Aptis Conference 16thApril 2013 - Northern Ireland Council for
1
Aptis
Conference
16thApril 2013
Focus
Preparing for Inspection and Maintaining Excellence
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary
Roulston -Millennium IPS
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Context and Focus
Principal of a relatively young school going through the inspection process for the first time
Role as Associate Assessor
How do we prepare?
How do we maintain excellence?
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Starting Points
All leaders – get into the habit of reading inspection reports – the whole range- Outstanding to
Unsatisfactory- Why?
Keep yourself up to speed with the ETI site- types of inspections/up to date proformas
Consider doing practice runs of proformas with key staff
Climate and ethos are crucial across school and in each and every classroom
Know your staff and their areas of expertise and areas for development
Use this knowledge to select your coordinators
Develop leadership skills across all staff
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Short/focused/Unannounced as defined by ETI
Short – evaluates the quality of the ethos of the school/pastoral care and child protection/learning and teaching/leadership and management
Focused –concentrates on particular aspects of the school’s provision/leadership and management/pastoral care and child protection/all set within the context of the school as a whole
Unannounced – no prior notice/pastoral care and child protection as evidenced in the school’s arrangements and the work observed/self evaluative profile completed and discussed
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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School Development Plan
Make sure SDP is compliant with the latest circular
Re –read to ensure that it is EVALUATIVE across the board and not just descriptive
– evaluate and use evidence to verify your judgements
SDP and action plans are working documents
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Action Plans
Action Plans for English, Maths and ICT are a must on an annual basis
Look at existing ones with a fresh eye – can they be improved?
Benchmark where you are, by using data and recording the data on your action plans – before and when you evaluate progress
Make sure the focus is on improved outcomes for learning and ultimately standards – not just a series of actions which are necessary but won’t lead to improvement
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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The Nitty Gritty!!
The highest quality Learning and Teaching
Walt/wilf/AFL/the phases of the lesson including a well structured plenary
Opportunities for the children to reflect on and explain their thinking and learning
Differentiation
Levels of engagement
Opportunities for well structured paired and group work as well as independent
Active learning v busy children!!!
Planning which matches what is happening on the day and prior planning which is evidenced in exercise books/photos/displays
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Ensure a consistent approach
Behaviour management
Marking
Use of ICT – Showcase
Expectations
Progression well embedded particularly in
English and Mathematics
Timetables/files/planning formats/
Organisation of materials for the inspection itself
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Pastoral Care and Child
Protection
Use the proforma to guide you for any holes in your provision- action point any which need to be done asap so that they are well embedded
Constantly ensure whole school understanding of policy and procedures
Conversations with staff and children
School Council – involvement of the children in decision making processes
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Special Educational Needs
IEPS need to focus on how the child learns – differentiation- IEPS are changing to learning profiles
Identify the barriers to learning (This should also be in SDP if relevant)
Incorporate and build on assessment procedures
Children need to be aware of their targets
Are the IEPS making any difference and do you have evidence to support this?
Usually choose at least 2 children from the SEN register and track their learning experiences and their IEPS over the last 2 years or so
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Data/ KS1/KS2 etc.
Know your data inside out – Principal/ VP/Coordinators/SENCO particularly
Data is important but the learning experience in the classroom is more important
How is the school performing against NI average and FSM benchmarking criteria over the last 4 years?
How is the school performing, particularly in literacy and numeracy as evidenced over the last 4 years
How effective is the analysis of data//who is involved?/How is data used to improve provision/ standards/ How is progress monitored and evaluated
Be prepared to talk about any underperformance and any value added on/percentage of children reaching potential
Statements made need to be backed up by statistics
Recent data package sent to Governors and principals is useful
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Quality of Provision for
Learning
For all children
Broad and balanced curriculum and extra curricular opportunities
High expectations for all children and challenging thought provoking investigations/practical and recorded activities
Opportunities to talk about learning, to voice opinions and ideas/to demonstrate decision making and self management skills
Early screening and additional support both in class and through withdrawal
Play activities which provide holistic opportunities and especially the meaningful development and application of literacy and numeracy skills
Joined up learning
Quality of interactions
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Leadership and Management
Change made recently
On the first day the team of inspectors meet with the principal and the coordinators and any other relevant leaders within the school for about an hour – usually 3.15 to
4.15
Purpose of the meeting is to enable the school team to engage in a professional dialogue with the inspectors
The discussion should take place within the context of the school development plan – Does the school know where it is? Where it wants to go? Does it have focused areas for priority? How will the school monitor and evaluate? What has worked well and produced the best outcomes? What didn’t work well
This meeting contributes particularly to the evaluation of leadership and management
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Leadership and management cont.
Not necessarily a powerpoint – looking for a quality discussion and interaction
Needs to be well planned for and organised so that the time allocated is used in the most productive way
Topics to be discussed include the current whole school priorities for development and improvement, the actions being taken to raise standards, especially in English and
Mathematics, and their impact on teaching and learning
The school’s analysis of trends of performance data over the most recent 4 year period
How the school is addressing low and underachievement if applicable
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Leadership and Management cont
The meeting should outline the action the school proposes to bring about further development and improvement in both provision and outcomes and how the impact of these developments will be monitored and evaluated for the benefits they bring in teaching and learning
The principal and the staff should provide the inspectors with appropriate supporting documentary evidence from existing documentation usually or that relevant sections are signposted
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Board of Governors
Now have a self evaluation questionnaire to complete
Provided with a set of quality indicators
Questionnaire forms the basis of the discussion between the inspectors and the governors
5 key questions – governors to rate their performance level choosing from 3 levels across each of the key questions
Performance levels are –highly effective/effective/limited effectiveness
There is an evidence box – perhaps this should be being populated on a regular basis
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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Maintaining Excellence
Keep your finger on the pulse and don’t take your foot off the pedal!!
Reflect on the early slides
Keep learning and teaching and raising standards at the heart of what you are trying to do
Be creative and innovative yourself
Encourage this approach in your staff – they have some great ideas and you cannot do it on your own!!!
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
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BE POSITIVE NOT FEARFUL!!!
Remember inspections are a process which can
Validate all the hard work which has been going on in the school
Showcase all the productive, innovative approaches you are taking to meet the needs of your children
Allow inspectors to get a better feel of the things we value as integrated schools
Aptis Conference April 2013 - Mary Roulston -
Millennium IPS
