Twelve secondary school improvement journeys- December 2013
Over the years, Estyn inspectors have visited schools at various stages of development. Core inspections and follow-up visits, as well as visits undertaken as part of thematic work, have enabled inspectors to identify schools that are good or excellent or that are making good or excellent progress from a low starting point.The case studies in Part One of this report describe schools that are on their own improvement journeys. The choice of case studies represents “journeys” from a range of starting points and a variety of stages of development. They are all schools that have either improved or maintained a high level of performance. In each case, the headteacher who played a key role in securing improvement is still in post.The case studies have been produced by staff from the schools themselves and capture their own narrative and style. To tell the full story, a lot of detail has been included in order to describe and explain the processes involved. The case studies are written in the school’s own voice, but they follow a similar pattern, starting with the context of the school, identifying three key factors that contributed to the work, and finally setting out those strategies and actions that have proved to be successful.Part Two of this report pulls together some general features of successful school improvement, based on the case studies in Part One.