Being SENDco part 6: Graduated response and monitoring schedule

Paperwork is not my strong point. Creating or completing it is absolutely fine, filing it is the problem. For any one piece of paperwork there seems to be a range of places that it could be filed. I am a 'piler' who is working hard to develop organised systems where I can put my finger on things quickly. I have tried to learn from my previous deputy head and from my current head, who both have the kind of systems that I am in awe of. For SEN the whole system has to be organised, meaningful and most importantly, simple to use. The latter is extremely important in order to be inclusive.

Last year I simplified our school's IEPs and introduced GEPs based on ones created by my friend Cassie's (@ca51bee). Because of the changes brought about by the new Code of Pratice, quite a few of our children came off the SEN register, because provision was part of our normal differentiated curriculum. We needed a clear way of to recognise the continuum of SEN and appropriate provision, thus we needed to adopt a graduated response that would encompass what we do at East Harling. 

Before creating our graduated response I did my usual internet research to see which formats I liked best. I decided on creating a flow chart as it seemed like the easiest way of presenting information. The one I liked best was created by Lucy Pearce for Milton on Stour VE CA Primary School. I used her template and created my own using publisher. If you would like to copy and tweak your own, you should be able to download it here. 

I think it is simple, easy to follow and it provides guidance for families and school staff. This was completed before our OfSTED inspection and added to my 'OfSTED folder', which was very well received by the lead inspector. I am not a fan of doing things for OfSTED and believe that our focus should always be on pupil progress, but I also know that I needed to organise everything in one place so that hard copies can be found quickly. 

More recently I have started to create a monitoring schedule to sit alongside my SEN action plan. This document  is in response to OfSTED, who wrote:

• The special educational needs coordinator is not given enough time to check on the effectiveness of the support provided for pupils who need extra help.

and

• The deputy headteacher is also the special educational needs coordinator. She provides a positive role model for colleagues in her own teaching practice, but does not have enough opportunities to check on how effective the provision is for disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs.

The report acknowledges the progress that children with SEN make, and were very positive about what I was doing, whilst being clear that monitoring was not rigorous enough. They recommended that I should be observing TAs and children with SEN, including during our Read, Write inc sessions, which are already rigorously monitored by our RWi coordinator. 'You will be looking for different things,' was the rationale. I could not argue, I had observed our TAs delivering First Class @Number sessions, but these were ad hoc and not recorded. It would seem that this is common - schools have limited funds and the catch 22 is that I have to observe in the morning, so my class lose their teacher again. I'm not saying it shouldn't happen, it should. I care about all children's progress, not just those in my class, but year 2 is a key year when progress is measured. I want the best for them - they deserve it. 

So now I have extra time for SEN monitoring, but am wondering if it will really fulfil what the inspection team expects. It has to be at the same time each week for continuity, not just for my class and I, but for the HLTA who covers my lesson and the loss of her support to the teacher she is usually with. This in itself is limiting, but justifiable as it cannot be a moveable feast. Schools can't be expected to work in that way.

The other dilemma is that the Code of Practice is clear that children with SEN need quality first teaching, from a teacher. They should not always be with TAs, the weakest children deserve the strongest teaching. When I have tried to organise observations some teachers have said that they are working with the lower ability groups, which is great. So who do I observe, the children with SEN or the TAs? 

I guess it will all balance out in the end and there are other ways of monitoring, hence the monitoring schedule. Once again I found somebody else's format that I liked - I assume that folk share things on the web and they don't mind them being replicated. It saved me a job anyway as lots of the foci were similar to mine. I'm ashamed to say that I can't remember where I found it, but when I locate it, the source will be acknowledged here. You can view mine here and of course download it to tweak for your own use. It actually does feel like a good safety net and now I have recorded evidence of usual practice, with the observations added in. 

It would be great to know what you do in your school!

Challenge (in the primary classroom)

I have been thinking a lot about challenge in the primary classroom and what it actually looks like in practice. From experience, discussions with other practitioners and through social media, it appears to be something that is hot on the OfSTED agenda (see below). Whilst I don't believe that schools should be doing things for them, I do believe that getting the best out of children comes when appropriate challenges are planned for.  So what does that mean? If you look at definitions from the Oxford dictionary:


Challenge: A task or situation that tests someone's abilities. Makes demands on.

