Professor Sonia Blandford

1. Professor Sonia Blandford

2. What is the Achievement for All programme? • A framework for school improvement which enables a whole school approach to inclusive education. • It focuses on children with SEND but the impact is much wider across the school.

3. Achievement for All (AfA) was piloted in 454 schools in 10 Local Authorities over 2 years • 454 schools: primary, secondary, PRUs and special • Project leads worked with schools to implement school-specific strategies • Funded by DfE, delivered in partnership with AfA team and National College • LAs in the pilot • Redcar & Cleveland • Sheffield • Oldham • Nottingham • Coventry • Gloucestershire • Essex • Camden • Bexley • East Sussex

4. Manchester University carried out a full evaluation • Overview of the evaluation • 28,000 pupils involved • Quantitative information studied, including pupil attainment and progress in English and Maths, absenteeism data, behaviour reports • Qualitative information drawn from extensive interviews with school leaders, teachers, parents and students

5. …with unprecedented results Pupils with SEN catching up in English and Maths… … and huge impact on parental engagement & wider outcomes • Pupils with SEN in pilot schools progressed faster on average than all pupils nationally across English and Maths in all age groups2 • Schools reporting “excellent” relationships with parents up from 12% to 48% • Schools reporting “poor” relationships with parents down from 11% to 1.5% • 10% drop in persistent absenteeism across pilot schools • Significant reductions in bullying and behavioural problems reported by teachers Progress1 in English for pupils with SEND in Year 10 National average for all pupils • Progress measured in National Curriculum sub-levels 2. Reflects the average across all age groups. Some age groups progressed less quickly than the national average for non-SEN; all progressed faster than the national average for those with SEN

6. Outcome: Progress in English and Maths (DfE,Nov 2011) • 37% of SEND pupilsin Achievement for All pilot schools achieved or exceeded expected levels of progress in English compared to ALL pupils nationally. • ALL pupils with SEND in Achievement for All pilot schools made significantly better progress in English than pupils with SEND nationally. • 42% of SEND pupils in the Achievement for All schools achieved or exceeded expected levels of progress in Maths compared to all pupils nationally. •  ALL pupils with SEND in Achievement for All pilot schools made significantly better progress in Maths than pupils with SEND nationally. • All SEND pupils in the programme made significantly better progress in reading, writing and maths than pupils with SEND nationally

7. Achievement for All schools are more likely to improve KS2 and KS4 results (DfE, Jan 2012, KS 4 and KS5 exam results for all schools/colleges in England for 2011.) In Achievement for All schools: • Pupils with SEN are progressing faster than the national average for all pupils • Greater likelihood of pupils improving at KS2 and KS4 – 75% of Achievement for All schools saw an improvement in their KS4 results compared to 67% of all schools. • Fourfold improvement in relationships with parents, with Achievement for All schools reporting “excellent” relationships with parents increased from 12% to 48% in two years

8. Outcome: Behaviour and Attendance(DfE, Nov. 2011) • Teachers reported clear improvements in positive relationships with students and reductions in behaviour problems. • There was a 10% drop in persistent absenteeism. • Schools had an increase in positive relationships. • Teachers reported reductions in teacher-reported bullying of pupils with SEND. • Example: School B saw exclusions for pupils with SEND fall from 101 incidents in 2008/9 to 25 incidents in 2010/11

9. Outcome: Leadership (DfE, Nov. 2011) • School leadership (head teacher) involvement helped drive Achievement for All forward. • Achievement for All shines a light on [critical] areas. • The principles of Achievement for All are embedded in school practice. • 100% of schools were involved in evaluating the impact of Achievement for All. • 90.2% of head teachers placed Achievement for All within their school improvement plan. • National College – Leadership Matters report, March 2011

10. Developing school to school partnerships

11. Speeding up the pace of improvement: Green Paper informs AfA practice

12. Forming a charity: A new partnership

13. Raising the bar: Expertise from business and education

14. Lord Hill on school improvement (National Governors Association School Improvement Conference March 2011) • Greater autonomy for schools + greater trust in front-line professionals (supported by international evidence) • Strengthen accountability framework – everyone can see how the school is performing + schools can learn from better performing schools • Strive for higher expectations for all pupils • Proportional support through pupil premium-many schools which need to improve serve disadvantaged areas • School-to-school collaboration • eater autonomy for schools + greater trust in front-line professionals (supported 5 principles underpinning school improvement

