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NEAS/TC/RB Date: 8th May 2003 |
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Please ask for: (Terry Cook) |
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Email: terry.cook@norfolk.gov.uk |
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To All Headteachers and Chairs of Governors
Dear Colleague
As part of our continuing commitment to raising standards and reducing workload, we have created a Website to support schools and their RDAs with the preparation and collection of the Norfolk School Self-Review summary data this term.
We have done this because the methods used for collecting this data in the past have often relied heavily on Headteachers and Chairs of Governors working with the RDA during the summer term visit to complete the summary form and have been very labour-intensive. The subsequent submission of review documents from a large number of schools over a relatively short period of time in June/July has also created a considerable burden for administrative staff at the Professional Development Centre (PDC) and this has resulted in delays in processing, moderating and publishing the agreed review data.
In order to address these issues we have, first, created a website where schools can assemble the self-review summary in advance of the RDA’s visit. The site enables the Headteacher (with other senior staff and Governors, if appropriate) to create the text for the summary and to enter provisional grades for each section. The data can be saved and amended as often as necessary. A PIN number protects the site and the information entered is confidential to the school and the RDA. Each school can only access its own self-review.
The
site can be accessed from any computer connected to the Internet. The web site address is: http://advisoryserviceactive.norfolk.gov.uk/ssr/. Schools will need a PIN to access the site
and should use the confidential PIN already issued for the INSET Opportunities
website prefixed with a 5. (You can subsequently request a change to
the first 5 digits of the PIN by contacting Bob Reed at the PDC.)
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RDAs have their own parallel web site, which allows them to view the data as it is being prepared and to discuss it with the school prior to their visit. The RDA site also has the facility to submit the prepared summary to the LEA’s central database for processing once it has been agreed with the school, normally during the summer term visit.
These developments will mean some changes to the ways that we work to prepare and collect the self-review summary from schools. This will result in all of us having to learn some new work practices, but we believe that the benefits will be considerable. First, it will enable better interaction between schools and their RDA in the preparation of the self-review summary. Second, it will enable more efficient collection and quicker processing of the data. Third, the system will operate throughout the year to enable ‘on-the-spot’ updates to the self-review as circumstances change in school.
We plan to use make increasing use of online facilities to reduce the burden of paperwork on schools, to provide increased support for RDAs, to improve access to information and to simplify and speed up the processing of data. We are keen to develop this approach and produce further easy to use tools of this kind and would welcome suggestions and help from schools. Please let Terry Cook or David Orsborne know if you are interested in being involved in these developments.
I hope you find this new development helpful. Please don’t hesitate to contact Terry Cook, Principal Adviser (School Effectiveness) (Terry.Cook@norfolk.gov.uk) with any observations / suggestions regarding the above developments. If you have any technical enquiries / questions contact David Orsborne, Principal Adviser (Primary) (David.Orsborne@norfolk.gov.uk), Robin Biss, Senior Admin Assistant, School Effectiveness Team (Robin.Biss@norfolk.gov.uk) or Bob Reed, Systems Development Office (Bob.Reed@norfolk.gov.uk) at the Norwich Professional Development Centre. They will be pleased to try and help.
Yours faithfully,
Bryan Slater
Director for Education