a week. She provided in-class support through modelling lessons and co‑teaching. She also worked with teachers on lesson planning and classroom management strategies. After every coaching session, teachers identified what they were going to work on prior to the next meeting. A key to the success of this programme was the honest and open working relationships that senior leaders established with those staff involved in the programme. This led to high levels of trust for those involved in the programme and built teachers’ confidence and self‑esteem.

A similar coaching and mentoring programme is in place for newly qualified and graduate teachers who join the school. The school currently employs two teachers on the graduate teacher programme and a teacher in their second year of teaching. The deputy headteacher meets these teachers each week to plan their professional learning experiences, such as arranging for the modelling of lessons, co-teaching and peer observations and to set future pedagogical targets. The school tailors the experiences effectively to meet the needs and stage of development of the individual teacher.

The headteacher is very aware of the demands of the teaching profession and the additional pressures that some staff place on themselves. In order to raise awareness of the importance of a work-life balance and of staff taking care of their mental health, he invited all teachers to attend a mindfulness course. A national teaching union funded the course and teachers attended on a voluntary basis for two hours after school for eight weeks. Nearly all teachers attended. Teachers agree that attending helped raise their awareness of each other and the importance of communicating honestly and openly so that issues became shared rather than hidden. This has helped to improve further lines of communication within the school and encouraged a more openness so that teachers are now comfortable with colleagues just popping into their classrooms.

The school takes a whole-school approach to professional learning. For example, when the school decided to introduce new mathematics resources and ways of working, all staff attended regular in-house development events. After each event staff agree a focus to work on linked to their learning. They share the outcomes of their work at staff and senior leader meetings. This helps to ensure consistency of implementation and approach across all classes. Staff attend regional and local update and information sessions, but very rarely attend standalone professional learning events.

Leaders encourage teachers to take part in action research and to trial new ideas. For example, teachers have used research inquiry techniques to explore how games can improve pupils’ mathematical and spelling skills. Teachers also trial ideas for improving pupils’ comfort and wellbeing by introducing bean bag seating and wearing slippers in classrooms. The school’s leadership is not afraid to abandon projects and trials if they are not meeting the needs of pupils and staff. For example, a few years ago the school introduced the use of video technology for lesson and peer observations. However, at that time teachers were not at a stage of sharing practice to be comfortable with this type of approach. The school also trialled and abandoned triple marking when teachers agreed that it was not improving the quality of feedback to pupils and was not an effective use of their time.

Over the last academic year, the school invested heavily in a six day bespoke leadership programme for all members of the senior leadership team. Over the six days, participants learnt about their own behaviours and leadership styles. They explored how to best communicate and give feedback, avoiding conflict and raising staff confidence, by using assertive positive behaviours. They learnt about coaching and mentoring techniques and received one to one coaching and feedback on their own performance from an external mentor. All teachers that took part in the programme feel that it built their confidence and grew their ability to have in-depth professional discussions about the quality of teaching and provision. This has resulted in higher levels of openness and honesty when examining and sharing practice within the school.

The school is moving away from formal lesson observations. Leaders in the school do not believe in grading whole lessons or breaking down and grading separate components of teaching. In 2017/2018, they are trialling a system of drop-in sessions where leaders will regularly pop into lessons for around 15 minutes and then have professional dialogue with teachers. Over time, staff in the school have become accustomed to the headteacher and other senior staff dropping into their lessons unannounced to talk to pupils and take part in the teaching and learning. In 2017/2018, teachers will be encouraged to observe each other more frequently.

Outcomes

The school’s approach to coaching and mentoring teachers based on their individual needs and stage of development has resulted in consistently good teaching practices across the school. The ability of senior leaders to take part in open and honest feedback has improved because of the bespoke training on leadership, coaching and mentoring. This means that all leaders are comfortable challenging their own and each other’s ideas about what makes good teaching. This has led to all staff being reflective practitioners. The whole school approach to aspects of professional learning ensures the consistent implementation and development of new initiatives across the school.

Next steps as identified by the school

The school’s three main priorities are to:

Refine the lesson observation process so that teachers can access a higher level of professional support
Continue to conduct and publish high level research to improve the quality of learning and teaching
Use lesson observations to listen to learners and conduct book scrutiny, ensuring that activities for basic skills pupils are more closely matched to their ability

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Context

Ysgol Cynwyd Sant is in Maesteg in Bridgend local authority. There are around 300 pupils on roll, including 40 nursery pupils. There are 11 classes, five of which are mixed-age. Welsh is the main medium of the school’s life and work. Around 30% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes.

Around 12% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school has identified that around 23% of pupils have additional learning needs. A very few pupils come from ethnic minority backgrounds. A very few pupils are in the care of the local authority.

The headteacher, who was previously the deputy headteacher at the school, was appointed in September 1999.

The school is a pioneer school and is working with the Welsh Government and other schools on developments relating to the curriculum and professional learning. It is also part of the Welsh Government’s lead creative schools programme and is a hub school for its regional consortium. This means that it supports other schools in the consortium by providing training and opportunities to observe and share good practice.

Strategy and action

The school has always invested considerable resources into developing the skills of its staff as teachers and leaders. This includes teaching assistants with responsibility for leading learning with classes and groups.

The headteacher is an experienced leader who instils confidence in her workforce. She encourages them to try new ideas and different ways of doing things, and supports them to do so by providing the time and resources to plan and execute things properly. As a result, members of her leadership team and other staff develop strong leadership skills and considerable self-assurance. They are not afraid to evaluate their work critically and adapt or abandon plans when necessary. Leaders do not risk damaging pupils’ progress or wellbeing and always ensure that there is good evidence to suggest that any changes will have positive outcomes. Although teachers have high levels of autonomy, there are clear guidelines within which they should work. For example, when planning a topic, senior leaders identify a set of non-negotiable expectations. This includes a preparatory week when teachers remind pupils of basics, including the importance of purposeful talk, classroom and school rules, presentation and spelling, and the four purposes.

The school has a joined-up approach to everything it does, and ensures that all developments link to one another. School improvement planning, performance management, professional learning, teacher research and changes to the curriculum all link closely and this ensures that teachers do not feel as if they are repeating work unnecessarily, or carrying out work for the sake of it. In nearly all cases, anything teachers do fulfils multiple purposes.