A challenge problem: one that offers interesting difficulties

So let's take into consideration the National Curriculum 2014, which states that

 ‘Decisions about when to progress should always be based on the security of pupils’ understanding and their readiness to progress to the next stage. Pupils who grasp concepts rapidly should be challenged through being offered rich and sophisticated problems before any acceleration through new content. Those who are not sufficiently fluent with earlier material should consolidate their
understanding, including through additional practice, before moving on.’

The important part (in my opinion) is that they are challenged, before being moved on. We've all had those conversations with parents who want their child reading books far beyond their understanding, or completing mathematical calculations that they are unable to apply in real life.
 The teaching standards state that a teacher must:

1. Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils

Simples?!

So how do you know if you are doing that? For me, it's not just about whether they are making progress, it's whether you are fostering curiosity and a love of learning through your teaching - and how much ownership children have. In my mind that (love of learning) is a much bigger challenge than showing that you have helped them move on 2 sub levels in a subject, in a term. In my year 2 class this half term it has felt quite easy, with the topic of the Great Fire of London. Yesterday, my TA came back from taking a group down to the library and, in her words, was completely amazed by what they know and how they were talking about it passionately. A great topic can inspire this passion for learning and children are continuing their learning at home because they are interested. Next week I shall become a teacher in role as the maid one day and Samuel Pepys another. Experience tells me that the quality of writing produced afterwards will be much higher than without the drama. Appropriate challenge in the form of engaging their emotions and creating opportunities for them to ask questions.

GFoL movie made (and acted) by a 6 year olds last year

Reflecting further on my own practice, there are many ways that I believe I offer challenge, not just through differentiated tasks, but through the way that I refuse to spoon feed children (I've written a bit about that here).  They are expected to try, to use their initiative and to consider previous learning that may help them solve current problems. I know when direct teaching is needed, to rectify misconceptions (or teach to prevent them) and when they just need to learn things by rote (in an infant style of course!) I started to list all the ways that I felt I challenge children, from open-ended child-led tasks in maths, to mantle of the expert and enquiry led topic work.  My list started to grow, but as always I want to learn if there is anything else I can do, so I decided to share it as a crowd-sourced document in the hope that others would contribute to it. When you look at it, consider how many approaches you have used in the classroom.

.......................................................................................................

The OfSTED part

I have picked out some relevant parts from OfSTED guidance and have found this web page - OfSTED 2012: Challenging tasks matched to children's learning needs - interesting, especially the bullet points saying why and how.

Much of the following is lifted from guidance and is a little disjointed, but relevant to this post.

OfSTED guidance states that inspectors must consider whether teaching engages and includes all pupils with work that is challenging enough and that meets the pupils’ needs as identified by teachers. They will consider whether assessment is frequent and accurate and is used to set challenging work that builds on prior knowledge, understanding and skills.

Inspectors must consider the rigour and effectiveness of systems to drive improvement, including:

• monitoring the quality of provision and children’s outcomes; the professional development of staff; evaluation of the impact of actions taken; and setting challenging targets 
• (The lesson's) effectiveness depends on the impact of the quality and challenge of the work set.

Evidence of learning over time may include:

• the level of challenge provided, and whether pupils have to grapple appropriately with content, not necessarily ‘getting it right’ first time, which could be evidence that the work is too easy (183).

And under grade descriptors:

Outstanding - Provision across all areas of learning is well planned and based on regular and precise assessments of children’s achievement so that every child undertakes highly challenging activities.

Good -  Learning opportunities are well planned and based on regular and accurate assessments of children’s
achievement so that every child is suitably challenged.

Jackie Debeere has written about the perfect ofsted lesson, which is a good read.

My first OfSTED as SENDco

I am writing this post in the hope that it will be of some help to others. That is always my aim, so it's nice to hear from you if you have found it helpful. It refers to the SEN part of the inspection, so my comments and thoughts are about this, not the overall experience.

