Improvement Planning Guidelines: hvlc.uk

1. Improvement Planning Guidelines: www.hvlc.org.uk Improvement Planning, The Standards and Quality Report (Profile) and the S & Q summary for Parents SISE Support materials – Sharing Standards, gathering evidence New HMIe processes for inspections in pre-school centres, schools and CLD

2. Self evaluation at the centre • Regular self-evaluation of the parts that are important. • Short evaluative statements in relation to the How Good is ..? descriptions. • Grounded in evidence • Evaluating what you are actually doing – is it improving the experiences of our youngsters or participants?

3. Standards and Quality Report (Profile): QI Evaluative statements based on the evidence Strengths Weaknesses Focus Groups Evidence Base Improvement Plans Observations HMIe report Individual and Team Self - Evaluation Performance Information QIO engagement How do we do this in partnership?

4. The School Standards and Quality Report (Profile) has five core quality indicators. 1.1 Improvements in performance 2.1 Learners’ Experiences 5.1 The Curriculum 5.3 Meeting pupils’ needs 5.9 Improvement through self - evaluation The CLD focus is on four core Quality indicators 1.1 Improvements in performance 2.1 Impact on participants 4.1 Impact on the Community 5.10 Improving Services Contributory indicators, important to individual schools or ILC’s, can be shared with Quality Improvement Officers and other agencies. You do not need to be evaluating all indicators in depth if they are not important to you or the service.

5. Evidence We should maintain an evidence base which doesn’t need to be written in the school profile or the improvement plan (see the triangular model described in HGIOS3, page 12 and in HIGIOCLD? Pgs 8 - 10). Evidence includes observation, attainment and achievement information, discussion, questionnaires and the sampling of views. Involving our partners is essential. We should avoid generating significant amounts of paper evidence and should take every opportunity to reduce bureaucracy by undertaking evaluations such as those described in JtE4, page 16.

6. Section 4: SISE Support Materials help you to gather evidence Sharing Learning Experiences 4 L & T Sharing Schedules Sharing Standards Attainment analysis – STACS Attainment Analysis 5 – 14 Secondary School Attainment Visits Primary Calendar of Activities Secondary Calendar of Activities Primary Questionnaires Secondary Questionnaires

7. Ethos of self – evaluation and improvement SNCT 52 describes a school as collegiate where it utilises and develops the skills, talents and interests of all staff and involves all staff in the key decisions affecting the life of the school as a whole. More broadly, the spirit of collegiality extends beyond teachers and support staff, and includes parents, pupils and partner agencies. Community partnership, working together to inspire learning and achievement is central to CLD processes and the ECS vision of itself.

8. And now to inspection Extracts from the HMIe guides here and in the handout. All on the HMIe website.Required reading Download the two HMIe guides from hvlc Primary school example given here but applies to most parts of the service

9. Before we start • More use of the school or centre’s self‑evaluation as a starting point for the inspection. Reduced HMI requirements for pre‑inspection information: • no extensive profile from the school, • no formal pre‑inspection report required from the authority. • current processes for parental, staff and pupil questionnaires to continue, period of notice under review but may still need to be three weeks or so, • expectation that standards and quality report / improvement plan (as JTE4) / school self‑evaluation will be detailed, up to date and cover all key aspects.

10. Monday The MI will arrive in the school around lunch time. It would be helpful if you had a room set aside for the team with the information previously discussed readily available. You should also provide supporting documentary evidence relating to the school’s/nursery class’s performance and self-evaluation. This evidence should relate directly to the account you give to the inspection team on Tuesday morning (see below). At the end of the school day, the MI will be available to brief your staff. This is a voluntary meeting to which all members of staff are invited. You should set aside 20 minutes or so for this briefing, which can include a question/answer session as required by staff. At the end of this briefing the MI would like to update you on the progress of the inspection and confirm any planning needs for the following day.

11. TuesdayOther members of the inspection team will join the MI. The Lay Member will be present on Tuesday. In most cases the schedule will have been agreed with you and set up in advance of the visit. Close to the start of the day, you will be invited to give the school’s/nursery class’s account of how self-evaluation is leading to improvement. In particular, how well is your school/nursery class doing, how do you know, and what do you need to do next?You may wish to draw our attention to your vision, values and aims, and show how you are meeting these. You should set aside up to an hour for this meeting. You should plan for interaction with the inspectors during this session and regard it as a meeting which you would lead, rather than a ‘presentation’. In the sample of schools with a services for children element, a representative from partner agencies should be invited to contribute to this discussion.

12. Still Tuesday After the self-evaluation meeting the inspection activities get underway across the primary stages and in nursery provision where relevant. Some meetings will have been arranged in advance, for example with groups of parents or staff. Inspectors will be looking at learning and teaching and curriculum areas. The team will meet with staff at the end of the school day to engage in professional dialogue, with topics including learning and teaching. Attendance is voluntary and the meeting will normally last no longer than 45 minutes. At the end of the day the MI would like to update you on the progress of the inspection and confirm any planning needs for the following day.