In recent years, the school has changed the emphasis of classroom observations. The headteacher and other senior leaders still carry out statutory observations, but, three years ago, teachers started to work in triads with their colleagues. Staff feel that they now gain far more from this collaborative approach to improving teaching.

The headteacher is also committed to the concept of teachers as researchers. Senior leaders have introduced innovative ways to develop teachers’ research skills as part of their everyday work, and without overburdening them. Research now supports teachers’ performance management and school self-evaluation.

To maintain and extend the strengths identified in teaching at the time of the last inspection, the school has worked hard to remain at the forefront of educational developments. The headteacher has searched out opportunities to improve her own professional knowledge and understanding, working closely with outside agencies, including the Welsh Government and arts organisations, to make international visits and carry out research. She has extended the school’s involvement in sharing good practice by expanding its role as a hub school. She enables members of the school’s staff to provide training for staff from other schools, and hosts many visitors to the school. For example, several members of staff recently facilitated a course on assessment for learning for other schools. Preparing for these activities provides teachers with good opportunities to reflect on the work of the school, as well as learning about the approaches that other schools use.

The school first embarked upon triad working several years ago, initially inspired by guidance from the Welsh Government. However, the school has done what it often does particularly successfully, and has adapted the idea to suit the needs of its own teachers and the school’s context. At the outset, staff agreed a way of working that was less prescriptive and formal than the guidance suggested. Each triad is made up of a senior leader, and two other members of staff with different skills and different levels of experience. They plan lessons together and observe one another teaching their own classes. They then come together for a professional discussion. These conversations are supportive, but raise many important and interesting issues, which teachers debate critically in order to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching on raising pupils’ standards.

To facilitate teacher research, the school has taken a different approach to performance management. The new approach not only ensures that performance management connects well to other school developments, but also secures the commitment and full engagement of all teachers in the process. At the start of the year, teachers set themselves a research question. For example, one teacher has chosen to consider whether increased physical exercise has a positive impact on the motivation, engagement and academic progress of a group of boys at risk of disengagement. These research questions become the main driver for teachers’ performance management throughout the year and they set targets related to the research question. Although teachers have a free choice of research questions, leaders’ expectations of teachers are clear. During the year, leaders expect teachers to:

undertake action research with their pupils
carry out related professional reading and research
evaluate their findings and prepare a report to share with colleagues and as part of their annual performance management review

To reflect this alternative approach to performance management, the school has also taken a completely different approach to school improvement planning by using a whole-school research question, which, for 2017-2018, focuses on the school’s preparation for the new curriculum. The current line of inquiry focuses on how well staff use the pedagogical principles outlined in Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015) to raise the standards and wellbeing of all pupils.

Outcomes

As a result of the strong focus on developing leaders and continuing to improve teaching, the school has made considerable progress in preparing for the new curriculum. For example, pupils talk about the four purposes confidently at a level suitable for their age and stage of development. Pupil involvement in planning topics is an important part of the school’s philosophy. This ensures high levels of engagement in learning and contributes to strong pupil wellbeing and progress from starting points.

As part of the school’s self-evaluation, staff have started to evaluate progress against the four purposes outlined in Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015). The school also carries out a survey to assess the attitudes of pupils towards learning and the responses of teachers to their professional learning. In both cases, responses are positive. For example, a recent staff questionnaire confirms that all staff questioned feel that their understanding of the changes in the new curriculum is good or very good.

Teachers are highly engaged in their own professional learning and welcome the opportunities they have to take part in research and in sharing good practice with others. They are a confident staff who respond enthusiastically to new ideas and are flexible in their approach to all aspects of their work. They have high expectations of themselves, their colleagues and pupils.

Next steps as identified by the school

The school intends to:

Develop further its triad working for teachers and support staff, to include staff who cover classes regularly
use experienced staff in the school to enhance certain aspects of training and mentoring
increase the number of joint planning sessions and joint lesson observations for teacher triads from two to three in a year and ensure that the team leader produces a report on the outcomes of the triad’s work to share with other staff across the school
enable individuals to reflect within triads on their performance and use the professional teaching standards to identify personal areas for development
Focus on one of the pedagogical principles identified in Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015) as a school, with the intention of creating a whole-school strategy for critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving
Encourage staff to use a personal inquiry approach as part of performance management so that they take responsibility for their own personal development and identify their development against the professional standards
Work in triads with two primary schools from neighbouring local authorities to create a strategy for pedagogy

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Context

Ysgol Pencae is in Llandaff in Cardiff. There are currently around 210 pupils on roll, aged from 4 to 11 years. The school has seven single-age classes. As the school has no nursery provision, pupils come to the school from a wide range of pre-school provision.

Around 2% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school identifies that about 13% of pupils have additional learning needs. A very few pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds. About 16% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes. The headteacher has been in post since September 2008 and the deputy headteacher joined the school in September 2016.

Strategy and action

The school first renewed its focus on improving teaching in 2013. Leaders introduced a few published schemes to bring more consistency to the teaching of reading, writing and mathematics and to help sharpen teachers’ skills in these areas of the curriculum. Following this came a focus on developing the school’s approach to formative assessment through an understanding of assessment for learning.

In recent years, the school development plan has outlined clear priorities in relation to teaching, including improving feedback to pupils and refining the structure of lessons. The current plan includes a target to improve the standards of teaching and learning throughout the school, with the broad aim that all lessons should be good or excellent and develop pupils’ independent learning through activities set in real-life contexts. Senior leaders have clear expectations and staff understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to improving teaching. Teachers take responsibility for their own professional learning and know that they are accountable for the outcomes of the pupils in their classes.

In September 2016, teachers began working in triads with teachers in the same year group from two other local schools. The purpose of this work is to share good practice and to reflect on the effectiveness of their own teaching and that of colleagues.

