Parents’ Forum15 May 2014

Tonight’s agenda.

• Welcome and Introductions• The concept of Parents’ Forums• Protocols• Updates on agenda items from 10 March 2014• Issues for discussion• Next steps• Date of the next forum

What is a Parents’ Forum?

• A group of parents and carers who meet once a term to discuss school-related issues.

• A Parents’ Forum provides a valuable way to listen to the ideas and concerns of families and seek their views, helping to make sure the needs of children and their families are met.

• Meetings led by school staff and governors, usually by the Headteacher and the Chair of Governors.

• A genuine opportunity for open discussion according to a pre-published agenda.

Why hold a Parents’ Forum?

• Regular, open communication and consultation with parents and carers are important elements in informing school improvement.

• This is another mechanism through which parents and carers can feed into the life and development of our school.

Sharing information.

• Parents and carers are encouraged to share information from Parents’ Forums with parents and carers of other children.

Protocols for The Parents’ Forum.• Agenda items should be tabled before the forum• The agenda for each meeting will be published in the

school’s newsletter. • Parents & carers will be asked to register their interest in

attending the next forum via parentsforum@linsladeac.co.uk • Please note that all issues, whether you raise them yourself

or on behalf of other parents/carers, should be general issues, not related to a specific child, teacher or incident.

• If you have specific concerns about your child your first point of contact should always be their form teacher/ head of year or the subject leader/head of department.

Issues for discussion.

1. Updates on discussion topics at the last forum:• Using ‘Parent/Carer Power’ to support School

Improvement.• Raising Achievement Plan/School Improvement

Plan.– Where are we half way through the three year plan?– What are our planned next steps?– Is there anything we are missing?

Updates:Using Parent Power to Support School Improvement

Comments Actions to dateCan we look to ways to increase parent access to pupils’ work?

- Some staff already send books home for parents/carers to feed back.

- As of September, we will look to formalise this once per half term as ‘Books Home Week’

How do we encourage hard to reach parents?

- Our Learning Mentors are working on this as part of our Pupil Premium work.

Would it be possible to enable parents to access the school during a normal school day?

- Yes! We will identify a series of mornings/ days where this can happen in next year’s calendar.

- Our question to you is – how often?Re-launch the Parents’ Forum. Do parents really appreciate what they are about?

- We will outline the idea of the forum in the information booklet for new intake parents.

- We will also launch in the newsletter.- The website now contains power points from all previous

evenings.

Updates:Using Parent Power to Support School Improvement (2)

Comments Actions to dateRe-launch the Parents’ Forum. Do parents really appreciate what they are about?

- We will outline the idea of the forum in the information booklet for new intake parents.

- We will also launch in the newsletter.- The website now contains power points from all previous

evenings.

Is it possible to increase the number of evenings for parents/carers or to have subject information evenings?

- This is something we will moot with staff in core subject areas.- Mrs Draper, Mrs Ismail and Mrs Lewin ran a series of

workshops this year. - We will look to build on these e.g. via a carousel of lessons in

one evening.

Updates:Raising Achievement/School Improvement Plan

• We provided information on the five main areas of school improvement and our targets for 2013 – 14.

• We fed back outcomes from the Benchmark Inspection and areas for improvement.

• The key watchword is … consistency!

Responding to the Ofsted Report: April 2014

OR… How we intend to get to good within 12 months!

Too few, including the most able, make the good progress of which they are capable.

• (Pupils) make inconsistent progress as they move through the school.

• (SEND)Not all teaching assistants are used well to support learning in classrooms … The new SENCO is currently reviewing this aspect of the school’s work. Some teaching assistants help pupils in small groups to learn well

Standards in writing are below average.Pupils are not given enough examples of what quality writing looks like to enable them to extend their writing skills.• Progress in writing has been slow as pupils

had too few opportunities to write extensively across different subjects.

• Improving writing has been a major focus of the school this year… These changes are beginning to result in pupils making faster progress in their writing.

Pupils supported by the Pupil Premium make slower progress than their classmates.

• Pupil Premium interventions have not been effective in closing the attainment gap.

• Support for pupils eligible for the Pupil Premium has not narrowed the gaps fast enough.

The quality of teaching is not strong enough to ensure good progress for all pupils. This is because some teachers’ expectations of what pupils can achieve are too low.

• Teachers’ expectations of pupils’ learning in some classes are not high enough.

• In some classes, the planned activities motivate pupils to work hard and the works set is well focussed to hep all pupils achieve well.

• All members of staff are committed to building on these recent successes to improve the quality of teaching so that pupils leave the school with higher levels of attainment.

Pupils do not have enough opportunities to practise and apply their mathematical skills.

• These missed opportunities mean that pupils’ progress is not consistently good.

Pupils are not always expected to correct their work or answer questions the teachers ask, designed to make them think hard, in their marking comments.

• The quality of marking and feedback has improved this year and most teachers give pupils good guidance and targets for improvement. Books show, however, that pupils are not always expected to act upon the advice. This hampers how well their work improves.

