Getting to Good Ofsted Seminar

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Ofsted

The sessions are led by Chris Nye and Mary Massey

Objectives

  • Explore and discuss the key issues around improvement together
  • Look at Ofsted’s evidence about schools that improve – and those that don’t – and why
  • Apply learning to your own context to inform your planning

What are the most obvious areas in your school that are stopping you being judged good.  Put in order from Most (at the top) to Least (at the bottom) important.

What do we know about schools that improve?

  • Context
  • Quality of leadership
  • Managing teaching and performance of staff
  • Governance

January to August 2012 under previous framework.  Primary schools have 47% improvement to Good or better, in secondary it is 41%.  This is before additional support provided by Ofsted.  Michael Wilshere worried about the 38% of Primary and 40% of Secondary which didn’t shift, and the 15% of Primary and 19% of Secondary which went into Special Measures.

It is easier to shift a school in a least deprived area than in a more deprived area – focussed on attainment rather than progress.  Since then Pupil Premium funding has come in.

Leadership

Leadership of a determined and resolute headteacher – irritating leadership which says failure is not an option.  Sharing a clear vision with high expectations of staff and pupils.  Establishing effective SLT – this may require changes in personnel; and reinvigorate the governing body – they must be able to play a strategic role.  This then leads to tools for success ensuring staff effectiveness by holding to account and ensuring ability to improve.  Where is the school in the “model”.

One of the first steps is to raise expectations of pupils and teachers:

  • In the majority of schools the headteacher introduced pupil progress meetings to hold staff to account for progress – annually is not nearly enough – three times a year is better – but if you are a vulnerable school it should be six times a year.
  • In the majority of schools written guidelines for teaching and learning were produced.  These were described as ‘non-negotiable’ and set the standard for good teaching.  These are things that are important across the board to help all teachers, e.g. NQTs, creating a learned behaviour in the school.
  • In three quarters of the schools headteachers described themselves as visible in order to set an example and model the behavior that they wanted staff to adopt – e.g. modelling speaking and listening, handwriting.
  • In several schools a non-negotiable behaviour policy for pupils was established.
  • In all schools staff were subject to challenging conversations and in just over half of them it resulted in teachers leaving the school – you go into teaching as someone who cares about people – but there will be some people who are barriers to your school getting to good – you can’t duck this, you must deal with it, to ensure every child gets a good education – they only get one stab at it.
  • In two thirds of the schools the headteacher quickly strengthened the SLT.

Teaching and Performance

There is no one way to teach, no formula.  But children do need to know success criteria, they need to know what it would look like if they were to succeed.  The whole point of planning is planning for every child, and you can’t do that without assessment data.  The problem is teachers not using the assessment data to plan for all children, including SEN, with short-term targets that the pupils, parents, LSAs and others all know.  Assessment for Learning is about the whole thing.

Progress and task completion are not the same thing – it is not about task completion but progress – what do you know now that you did not know at the beginning, what skills have you learnt (even though lesson is normally content based).

Too often teachers ask if pupils understand, teacher doesn’t know whether or not pupils understand, pupils won’t admit in front of 30 of their friends that they don’t understand or haven’t made progress.

Teaching is not about performance it is about learning and inspiration.  Once received a note “To the Inspector”, opened it up and it said “Are you as bored as I am”?  Sometimes there is too much talking, and too many instructions.  When in silence pupils get three times as much done.

Getting pencil grip right, especially for left handers, is critical.  Boys hates writing as their motor skills are not good enough – but sometimes that is due to poor grip.  In Year 7 you can often spot children’s primary schools by looking at their handwriting.  Equally letter formation is often not good enough – it needs to be corrected.

Many pupils in Year 6 gain a secure Level 4, by Easter of Year 7 they have a Level 3 in extended writing in non-core subjects but in English have a Level 5 – that is because teachers aren’t correcting this.  Non-English teachers often don’t have the vocabulary to verbalise appropriately to pupils.

The critical thing for a good teacher is to think about learning, not teaching.  They need to move away from the scaffolding to do this.  Thorough planning does not always work – focus on activities, and doesn’t always support the actual learning by pupils.

