Primary School Improvement Partner Autumn Term Agenda 2010 and Supporting Guidance

The professionalism and commitment of everyone involved in the implementation of the School Improvement Partner Programme in Norfolk during the last academic year meant that the arrangements worked very well for most SIPs and almost all schools. Our quality assurance procedures tell us that, based on feedback from headteachers, from governors and from SIPs themselves, the SIP experience was overwhelmingly positive and increasingly productive for the vast majority of schools.

We are pleased with this outcome, and recognise the hard work that the SIPs and the schools put in so as to achieve it. We are facing a time of considerable change and some uncertainty about the priorities for primary education. However until the publication of the government’s White Paper, the role and function of the School Improvement Partner remains the same as previous years.

The autumn term agenda focuses on the analysis of pupil performance data, statutory and non-statutory target setting and headteacher performance management. In addition, SIPs will discuss issues relating to succession planning, the revised Ofsted Framework and explore the evidence that your school has for an aspect of capacity for sustained improvement.

Additional target setting guidance will be issued as a separate MI sheet at a later date.

It became clear in previous years that some governing bodies required additional guidance regarding Headteacher Performance Management and, particularly, the completion of the Headteacher’s Review Statement. The Management Information Sheet relating to this (MI 167/08) can be found in the MI Sheet archive.

Information to help schools prepare for the meeting with the SIP is given on the on the front page of the Record of Visit template. Feedback from SIPs last year shows that, in many schools, governors regularly attend the SIPs meetings with the headteacher. We endorse this approach, and would strongly encourage SIPs and headteachers to involve governors as fully as possible in the whole SIP process.

Developing and growing tomorrow’s school leaders (at all levels) is a local as well as a national priority. In the light of a new NCSL Norfolk LA initiative called ‘Tomorrow’s Leaders Today’, SIPs will also wish to discuss leadership talent and development opportunities, and help schools to identify and support individuals who may aspire to a position of leadership now and in the future.

Please click here for the Record of Visit template and other relevant documents.