Hopwood Primary School is in Rochdale. The school was judged outstanding by Ofsted.
How the school has used Focus Education
Over the last few years our use of Focus Education has grown from attending courses and purchasing publications to online updates, Finger Tips and consultancy. This year we have used consultancy in two ways. Both days were spent with the SLT, initially the consultant spent a day undertaking a rigorous evaluation of our curriculum and provision. Secondly we used Myers Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) to strengthen our leadership capacity.
Evaluation
Resources and training from Focus continue to be of an exceptionally high standard. The consultancy days with the consultant have been exhausting, revitalizing and uplifting. the consultant prepared for the day and researched our school well. He was very astute and quickly ‘tuned in’ to our school and our needs. Using his knowledge and skills he was able to ask individuals probing questions and respond to our needs.
As an outstanding school our challenge lies in sustaining excellence, which ultimately means supporting and maintaining high performing teams. Simon used his vast experience and in depth knowledge of education to challenge us to evaluate the parity between provision and ethos. The MBTI was fantastic and has helped us to build on our strengths and use our differences to bring about further school improvement. He was extremely adept at helping us to recognise our differences in a non threatening manner. Understanding our different styles makes communication easier, knowing how we each make decisions and how we perceive the world definitely makes us sharper. We delegate appropriately and to conclude we are a far more efficient and effective team. We enjoyed this day and I would recommend it to any team, we are now looking at doing it with the teaching staff and looking at how their personalities impact / relate to their teaching styles.
