1. ......and the Pyramid Builders !
Y Weiren Uchel
The High Wire
Y Trapîs
The Trapeze
a Gweithwyr Ffaro !
......and the Pyramid Builders !

2. Rhagorol + Da = 61.0% Rhagorol + Da = 87.0% Rhagorol + Da = 84.0%
Yn yr ychydig o ysgolion ble mai digonol yn unig yw’r arweinyddiaeth, nid yw’r uwch reolwyr a’r rheolwyr canol yn rhoi digon o sylw i safonau ac addysgu. Yn yr ysgolion yma, nid yw pob aelod o’r staff yn deall ei rôl yn ddigon da ac nid yw’r rheolwyr yn mynd i’r afael yn gadarn â thanberfformio.
Dim ond digonol yw’r cynllunio ar gyfer gwella yn bron i un o bob pum ysgol, ac yn yr ysgolion yma :
nid yw’r rheolwyr yn arsylwi’r gwersi’n ddigon aml;
nid yw lleiafrif o’r adrannau’n dadansoddi data’n drylwyr;
nid yw’r hunanarfarnu’n adnabod yn glir y meysydd i’w datblygu
nid yw’r cynlluniau gwella’n rhoi digon o sylw i’r diffygion nac yn gosod targedau heriol

3. YR ARWEINWYR / THE LEADERS
Diben craidd : ‘consistency, clarity and coherence in pursuit of core purpose’
Ffocws didrugaredd ar y deilliannau i ddysgwyr : ‘balance academic achievement with 21st
century learning skills’
Lefel uchel o atebolrwydd ar bob lefel a defnydd pwrpasol o ddata i herio perfformiad:
‘a constant reflection on practice, challenges staff to be the best professionals they can
possibly be’
Disgwyliadau uchel yn nodweddu ac yn treiddio POB haen o fywyd yr ysgol : ‘mediocre
schools tolerate mediocrity in the classroom’
Ffocws didrugaredd ar wella’r broses ddysgu : ‘from a performing orientation to a learning
orientation’
Cwricwlwm yn cyfateb i anghenion a dyheadau y dysgwyr : ‘what’s best for our
students?’
Buddsoddiad sylweddol mewn DPP : ‘utilising tacit and formal opportunities’

4. ‘The core purpose is not a catch-all mission statement
‘The core purpose is not a catch-all mission statement. It’s a definition of what’s fundamental to your operation. It’s like a stick of rock with the school’s name written inside it - wherever you break that rock, you’ll see the school’s name!’
‘If you declare yourself to prepare students for the challenges of the 21 century – why are you banning mobile phones ? If you are a school that values independent learning – why are teachers marking every piece of written work ?
‘As a leader you need to recognise what makes great learning – what does it look like? Share it with staff and share it often so that you create a culture for it to develop. Don’t expect it to just happen !’
‘High performing and rapidly improving schools are characterised by learning-centred leaders.’

5. ‘What happens in the classroom should drive your thinking
‘What happens in the classroom should drive your thinking. Is the quality of experiences for your pupils good enough ? If not, what are you doing about it ?’
‘An effective school is full of effective classrooms – too often mediocre schools tolerate mediocrity in the classroom’
‘I use my in-house support to challenge my staff to be the best professionals they can be. This requires constant reflection upon, and improvement of, their classroom practice ’
‘The difference between an effective teacher and an ineffective teacher is enormous. In one year the difference for my students can be life changing. A handful don’t do a great job – they do an appalling job ! They shouldn’t be there and in most cases don’t want to be there. I won’t turn a blind eye to or tolerate mediocrity. I’ve got 2 satisfactory teachers in my school at present and they’re both leaving this year ! Many other heads find the thought of confronting these issues hard – but I don’t. I just keep thinking about the children’
‘We humanise the data so that we talk pupils rather than stats’