Leaders and other members of staff have worked hard to develop a positive attitude and flexible approach to internal activities such as classroom observations, whole‑school scrutiny of pupils’ books, and team and whole-school staff meetings. This has enabled staff to become more open with one another and given them the confidence to address concerns and solve problems together. Staff now more readily acknowledge and discuss strengths and weaknesses in teaching across the school. Collaboration with teachers from other schools has encouraged this ethos of openness and reflection. Teachers now have greater confidence to question methodology and to trial and adapt new approaches for the benefit of pupils.

School leaders outline the following strategies that they feel are the backbone of the school’s approach to improving teaching, these are:

regular lesson observations
a clear line management system
the use of an agreed set of criteria to judge teaching
in-house professional learning days focused on aspects of teaching
regular in-school team meetings
attendance at courses focusing on pedagogy
teachers working collaboratively to develop various teaching elements
regular joint moderation sessions
teachers with specific responsibilities attending relevant courses and sharing learning with others in school
the employment of a part-time teacher to help develop and deliver strategies to support more able and talented and gifted pupils.

Following teachers’ self-evaluation of their teaching against agreed criteria from a published continuum, teachers and leaders identify areas for development that are common across the school. For example, they recently noted that the way teachers used lesson objectives and success criteria to support pupils’ learning was inconsistent. To agree a consistent way forward, teachers then discuss these issues in focused staff meetings or electronically. Teachers re-visit the agreed actions at further meetings or in a subsequent lesson observation. Where these actions are insufficient, school leaders often plan a series of professional learning sessions for staff.

The school uses lesson observations to monitor the quality of teaching every term. There is a timetable in place and observations focus clearly on two agreed targets every term from their self-evaluation and any personal targets from previous observations. For example, the current focus is on planning for numeracy and the impact of feedback to pupils, and next term leaders will consider pupils’ independent learning skills and the use of the outdoors.

As well as formal lesson observations, all teachers are working in triads with teachers of the same year group in other local schools. In its first year, this trial involved each triad planning a series of lessons, observing one another teach, reflecting on the good practice they identified, and sharing resources. Now in its second year, the focus is on developing lessons and ideas in areas of learning and experience from Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015). The aim of this triad working is to share skills, learn from subject specialists and create sustainable partnerships between schools.

Outcomes

As a result of the school’s focus on improving teaching, there is a high level of professionalism among staff. All teachers are engaged in elements of self-evaluation, particularly in relation to teaching. They take increased responsibility for their own professional learning and are enthusiastic and willing to try new ideas and approaches, particularly because of triad working with colleagues from other schools. Teachers have increased their understanding of the benefits of developing pupil voice, the importance of communicating effectively with parents, and the need to embrace all aspects of curriculum reform.

Teachers feel that developing pupils’ involvement in their own learning has had the greatest impact on standards of learning and wellbeing. Increased opportunities for pupils to evaluate their own learning, contribute to planning the curriculum, and modifying the language pupils use to talk about their work. For example, thinking of ‘opportunities to improve’, rather than ‘making mistakes’, has led to increased independence and ‘buy in’ from pupils.

Next steps as identified by the school

Consider how successfully teachers perform in relation to the 12 pedagogical principles outlined in Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015).

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Context

Dŵr y Felin Comprehensive School is an English-medium 11-16 mixed comprehensive school in Neath Port Talbot with around 1,150 pupils on roll.

The school draws pupils from Neath and the surrounding area. Around 17% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. About 2% of pupils come from Welsh-speaking homes. Most pupils are from white British backgrounds with a very few from minority ethnic groups. The school identifies that around 26% of pupils have additional learning needs.

The senior leadership team consists of the headteacher, two deputy headteachers, two assistant headteachers and a bursar. The headteacher has been in post since 2012 and the two deputies have been members of the senior leadership team since 2009 and 2008. The assistant headteacher responsible for teaching and learning has been in post since June 2017. Previously, one of the deputy headteachers held this responsibility.

The school is currently a pioneer school and is working with the Welsh Government and other schools to take forward developments relating to the curriculum and other professional learning.

Strategy and action

The headteacher and senior leadership team in Dŵr y Felin are clear that the school motto ‘Nid da lle gellir gwell’ ‘It’s not good enough unless it’s your best’ applies to the whole-school community. Leaders have high expectations for the provision of teaching and assessment. They provide extensive professional challenge and support to staff to enable them to reach these expectations.

The school considers a wide range of evidence through its self-evaluation processes. This ensures a holistic view of how effective teaching is across the school and what needs to improve further. This informs teaching as a central priority in the school development plan. Senior and middle leaders understand that improving teaching is one of their core functions. Teaching features on the agendas of all team and line management meetings, as well as being a key performance management objective for all staff, personalised to their role and their development needs.

An established teacher learning network group meets on a monthly basis. This group gives staff the opportunity to share pedagogy and teaching resources, in line with the termly school pedagogy focus.

This year the school has chosen to concentrate on four of the pedagogical principles from ‘Successful Futures’ (Donaldson, 2015). These are:

mindset and the power of effort, which supports the focus on more able pupils in the school development plan
deepening thinking, for both critical and creative purposes
learning autonomy and independent learning; pupils still need guidance, but they also need to learn to take ownership of their learning
meaningful and authentic learning

Through these foci, the school is seeking to provide stimulating enrichment activities that add depth and breadth to learning.

The network group has created and trialled approaches which staff now implement across the school. For example, after making feedback a focus, the group made a number of refinements to their current methods. Group members trialled and evaluated the effectiveness of these changes before rolling them out at a whole school level. The group used a similar approach when considering how to refine and improve questioning. These collaborative approaches offer staff an opportunity to research and then apply relevant theory to wider school priorities, such as raising the attainment of more able pupils.

Dŵr y Felin has adopted a coaching approach as an aspect of its professional learning offer. The school uses coaching in two distinct ways:

All staff review their own performance using digital technology. Self-reflection takes place at an individual level, although most teachers choose to discuss aspects of their teaching with a colleague or line manager. All teachers have had training on how to use this dialogue as a tool for reflection. In discussion with performance managers, staff set themselves clear actions to develop further pedagogical techniques and approaches.
Due to a recent senior leader appointment, Dŵr y Felin has had an opportunity to use the GROW coaching model with all staff. This non-threatening professional dialogue is welcomed and embraced by many staff and is becoming a strong tool for professional learning in the school.

