Achievement for All

1. Achievement for All Leadership Conferences Autumn 2009

2. Agenda • Achievement for All – local context • DCSF National overview • Achievement for All DVD • Characteristics of effective inclusive leadership • Helping you achieve the project aims • National evaluation • Local authority-led session • Prioritising of next steps for schools/LA

3. Over to you…. • How does Achievement for All support your vision for your school? • What opportunities does it offer?

4. Achievement for All Chris Wheatley Headteacher Cotgrave Candleby Lane School Paraska Throup Former Headteacher West Lodge Middle School

5. Characteristics of effective inclusive leadership

6. Aims • Share thinking about leadership of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) • Reflect on current practice • Inform personal leadership development

7. Pressures of School life for Leaders! supply cover project manager governor Ofsted pupil’s annual reports breakfast clubs policy maker crowd controller new diplomas governors reports appointments of staff monitoring & evaluation health & safety officer SIP/ meetings caretaker/site manager bursar/finance data performance management appraiser assemblies boys toilets questionnaires Leading Learning and Teaching

8. The focus on leadership • Personal reflection • Discussion with colleagues • Issues for consideration back in school • Learning about leadership through the project • Informing other leaders

9. Characteristics of effective leadership • Building vision and setting directions • Understanding and developing people • Redesigning the organisation • Managing the teaching and learning programme NCSL, 2007

10. Four elements of effective inclusive leadership • A shared vision and ethos for inclusion • A strong commitment for making the vision a reality • A commitment to collaboration • Effective communication throughout

11. Elements of effective inclusive leadership Vision/core belief • every child succeeds – a moral core purpose • consistent messages of core belief • reflect and question vision – how effective is it?

12. Time to reflect • To what extent is there a shared vision and high expectations for the outcomes for all pupils in your school? How do you know? • To what extent is there a shared vision for the engagement of parents and carers in supporting the learning and development of their children? How do you know?

13. Elements of effective inclusive leadership Commitment • systems supporting a vision • collective responsibility • strategic view

14. Time to reflect • What strategies are in place to track children’s progress? Is progress good enough? What evidence do you have to support this? • Is there a collective responsibility for the progress of children and young people identified with SEND in your school? How do you know?

15. Elements of effective inclusive leadership Collaboration • school has a collaborative • environment • parents fully included • strong links with other schools • multi–agency collaboration

16. Time to reflect • How proactive is your school at developing effective cross agency partnerships for children with SEND? What is the impact of this? • How do you enable parents to collaborate in their children’s learning?

17. Elements of effective inclusive leadership Communication • early intervention • constant dialogue • the listening headteacher

18. Time to reflect • How do your communications with parents and carers show that you value the contribution that they can make to support their children’s learning? How do you know that the communications are good and work for parents? • How do you know there is effective communication between leaders (and between leaders and other staff) in your school? What evidence do you have to support this?

19. How effective are we……..? • Our vision • Our systems • How effectively do we collaborate? • Do we lead a listening school?

20. Next Steps • Continue with personal reflection • Discussions with school leaders • Diamond 9 activity

21. Discussion questions 1 To what extent is there a shared vision and high expectations for the outcomes for all pupils in your school? How do you know? 2 What strategies are in place to track children’s progress and is progress good enough? What evidence do you have to support this? 3 How do you enable parents to collaborate in their children’s learning? 4 How do you know there is effective communication between leaders (and between leaders and other staff) in your school? What evidence do you have to support this?

22. Discuss and prioritise the tasks/actions using the statement cards and the Diamond 9 grid. 1 is the highest priority. Use blanks to record additional tasks/actions. Discuss which elements of effective leadership might be most significant in supporting these tasks. Diamond 9 Activity

23. Achievement for All National Strategies AfA Team

24. Helping you achieve the project aims

25. The 3 strands of AfA

26. ‘Must-dos’ for schools • Secure leadership and coordination • Conduct a gap analysis • Develop an AfA implementation plan to include use of funding • Engage in appropriate CPD opportunities • Provide required evidence to support project evaluation • Consider how outcomes can be sustained

27. ‘Must-dos’ for schools: strand specific • Implement the cycle of assessing, tracking and intervention (strand 1) • Hold structured conversations with parents and support ongoing communication with parents (strand 2) • Prioritise 2 areas from the wider outcomes (strand 3)

28. Monitoring and Evaluating AfA Internal self-evaluation e.g. data analysis, feedback from stakeholders National Evaluation Of AfA Schools Visits to schools Meetings with School Project Leaders Local Authorities Monitoring of LA Project Leader Joint visits to schools National Strategies Qualitative and quantitative data collection, case studies DCSF / Evaluation Team

29. Support through a whole school approach

30. Support for schools

31. Support from the National Strategies

32. Discussion • What are the benefits for your school? • What are the logistical challenges? • What support do you need? • What expertise or skills might you have to share?