15. Achievement for All: 4 elements, an effective improvement framework

16. St Martins C of E Junior Infant and Nursery School in Oldham-performance Year on year comparison

17. Achievement for All and School partnership: within the Ofsted Framework

18. Achievement for All is not about reinventing the wheel: it is about redeploying resources and rethinking approaches.

19. Haverstock school reduced the numbers on the SEND register and boosted attainment Haverstock began their AfA journey in 2009… • Secondary, 1,300 pupils • >50% on SEN register • >60% EAL • >70% ethnic minorities • 38% achieving 5A* - C GCSE (inc. English and maths) • AfA has been a whole-school priority in the school since 2009, fundamental to improving practice and supporting staff, especially with regards to SEND • …with impressive results • SEN register has fallen by 11% • 5A*-C at GCSE (inc. English and maths) rose to 50% in 2011

20. Rewarding Impact: The Achievement for All Quality Scheme

21. Academies / Church of England / NSN • ARK • Directors of Education engaged • Involvement in Free Schools –through NSN

22. Other partnerships eater autonomy for schools + greater trust in front-line professionals (supported • DfE • National College • PwC • JPMorgan • Teach First • Teaching Leaders • Future Leaders • CDC • Communication Trust • ICAN • Autism Trust • Youth Sport Trust Central to the mission of Achievement for All 3As is to work with and support partner organisations who have a similar mission to ours to support pupils in increasing their aspirations, access and achievement.

23. Other partnerships: supporting the ‘Children’s and young people’s outcomes strategy’ (forthcoming-announced by Secretary of State, Andrew Lansley) • Aims to improve outcomes for children and young people’s health • Will establish a forum to identify health issues that matter most to children and young people • Will bring together people and resources from across the NHS, social care and wider children’s services. • Early intervention-to support children’s educational outcomes

24. There are 3 models for Local Authorities to support the national roll out Description Advantages • Provide access to schools, meetings of head teachers and encourage schools to sign up • Many schools likely to take advantage of AfA, driving up outcomes for the LA Basic 1 • Proactively contact all schools, urging them to sign up • Second coaches to AfA to be trained and deployed • More schools likely to take advantage • Excellent CPD opportunities for LA staff Standard 2 • Identify schools most in need of AfA and pay for them to join • Second coaches to AfA to coach these schools • AfA integrated into the LA school improvement service • LA maintains ownership of school improvement delivery, while leveraging AfA resources Advanced 3

25. In addition to improved outcomes, AfA saves schools and Local Authorities money in cash terms AfA costs less per school than many interventions associated with behaviour and attendance, per pupil Pilot schools made significant savings on these interventions Annual costs associated with behaviour and attendance (£ 000's) • 10% drop in persistent absenteeism across pilot schools • Significant reductions in bullying and behavioural problems reported by teachers • Many schools saw reduced exclusions, saving cash for the school and Local Authority1 • Exclusion data was not reported in the evaluation report, however, anecdotal evidence suggests significant drops in the exclusion rate

26. Lyng Hall saved nearly £250,000 per year by implementing Achievement for All Savings attributed by the head in whole or in part to AfA, due to improved behaviour and retention and development of staff… Before AfA (2007/8) After AfA (2011/2)1 • Exclusions2 • Maintenance • Supply teachers • Recruitment £81,546 £198,364 £96,327 £25,770 Saving: £17,371 £141,210 £0 £1,107 £242,319 “Many of the challenges that we faced in 2007/8 have actually increased. In 2007/8 the were 15 in-year admissions to the school. This year there have been 55 since September!!! … it makes [the fee to join Achievement for All] seem like very good value for money!!!!” Paul Green, head teacher 1. Costs for entire year based on extrapolation from year to date 2. Cost of exclusions to the school calculated by the Headteacher as follows: £5000 one-time cost, plus per-pupil funding for the rest of the pupil’s schooling

27. For every school, Academy Group or Local Authority, there are at least 10 good reasons to join AfA 1 1. There is a high degree of overlap between pupils with SEND and the lowest performing 20% in terms of attainment