Critical issue is progress – good progress in all groups is the crucial element.  Ofsted doesn’t require a particular approach to teaching – ticking boxes doesn’t have to be done.  Achievement isn’t just end of Key Stage data, you may have some pretty grim data, 2012 could be bad, 2013 might be better it might not.  The judgement on achievement is based on past data, current school’s data and progress in lessons.  You must also demonstrate that previous predictions were accurate – that you knew those pupils weren’t doing well, helping to secure data on current lower down the school pupils.

The questions that Inspectors ask are based on the historical data they can read, so answer those reasonable questions, answer the why and show how issues are dealt with through planning and that they are making a difference.  Do present data in 3-4 sides of A4 with impact and analyzed, already know the core data already so want the analysis.

Approaches used for raising performance in schools that have made the journey to good:

  • Headteachers in all schools perceived performance management as necessary to build the capacity for consistent and sustained school improvement – link to teachers standards.
  • Coaching and mentoring procedures were established in all schools visited.  In half the school part of a mentor’s performance management was to be responsible for the improvement in performance of their mentees.
  • In the majority of schools programmes of peer working were established that were judged to be highly effective.
  • In all schools professional development programmes were tailored to the ability of staff – and were helping to motivate them.
  • In some schools staff meetings had been remodelled to focus on teaching and learning.
  • In most schools recruitment and induction were described as crucial.  In half only good or outstanding candidates were considered.
  • In half the schools staff were provided with opportunity to take external qualifications.
  • In most schools the headteacher had reinforced that it was the teacher who was responsible for their own performance management.

Effective headteachers teach as you want your teachers to teach.  Do not neglect the skill of your own teaching due to operational busyness.  Model that good teaching and teach other people how to do it.  It is no good just monitoring, you have to coach people.  It is no good just doing the what and the why – you need to show the how as well.

Since September 2012 the Ofsted framework has placed much greater emphasis on the performance management of staff:

  • Just over half the “improving” schools said they used performance management to manage staff departure.  Most but not all, used it to manage performance improvements.
  • How well does your improvement plan link with plans for staff development?  Are your CPD targets on your plan?
  • Is there a clear relationship between promotion and accountability?
  • Have you clearly indicated the contribution to be made by teaching assistants and other staff?  Are they accountable?  Are the SEN children busy, and delighted at completing the task – it should be what have they learnt?

Leadership: Governance

Governance is pure altruism and commitment these days, with a very different framework from before.  Common issues identified in inspection reports included:

  • Not ambitious about expectations
  • Lack of a critical friend approach – often not enough challenge but rather trying to be good friends – instead the need to be irritating leaders and not accepting things being brushed under the carpet.
  • Over reliance on information from the headteacher, e.g. do subject leaders present to Governing Bodies.
  • Lack of systematic visits to school – this is very tough given people are often working full-time – it needs balance.  Not monitoring lessons, it is the Governors role to make sure systems are in place to monitor learning and teaching.
  • Lack of engagement with school development planning – it is the strategic side of governance and need to be involved in the development and know whether or not it has the feel of something that is active.  Success criteria shouldn’t be task completed – need to have evaluation tools to show what has worked and why has it or has it not worked.  Inspectors will also expect you to know your SEF inside out.
  • Limited role in monitoring and none of it “independent”.  As a tip write challenging questions from GB in minutes in red so it stands out and is easily seen – but can also be easily followed up.
  • One of the most useful activities is a learning walk with the subject co-ordinator, pointing out key features in teaching of subject through the displays and lessons.
  • Limited understanding of data and school quality – RAISEonline is a nightmare – it is a question of making sure you have the training from your LEA.  Talking it through with your headteacher, understanding which bits are important, it now marks key Governor pages with a G.  RAISEOnline is produced by Ofsted and DfE, Family Fischer Trust now doesn’t produce data across all LEAs, as RAISEOnline has improved by HMI it is now much closer to providing all the data from Family Fischer Trust.

Common features of effective governance noted in

  • Focus: sharp focus, raise achievement, improve teaching, robustly focussed, proactive, raised expectations, determined, active
  • Positive impact: drive, strive, ambitious vision, more strategic, provide clear direction, rigorously drives improvement, steer through change, increasingly effective.
  • Strong team: work together, communicated, corporate, supports, unity

Let’s consider why governance has not had sufficient impact for your school:

  • Challenging questions are lacking
  • Monitoring and visits not done regularly and with purpose
  • Reviewing and analysing data independently.