All staff have beneficial opportunities to discuss their current goals and personal development needs with a coach. The school’s investment in time has been rewarded by renewed commitment to the school’s drive to continue to improve performance at all levels. Staff feel listened to, and have access to bespoke, personalised support, much of which the school provides through its internal expertise. All professional learning opportunities teachers identify have to demonstrate that they benefit other staff and pupils, as well as linking to the new professional teaching standards.

A further benefit of this approach is the deep knowledge gained of staff views on a range of important aspects of school life. This has enabled senior leaders to target whole school activities more precisely, particularly regarding wellbeing. They have made the most of useful readily available external resources to do this, such as Academi Wales publications.

Outcomes

As a result of the continued sharp focus on teaching, there are significant improvements on those aspects that have been identified as priorities. Using evidence from lesson observations, work scrutiny and pupil voice activities, the school concludes that, due to changes made by staff, questioning is now a strong feature in many lessons and the quality of written feedback has improved. Many comments now enable pupils to understand how to improve their work.

Nearly all staff understand the importance of quality teaching and are partners in the school’s improvement journey. They feel empowered to try new approaches, knowing they can reflect on their successes and areas to develop with colleagues through the various networks and meetings. Most of all, staff clearly enjoy the opportunities they have, and take on the challenge of further improving their teaching with pride. They are proud to belong to Dŵr y Felin and share the headteacher’s ambition for the school and its pupils.

Pupils feel challenged by their teaching and embrace this with zeal. Older pupils recognise the changes that have taken place over time, and how teaching now offers new challenges and opportunities to aim higher. Many pupils understand that learning is not always easy, but feel supported and encouraged by all staff.

Next steps as identified by the school

Developing four further pedagogical principles
Continuing to focus on pupil responses to feedback
Incorporating the four core purposes
Using digital resources in the classroom

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Context

Tredegar Comprehensive School is a mixed 11-16 school in Blaenau Gwent local authority. It has around 650 pupils on roll. Around 21% of the pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school identifies that 28% of pupils have additional learning needs.

Nearly all pupils speak English as their first language and come from a white British background. No pupils are fluent in Welsh.

The headteacher has been in post since 2012. The senior leadership team is comprised of a deputy headteacher and two assistant headteachers.

Strategy and action

On joining the school, the headteacher immediately identified many shortcomings in teachers’ and middle leaders’ understanding of data. This included a lack of awareness of how to use national indicators to measure the performance of pupils compared with those at similar schools, as well as how to use data to measure the progress and outcomes of individual and groups of pupils. Over time, this had prevented the school from developing an accurate assessment of how well pupils were achieving and consequently of the school’s strengths and areas for development. The existing staff group was well established, staff turnover was low and relationships at all levels within the school were very good. However, overall, the culture within the school was not aspirational. Senior and middle leaders were unclear about their roles and responsibilities and they did not hold staff well enough to account for their performance.

The first round of lesson observations conducted by the headteacher and members of the senior leadership team identified that despite pockets of good practice in teaching, expectations of pupils were low and teachers’ planning did not challenge individual pupils well enough. Opportunities for teachers to share good practice and access professional learning were limited. Across the school, teachers and leaders focused too much on the judgements attached to lesson observations and paid little attention to the impact of their teaching on pupils’ learning.

The new headteacher, together with representatives from the local authority and consortium, had a shared view of the need to raise standards of attainment and attendance in the school. The headteacher was clear that it was essential to develop the leadership of teaching and learning in the school. To do this she would need to strengthen the capacity of middle and senior leaders to understand and use data to drive improvements in pupil outcomes. At the same time, the school would need to establish a common approach to teaching that focused more on the impact of teaching on learning and less on the judgements attached to individual lessons and teachers.

Initially, the headteacher implemented a comprehensive programme of professional learning with senior and middle leaders, focusing on the use of data at both a whole‑school and individual pupil level. This included developing a shared understanding among staff of the most important performance indicators at key stage 3 and key stage 4 and the use of these to measure the relative performance of the school against other similar schools.

In addition, the school’s processes to evaluate the attainment and progress of individual pupils were underdeveloped. The headteacher worked with staff to strengthen systems to track and monitor the performance and attendance of individual pupils and to identify suitable intervention programmes for those pupils in need of additional support. This ensured that all staff had a clear understanding of pupils’ progress, as well as the school’s performance overall. In turn, this enabled staff at all levels to identify the school’s strengths and priorities for improvement more accurately.

Linked to this, the headteacher implemented a range of measures to strengthen the degree of challenge and accountability within the school. Leaders reviewed the school’s performance management to ensure that performance management targets addressed whole-school priorities. These included challenging but realistic targets for teachers that focused on pupil outcomes and related to pupils’ prior levels of achievement. A review of the school’s meeting structure ensured that meetings throughout the school focused consistently on school priorities, as well as providing increased opportunities for staff to contribute to discussion and self-evaluation.

Underpinning these developments, the headteacher was clear that it was essential to develop a culture of professional learning in the school that could support teachers to improve and become more consistent in their practice. A central requirement of this was the development of a shared language to discuss teaching and learning that could facilitate successful joint working and the sharing of effective practice.

As part of the support brokered to the school by the local authority, the headteacher had visited a school in England shortly after her appointment and was impressed by the ethos and approach to developing teaching in the school. In September 2013, two members of staff from this school began working with middle leaders from Tredegar School on a bespoke programme to develop teaching within the school with a focus on improving teachers’ planning to demonstrate increased challenge, active learning and impact.

In 2014, the headteacher of the partner school in England was appointed as Tredegar’s Schools Challenge Cymru (SCC) challenge adviser. This further strengthened the working partnership that had developed between the two schools and enabled the remaining teaching staff in the school to complete the bespoke teaching and learning programme. Following this, a small group of staff enrolled on an outstanding teacher programme, again facilitated by staff from England.

The school used part of its SCC funding to invest in a range of teaching and coaching programmes. This has enabled staff at the school to participate in a variety of professional learning activities closely related to their teaching and leadership responsibilities and their developmental needs.

