Management Information Sheet
Improvement Professional
Further guidance is being provided to support that given in Management Information Sheet 170/11 after a number of enquiries from schools requesting clarification and additional information.
In the spirit of the forthcoming Education Act, the Local Authority is charged with ensuring that every Norfolk child has access to a good school. The Local Authority is wholeheartedly in support and striving to fulfil its responsibility and Schools Forum endorses this view. Our shared aim is that every Norfolk school will be at least good, that good schools are supported to become outstanding and outstanding schools will not only have plans to secure and build upon their excellence, but also to provide additional support and expertise to colleagues across the County.
Schools Forum in the spirit of partnership commissioned the Local Authority to provide a one day School Improvement Professional visit to help it both meet statutory requirements and to support school improvement across Norfolk. To translate this aim into reality, the local authority has instituted such a programme, as described in MI Sheet 170/11, and is providing an Improvement Professional visit to every school.
In partnership with Headteachers and, where possible, governors, the key purposes of the Improvement Professional day will be to:
provide supportive activity for the school - as a verification of the schools own self evaluation and the opportunity for dialogue and advice on school based improvement activities or other issues the school wishes to raise;
provide tailored support to the needs and circumstances of each school i.e. partnership schools, all through schools, schools undertaking significant transition;
ensure discussion with the school endorses it has robust and accurate self-evaluation strategies in place;
discuss with the school and ensure it has effective and realistic improvement plans that address its areas for development in a timely manner;
ensure where there is evidence that any aspect of the school's work is at risk of proving unsatisfactory, or that a school is not effectively addressing its improvement agenda, that this is made clear to the school and the Local Authority Achievement and Intervention team is alerted.
Discussions concerning the various aspects of the school's work must be referenced to the 'Framework for the Inspection of Schools', which provides the national criteria for judging school effectiveness.
It cannot be over-emphasised that Improvement Professional days are intended to be supportive, by providing external verification of effectiveness and progress, thereby assisting schools with self-evaluation and guiding subsequent improvement planning. They also enable the local authority to meet its statutory responsibilities in relation to monitoring school performance and in providing appropriate additional guidance and support where required.
The Improvement Professional day's agenda must be negotiated with the Headteacher and conducted in partnership with the school. Provisional timings for the day should be approximately 2 hours for the Local Authority focussed items, 1.5hours for school priorities and 1.5 hours for Headteacher Performance Management/negotiated activities.
Management Information (MI) Sheet 170/11 set out suggestions for those aspects of the school's work that might usefully be explored as part of the Improvement Professional agenda. These include:
Scrutiny of pupil achievement and outcomes;
Testing evidence regarding the quality of teaching and learning;
Verifying the effectiveness of leadership and management;
Exploring the effectiveness of behaviour management and safe practice;
Testing the strength of the school's evidence base and the accuracy of its self-evaluation;
Jointly exploring the school's overall effectiveness and the extent to which it meets statutory requirements.
This is not intended as a prescriptive list, but as a range of possibilities that might form the basis of negotiation between the Improvement Professional and the school.
When agreeing the agenda, Improvement Professionals and Headteachers are encouraged to consider the school's context and circumstances and what can realistically be undertaken, given the time constraints. To obtain maximum value from the day, the agenda should focus on those areas where schools will derive most benefit from external moderation.
Where a school asks the Improvement Professional to support the performance management process, appropriate time will be allotted, (usually around an hour and a half), with any other activities prioritised to meet the school's needs while remaining within the overall time allocation. If the school does not wish for the Performance Management of the Headteacher to be part of this process then the Headteacher and governors can negotiate with the Improvement Professional to provide additional activities. These may include learning walks, a more in-depth scrutiny of school improvement and development plans or external verification of other aspects of the work of the school.