Those of you who have read my blog before will have seen my new SENDco posts about how I have approached the role and what I have achieved in the last year. I was supported through attendance on a training course for new SENDcos, run by Judith Carter - an inspirational ed psych and county advisor. I picked up lots of juicy snippets of information during the course and would highly recommend it to new Norfolk SENDcos - indeed some SENDcos said that they found it more useful than the national qualification. Failing that, Judith's Willow tree SEN network is a must.

In my role at school I am very much supported by my headteacher-Amanda. Yes I have the SENDco title, but there is very little that I know about our children with SEN that she doesn't, if anything.  Her knowledge of our children and their families is astounding, partly because of how long she has been at the school but mostly because she works hard to get to *know* the families. I emphasise this because I have been in - and know of - schools where the headteachers don't know the children, let alone families. I am also in awe of her ability to recall factual information instantly.  This made me feel very reassured as I was pretty confident that if I was asked a question about children that I didn't know the answer to, Amanda would.

So the inspection. I felt prepared for it, but having never been through one as a SENDco I was a little unsure about what to expect. Our lead inspector had a primary SEN background, but instead of worrying about it I decided it could be highly beneficial. Who better to ask advice about best practice? As it turns out, that didn't really happen.

My meeting with the inspector lasted around 40 minutes. She asked me to bring some examples of IEPs and a case study to the meeting after lunch, so I gave her my OfSTED file first thing in the morning. I have written about this OfSTED file before, but had tweaked and updated it somewhat at the start of the new school year. One change is that my provision map now states costs and duration of interventions. Accountability is key. I will blog about the updated file contents at some point, but I think it's important to say that in the first couple of pages, just behind the document showing our children with SEN, is an action plan. It states clearly how and when changes are happening at school in line with the new code of practice. 

The meeting

The first question that the inspector asked was tricky, in that I'm sure she already knew the answer and was just making a point. She asked, 'So, you're deputy, SENDco and a year 2 teacher. How much time do you get?' When I told her, she replied that it wasn't enough. That put me on the back foot a bit, as she then asked me what I did with my time. Hmm. How to promote what you do without sounding like you have to burn the midnight oil to do it. I made it very clear that I had accepted the job knowing this, that I was used to working at a pace and have good time management skills (usually). I am also a bit of a control freak with my class and have colossal expectations of anyone who teaches them. They deserve the best. It is therefore hard to let them go, but that's something I think I'm going to have to do a bit more in 2015 as it has been made a bit of a requirement. 

I was asked briefly about a couple of the children, but the case studies provided had identified the interventions and additional support that certain children had been given. She acknowledged that we knew our children extremely well and that the support we were providing for individual cases was exceptional. However, what she was more interested in was how the TAs were monitored. Long gone are the days where teaching assistants were parents who came in as 'helpers'; the support they provide must have an impact. Nearly all of our TAs are Read, Write inc trained and they deliver high quality sessions. These are monitored regularly by our RWi co-ordinator, but the inspector was very clear that I should be observing too as I would be focussing on the children with SEN. It's a fair point, but of course there are cost implications and like many we are on a tight budget.

I was also asked about how children's progress was monitored. I explained how Amanda and I hold pupil progress meetings together, which provides the opportunity to discuss specific children. As a school we use Pupil Asset to check progress and attainment. Amanda has set up a tight system whereby staff appraisals link back to these meetings and the school development plan sets objectives to improve provision. Our inspector complimented this and pointed out again how well we know our children. We talked about TA cpd, but I know that I need to go back and check that approaches and resources are being used successfully. Observations leading to improved practice are essential - monitoring needs to be more rigorous. That was one of the over-riding messages.

 What we need to do as senior leaders is make sure that the exceptional support that is provided to individual children (and their families) is balanced with rigorous monitoring. The time we have spent on individual cases is incredible - more so for Amanda than I. It's mostly the parts beyond the actual teaching that are so time-consuming - the phone calls, referrals, meetings, paperwork and pastoral support for children and families are all important. We have adopted a phrase 'It's an explanation, not an excuse,' and I guess it means that in the future tough decisions about priorities are going to have to be made.