33. Achievement for AllNational Evaluation Dr. Neil Humphrey, Dr. Garry Squires & Professor Peter Farrell School of Education, University of Manchester

34. Research Questions • What is the impact of AFA on outcomes for pupils with SEND? • In relation to attainment in English and mathematics? • In relation to wider outcomes such as behaviour, attendance, and positive relationships? • In relation to parental engagement and confidence? • To what extent is any impact mediated by variation in regional, LA, school and pupil level factors?

35. Research Questions (Contd.) 2 What processes and practices are most effective in improving the above outcomes? • In relation to activity at regional, LA, school and classroom levels? • What contextual and pupil factors influence the relative success of these processes and practices? • How sustainable and transferable are these processes and practices?

36. Research Design – Quantitative Strand Online surveys of regions, LAs, schools and parents that will seek to link variation in how AFA is implemented at various levels to changes in key pupil-level outcome variables Approximately 450 AFA schools and 10,000 pupils/families will be sampled, alongside a comparable number of comparison schools (and pupils/families) that are not part of the initiative

37. Research Design – Quantitative Strand (Contd.) • Our regional, LA and school level surveys will examine how AFA is being implemented. This data can then be linked to pupil-level outcome measures including attainment, behaviour, bullying, positive relationships, attendance, and parental engagement and confidence • Surveys will be conducted at three time-points - in January 2010 (Time 1), autumn 2010 (Time 2) and summer 2011 (Time 3) – so that we can examine the impact of AFA over time

38. Research Design – Qualitative Strand We will sample a range of stakeholders/institutions in order to develop a rich and detailed picture of AFA implementation In-depth interviews with all regional advisors and LA project leaders will be conducted, followed by interviews with 2-3 advisory teachers in each LA

39. Research Design – Qualitative Strand (Contd.) • We will then sample 2 schools in each of the 10 AFA LAs for longitudinal case studies, which will involve around 5 visits over the two year period and comprise interviews with senior managers, SENCOs, classroom teachers, support staff and pupils, focus groups with parents, observations, and document analysis • Within each school we will sample approximately 5 pupils/parents for ‘mini-case-studies’

40. “What’s in it for us?/Why bother?” We need to know if AFA has succeeded in its overall aims – so this national evaluation is vital Opportunity to participate in what we think will be the biggest study of its kind Minimal data collection burden Everything will be set up on the survey website for each school (underpinned by PLASC/NPD data) – teachers/parents just log in and complete surveys Surveys designed to be as brief as possible, and only required on an annual basis Flexible survey window – around 1 month to complete surveys at each time point

41. “What’s in it for us?/Why bother?” (contd.) • User friendly design – including translated versions for parent surveys • For case study schools, our team will work flexibly around your needs to arrange mutually agreeable dates/times for visits • Every school will receive bespoke aggregated feedback following each survey that allows them to compare their data to other schools in the LA and the national sample as a whole (this can be used for SEF etc.) • All data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will be completely anonymised prior to analysis and reporting

42. Key Contacts Dr. Neil Humphrey neil.humphrey@manchester.ac.uk Dr. Garry Squires garry.squires@manchester.ac.uk Lucy Ryan Lucy.ryan@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

43. Achievement for All Local Authority

44. Role of LA-Project Leader • Embedding of strands • Briefings to schools • Supporting/challenging schools • CPD opportunities • Allocate resources • Links to National Strategies/DCSF • Monitoring and Evaluation • Regional Hubs

45. Role of School – Project Leader • Raise profile - Communication • Engagement of hard to reach parents • Involving pupils in decision making • Adjustments to curriculum to strengthen inclusion • Link to SIP • Support classroom teachers in APP and structured conversations • Links to wider community

46. Actions for schools this term • GAP analysis • Implementation Plan • Baseline data collection • Identify School Project Leader • Disseminate project to stakeholders • Attend strand 2 training and begin structured conversations

47. Next Steps…… What 3 key actions will you need to focus on this term?

48. Evaluation… Very thorough and thought provoking. Lots to think about but all very exciting. A lovely day. Thank you. Inspiring and exciting. The day has convinced me how much potential AfA has. It will really help to raise aspirations. Assistant Headteacher, Coventry Headteacher, Sheffield Assistant Headteacher, Gloucestershire Have drafted action plan, feel inspired, eager to move on this Deputy Headteacher, Camden