Aptis Conference 16thApril 2013 Focus Preparing for Inspection and Maintaining Excellence Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston -Millennium IPS 1

Context and Focus  Principal of a relatively young school going through the inspection process for the first time  Role as Associate Assessor  How do we prepare?  How do we maintain excellence? Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 2

Starting Points  All leaders – get into the habit of reading inspection reports – the whole range- Outstanding to Unsatisfactory- Why?  Keep yourself up to speed with the ETI site- types of inspections/up to date proformas  Consider doing practice runs of proformas with key staff  Climate and ethos are crucial across school and in each and every classroom  Know your staff and their areas of expertise and areas for development  Use this knowledge to select your coordinators  Develop leadership skills across all staff Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 3

Short/focused/Unannounced as defined by ETI  Short – evaluates the quality of the ethos of the school/pastoral care and child protection/learning and teaching/leadership and management  Focused –concentrates on particular aspects of the school’s provision/leadership and management/pastoral care and child protection/all set within the context of the school as a whole  Unannounced – no prior notice/pastoral care and child protection as evidenced in the school’s arrangements and the work observed/self evaluative profile completed and discussed Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 4

School Development Plan  Make sure SDP is compliant with the latest circular  Re –read to ensure that it is EVALUATIVE across the board and not just descriptive – evaluate and use evidence to verify your judgements  SDP and action plans are working documents Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 5

Action Plans  Action Plans for English, Maths and ICT are a must on an annual basis  Look at existing ones with a fresh eye – can they be improved?  Benchmark where you are, by using data and recording the data on your action plans – before and when you evaluate progress  Make sure the focus is on improved outcomes for learning and ultimately standards – not just a series of actions which are necessary but won’t lead to improvement Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 6

The Nitty Gritty!!  The highest quality Learning and Teaching  Walt/wilf/AFL/the phases of the lesson including a well structured plenary  Opportunities for the children to reflect on and explain their thinking and learning  Differentiation  Levels of engagement  Opportunities for well structured paired and group work as well as independent  Active learning v busy children!!!  Planning which matches what is happening on the day and prior planning which is evidenced in exercise books/photos/displays Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 7

Ensure a consistent approach  Behaviour management  Marking  Use of ICT – Showcase  Expectations  Progression well embedded particularly in English and Mathematics  Timetables/files/planning formats/  Organisation of materials for the inspection itself Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 8

Pastoral Care and Child Protection  Use the proforma to guide you for any holes in your provision- action point any which need to be done asap so that they are well embedded  Constantly ensure whole school understanding of policy and procedures  Conversations with staff and children  School Council – involvement of the children in decision making processes Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 9

Special Educational Needs  IEPS need to focus on how the child learns – differentiation- IEPS are changing to learning profiles  Identify the barriers to learning (This should also be in SDP if relevant)  Incorporate and build on assessment procedures  Children need to be aware of their targets  Are the IEPS making any difference and do you have evidence to support this?  Usually choose at least 2 children from the SEN register and track their learning experiences and their IEPS over the last 2 years or so Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 10

Data/ KS1/KS2 etc.  Know your data inside out – Principal/ VP/Coordinators/SENCO particularly  Data is important but the learning experience in the classroom is more important  How is the school performing against NI average and FSM benchmarking criteria over the last 4 years?  How is the school performing, particularly in literacy and numeracy as evidenced over the last 4 years  How effective is the analysis of data//who is involved?/How is data used to improve provision/ standards/ How is progress monitored and evaluated  Be prepared to talk about any underperformance and any value added on/percentage of children reaching potential  Statements made need to be backed up by statistics  Recent data package sent to Governors and principals is useful Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 11

Quality of Provision for Learning  For all children  Broad and balanced curriculum and extra curricular opportunities  High expectations for all children and challenging thought provoking investigations/practical and recorded activities  Opportunities to talk about learning, to voice opinions and ideas/to demonstrate decision making and self management skills  Early screening and additional support both in class and through withdrawal  Play activities which provide holistic opportunities and especially the meaningful development and application of literacy and numeracy skills  Joined up learning  Quality of interactions Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 12

Leadership and Management  Change made recently  On the first day the team of inspectors meet with the principal and the coordinators and any other relevant leaders within the school for about an hour – usually 3.15 to 4.15  Purpose of the meeting is to enable the school team to engage in a professional dialogue with the inspectors  The discussion should take place within the context of the school development plan – Does the school know where it is? Where it wants to go? Does it have focused areas for priority? How will the school monitor and evaluate? What has worked well and produced the best outcomes? What didn’t work well  This meeting contributes particularly to the evaluation of leadership and management Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 13

Leadership and management cont.  Not necessarily a powerpoint – looking for a quality discussion and interaction  Needs to be well planned for and organised so that the time allocated is used in the most productive way  Topics to be discussed include the current whole school priorities for development and improvement, the actions being taken to raise standards, especially in English and Mathematics, and their impact on teaching and learning  The school’s analysis of trends of performance data over the most recent 4 year period  How the school is addressing low and underachievement if applicable Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 14

Leadership and Management cont  The meeting should outline the action the school proposes to bring about further development and improvement in both provision and outcomes and how the impact of these developments will be monitored and evaluated for the benefits they bring in teaching and learning  The principal and the staff should provide the inspectors with appropriate supporting documentary evidence from existing documentation usually or that relevant sections are signposted Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 15

Board of Governors  Now have a self evaluation questionnaire to complete  Provided with a set of quality indicators  Questionnaire forms the basis of the discussion between the inspectors and the governors  5 key questions – governors to rate their performance level choosing from 3 levels across each of the key questions  Performance levels are –highly effective/effective/limited effectiveness  There is an evidence box – perhaps this should be being populated on a regular basis Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 16

Maintaining Excellence  Keep your finger on the pulse and don’t take your foot off the pedal!!  Reflect on the early slides  Keep learning and teaching and raising standards at the heart of what you are trying to do  Be creative and innovative yourself  Encourage this approach in your staff – they have some great ideas and you cannot do it on your own!!! Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 17

BE POSITIVE NOT FEARFUL!!! Remember inspections are a process which can  Validate all the hard work which has been going on in the school  Showcase all the productive, innovative approaches you are taking to meet the needs of your children  Allow inspectors to get a better feel of the things we value as integrated schools Aptis Conference April Mary Roulston - Millennium IPS 18