The SENDco meeting didn't feel at all like an interrogation, it felt like a very fair question and answer session. She was not trying to trip me up, she just wanted to get a broad picture in as short a time as possible. The feedback was positive and she was complimentary, but she also gave clear messages about next steps. I've come out the other end feeling like I'm doing a good job and I have a clear understanding of how to do better, even if I am somewhat reluctant to step outside my classroom more than I already do, to fulfil this. 

Hot off the OfSTED press

I have been following many twitter threads about OfSTED over the past couple of days and the will they/won't they grade teachers and lessons debate. In my usual lazy style I will refer you to the more knowledgeable and articulate bloggers who were involved in the roundtable meeting and to @Joga5 who gave reasons for his regret at the lack of primary practitioners at this meeting (I could not support my reasons in the knowledgeable way Bill did with facts and figures, but I still felt miffed!) His post is much more than being irked by it of course and the comments at the end add to what I will call a healthy debate. Most likely his views will led to something being done, which we all (primary practitioners) should be grateful for.

So, like many other tweeters last night I felt confused by the mixed/cryptic messages from OfSTED and those teachers who had met with Mike Cladingbowl, although a simple tweet from David Brown made it clearer (I hasten to add that I responded to his tweet about OfSTED guidance being my friend as stretching it a bit far!)

 So today, instead of reading the updated blog posts, which I will list below for anyone interested, I will share a screen shot, hot off the OfSTED press, taken from

Why do OfSTED inspectors observe individual lessons and how do they evaluate teaching in schools? by Mike Cladingbowl

As a senior leader it is important to be clear about this, especially as OfSTED are due to visit East Harling. What I found interesting in this report was the fact that an 'all singing all dancing' lesson was graded inadequate because of the poor work in the books. A lesson where children were reading silently was outstanding for the same reason. This heartens me because although my children are making outstanding progress in reading and maths, their behaviours for learning are not as I would like them to be. Yet. I would hate to be judged just on the fact that they find simple transitions difficult.

I have to say though that I have read on twitter that some teachers who have recently been inspected have been judged and that some teachers are seeking judgements and getting them, which is contrary to what is being said. I think back to an esteemed colleague who was told just before she retired that her lesson was inadequate because in her role play (in EYFS) where all the children were dressed up as theatre goers to watch other children perform the Three Billy Goats Gruff, she told the children how the rich people would be seated first. This was not her being in any way discriminatory, it was her aim to add a historical context. Yes the inspector was gentle with her, but she was heartbroken and felt like she had let the school down, even though we were graded as outstanding. If only she could have been saved that. 

So here is a reading list of posts from the 'roundtable bloggers', although in all seriousness I would suggest that you pick one, or you will find that a whole evening flies past - and you'll never get that time back! I'd just like to record my thanks to them all 9and @Joga5) for taking the time to share their news and views.

Copied from Meet the Fockers

@teachertoolkit  5 go to OfSTED

@TomBennett Meet the Fockers

@thelearningspy Are we any clearer? and What I learned from my visit to OfSTED

@headguruteacher Meeting OfSTED

Update

Ross has created a great summary video. The original can be found here.

The Big O - Some Inspection Reflections

OfSTED published new guidance just before Christmas, which I learned about via Andrew Old's blog post 'A Christmas Miracle'. He has included the important points 64-67 in his blog, but for the sake of ease I will repeat them here:

'Inspectors must not give the impression that Ofsted favours a particular teaching style. Moreover, they must not inspect or report in a way that is not stipulated in the framework, handbook or guidance. For example, they should not criticise teacher talk for being overlong or bemoan a lack of opportunity for different activities in lessons unless there is unequivocal evidence that this is slowing learning over time. It is unrealistic, too, for inspectors to necessarily expect that all work in all lessons is always matched to the specific needs of each individual. Do not expect to see ‘independent learning’ in all lessons and do not make the assumption that this is always necessary or desirable. On occasions, too, pupils are rightly passive rather than active recipients of learning. Do not criticise ‘passivity’ as a matter of course and certainly not unless it is evidently stopping pupils from learning new knowledge or gaining skills and understanding.

When in lessons, also remember that we are gathering evidence about a variety of aspects of provision and outcomes. We are not simply observing the features of the lesson but we are gathering evidence about a range of issues through observation in a lesson. Do not focus on the lesson structure at the expense of its content or the wide range of other evidence about how well children are learning in the school.