A further element to the headteacher’s strategy has been to ensure the development of consistent approaches to learning and teaching practice between the secondary school and its partner primary schools. Historically, the schools had always enjoyed positive working relationships and this has strengthened further in recent years through the shared focus on teaching and learning strategies.

A key feature of this collaboration has been to extend access to the suite of teaching programmes to staff across the cluster. This has enhanced significantly the opportunities for teachers to take part in cross-phase joint working and networking. The assistant headteacher from Tredegar and teaching and learning leads from each primary school meet every half-term to plan developments in teaching and learning, and regular ‘TeachMeets’ are held for teachers from across the cluster to share good practice after school.

Outcomes

Within a remarkably short space of time, the school’s approach to improving teaching has enabled staff to establish shared pedagogical principles and a common language for discussing teaching and learning. The programmes have enthused staff and provided a consistent whole school approach to classroom practice. As part of the programmes, staff have benefitted from many opportunities to work together to share good practice and to develop ideas and resources. Pupils have welcomed the implementation of non-negotiable elements for lessons and like the daily routines and the consistency of practice across the school. They feel this has given them greater ownership of their learning as they know what to expect in lessons. Together with the emphasis on increasing the accountability of all staff for the outcomes the school’s pupils achieve, these approaches have contributed significantly to raising the culture of challenge and aspiration within the school.

Teachers from across the Tredegar cluster have responded enthusiastically to the school’s investment in its teaching programmes. To date, 60 teachers from across the Tredegar cluster have taken part in the outstanding teacher programme, 32 have taken part in the outstanding leaders of education programme, 12 have taken part in the improving teacher programme and 50 have taken part in the outstanding teacher assistant programme. In addition, schools in the cluster have trained five facilitators to ensure sustainability.

Pupils benefit considerably from effective continuity and progression in learning. Since 2012, outcomes at the school have improved considerably. For example, outcomes in the level 2 indicator including English and mathematics at key stage 4 have risen from 29% in 2012 to 55% in 2017. Performance in many indicators in 2017 placed the school in the upper 50% of similar schools based on free‑school‑meal eligibility (Welsh Government, 2017c).

Next steps as identified by the school

Strengthen opportunities for joint practice development through a programme of peer observations where teachers work together to identify areas for development and plan lessons
Develop opportunities for action research projects across the cluster
Develop all staff as leaders of learning by continuing to invest in professional development that focuses on ensuring high standards of learning and teaching
Promote opportunities to share effective practice within the school, across the cluster and beyond

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

29 June 2018

Ysgol Bro Pedr is a bilingual 3-19 school in Lampeter, Ceredigion. The school admits pupils to the primary department at three years of age. Pupils from other partner primary schools within the local authority and beyond join the secondary department at age 11. There are approximately 1,050 pupils on roll, with approximately 360 pupils in the primary department and 151 in the sixth form. The school is an amalgamation of two previous schools, Ysgol Gynradd Ffynnonbedr and Ysgol Gyfun Llanbedr Pont Steffan. ‘Canolfan y Bont’, which is a local authority resource for secondary age pupils with profound needs, is also an integral part of the school. There is also a specialist unit for pupils with profound educational needs and vulnerable pupils with behavioural needs.

Around 14% of pupils are eligible for free school meals.The school identifies that over 40% of its pupils have additional learning needs.Around 5% of pupils have a statement of special educational needs.Approximately 60% of pupils come from non-Welsh speaking homes.Over 8% of pupils speak English as an additional language, which is much higher than the national average.

The headteacher was appointed in January 2016. At that time, the school had one deputy headteacher and two assistant headteachers. Following a period of restructuring, it now has two deputy headteachers and three full-time equivalent assistant headteachers. All senior staff have specific responsibilities relating to developing the school as an effective learning community.

The school is currently a pioneer school and is working with the Welsh Government and other schools to take forward developments relating to the curriculum and other professional learning.

Strategy and action

The headteacher has a clear vision based on the principle that ‘Every child counts at Ysgol Bro Pedr’.

As part of its work as a pioneer school the school is considering how best to develop the 12 pedagogical principles cited in Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015).

The first priority in the school development plan for 2016-2017 was to ‘This continues to be a main priority in 2017-2018.

When starting the work as a pioneer school, leaders identified the need to:

Establish an appropriate climate to enable teachers to teach successfully and for pupils to achieve to the best of their ability
Evaluate the effectiveness of teaching
Ensure consistency, share good practice and develop pedagogy

1 Establishing an appropriate climate to enable teachers to teach successfully and for pupils to achieve to the best of their ability.

Initially, staff had a productive discussion about the main barriers that were preventing them from teaching effectively and delivering the lessons that they had planned for pupils. They concluded that spending time dealing with cases of low‑level misbehaviour was the main barrier across the school. Teachers in the primary sector also raised issues relating to pupils’ wellbeing.

In order to ensure that it gives teachers an opportunity to teach without having to deal with these persistent behavioural issues, the school put appropriate actions in place.

In the primary sector, leaders decided to have a dedicated support room where pupils could go if they were disrupting learning excessively. The school appointed a level 3 member of support staff as the support room co-ordinator. If a pupil disrupts lessons excessively in a primary class, a member of staff takes them to the support room. The support room co-ordinator talks through the issues with the pupil concerned and tries to resolve their problems and address any concerns. Under the supervision of the co-ordinator, the pupil completes the tasks they would have undertaken in their class. When necessary, the co-ordinator also liaises with parents to try to resolve any underlying problems or behavioural issues that the pupil may have.

In the secondary sector, the school has established a code of conduct that it calls the ‘Bro Pedr Right to Learn’. The code sets out clear rules of conduct for pupils and makes them responsible for the choices they make concerning their own behaviour in the classroom and around the school. Teachers register pupils at the beginning of every lesson and at the end of each lesson give each pupil a grade. The grades go from one to four. Grade one is for excellent work or good behaviour towards learning, grade two is for the expected behaviour, grade three means that the teacher has issued a warning and grade four means that the pupil has been removed from the classroom to complete their work in the support room. Staff use an electronic registration system to log a grade four and record the reasons why they made the decision to remove a pupil from the classroom. Leaders analyse this information effectively to address persistent misbehaviour and to identify behaviour patterns in pupils.

