School Improvement Strategy

Our school improvement strategy is based on ‘upstreaming’ rather than ‘find the fault and fix it’.  We ensure that we know our schools well and we do this through thorough professional conversations, quality assurance, (data analysis, documentation review, school visits, audits, pupil, parent, staff voice) and self-evaluation.  Working at school level and with school leaders, we establish priorities and areas of strength and expertise that can be shared across The Trust.


 

Evidence-informed practice

Most forms of professional activity involve choices; it is the ability to make the appropriate choice that is one of the key criteria for professional expertise and authority. A large number of professional activities depend on evidence.  For many professions, work is very largely the collection, analysis and identification of strategies based on appropriate evidence.  

Professor John West-Burnham

 

Our Principles of School Improvement

Seven improvement principles

 

School improvement aims

  • We secure equity.
  • Leadership, at all levels, drives improvement.
  • Our curriculum is irresistible.
  • We are research informed.
  • We manage resources effectively.

 

Securing equity for children who are disadvantaged

Based on NFER research, we focus on:

  1. Whole school ethos of attainment for all
  2. Addressing behaviour and attendance
  3. High quality teaching for all
  4. Meeting individual learning needs
  5. Deploying staff effectively
  6. Data driven and responding to evidence
  7. Clear responsive leadership

 

Professional Development

Our professional development is second to none and includes free access to over 200 titles in our Staff Professional Development Library.  Whatever career stage,  our staff have an entitlement to high quality development.  As a Trust, we meet to collaborate on a range of topics and all teachers are engaged in action research - published annually.

 

Supporting our leaders to improve the quality of education

Our schools have access to a range of services provided by the Trust.  These include, but are not limited to, finance (e.g. payroll), facilities management, HR, IT support, Health and Safety, governance support.  We aim to create space for school leaders to focus on their core purpose: improving outcomes for children.