When giving feedback, inspectors must not argue that they are unable to give a particular grade because of the time spent in the lesson.

Inspectors must not aggregate the grades given for teaching is a formulaic or simplistic way in order to evaluate its quality overall.'

As Andrew Old says, it is now our duty to make sure everyone is aware of this. If you read Andrew's post (and I think you should as the comments add to the post) I would recommend that you also read his subsequent post saying why this news is so important. From what I have read in the past and via twitter I can safely say that Andrew and I have totally different approaches to education, but we share the view that good teaching or a good lesson is 'what works'. I suspect that we both teach in the way we are most comfortable with, which is why I guess (I assume) that we are successful in our roles. I have been fortunate to observe many others teaching through my roles as induction mentor and AST and truly believe that a range of teaching styles are important - and apparent in successful schools. As a teacher who regularly reflects on her practice by asking the children what they think, I am fully aware that some children have preferred a more structured approach, which is why it was important that they received this during my outreach days. I feel that the fact that my children were becoming more aware of their preferred way to learn at age 6 was an achievement itself. I also feel that the range of teaching styles and approaches on offer was what made our school successful.

 The purpose of this post is not to brag about OfSTED successes, but to share some observations and reflections. These are my experiences and I am fully aware that with different inspectors, the outcomes could have been very different.

Observations

I started my teaching career as an unqualified teacher in a new school for children with autistic spectrum disorders. It was at the same time that the numeracy and literacy strategies had  been introduced and, although it was not compulsory in my school, I familiarised myself with these and as many other approaches as possible. That is one of my first tips - try to keep abreast of trends and current thinking by regularly checking the DFE site, OfSTED latest news and reports and of course news from your authority.

In the late 90s at Church Hill,we were given a free reign (under the guidance of our principle) to develop a social skills curriculum with many opportunities for learning outside the classroom. It was an amazing introduction to teaching for me as I approached teaching by delivering a very child centred / personalised curriculum.
In the four years I was at the school we were observed by HMI, educational psychologists and folk from the National Autistic Society on countless occasions. I was a very young-minded 27 year old with an open mindset* and I welcomed all professionals in, because I knew that I would learn from them. Having this approach meant that I was always fairly relaxed, which in turn seemed to affect the 'inspectors' view of me as a teacher. They saw confidence. I know it is easier said than done to ask teachers to relax when stress levels in schools could be extremely high, but it has worked for me. I have the view that I am the expert in my classroom; I know my children and what makes them tick and I teach accordingly. Whilst I am still open to (good) advice, I have been known to argue with inspectors when I feel their observations are inaccurate/unimportant (not necessarily about my lessons). Sometimes they need additional information; they cannot know everything. So that is my second tip: make sure you are the expert on your children and don't be afraid to argue about what is best for them.

It may seem arrogant or immature, but developing an 'I am right and you are wrong' mentality seemed to work for me in the same way as those who say they deal with anxiety by imagining others in their underwear.

Behaviour management

During one of our Bicycle Shop gatherings Jenni, Becki and I were reflecting on our recent inspection observations and the feedback we had been given. We have all been employed as advanced skills teachers and as such have had to prove that we were outstanding teachers by gathering portfolio evidence and through our very own day-long OfSTED style inspection (2 lesson observations, scrutiny of work, scrutiny of children's progress in our classes over the past three years, interviews with staff, governors, children and parents). Between us we have many inspection / observation experiences.

During our conversation we compared our recent OfSTED observed lessons and what made them successful. Our experiences were very different, what we taught differed greatly and the children behaved differently, but the one constant was the behaviour management. The fact that the children clearly knew the routines, expectations and classroom rules (not because they recited them, because they were following them) was, to the inspectors, proof that good teaching was taking place. In fact one of the things that was said to me (by a secondary trained inspector) was how my children went from whole class teaching to group activities with less fuss than she would have had with her secondary students. The fact that a child threw up part way through the lesson and another child (with SEN) was behaving out of character did not affect the judgement made. The way that the children responded to these things was amazing - they impressed me greatly that day and proved that they could rise to a challenge. So my third tip is to make sure that you start each year by spending time getting to know your children and establishing high expectations of work and behaviour. This will stand you in good stead when being observed. I will not go into detail about how I do this as I intend to blog about it one day, but I use a mix between Optimal Learning and Bill Roger's suggestions for the establishment phase of the year.