6. ‘My school is only as strong as the weakest department
‘My school is only as strong as the weakest department. Only quality leadership throughout can possibly lead to high quality throughout !’
‘We’ve turned non-compliance into an art form. You name a charter mark – we haven’t got it ! The institution’s time in any other agenda should be proportional to the value it offers to the pupils – the tail should never wag the dog !’
‘You have to define the role of the HoD – and your expectations have to be higher than someone who champions the subject. Get the right people into the right posts – make sure that they share your values – then let them get on with it – but hold them to account !’
‘A sympathetic arm around the shoulder is not good enough. What’s the point of offering too much sympathy ? I can’t change their present life but I can damn well impact on their future.’
‘Great learning environments are those where personal challenge can extend the comfort zone without being undermined by anxiety’
‘I have no doubt that the teacher who goes the extra mile benefits from mutual loyalty. The impact of that extra mile should not be underestimated – it does make a difference’.

7. ‘The single limiting factor on student achievement is teacher imagination !’
‘You need to have high expectations – when I look at my students I do so in terms of their potential, not their past or their present performance.’
‘It’s partly science it’s partly art – the science is in understanding the principles upon which learning is based - the art is in deploying those principles.’
‘I have within my department the first generation of teachers who were taught the national curriculum throughout their entire school years. Now they’re teaching others. More and more know how to write schemes of work, assessment criteria and lesson plans but fewer and fewer seem to know how to respond if it goes wrong. I see it as my responsibility to foster the creativity in my young staff.’
‘If you have 100 members of staff, each observed once annually for 45 minutes with a 15m de-briefing – that’s 100 hours before any sort of analyses has yet taken place. Add in 6m of analysis each and that’s 110 hours. Over three years that’s a minimum of 55 working days committed to a paper based accountability exercise. You’d better make sure it helps and that the product for end-users is worthwhile !’

8. ‘As middle leaders we link the data to a set of stepped interventions so that all staff know what has triggered a particular strategy. If a teacher in my department doesn’t deliver on results I look them in the eye and tell them it’s not good enough. I will not compromise on standards.’
‘We’re constantly challenging ourselves to get better. You would not survive 5m in this school if you weren’t on it night and day. In order to get better, you must be prepared to ask the hard questions. Hard questions usually upset the equilibrium. This can be useful if you think that your department or a particular member of the department is beginning to coast. These are some of the hard questions I’ve asked my department recently :
are our lessons actually worth behaving for ?
can we create a supergroup by combining sets and giving them high quality lectures with follow-up support ?
what do we do on a regular basis that does not contribute to improving learning ?
do we allow coursework to be submitted that is less than the target grade ?
should we provide parents with a booklet of work for when their child tells them that he has no homework ?
in what way does a grade for behaviour reflect the student’s capacity and willingness to learn ?
we spend around 100 hours per year on registration – how do we use it ?

9. ‘If as a middle leader, I find myself in a review meeting with the SMT in September trying to justify a set of results that caught me by surprise, I would not be doing my job ! If there is a class set which has gone untracked, had no intervention and failed at the exam hurdle, I would have been at fault !’

10. Rhagorol + Da = 61.0% Rhagorol + Da = 87.0% Rhagorol + Da = 84.0%
Yn yr ychydig o ysgolion ble mai digonol yn unig yw’r arweinyddiaeth, nid yw’r uwch reolwyr a’r rheolwyr canol yn rhoi digon o sylw i safonau ac addysgu. Yn yr ysgolion yma, nid yw pob aelod o’r staff yn deall ei rôl yn ddigon da ac nid yw’r rheolwyr yn mynd i’r afael yn gadarn â thanberfformio.
Dim ond digonol yw’r cynllunio ar gyfer gwella yn bron i un o bob pum ysgol, ac yn yr ysgolion yma :
nid yw’r rheolwyr yn arsylwi’r gwersi’n ddigon aml;
nid yw lleiafrif o’r adrannau’n dadansoddi data’n drylwyr;
nid yw’r hunanarfarnu’n adnabod yn glir y meysydd i’w datblygu
nid yw’r cynlluniau gwella’n rhoi digon o sylw i’r diffygion nac yn gosod targedau heriol