School help-line
This was highlighted on MI Sheet 170/11 and it is a service to enable schools to make contact with a Lead Manager or the Head of Service from the Educational Achievement, Improvement Leadership and Governance Team about day to day issues that arise in school that are of concern or for which you require advice/support. This will include contact about any aspect of an OFSTED inspection. All schools are requested they inform the Duty / Help desk as soon as they are informed by Ofsted of an inspection, monitoring visit or theme inspection. This will enable us to ensure all support mechanisms are in place including assistance with issues arising from the pre inspection briefing or any arising during the course of the inspection. The calls will be handled by the Senior Business Support Officer who will ensure that the Duty Desk / Help-line Manager is contacted.
The number to ring for this help-line service has operated from September 5th 2011 and is 01603 307797 ( 8am until 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8am until 5.00pm on Fridays ) out of office times the number to ring is 07876137828.
In the spirit of the forthcoming Education Act, the Local Authority is charged with ensuring that every Norfolk child has access to a good school. The Local Authority is wholeheartedly in support and striving to fulfil its responsibility and Schools Forum endorses this view. Our shared aim is that every Norfolk school will be at least good, that good schools are supported to become outstanding and outstanding schools will not only have plans to secure and build upon their excellence, but also to provide additional support and expertise to colleagues across the County.
Schools Forum in the spirit of partnership commissioned the Local Authority to provide a one day School Improvement Professional visit to help it both meet statutory requirements and to support school improvement across Norfolk. To translate this aim into reality, the local authority has instituted such a programme, as described in MI Sheet 170/11, and is providing an Improvement Professional visit to every school.
In partnership with Headteachers and, where possible, governors, the key purposes of the Improvement Professional day will be to:
Discussions concerning the various aspects of the school's work must be referenced to the 'Framework for the Inspection of Schools', which provides the national criteria for judging school effectiveness.
It cannot be over-emphasised that Improvement Professional days are intended to be supportive, by providing external verification of effectiveness and progress, thereby assisting schools with self-evaluation and guiding subsequent improvement planning. They also enable the local authority to meet its statutory responsibilities in relation to monitoring school performance and in providing appropriate additional guidance and support where required.
The Improvement Professional day's agenda must be negotiated with the Headteacher and conducted in partnership with the school. Provisional timings for the day should be approximately 2 hours for the Local Authority focussed items, 1.5hours for school priorities and 1.5 hours for Headteacher Performance Management/negotiated activities.
Management Information (MI) Sheet 170/11 set out suggestions for those aspects of the school's work that might usefully be explored as part of the Improvement Professional agenda. These include:
This is not intended as a prescriptive list, but as a range of possibilities that might form the basis of negotiation between the Improvement Professional and the school.
When agreeing the agenda, Improvement Professionals and Headteachers are encouraged to consider the school's context and circumstances and what can realistically be undertaken, given the time constraints. To obtain maximum value from the day, the agenda should focus on those areas where schools will derive most benefit from external moderation.
Where a school asks the Improvement Professional to support the performance management process, appropriate time will be allotted, (usually around an hour and a half), with any other activities prioritised to meet the school's needs while remaining within the overall time allocation. If the school does not wish for the Performance Management of the Headteacher to be part of this process then the Headteacher and governors can negotiate with the Improvement Professional to provide additional activities. These may include learning walks, a more in-depth scrutiny of school improvement and development plans or external verification of other aspects of the work of the school.
School help-line
This was highlighted on MI Sheet 170/11 and it is a service to enable schools to make contact with a Lead Manager or the Head of Service from the Educational Achievement, Improvement Leadership and Governance Team about day to day issues that arise in school that are of concern or for which you require advice/support. This will include contact about any aspect of an OFSTED inspection. All schools are requested they inform the Duty / Help desk as soon as they are informed by Ofsted of an inspection, monitoring visit or theme inspection. This will enable us to ensure all support mechanisms are in place including assistance with issues arising from the pre inspection briefing or any arising during the course of the inspection. The calls will be handled by the Senior Business Support Officer who will ensure that the Duty Desk / Help-line Manager is contacted.
The number to ring for this help-line service has operated from September 5th 2011 and is 01603 307797 ( 8am until 5.30pm Monday to Thursday and 8am until 5.00pm on Fridays ) out of office times the number to ring is 07876137828.