Judgements

The three OfSTED inspections that I was involved in at Roydon were very different. During the first the inspectors came into all of my lessons, sometimes two at a time, because they had never seen teaching through the mantle of the expert before and they were intrigued. They saw very little teaching, but saw the culmination of English / ICT / DT work in the form of 'Seahorse Production Company' poetry DVDs. In this mantle we had been asked by the BBC (or similar) to make an updated version of Michael Rosen's poetry box video. One of them can be seen on our class blog here (our first year of blogging, so the posts are a bit minimalistic). The inspectors loved how the children were in control, collaborating and making choices. They praised the teaching approach and I felt very proud, but also very aware that if they had come another week they may have seen the start of a mantle and may have been less impressed.

This had happened when my HT came to observe a mantle lesson. He came at the start of the week, when my class became 'Swift Air' - a company to rival Ryanair! It was a maths based mantle and my HT was trying to judge it as a maths lesson, not a mantle. He praised their independence and collaborative working, but was less than impressed about my role. I reminded him that he requested to see teaching through mantle and we had a heated debate about this during which I refused to back down. At the end of the week I presented the maths work. My year 4/3s had been working with money and time, planning itineraries for travellers, working out costs of fully inclusive trips (hotels, flights, car hire etc) and special half price offers, with the more able children going on to work with time zones. I was blown away by their work. They were using and applying a range of maths skills and working with money (numbers in the thousands with 2 decimal points) accurately and confidently. The point that I made was that it only took them 5 hours to achieve this. Yes they may have started slow, but decisions, organisation, collaborative skills need working on too. They felt a huge sense of achievement at the end of the week and so did I. The point is, had that been a real inspection, would the inspectors have the insight to see that the skills at the start of the week needed establishing before the mathematical progress could be made?

I guess this leads to my fourth tip: Stick with what you believe in, but make sure you have a clear idea about the learning outcomes and can justify the journey towards achieving them. If you are not passionate about this journey, you may not be able to persuade someone else of the benefits.  

It may help if you have evidence of previous work on a similar theme, to show the results that can be achieved. This is where class blogs can prove very useful.

Of course the way you teach may be dictated by the school, but your personal touches can be added. I was very skeptical about teaching the read, write inc programme, mostly because I like to be in control of my own plans, but I have embraced it and added my own touches to ensure that I am comfortable and enthusiastic when teaching.

Hard work

In two out of three inspections at Roydon I was fully into mantles, so that is what the inspectors saw. At the time it did not feel like hard work, because the planning was minimal as the lessons flowed naturally from one to another. Indeed in the second inspection I was in role as a very old author and whilst the children were teaching in role, I kept nodding off. It was a risk to do this, but again the inspectors loved the way that the children were leading.
 In our most recent and unexpected inspection we knew that their arrival was to do with the previous year's results and (we assumed) a change in headteacher. It felt very different, like we were having to prove ourselves. Although my lessons were already planned, I worked hard to make sure that they would work well and I found additional props for the drama elements, fearing that the inspectors would not be able to use their imaginations in the same way the children were used to doing. It was time consuming because I thought through my teaching very carefully, whereas I am very used to thinking on my feet during dramas. So although it is obvious and more of a statement than a tip, be prepared to work hard during an inspection! Incidently, I didn't spend time on written plans and the inspectors didn't see any, yet I was told that my planning was outstanding. The evidence was in the lesson - it had obviously been planned and prepared carefully. My views on planning are a whole new post, but suffice to say that when I hear teachers saying how long they have spent writing plans it makes me groan, loudly.

Being prepared

As a team we had decided before the inspection that we probably wouldn't maintain our outstanding status and we were prepared for that. What we were not prepared for was the harsh reality. They arrived at the end of our 'book week' and by Thursday lunch time things seemed to be going well; all teachers had got either good, good with outstanding or outstanding for their lessons. We felt quite upbeat. Apart from a learning walk in the afternoon, they didn't seem to carry out any more observations, so we were shocked to hear at the end of the day that teaching required improvement. Where the inspectors in our previous inspections had been looking for proof of our outstanding status, it now seemed as if they were trying to prove that we needed to improve. Aside from one NQT, the teaching staff hadn't differed since the previous inspection. It felt wrong. Apparently an unsatisfactory judgement had been made during registration. Huh? The teacher wasn't aware that it would count as it was literally the register before assembly.

