When I work with ‘Good’ schools I am regularly asked the question ‘how can I get my school to be outstanding?’
Experience to date shows that doing fewer things better and doing them accurately ensures that leadership teams are able to maximise the impact of school improvement initiatives on teaching and learning.
School improvement is only as effective as the clarity around analysing the key issues and planning the interventions required to address these. Given the raft of pressures on leadership, how often are you able to reflect on the educational experiences you provide for your pupils and the outcomes you are seeking to deliver?
Cutting through the task-list to focus on the key areas is a real skill and takes the confidence of experienced leadership to get this right. Here’s how my team and I have applied the logic of doing fewer things better - to radically transform the schools we support:
Key focal area
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....Barriers to overcome
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Outcomes to be achieved....
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| Securing outcomes - sharper focus on the core subjects and skills |
- Data analysis - how to evaluate and baseline each pupil’s needs;
- How to tailor lessons to accommodate accelerated progress;
- Agreeing the variety of approaches in-school creating different assessment and evaluation needs;
- How to avoid pupils repeating work unnecessarily;
- Tackling the lack of urgency with moving the learning on by practitioners.
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- Deliver unified core subject strategies - all teachers use the same structures to plan evaluate, target and support learning;
- Key objectives prioritised for progression through the curriculum;
- Commonly understood framework creates simplified quality assurance structure - focus on teaching the children (not leapfrogging through the curriculum!); and
- Dedicated PPA and pre-PPA to provide structured peer-review and support in core areas.
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| Broad and Balanced Curriculum Implementation |
- How to address teachers spending precious time looking for high quality resources and finding the appropriate content?
- Ensuring practitioners are adapting the learning effectively whilst maintaining ambition for all pupils across the ability range?
- Supporting teams to find the actual time to do this in the school week or on - Sunday afternoons?
- Assessing the bst way to ensure that all teachers’ subject knowledge development is being promoted; and;
- How best to ensure that pupils are able to articulate the intended learning is achieved?
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- Get a proven, tested curriculum! Our curriculum solution is digitally curated, resourced for the classroom, and scalable across any school of MAT;
- I can guarantee you’ll see an increase in time for teachers to focus on the precision of teaching the core subjects;
- Resources like pre-planned opportunities for pupils to regularly reflect on their learning are built in - what did they do well, how do they know and what do they need to do to become a better historian/ scientist etc enabling pupils to demonstrate that they know more, can do more and remember more?
- Embedded through consistent assessment opportunities - The Lion Pathways has already mapped end of unit assessment for all 234 units across 11 subjects from EYFS to KS2; and
- All curriculum subjects are mapped sequentially with emphasis on building skills cumulatively.
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Behaviour /
Parental Engagement /
Attendance / |
- Supporting staff to confront unmotivated pupils after lunch as there are a lack of hooks to spark interest or curiosity;
- How best to ensure parents agree that they are informed of what their child is learning and how to support them at home; and
- Regular Attendance suffers do to inconsistency of teaching - where teaching is worst, attendance is worse.
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- The Pathways Solution:
- Over 1500 lessons with 4798 differentiated activities to meet the needs and provide ambition for all pupils;
- Visual sequencing showing exactly the learning journey - parents know exactly what is being taught and what’s planned across each year group (Parents love it!)
- Promotes saving time for teachers and pupils motivation; and
- Directly involve parents in the educational process, keeping them informed and engaged with their child’s learning.
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At Lion Pathways we have already packaged this solution www.lionpathways.net
As you can see, the areas where even the most determined leaders can be bogged down or have capacity diverted by overloading a school improvement agenda can be radically simplified to afford each key area the time and focus it needs. Our journey from a primary school in deep, deep trouble to being outstanding across all areas was predicated on three simple strategies:
- data drives all decisions
- consistency in all settings and all lessons; and
- win hearts and minds - WHAM! - in the classroom, the staffroom and the school gate.
By doing fewer things better, primary education can become more focused, effective, and enjoyable for both pupils and teachers. This approach requires thoughtful planning and a commitment to continuous improvement but will lead to your school being an outstanding primary education provider.
Join me for my first ever webinar that focuses on exactly this - Doing fewer things better: -
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/doing-fewer-things-better-tickets-927334310887?aff=oddtdtcreator