Too few, including the most able, make the good progress of which they are capable.

• Standards reached at the end of Year 6 are (2013) below average in writing.

• Attainment at the end of Year 8 was below national expectations in writing, in line with expectations in reading and above expectations in maths.

Over time, leaders, including governors, have not secured consistently good teaching and achievement.

• The new leaders, including governors, have raised expectations considerably. They have identified the key priorities for improvement and are acting upon them.

• Systems for holding teachers and leaders to account for their performance are getting stronger. As a result, the quality of leadership and teaching is improving, leading to increasing rates of pupils’ progress

• There is no complacency and senior leaders and governors know that much needs to be done to make all aspects of the school’s work securely good.

Governors are not clear about how to use the Pupil Premium to ensure that eligible pupils achieve as well as their peers.

• Although governors have identified the concern that the Pupil Premium funding is not closing the gaps fast enough and, thus, not providing good value for money, they have not been able to identify what changes need to be made in order to ensure eligible pupils achieve well.

• The new leaders, including governors, have raised expectations considerably. They have identified the key priorities for improvement and are acting upon them.

• Systems for holding teachers and leaders to account for their performance are getting stronger. As a result, the quality of leadership and teaching is improving, leading to increasing rates of pupils’ progress.

Areas for Improvement

Improving the quality of teaching across the whole school so that pupils consistently make good or better progress by:• Showing higher expectations of what all pupils can achieve,

including the most able. Good enough – is not! Includes, teaching over time, tasks set, feedback and monitoring.

• Checking that pupils respond to teachers’ guidance and questions to improve their work. Purple Penning, time for reflection each week/lesson. Teachers give time to corrections and reflection. Middle and senior leaders check this is happening.

• Making sure that all pupils read enough to make the progress of which they are capable. All reading logs monitored, in registration ensuring pupils are reading not page staring!

• Exposing pupils to high quality literature that will improve their literacy skills. We need to accentuate where this is happening. However, it needs to be consistent across all subjects. Ensure reading /research lists for other subjects.

• Planning more opportunities for pupils to apply their mathematical skills. Numeracy across the Curriculum is our next step.

Improve the effectiveness of leaders, including governors, by ensuring that;

• All subject leaders rigorously check their areas of responsibility and take decisive action to remedy any shortcomings so that standards continue to rise. Continue middle leader training and with greater impetus from this point forward. Challenging conversations will need to take place in some instances.

• The governing body checks the impact of Pupil Premium funding to make sure that eligible pupils achieve well. A review will be undertaken. DHT (Inclusion) will be taking on PP and working alongside our SENCO and Learning Mentors.

• An external review of the school’s use of Pupil Premium to be undertaken. See above.

Other schools who have gone from satisfactory to good (in depth)

• Built relationships and established a shared ambition

• Focused on improving teaching and learning – identifying what good teaching is.

• Established high expectations for all – adopting a ‘can do’ mentality.

• Established a zero acceptance of poor or weak teaching and leadership.

Other schools who have gone from satisfactory to good:

• Trained staff in an effective (but not overwhelming) data tracking system.

• Made effective use of CPD and Performance Management. (Pay progression is not automatic) A new pay policy came into effect as of September 2013.

• Ensured the curriculum was fit for purpose and met the needs of all pupils.

What happens next?

• Post Ofsted Action Plan.• HMI will be in school within the next 8 – 12

weeks and will want to see evidence of a plan and progress.

• Working with HMI.

Parent/Carer Workshop

We are producing ‘The Linslade Teaching 10’ and ‘The Linslade Learning 10’ What would you like to see included within these?

Tonight’s agenda.

• Welcome and Introductions• The concept of Parents’ Forums• Protocols• Updates on agenda items from 10 March 2014• Issues for discussion• Next steps• Date of the next forum

Other schools who have gone from satisfactory to good (in depth) • Focused on improving teaching and learning – identifying

what good teaching is. • Developed a community in which teaching and learning,

achievement and attainment were prioritised.• Established high expectations for all. (Needs to be consistent)• Established a zero acceptance of poor or weak teaching and

leadership. • Senior and middle leaders have led by example.• Systems were put in place to hold staff to account. There

have been challenging conversations.• Used monitoring and evaluation to drive forward consistent

and continuous improvement in teaching. • Built relationships and established a shared ambition.

Other schools who have gone from satisfactory to good:

• Adopted a ‘can do’ approach. It was a case of ‘courage not compromise’.

• Established non negotiable actions and behaviours.• Gave up making excuses for poor pupil outcomes.• Improved the physical environment and valued their staff.• Trained staff in an effective (but not overwhelming) data tracking

system. In January we appointed a Data Manager.• Made effective use of CPD and Performance Management. (Pay

progression is not automatic) A new pay policy came into effect as of September 2013.

• Recruited the right staff and looked towards succession planning. • Shared good practice.• Ensured the curriculum was fit for purpose and met the needs of

all pupils.