As a result of the introduction of these systems, staff soon reported a significant improvement in pupils’ behaviour and an improvement in their personal wellbeing. Teachers were able to teach throughout the lesson without interruption, and greater pupil progress was evident, not only among pupils who had misbehaved previously, but also among their peers.

2 Evaluating the effectiveness of teaching

Leaders set teachers’ performance management targets and base their evaluations about the effectiveness of teaching through judging the quality of pupils’ standards. Every teacher has at least one quantitative target that relates to the expected outcomes of a group of pupils at the end of the relevant key stage. Leaders ensure that all teachers are familiar with the national professional standards and implement them consistently. Leaders expect teachers to use pupil data to inform their lesson plans and their preparation of teaching resources. This includes setting interesting, differentiated and challenging class work and homework tasks that enable all pupils to make appropriate progress.

The school provides additional individual support for teachers who receive a judgement of adequate or below in two or more classroom observations.

3 Ensuring consistency, sharing good practice and developing pedagogy

As the school is a pioneer school and working with the Welsh Government and other schools to lead work around professional learning, developing effective pedagogy is a priority at Ysgol Bro Pedr.

Leaders made a decision to use professional triads to develop the 12 pedagogical principles cited in Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015). The school believes that triads are an effective way of observing good practice, sharing ideas, increasing confidence and supporting staff. Professional triads involve three teachers working together over time to plan, try out new ideas, observe, teach and evaluate each other’s practice.

Professional triad planning cycle

Meeting 1: The three teachers plan jointly, and one of the three teaches the lesson, while the two other teachers observe. They then complete a lesson observation sheet.

Meeting 2: Teachers feedback their observations from the first lesson and then jointly plan the next lesson. The second teacher from the triad teaches and the two other teachers observe. They then complete a lesson observation sheet.

Meeting 3: Teachers feedback their observations from the second lesson and then jointly plan the next lesson. The last teacher from the triad teaches and the two other teachers observe. They then complete a lesson observation sheet.

Meeting 4: Teachers feedback their observations from the third lesson and jointly complete a feedback form that they present to the leadership team.

The feedback from teachers gives senior leaders a strategic overview of how well the triad system is working and helps them to make decisions about how best to adapt the system as it embeds across the school.

The triads are organised in the following ways:

three teachers with the same level of responsibility
inexperienced teachers working with experienced teachers
cross-subject triads

In the first cycle, triads focused on one of the following pedagogical principles:

mind-set and the power of effort
assessment for learning
overall purpose

This year, all triads are focussing on the principle of blended teaching. The school has decided to use this aspect to upskill teachers in order to help them to develop digital competency across the school.

A few of the triads, and individual teachers, record their lessons using digital video equipment to enable them to evaluate themselves and their peers. This has proved to be very successful.

To ensure consistency and improve teaching across the school, all staff follow the school’s agreed classroom practice policies. These include using a common marking code, teachers discussing pupils’ work with them rather than only giving written feedback and teachers considering more of the pupils’ voice in lessons to ensure a better level of challenge for all.

To support teachers in providing an appropriate challenge for all pupils, the school has produced a staff handbook on differentiation. The handbook confirms the importance of creating lessons that address the needs of all pupils to ensure effective learning in all classes. It gives teachers a clear explanation of what the school means by the term differentiation and provides helpful ideas, strategies and examples for them to use in their lessons. These include advice on:

presenting, displaying and discussing key words
modelling conversations
seating plans
giving examples of answers
showing examples of good work
differentiating by outcome
extending tasks
pacing lessons appropriately
group work
giving thinking time
skilful questioning
using writing frames

Teachers, including supply staff, appreciate the handbook. They think that it is a valuable resource, which helps them to improve the quality of their teaching and raise pupils’ standards of learning.

To ensure that practices in the primary and secondary sector are as consistent as possible, the school develops the thematic element of teaching that the primary sector uses frequently for Year 7 pupils in subjects such as history, geography and ICT. This facilitates the transition for pupils and prepares staff and pupils effectively to meet the requirements of the Digital Competence Framework.

Outcomes

One of the main outcomes is the improvement in pupils’ behaviour in classes. Pupils take greater responsibility for their behaviour, concentrate better and show an improved commitment to learning. Unexpectedly, the self-confidence of many pupils who had misbehaved historically has increased, and they are beginning to realise that they are able to succeed in tasks. As a result, they have higher aspirations for their futures. Teachers have reported improved standards of achievement not only for pupils who had misbehaved previously, but also for the other pupils in their classes. There has been an increase in pupils’ attainment in a majority of indicators at the end of key stages.

Staff wellbeing has improved. Teachers take pride in the fact that they are able to concentrate on teaching throughout their lessons, rather than waste time dealing with misbehaviour and underperformance.

Teachers see the value of working in triads and feel that leaders continuously support them in improving their teaching practice.

Leaders have a good understanding of the standard of teaching and learning across the school, and they recognise that there is now better consistency and practice in teaching.

Next steps as identified by the school

Ensure that systems to improve teaching and learning become embedded
Improve further teachers’ ability to assess the quality of their own practice, and that of their peers
Ensure that teachers know which aspects of pupils’ learning need improving to allow them to reach their potential

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

28 June 2018

Context

Maes-Y-Coed Primary School is in Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf. There are 313 pupils on roll, including 56 who attend the nursery on a full-time basis. There are 11 classes, four of which have pupils of mixed ages.

Most pupils come from homes where English is the main language. A very few pupils speak English as an additional language. Around 18% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school identifies that approximately 33% of its pupils have additional learning needs.

The headteacher, who was previously the deputy headteacher at the school, took up her post in October 2011.

Strategy and action

The headteacher believes strongly in using external research, the outcomes of internal action based research and exploring good practice in other schools, both nationally and internationally, to inform the pedagogy in her school. In recent years, senior leaders have visited many local schools to explore foundation phase provision. They also visited schools in Denmark and Iceland to see how schools in Europe develop outdoor provision to encourage play. Leaders are open to new ideas and follow up well on strategies they hear about when attending meetings and conferences with other professionals. They visited a successful 13-18 high school in Yorkshire to learn about accumulated marginal gains and the principles that underpin the school’s teaching and learning philosophy. They also recently attended an international conference to learn more about lesson study.