On a scale of 1 to 4 assess the capacity to manage change:

  • SLT
  • Governing Body
  • Middle Managers
  • Teaching Staff
  • Other staff
  • Pupils

Pupil Premium

Guidance is if you have a school that was previously outstanding, if your pupils who are Pupil Premium are not closing the gap then you cannot be outstanding.  London has seen an incredible closing of the gap between FSM and other pupils.  The South East has the widest gap of anywhere in the UK.  In LEA terms it goes from West Berkshire, Isle of Wight, Hampshire up to Reading and Slough is the best – under performance of FSM eligible pupils compared to non FSM pupils at GCSE in 2012 by LA!  By the age of 5 these children were already behind by 18 months, wider at KS1, and again at KS2, and by KS4 life chances are hugely less.

Be as creative as you like about that money.  The one critical report is “Unseen Children Access and Achievement” on what is the problem in this area.  Don’t neglect Pupil Premium children who do we well the access issue is inspiration – this is what parents can’t or won’t give.

The more children on FSM in a school the smaller the gap in achievement.

The Challenges of Leadership in the Charity Sector

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Charles

I loved the email article, The Challenges of Leadership in the Charity Sector by Charles McLachlan in this week’s Cinnamon Network mailing:

As my career developed in commercial organisations, I believed I also had something to offer charities – the Third Sector. It seemed easy to get invited to join trustees, act as a treasurer or get more involved in operational activity. Here was a place that I felt I could contribute, if only they would adopt some of the commercial disciplines of project management, financial control and clear lines of authority that I knew so well, then we could really make a difference together!

My early attempts at introducing some of these commercial disciplines were welcomed in principle however, but resisted in practice. As my mentor used to say, “Charles, just because it makes sense, doesn’t mean that it is the right thing to do” and even more confusingly, “Charles, just because it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t mean it is not the right thing to do”.  I felt I must be missing part of the picture.

Then it clicked. I had hardly imagined the challenge charity leaders face when:

  • 90% of your customers don’t pay you for your services;
  • 90% of your staff hours are provide by individuals who cannot be motivated by pay or financial reward;
  • your investors often have stronger opinions about how you do things and what you do than the actual outcomes delivered;
  • available resources may be allocated in response to perceptions (internal or external) rather than a business case;
  • too often, absolute cost trumps value for money in spending decisions;
  • individuals with power may have no responsibility, and those with responsibility have little power.

As I began to fully understand this, I developed a new respect for leaders of charities. I also realised how much of what those leaders achieve could be applied with enormous power into commercial organisations.

The Third sector is often incredibly entrepreneurial. With almost no resources, a community action group can initiate the transformation of an entire neighbourhood, for example. The Jubilee Debt Campaign released billions of dollars of Third World debt to education and health care.

Does the commercial sector have nothing to offer the Third sector? No, I still believe that many of the disciplines of the commercial sector are required. But it is easy to squeeze out the power of the relationships that are the Social Capital underpinning the Third sector if you just turn the organisation into a more efficient financial machine. And for all of us, where financial resources are increasingly constrained, we should look to Social Capital as the entrepreneurial resource for leaders who want to re-invigorate Britain in the 21st century.

 

Jon Foreman of Switchfoot Reflects on “Christian” Music

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Post Type Church
Switchfoot

Lead singer Jon Foreman was asked if Switchfoot is a “Christian” band.  His response is worth pondering.

“To be honest, this question grieves me because I feel that it represents a much bigger issue than simply a couple SF tunes. In true Socratic form, let me ask you a few questions: Does Lewis or Tolkien mention Christ in any of their fictional series? Are Bach’s sonata’s Christian? What is more Christ-like, feeding the poor, making furniture, cleaning bathrooms, or painting a sunset? There is a schism between the sacred and the secular in all of our modern minds.

The view that a pastor is more ‘Christian’ than a girls volleyball coach is flawed and heretical. The stance that a worship leader is more spiritual than a janitor is condescending and flawed. These different callings and purposes further demonstrate God’s sovereignty.

