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Context and background to sector-leading practice
Llangatwg is an 11-16 community school situated in the Cadoxton area of Neath. The area served by the school is semi-rural and in common with other valley communities experiences a higher than average degree of social and economic disadvantage. On entry pupil attainment has been consistently below national averages. The school’s mission statement is ‘Raising achievement and promoting partnership in the heart of the community’.
[ Please see the organisation chart appended to the end of this report]
Description of nature of strategy or activity
A faculty system is our preferred organisational structure. The five faculty teams are based around:
Science – including Physical Education
Mathematics / Information and Communication Technology – including additional learning needs
Communications – French, Welsh, English, Drama and Music
Technology – including Art, Catering, Hospitality and Health & Social Care
Humanities – Geography, History, Religious Education, Business Studies and Leisure & Tourism
Each faculty team is responsible for the quality of teaching and learning in each of the subjects they deliver. In addition, the team is responsible for the care, support and guidance of a year group of learners.
Every incoming Year 7 group comes under the control of a faculty team. Learners stay with that faculty throughout their entire time at the school. They have the same faculty leader, faculty staff and form tutors. As a result, the faculty staff get to know learners in that year group very well indeed and quickly identify when things are not right.
We believe that there are many benefits to this form of organisation.
The pastoral and academic work of the school is integrated and the focus for each team is to develop a ‘whole child’ approach. Each member of the teaching staff belongs to just a single team and there are no divided loyalties. Teams can be delegated the significant resources and responsibilities they need to be effective in their pastoral and academic work. Teaching and learning are at the heart of each faculty’s work and there are clear career routes for all staff within their faculty. The system is flexible and has enabled us to meet changing national and local requirements.
In addition, faculty leaders form an effective middle management team, which can mould the future of the school. However, the most important single benefit of the faculty system is the quality of professional relationships that develop, both within the team and between the team and its learners.
Within each faculty there is a faculty leader, a pupil progress leader, subject leaders, form and subject teachers, and a faculty support assistant. Faculties receive professional advice on how to develop their teaching and learning from the faculty services team, which is made up of experienced teachers with whole-school responsibilities. In addition, faculties can access support for their learners through the central support services team. This team includes the pupil welfare and support officer, educational welfare officer, attendance support officer, school counsellor, educational psychologist, substance misuse counsellor and a range of external agencies.
Faculty leaders are the key people. They have both an academic and pastoral role, and a responsibility to ensure their team provides effective teaching of their subjects and effective support, care and guidance for their learners. Faculty leaders can only do this through establishing clear operating procedures and then monitoring and evaluating the work of the team very closely. Being a faculty leader is ideal preparation for senior leadership.
Each faculty has to demonstrate that they are providing high-quality teaching. Subject leaders and faculty leaders are held to account for pupil outcomes in their specific areas. Identifying and challenging underachievement is an essential part of this and learners’ progress is tracked very carefully. Form teachers deliver the centrally-designed personal and social education programme to their forms. They are also responsible for implementing the learner support policy, which requires them to meet regularly with their learners and discuss not only learning styles and academic progress, but also each young person’s happiness and wellbeing rating. These meetings are formally recorded.
Form teachers can refer learners to their pupil progress leader, who is a trained learning coach, or to subject leaders for subject specific advice. There are also other services that form teachers and faculty leaders can access. Some of these are provided by the school and others from outside agencies.
Faculty teams are also responsible for promoting good attendance, celebrating success, and creating a distinctive year-group identity. There are many basic requirements expected of all faculties but there is also scope for flair and individuality. This approach fosters innovation, ownership and commitment to the system.
As part of improvement planning arrangements, faculty development plans must show how they will contribute to realising those whole-school development objectives that emanate from the school’s self-evaluation processes. Faculty teams are also encouraged to identify their own specific development objectives and indicate within their plans how these will be addressed.
What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?
As a result of our faculty organisation, positive professional relationships exist throughout the school and this is very conducive to learning.
Teachers have detailed knowledge of the learning and wellbeing needs of their learners, and can aim to provide everything a learner needs to be successful within school. This might range from literacy support to anger-management counselling. Learners and their parents are clear about who to contact if there is a problem. Nearly all learners report that they feel happy, safe and well-supported in school. At the same time, academic achievement has improved consistently. Nearly all pupils make better than expected progress on their journey from key stage 2 to key stage 4 and the school compares well with all national, local authority, family and free-school-meal benchmark comparators.
