‘Know your data/know your impact’
East Lothian Toolkit
2018/2019
Focused Review Summary - Primary Establishment
Cluster
Athelstaneford Primary School
North Berwick
HGIOS 4 Leadership and Management 1.3 Leadership of Change
How effective are our approaches to evaluating and monitoring the impact and sustainability of our professional learning? How effective are the school’s approaches to planning for continuous improvement?
How does the school ensure a continued focus on improvements in outcomes for learners?
To what extent are the school’s tools for change impacting positively on staff and improving outcomes for all learners?
Theme 3 – Implementing improvement and change Developing a shared vision, values and aims relevant to the school and its community There is evidence of a developing commitment to ensuring a clear focus on improving the quality of pupils’ achievement and future attainment. Senior leaders provide a leadership direction that has enabled the school and wider community to develop, promote and sustain a vision which underpins the work that the school has embarked upon towards continuous improvement. The vision values and aims are understood and shared by all stakeholders, and evidence of their involvement in reviewing and developing this is evident, leading to a shared ownership. Pupils were able to discuss the activities they had been involved in as part of this development, and felt the opportunities they had been given to revisit and evaluate the vision, values and aims were valued by all pupils in the school. Senior leaders have a clear understanding of the social, economic and cultural context of the school’s community. This has led to the informed use of data to identify trends in pupil performance, and in developing future priorities for the school’s ongoing improvement journey, based on improving outcomes for pupils, which are supported by a bank of data evidence. Strategic planning for continuous improvement Senior leaders guide and manage the strategic direction and pace of change, and are aware of the need to embed a sustainable pace of change into the school’s improvement agenda. In recent years, there has been an improved consideration of effective strategies for achieving change within the school’s capacity to achieve this. For part-time staff, senior leaders have endeavoured to plan and protect time for professional dialogue, collegiate learning and self-evaluation, to ensure equitable opportunity for staff to contribute to plans for continuous improvement. Over time, through reflection and effective evaluation, the head teacher has created conditions where staff feel confident to initiate change and are committed to collective responsibility for the improvement process. This positive professional culture has helped to address the challenges resulting from staffing changes within a small staff team, and has helped establish a more sustainable model of continued self-evaluation for self-improvement. Implementing improvement and change Arrangements for Career Long Professional Learning (CLPL) for teaching staff evidence a commitment from staff members to develop their professional knowledge and understanding in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy, and other curricular areas. Some of these areas of CLPL have a direct link to identified priorities for improvement, contained in the School Improvement Plan, while others are reflective of the professional needs of teachers in effectively meeting the needs of the pupils within their classes. Priorities for improvement have an increasing focus on impact upon
Improving outcomes for East Lothian’s most disadvantaged children through capacity building and leadership