Many songs are worthy of being written. Switchfoot will write some, Keith Green, Bach, and perhaps yourself have written others. Some of these songs are about redemption, others about the sunrise, others about nothing in particular: written for the simple joy of music.

None of these songs has been born again, and to that end there is no such thing as Christian music. No. Christ didn’t come and die for my songs, he came for me. Yes. My songs are a part of my life. But judging from scripture I can only conclude that our God is much more interested in how I treat the poor and the broken and the hungry than the personal pronouns I use when I sing. I am a believer. Many of these songs talk about this belief. An obligation to say this or do that does not sound like the glorious freedom that Christ died to afford me.

I do have an obligation, however, a debt that cannot be settled by my lyrical decisions. My life will be judged by my obedience, not my ability to confine my lyrics to this box or that.

We all have a different calling; Switchfoot is trying to be obedient to who we are called to be. We’re not trying to be Audio A or U2 or POD or Bach: we’re trying to be Switchfoot. You see, a song that has the words: ‘Jesus Christ’ is no more or less ‘Christian’ than an instrumental piece. (I’ve heard lots of people say Jesus Christ and they weren’t talking about their redeemer.) You see, Jesus didn’t die for any of my tunes. So there is no hierarchy of life or songs or occupation only obedience. We have a call to take up our cross and follow. We can be sure that these roads will be different for all of us. Just as you have one body and every part has a different function, so in Christ we who are many form one body and each of us belongs to all the others. Please be slow to judge ‘brothers’ who have a different calling.”

Via the Christ the King Church blog

Comic Relief invested in tobacco, alcohol and arms firms

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Post Type Featured
Comic Relief

Comic Relief has been forced to defend its investment policy after it emerged that millions of pounds donated to the charity went towards buying shares in tobacco, alcohol and arms firms.

The investigation, carried out by the BBC Panorama programme, claims that the charity has invested in ethically questionable industries when researchers said they had identified “several” funds which had fared better financially by avoiding such businesses.

Researchers claimed that they had found a number of ethically screened funds which outperformed Comic Relief’s portfolio for the past three years. Many well-known charities avoid investing in companies which may be in conflict with their stated humanitarian aims.

The investigation found that the charity invested £630,000 in shares in leading weapons manufacturer BAE Systems, despite repeatedly committing itself to helping ‘people affected by conflict’.  The charity, which has raised nearly £1bn for worthwhile causes in the UK and abroad, also invested more than £300,000 in shares in the alcohol industry despite having a stated aim to reduce alcohol misuse and its spin-off effects.  In 2009 £3m of Comic Relief money was invested in shares in tobacco companies despite the charity’s work to fight against tuberculosis – for which smoking is a contributory factor in many cases.

Comic Relief, which generates huge publicity for its activities with star-studded programmes on BBC1, said it had avoided a policy of ethical screening for its investments because it does not want to limit the amount of money it raises.  Comic Relief today confirmed that it avoided filtering out investments in order to bring in more money, although it kept the situation under review.

In a statement, it said:

“To fulfil our legal obligation, Charity Commission guidelines are clear that charities are required to maximise returns on money in their care. For Comic Relief, because the range of issues we support is so broad, ethical screening would significantly limit our ability to invest as well as seriously increase financial risk.

“Therefore ethical screening would have left us unable to meet both our legal and moral obligation to maximise returns and look after the money in our care with an appropriate level of risk. Instead we put the money into large managed funds, like many other leading charities and pension funds. We do not invest directly in any individual company. We believe this approach has delivered the greatest benefits to the most vulnerable people.

“This policy has achieved strong returns over the years, which have helped Comic Relief cover its running costs, without having to use any of the money donated directly by the public. This is a complex area, with many important considerations, and we keep it under constant review.”

According to the documentary, which will be shown on BBC1 tonight, the charity has also refused to reveal its current investments.

This just seems another example of poor ethical decisions.  Similar to the story about the Church of England, investing money in large managed funds is a normal practice, but you need to still ensure the ethical priority is fulfilled.  It seems deeply ironic that Comic Relief is investing in things that it stands completely against – something that Comic Relief’s finance managers will want to change as quickly as possible.

Full list of female representatives to House of Bishops

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The Church of England has announced that the Revd Libby Lane, Dean of Women in Ministry in the Chester Diocese has been elected by the NW region as their female representative in the House of Bishops.