Most teachers also take part in additional action research as part of their own professional development or as a member of a school improvement group. Teachers have undertaken action research on a range of topics. For example, topics include collaboration in the outdoors, developing the pedagogical principles of the foundation phase in key stage 2, using the creative and expressive arts and developing the use of continuous provision. The school makes good use of the Leuven Involvement Scale to measure the impact of changes on pupils’ levels of involvement. One large‑scale piece of action research combined the school’s work on developing the use of expressive arts, promoting outdoor learning and delivering the digital competency framework. This project culminated in collapsing the school’s timetable for a fortnight.

Leaders synthesise the findings from visits and research effectively, giving staff the main highlights to start discussions about what may be of benefit to their school. Leaders and staff select carefully what they trial in the school. They use the outcomes of their visits and research to inform, but not to determine decisions about their pedagogy and practice.

In 2016, after hearing a speaker at a national event explain the theory behind lesson study, the headteacher and a member of senior staff attended the international lesson study conference. This led to a whole staff discussion about the principles behind lesson study. Staff agreed to trial the approach in the academic year 2016‑2017. Staff decided that each of five triads would consist of a higher level teaching assistant, a main scale teacher and a member of the senior leadership team.

The school started by formulating a policy that set out their approach to lesson study and joint professional development. Staff agreed that lesson study would:

replace the school’s existing lesson monitoring system
remove the use of the existing session observation forms

This would mean that lessons or a series of lessons would not be graded.

Teachers and higher level teaching assistants agreed that triads would:

value all members equally regardless of their experience or status in the school
carry out research to improve teaching and learning in the agreed focus areas
focus on reflective analysis, professional dialogue and action research
use agreed planning, pupil interview and reflection tools to focus discussions
use video technology to aid analysis
accept all feedback constructively and build on discussions to improve understanding
share the aims and outcomes of lesson study with pupils

Each triad follows the same format. Using data analysis and/or outcomes from monitoring, staff agree an area to improve, for example supporting borderline pupils to achieve an outcome 6 in writing at the end of the foundation phase. Staff carry out their own research on the area before the first formal meeting. The school provides cover for the full three days of triad activities for all staff involved. In the first meeting staff:

discuss the research they have carried out
agree the focus for the first lesson
select three pupils who will be the focus of the joint observations
formulate questions to ask pupils prior to planning the lesson
meet selected pupils to pose the questions
discuss ideas for the lesson and agree learning intentions
make a list of questions to ask pupils at the end of the lesson
predict how the focus pupils will respond to different parts of the lesson

After these activities one member of the triad writes up the lesson plan, another creates the proformas and minutes of the day and the final member resources the lesson.

During the second day, one member of the triad teaches the lesson while the other two observe. The lesson is recorded using video technology. Although the focus is on the outcomes of the selected three pupils, noting as much as possible what pupils say and do, the group members make evaluative comments on all aspects of the learning and teaching.

After the lesson, the group members meet the three focus pupils to ask the post lesson questions. The triad members then work together for the rest of the day. They discuss their initial reflections and watch the recording of the lesson to focus on key points and reactions of different pupils. Staff write up their reflections in detail before sharing once again.

A key to the success of this process is staff engaging in open and honest professional dialogue where they feel comfortable to challenge, make suggestions for improvement and hypothesise. Prior to starting the lesson study project, the majority of staff had taken part in professional development activities that improved their coaching skills and helped them to see challenging comments as constructive suggestions rather than personal criticism. Teachers state that they do not see challenge as a threat, as they feel it is challenge without judgement.

The triad members look carefully at the pupil responses to post lesson questions and compare how they thought pupils would respond to the lesson and how they actually responded. They note any patterns or issues to explore further in the next lesson. They use all the information gathered to decide what needs to be repeated or altered in the next lesson. For example, in one session teacher reflection noted that two of the focus pupils did not use partner talk effectively to think about and discuss the teacher’s question. This led to the suggestion that in subsequent lessons the teacher needed to walk around the partners to ensure the effectiveness of the strategy and to make sure that pupils understand what they should be discussing. Triad members then plan and resource the next lesson jointly.

Outcomes

Across the school, there is a greater emphasis on staff reflecting on and analysing their own practice and that of their peers. Staff are more aware of their own strengths and areas for development in terms of improving their classroom practice and understanding the needs of the pupils in their classes. Conversations in the staffroom now focus more on teaching and learning. These conversations are solution focused with a willingness and confidence from staff to share any difficulties and to talk about what went well in lessons. This helps staff to learn from each other. Staff now place greater emphasis on what pupils can and cannot do. They reflect on their teaching and make small changes that have a big effect on individual and groups of pupils. For example, teachers now allocate roles in group work after analysis of video evidence showed that individuals were not contributing to group work. The pupils not contributing were a surprise to staff as they were not the ones that staff would have predicted.

Leaders have invested heavily in developing the lesson study approach across the school by purchasing video equipment and allocating funding to release jointly every member of every triad for at least three days each academic year. Lesson study is working for this school as all staff believe in the approach and are committed to making it a success. This has led to consistently high levels of sharing pedagogy and resources and has improved the consistency and quality of teaching.

Next steps as identified by the school

The school will continue to use the lesson study approach and will monitor carefully its impact on pupil outcomes and the quality of teaching.

Improvement Resource Type: Effective Practice

28 June 2018

Context

Rogerstone Primary School is in Newport. There are 609 pupils between 3 and 11 years of age on roll, including 76 part-time nursery pupils. The school has two learning resource bases with places for around 20 pupils from across the local authority.

Around 7% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. Most pupils are of white British ethnicity and come from homes where English is the first language. A very few have English as an additional language and only 1% of pupils speak Welsh at home. The school identifies approximately 25% of its pupils as having additional learning needs. A very few pupils are looked after by the local authority.

The headteacher was seconded from another school at the time of the inspection. He became the substantive headteacher in September 2014.

