Management Information Sheet

This communication follows on from MI 136/13 Challenge and Support for Improvement in Norfolk’s Schools: a renewed approach and MI 160/13 A Good School for Every Norfolk Learner.

By July 5th 2013 every Norfolk school will receive a letter which indicates the Local Authority’s classification for the school as described in the pamphlet ‘Towards Good Achievement for All’ (MI 160/13). The letter will be addressed to the school’s Headteacher and Chair of Governors.

The classification will inform the Local Authority’s relationship with the school from September 2013 and is based on a judgement about the achievement of pupils in your school over time. This judgement is drawn from published data and includes a scrutiny of Raise online for the last three years. It takes no account of the current in school data which may contribute to your own picture in a slightly different way. However, the current Framework for Inspection places emphasis on achievement over time especially for vulnerable groups. This data would influence the pre-inspection hypothesis on achievement prior to any inspection by Ofsted; would be a significant baseline for your own school based self-evaluation and improvement priorities and is therefore the main criteria for the Local Authority classification.

This LA classification is not a prediction of a future Ofsted inspection outcome for your school. It is not an overall judgement of the effectiveness of your school. It is used to define whether we consider you to be:

• a school of concern because of the achievement of pupils over time (Categories A and D).
• whether achievement in your school may require improvement (Categories B and C).
• or whether we are confident that achievement in your school would still be judged good or better by Ofsted based on this Framework for Inspection (Categories E and F).

We want to use this classification to engage with you appropriately.

As a school of concern (A or D) our clear duty is to intervene and challenge (MI 160/13 ‘Intervention for Excellence’).

For schools where achievement requires improvement (B and C) there is an opportunity to access the ‘Norfolk to Good and Great’ programme (MI 160/13).

For those where achievement remains good against the current criteria for the Ofsted inspection of schools (E and F) we are keen to work in partnership with more good or outstanding Norfolk schools to broker support for others and build greater capacity across the county.

Your individual letter will outline the reasons for our view about your achievement data over time and therefore the nature of the relationship with you with regard to improving achievement and outcomes for all Norfolk children.

Any queries about this process should be addressed to Chris Snudden, Lead Adviser, Achievement, chris.snudden@norfolk.gov.uk.