1 / 15

Neil Dixon

Neil Dixon. St Mary & St Paul’s CE Primary School, Knowsley. Our Ofsted Experience. Context Our Journey Self-evaluation SEF Build Up The Big Day! What did we learn?. Context. St Mary & St Paul’s is a small church school (about 150 on roll) serving a challenging area in Knowsley

bly
Download Presentation

Neil Dixon

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Neil Dixon St Mary & St Paul’s CE Primary School, Knowsley

  2. Our Ofsted Experience • Context • Our Journey • Self-evaluation • SEF • Build Up • The Big Day! • What did we learn?

  3. Context • St Mary & St Paul’s is a small church school (about 150 on roll) serving a challenging area in Knowsley • At the last inspection (April 2004) we were ‘satisfactory’ but ‘improving’ – this is the baseline that we were working from • Children enter Nursery at a very low level, especially in CLL & PSED

  4. Context • Results still below national average in KS1 (but improving – this year they’re close to average in maths & writing) • Results in KS2 average or (in science) just above – so our CVA was 102.2 • Attendance still just in bottom 25% nationally but improving year-on-year from a low point below 90%

  5. Our Journey • Our shared philosophy: “Every child has the right to enjoy success in our school; our job is to provide them with the chance to do that.” • In 2005 we agreed a shared vision that was centred around ‘excellence’ in all aspects of school life – and set ourselves 2010 as the year to achieve it by

  6. Self-Evaluation • Genuinely ongoing, building up a proper picture over time • A range of techniques/strategies used: • observations, • scrutinies, • pupil interviews, • questionnaires, • external audits

  7. Self-Evaluation • Self-Evaluation activities partly influenced by the areas of the SEF • Not rigidly timetabled – flexible but still thorough • Not dictated by a published scheme – based on the school’s context & need

  8. SEF • Inspector gave very positive feedback about the SEF & how analytical it was • I was worried it was too long – but obviously not! • Each section had 2 very clear parts – “Headteacher’s Judgements” and “Evidence Base” • Written by Head (for continuity of style) but with a lot of input from others

  9. Build Up • First phone call • SEF submitted • Ensured all SEF evidence was properly filed & ready • Staff able to focus on their own things • Long phone call & PIB – made the context of the inspection very clear, gave clear pointers which we collated additional evidence for

  10. The Big Day • Well timetabled – felt like it was a partnership, not something being ‘done’ to us! • Good communication right from the start: our inspector was excellent • A strange experience – I didn’t see the inspector as much as I expected to (because our evidence was so thorough?)

  11. The Big Day • Ongoing dialogue – if the inspector made a judgement, we tried to explain it, put it into context & show that we knew and were acting on it, rather than trying to argue about it! (e.g. standards) • The highlight was the feedback to staff re. teaching & learning – this was offered but by the inspector, if it isn’t offered, I’d ask for it.

  12. What did we learn? • Outstanding inspections don’t just happen – they come as the result of a lot of very focused, hard work and through having an excellent staff team; • Preparation is vital – our self-evaluation covered all aspects that we were going to be inspected on; • A lot of the outcome can be decided before the day – so a really analytical, thorough SEF is very important – make judgements!

  13. What did we learn? • Keep the day as normal as possible and make the inspector’s life as easy as possible (timetable, evidence, work base etc.); • Brief staff well but don’t stress them out! • Maintain a dialogue throughout the day; • Take your lead from the inspector’s comments – go back with extra evidence etc. but don’t waste time trying to change set judgements;

  14. What did we learn? • Our SEF, School Development Plan & Self-Evaluation Evidence showed that we knew our school very well; • Staff all do have a shared vision – and the children, parents & governors buy into it too; • Approaching the inspection as an opportunity, not a threat, meant that we stayed positive – and this helped it to be a positive experience.

  15. My favourite bit... “The school’s combination of support for pupils and ambition for their future makes a real difference to their chances in life.” (St Mary & St Paul’s Ofsted, March 2008)

More Related