Strategy and action

The school’s focus is always firmly on improving pupil progress and raising standards and wellbeing. The aim is for all professional learning to have a purpose that links to a school priority and is clear to all staff. Senior leaders encourage all staff to reflect on their practice and to take responsibility for improving teaching and learning in their classrooms.

As the school moved out of significant improvement, senior leaders had to work hard to improve professional trust throughout the school. Now, the mutual respect and agreed understanding of high quality teaching that exists in the school is central to the school’s culture. This ethos encourages teachers and support staff to develop very positive attitudes to their own professional learning. Leaders, all of whom are effective teachers, model and share their own practice. Teachers welcome and benefit from these opportunities. The headteacher maintains that you cannot underestimate how important it is to know your staff and take them with you, particularly in challenging times. An example of this is taking care to allocate tasks to the most appropriate people, taking into account their strengths and particular skills as well as their aspirations.

The school now uses a published framework to support all teacher observations. There are three levels of classroom observations: formal lesson observations, informal ‘drop-in’ sessions, and collaborative, reflective observations between groups of three teachers. All teachers take part in observations at one or more levels, depending on their role and the school’s focus at the time. All senior leaders work together to quality assure the outcomes of classroom observations. They personalise any follow-up to lesson observations so that they can address teachers’ individual developmental needs effectively.

When leaders carry out formal classroom observations, for example for performance management purposes, they consider all aspects of the published framework, always keeping pupil progress and standards as the main driver. When senior leaders or subject co-ordinators carry out brief ‘drop-ins’, they focus on specific areas of the framework, relevant to school priorities or the needs of individual staff. In a recent example, the mathematics co-ordinator looked at the pace of mathematical warm-up activities, and considered how successfully teachers pitched the session to meet the needs of different groups of pupils.

To support teachers to work in triads, the school invested resources in video equipment and time for teachers to film themselves working. Initially, teachers carried this out individually. When teachers saw themselves teaching their own classes, many felt that this was a major turning point for them. They could identify their own strengths and areas for development, without fear of criticism from others. They had the time and space to reflect on their own teaching and the learning of the pupils in their classes. Once teachers were comfortable with this practice, senior leaders organised teachers into phase coaching groups. The groups planned a series of lessons together and then observed and filmed one another teaching. After these observations, they reflected on a specific focus or on a general teaching point, using small extracts of the films as examples of good practice or to illustrate an area to improve. This systematic approach meant that teachers became used to working in this way gradually. It enabled them to discuss teaching more confidently and openly with supportive colleagues and develop a culture of genuine collaboration and self-evaluation.

A relatively new development is the use of pupils’ contributions to improve aspects of teaching. A designated group of key stage 2 pupils observe teaching and learning alongside a member of staff. They agree a focus and prepare a list of questions to ask pupils as they carry out a learning walk or a lesson observation. The main focus for the group is to consider the experience of pupils, for example the usefulness of resources and displays and how well pupils engage in their learning. However, this means that they also note aspects of teaching, such as teachers’ relationships with their pupils and look at how well teachers encourage their pupils to practise the skills they have learnt before. Recently, for example, the pupil group carried out a learning walk through the school during early morning activities to see how well pupils were practising their spelling.

Leaders encourage teachers to be innovative in their approach to teaching and to place all learning into real-life contexts. The school does not use a scheme for literacy and numeracy, but uses the literacy and numeracy framework as a spine for teachers’ planning. This means that teachers have to be creative and flexible in their approach. They design rich tasks to do this, focusing each term on a cross-school subject driver, such as geography, history, creative arts or science. Teachers and pupils build their projects around this – they call it their ‘topic takeover’. Each topic aims to cover a set of skills, but how they do this is up to the classes.

Outcomes

The school has moved forward considerably and is now has a good reputation within its community and across the local authority and consortium. As a result of successful professional learning and the development of skilled leaders in the school, several teachers have moved on to senior posts in other schools. Others have been appointed to the senior leadership team within the school, for example to become head of foundation phase and head of key stage 2.

The quality of teaching is a strong feature of the school. Only a very few teachers currently receive support to improve and, because of the very clear and supportive framework and strategies the school uses, they are fully engaged in this process. One of the key features of success noted by teaching staff at the school is the professional trust that has developed over the past few years between the head teacher, senior leaders and other staff. Results of staff questionnaires say that a climate of trust and honesty exists in the school. Staff feel valued. They know their roles and responsibilities, they feel free to give honest feedback, and they are happy in their work.

Teachers say that the subtle changes that take place because of the school’s work to improve teaching are sometimes the most effective. For example, after observing themselves at work, teachers began to think more carefully about how they used their support staff during lessons. When discussing elements of particular lessons, teachers remind one another of elements of training they may have forgotten, or agreed strategies that might be missing. Most importantly perhaps, teams of teachers build one another’s confidence by reflecting on what they do well, then sensitively, but honestly, talk candidly about what could be better.

Professional dialogue between staff is of a very high standard. There is a culture of exploration as they embrace the purposes of Successful Futures (Donaldson, 2015) into their current curriculum and prepare for the challenges of a new curriculum. Teachers and support staff embrace new ideas, are willing to try new approaches, and are confident that they have senior leaders’ support to do so. For example, teachers felt that they were not doing enough to build on pupils’ oracy skills to engage them in learning. To address this, one teacher set a group of disengaged, but able Year 3 boys the task of planning, writing, creating and filming a television magazine programme. Senior leaders supported this approach by engaging specialist outside providers to help pupils to do the filming and recording and to work alongside teachers to develop their skills to make activities like this a sustainable feature of the school’s work. Similarly, support staff know that senior leaders value their opinions and listen to requests for specific support. For example, a recent survey of support staff revealed some gaps in their digital competency, so the ICT co-ordinators tailored sessions for support staff that met their needs precisely.

Pupils recognise that their voice matters in the work and life of the school. They contribute effectively to school self-evaluation, collaborate with teachers to set their own targets and have opportunities to make suggestions about how and what they learn.

Next steps as identified by the school

The headteacher and deputy headteacher feel that the school has now reached a strong point in its improvement journey. There are no current plans to introduce new strategies, but improvement planning focuses on consolidating and sharing the good practice that exists across the school to ensure consistency.

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