Raising Standards Consultancy
Taking place at your school or another setting of your choice, our experienced consultants can provide a bespoke professional development (CPD) day focused on raising standards. Below, you will find a list of our most enquired about and booked CPD days based on raising standards in primary schools. To view other areas our consultants have run CPD days on or to learn more about our general INSET/ consultancy options, please click here.
Characteristics of School Improvement
Sir David Carter, the National Schools Commissioner, has challenged our thinking about effective schools and academies by creating his own categorisation. He looks at four stages of school improvement and identifies eight types of schools and academies, from the ‘strongest performers’ to the ‘weakest system performers’.
This half-day training explores Sir David’s system and identifies some of the main features associated with each type of school and academy, exploring issues such as ‘How do strong schools remain so?’, and ‘How do weaker school maintain a momentum of improvement once they start to make progress?’
It also considers the role that governors should have in supporting school improvement and effectiveness. It challenges schools and academies to self-evaluate in a more impartial way.
There is recognition that securing school improvement takes time but also acknowledges that leaders need to prioritise and sequence the changes required. School improvement is the product of high quality leadership, so understanding the stage of the ‘improvement journey’ is vital for getting the right leaders in place.
Using Book Scrutiny to Raise Standards
Changes to the inspection framework have clarified that, when judging teaching over time, more weight needs to be given to the evidence of outcomes in pupils’ books. This should lead to much more focus being given to book scrutiny as a natural part of a school’s self-evaluation process.
The training will aim to make scrutiny more manageable by considering the following areas:
- From planning to practice
- Use of adaptive teaching methods
- Pupils’ presentation skills
- Fidelity to the school’s agreed pedagogical approach
- Checking marking and feedback
- Having high expectations
This one-day training helps school leaders be more effective and efficient in their book scrutiny activities.
How to book
Contact our consultancy department by email or fill in the form here. For more information, please see our consultancy page, which will explain what we can offer.