This completes these elections. The full list of representatives is:

Ven Annette Cooper, Archdeacon of Colchester (East Anglia)
Very Revd Vivienne Faull, Dean of York (North East)
Ven Joanne Grenfell, Archdeacon of Portsdown (South and Central)
Revd Libby Lane, Dean of Women in Ministry, Chester Diocese (North West)
Ven Nicola Sullivan, Archdeacon of Wells (South West)
Revd Preb Dr Jane Tillier, Preb of Lichfield Cathedral (West Midlands)
Ven Rachel Treweek, Archdeacon of Hackney (South East)
Ven Christine Wilson, Archdeacon of Chesterfield (East Midlands)

The representatives will take up their roles on 1st December.

Via Thinking Anglicans

Christmas Chocolate Sprouts

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Post Type Children's and Youth Work
Christmas brussel sprouts

On Saturday I led the Girl Guides District Carol Service, and used my favourite Christmas illustration – Chocolate Sprouts.

 

Preparation

  • Boil the Brussels Sprouts (make sure they’re not too soft) and stick them in the fridge overnight.
  • Next morning, melt the chocolate and dip the sprouts in so that they look like truffles.  Let them set on a baking tray, then put them in small cake cases and sprinkle them with cocoa powder.

Talk

At the start of the talk, announce that you love Christmas so much, that you want to share it with everybody, and that what you have with you is something that will always remind them of Christmas day – delicious truffles!

Ask for a couple of volunteers to see if they can emulate Christmas day, by eating as many truffles as they can in 1 minute.  Build up the expectation and emphasise the need for speed in the challenge.

Once the young people start eating the ‘truffles’, they’ll realise that there’s something not quite right and their facial expressions will change from ones of sheer delight, to ones of outright disgust a they discover the sprouts. (You may want to have a plastic bag handy at this point!)

OK, so it’s a bit revolting, but here’s the point.

Ask the young people who loves chocolate, and also, who loves sprouts.

Say that Christmas, for most of us is a time of celebration, indulgence and happiness.  We love the ‘niceness’ of the Christmas season. It’s a bit like chocolate!

Go on to say that for many people, Christmas is not an easy time. For some it’s a time of loneliness, homelessness and struggle. For many people, Christmas is like our experience of sprouts – something to struggle through.

You could mention the first Christmas as an example. Mary was blessed with the news that she was to be the mother of God’s son, but probably struggled with knowing that her life could be in danger because of her pregnancy.  A classic Eastenders storyline!

Challenge the young people to consider how they spend Christmas – to be grateful for the Christmas they have, and to be mindful of those who will struggle through Christmas.

Prayer

May our lives and our prayers be like lights shining in dark places.  And may the blessing of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – fill our hearts and homes with light this Christmas and in the new year to come.  Amen.

Books I have read: Sabbatical Journey

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Sabbatical Journey

Over the last few years I’ve become a fan of Henri Nouwen’s writings, so I was pleased to pick up a second-hand copy of Sabbatical Journey in the last few months.  The book is a diary of September 1995 to August 1996, when Nouwen had been given a sabbatical from l’Arche Daybreak, the community in which he worked and lived.  His final entry in the journal was on 30th August 1996, only three weeks before his death.

Nouwen’s diary reminds me of a Bill Bryson styled travel book, but instead of a focus on the geography, history etc., his focus is on the relationships, the conversations, the mood of the people he met with.  His travels take him to California and New Mexico, Holland and Ireland, Watertown and Peapack, Freiburg and Toronto to mention a few.  Alongside this we see more detail in the relationship with people like his ageing father

The main thing that struck me was the importance that Nouwen placed on celebrating Holy Communion regularly, and by that I don’t mean each Sunday, but nearly every day, be it in The Daybreak Community, with family and friends, or in a hotel room.  His reflections as he celebrates this are a source of spiritual food that sustains not only his community of friends (and he has many!) but his readers as well.  He also writes about the tug of war he feels between wanting to write more, yet wanting to be available as a pastor for his friends, to preside over their weddings and baptisms and funerals.

If you enjoy reading Henri Nouwen, then it’s well worth your time to sit and read snippets of this.

 

 

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