Working Together to

Galvanise Improvement

LT4 ROOM

Louise SodenRegional Director (East Midlands)

Working Together to Galvanise Improvement

Alison MichalskaCorporate Director for Children and Adults,

Nottingham City Council

Working Together to Galvanise Improvement

Louise Soden, Regional Director (East Midlands), Ofsted

Alison Michalska, Corporate Director for Children & Adults,

Nottingham City Council

Context• Nottingham is a city with high levels of

deprivation• Attainment has been improving year on year but

is still behind national averages• Attendance has been a long-standing issue• December 2013 – inspections conducted in 7

secondary schools & academies in the City• All were found to be ‘inadequate’

Thematic Findings

Attainment – insufficient progress

Attendance – attendance low and

persistent absenteeism Poor quality of teaching,

low expectations and lack of pace and challenge in

lessonsBehaviour –

disruptions, poor student attitudes

Weak leadership and governance

Collaboration – The Nottingham City Schools Challenge Board &

Reference Group

Challenge Board

DfE Academies

Unit

Reps from Schools & Academies (Primary & Secondary)

Local Authority

(Elected Members

and Officers)

Reference Group

Ofsted

NLE Advisors

NLE’s and

NLG’s

Reps from local

colleges

Reps from Universities

Business Reps

Independent Chair

Early Intervention Foundation

The Role of the Local Authority

1. Champions for our children & families – democratic mandate

2. Challenging and quality assuring provision – our difficult social context is not an excuse for under-performance, it’s a reason to be even better!

3. Drive development of city-wide education strategy to cover all providers

4. Linking education providers into the bigger picture – learning & aspiration are vital to building a successful City

5. Sticking to our early intervention principles – improvement at primary, need to ensure this follows through into secondary.

6. Continuing to focus on the most vulnerable

7. Leading on city-wide partnership issues (i.e. recruitment & retention)

Learning from the Ofsted Annual Report

• Misconceptions in schools about what constitutes good quality teaching

• Using your best teachers as an early intervention!• Strong, experienced and decisive school

leadership and governance is critical• Schools & academies need to access the right

expertise to improve themselves (NLEs and Teaching Schools)

• Understanding the inspection regime improves schools

Over to you!Questions?

Ideas?

Working Together to

Galvanise Improvement