13. Wednesday Inspection fieldwork will continue. Towards the end of the day, the inspection team will consider whether the combination of self-evaluation and the early inspection activity enable the evaluations for the inspection to be made. If that is the case, the MI will discuss with you the scope for disengaging in evaluative activity and how the inspection team might use the remaining time in the inspection to support you directly in improvement activities. If not, the team will continue with inspection activities until secure evaluations are reached (see Thursday). At the end of the day the MI would like to update you on the progress of the inspection.

14. Thursday Inspection activities will continue until lunchtime. In the afternoon the inspection team will meet to discuss and agree the inspection findings. It would be helpful if they could continue to use the room you have allocated to them, although alternative arrangements may be possible if the school is reasonably close to one of our offices.

15. Friday: This is when we provide feedback to the school and continue professional engagement with you. In a primary school this will include professional discussion, where relevant, on nursery provision. This meeting will be about sharing findings together with a discussion on how the school plans to move forward after the inspection. The MI will continue professional engagement with staff through a brief feedback discussion. This is a voluntary meeting to which all members of staff are invited. It will last around 20 minutes. Normally, the inspection team will leave the school at lunch time.

16. After the inspection weekEarly in the week after the inspection you will receive a draft copy of the report. At the same time the education authority and chairperson of the Parent Council will receive a copy of the draft report. You and the education authority will be asked to provide any comments or suggested corrections to the report during that week. The district inspector may contact the education authority to discuss the draft report and, where necessary, any matters about follow‑through. If there are no follow-through activities, the inspection process and publication will normally be finished within 10 working weeks of notification.

17. This report tells you about the quality of education at the school and nursery class, where relevant. We describe how children benefit from learning there. We explain how well they are doing and how good the school is at helping them to learn. Then we look at the ways in which the school does this. We describe how well the school works with other groups in the community, including parents and services which support children. We also comment on how well staff and children work together and how they go about improving the school. Our report describes the ‘ethos’ of the school. By ‘ethos’ we mean the relationships in the school, how well children are cared for and treated and how much is expected of them in all aspects of school life. Finally, we comment on the school’s aims, particularly its focus on learning, and the impact of leadership on its success in achieving its aims.

18. School report The school Particular strengths of the school Examples of good practice How well do children learn and achieve? How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning? Are staff and children actively involved in improving their school community? Does the school have high expectations of all children? Does the school have a clear sense of direction? What happens next? Learning Community report The learning community Particular strengths of the learning community Examples of good practice How well do participants learn and achieve? How well does CLD help the community to develop? How effective are providers in improving the quality of services? Do CLD providers have a clear sense of direction? What happens next?

19. Inspection of CLD:What we aim to do provide assurance to stakeholders contribute to improvements, successful innovation and transformational change support the Government’s strategic priorities and commitments under the National Performance Framework Inspecting aspects of adult learning, capacity building and youth work

20. What is changing? CLD strategic leadership remains within INEA End of standalone CLD area-based inspection CLD perspective brought to the inspection of every secondary school Scoping evidence provided to every primary and nursery inspection CLD activity in catchment area of secondary inspected

21. Inspecting Schools Focusing on maximising learning outcomes for all learners and not on professions or walls CLD HMI as part of core team on all secondary and all-through schools Contribute to evaluation of all QIs A different view of purpose of education

22. Pre-inspection requirements and arrangements Use of available self‑evaluation documentation as a starting point for the inspection. Reduced HMI requirements for pre‑inspection information: no extensive profile from the service no additional pre‑inspection report required from the authority partner questionnaires period of notice under review but likely to be three weeks or so at same time as school expectation that standards and quality report / improvement plan / self‑evaluation will be detailed, up to date and cover all key aspects. Receive notification – send what you’ve got!

23. Same process as schools: Review the evidence Engagement around the CLD Self evaluation. Inspection activities Possibility of disengagement Feedback With professional discussion at main stages. 9. What happens next? CLD providers have a good understanding of their strengths and areas for improvement and communities are achieving very well. As a result we have ended the inspection process at this stage. Arbroath Academy Learning Community – Nov 08

24. From action points to agreed areas for improvement We have agreed the following areas for improvement with the education authority and its partners. • Use good practice in Arbroath to improve services elsewhere in the Council area. • Improve performance management to demonstrate more fully the value of the very good work being undertaken. • Embed the concept of CLD as an approach rather than as a service.

25. Post-inspection Draft inspection report e‑mailed to the service early in the week after the inspection. Comments to be returned to HMIE in time to enable the report to be finalised and go for publication on the Friday. Feedback for professional use to be conveyed orally as part of concluding professional engagement until at least December 2008. A decision will be taken at December 2008 on future practice in this area.