Developing a culture of a school as a self-improving organisation
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Information about the school
Ysgol Bro Lleu is situated in Penygroes, which is around ten miles from the town of Caernarfon. The school serves a disadvantaged area; however, only around 27% of pupils are eligible for free school meals. The school has 197 pupils on roll and growth in social housing has supported an increase in numbers over the years.
Context and background to the effective or innovative practice
Operating as a self-improving school, identifying strengths and areas for improvement internally, is vital and has a positive effect on standards, provision, leadership and on the professional development of all staff. Historically, the school was overly dependent on the headteacher and the senior management team to evaluate standards and provision and messages only came from them. Responsibilities were not distributed effectively and, as a result, staff did not feel part of the school’s evaluations, nor did they feel confident in challenging each other. Following training, the school’s arrangements were adapted to change the culture and mindset of staff, reduce the workload at all levels and provide appropriate professional development that would improve standards and expand provision further.
Description of the nature of the strategy or activity
After completing a survey, it was noted that ‘working as a team’ was one of the areas that needed to be developed. To improve this, 4 strategies were used to facilitate co-operation:
- Time: ensuring dedicated time for staff to be together, an opportunity to scrutinise work and hold professional conversations.
- Technology: using the technology available on Hwb to share scrutiny folders and templates to ensure access for everyone and transparency in the process.
- Trust: establishing a non-threatening ethos without prejudice and with a focus on positive aspects.
- Thinking together: ensuring opportunities during meetings for all staff to meet with each other, share ideas and collaborate on improvements.
By doing so, the element of a high level of accountability was removed from staff, giving them ownership of standards and provision.
The second step was to pair teachers together to scrutinise books and plans on a monthly basis in a positive and safe environment. This worked better than expected, as staff realised that consistency needed to be ensured in some aspects and that others need to be removed to work more effectively. This reduced the burden on staff. As this developed, the headteacher shared training on how to write evaluatively. This was professional development for all members of staff and ensured that evaluations were more incisive and purposeful.
We went on to expand this partnership to departments in order to focus on standards in books, in our plans and in provision. Staff were able to use simple technology to share lesson observations with each other and receive positive feedback, with the occasional comment on where to ‘consider the future’ in order to improve – again reinforcing the non-threatening ethos. The senior management team validated these findings to ensure accuracy and the expected standard. It was also an opportunity to question further some aspects of teaching, for example the use of assessment for learning methods.
Within a very short period, staff became more confident in challenging and questioning each other appropriately on the effect of what we do in terms of pupils’ standards. This led to several improvements, for example shorter presentations of activities and more purposeful questioning.
The final step in the process was to train governors to be more evaluative in their self-improvement processes. Members of the governing body completed a questionnaire of their effectiveness as a ‘critical friend’, for example when challenging the headteacher on a healthy eating and drinking strategy. Governors now use technology simply to record meetings and then self-reflect on whether they are acting as a ‘critical friend’ in the most effective way.
The result of all of this is that every part of the school is improving continuously, without constant input from the senior management team or external agencies. These processes enable staff to make small changes and respond to concerns quickly, for example the need for more evidence of extended writing or improving pupils’ handwriting. The mindset and ethos have changed, where
everyone now sees failure as an opportunity to improve. This has led to an increase in pupils’ standards, particularly their literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology skills.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
This work has deepened staff’s understanding of strengths and areas for development within the school. Staff see the rationale behind the improvements as they have been involved in determining them in the first place. They are more self-evaluative and understand the need to improve continuously. This means that staff take ownership of their improvements and do not depend on members of the senior management team to lead the change. The staff’s confidence to challenge their own performance and that of their peers has improved. As a result, changes can happen quickly within the school; for example, evaluations of teaching have identified consistent improvements in provision which, in turn, has a positive effect on pupils’ progress.
How have you shared your good practice?
We have shared the effective practice with schools in the catchment area. We have now begun to trial a proposal for the catchment area to be part of the validation process of our evaluation processes and findings. We have shared practices with the regional consortium, who have asked us to lead and cascade information in this area with other schools in the near future.