At lunch time on Friday I felt so desperate about what was happening that I asked to visit the inspectors. Although I was told it wouldn't do any good, I felt compelled to try and do something. I was received and commenced to reel off the innovative things about Roydon - the Kidsmeets, the ICT, the drama days, the cluster events and all the other things that made our school unique. I was hosting a digital leader kidsmeet event with an emphasis on livewriting and control ICT that afternoon, so I invited them along. They came and proceeded to question teachers from other schools - most inappropriate! Although I'm sure that they were impressed with what they saw, they managed to turn this into a negative as they were aware that I was leaving Roydon. They questioned what had been done to keep me there and failed to see that I was leaving to take on a new kind of leadership role. The team had come with a negative view and nothing would shift it. So this leads to my final tip reminder: You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.

Some things are out of your control.

What I have learned (some more tips)

These are the (mostly) positive things that I have learned from this inspection. Some of them will seem very obvious:

• Marking needs to be consistent across the school. It is the leadership team's responsibility to monitor this and ensure the policy is updated and followed.
• The leadership team must be familiar with the data and the children it refers to
• Senior leaders must make systematic and rigorous checks on the quality of teaching and learning, through observations, learning walks, moderating work and book scrutinies
• Sustainable practices don't matter. Don't file things in folders, but stick work into topic books. Yes it has time and resource implications, but it is much easier for inspectors to sift through your work (can you feel my resentment about this one?!)
• Create portfolios of evidence of progress for the children whose data implies they haven't made any

And some even more obvious things that need including:

• Know your children, where they are and what they need to make progress
• Politely challenge the inspector's misconceptions. Don't accept their false knowledge. It may not make a difference, but you will feel better for trying

If nothing else, this last OfSTED experience will stand me in good stead for the inspection at my new school that is due in the summer term. I am very aware that I have a lot to do to prepare for this, but am applying some of the knowledge I learned from Roydon and am able to share insights at my new school, which is proving to be very helpful.

I would welcome your OfSTED tips, experiences and views - please leave a comment!


* Last year I read Carol Dweck's book Mindset where she talks about fixed and growth mindsets. It makes interesting reading. I recognised that I may have become more fixed in my NQT year as a result of feeling like I had something to prove. It took a little while to revert back to the more open/growth mindset that I feel I have.

Inspirational Educators

I started to write this post in the summer holidays ...

Being between jobs has been a little odd, though my summer holiday has taken the same pattern. I have had quality time with my family, time to enjoy reading, baking, travelling and catching up with friends. My reading for pleasure has included Mr Stink, The God of Small Things and the Painted Man trilogy (second reading of them) but as always I have flicked through Hywell Robert's 'Oops' as he captures beautifully my stance on how children should learn.

Another book recommended to me was Will Ryan's 'Inspirational Teachers, Inspirational Learners.' Many parts of this book are familiar and I'm guessing that I have read snippets on other people's blogs or on courses. It is well worth a read. For me though, the most inspirational person is Sir Ken Robinson. In my opinion his talk 'Do schools kill creativity?' should be watched by all teachers. His claim that creativity is as important as literacy may hook you, whatever your beliefs.

I also challenge you not to be blown away by his animated talk. It's not new (2010), but it may be new to you. 

As always in the holidays I have reminded myself of Bill Rogers 'Establishment Phase', which you can read about here and here. It is useful for newly qualified and established teachers alike.

In the holidays, these questions troubled me ...

If OfSTED like innovation, why are so many schools following the same curriculum? 

If a personalised curriculum is best, how are we to do that whilst fulfilling the demands placed on us?

I have read how OfSTED have commended developing a relevant curriculum through enterprise, such as 'Equipping children for their lives at St Mary's Catholic Primary school' and 'Good Shepherd Catholic primary school - combining enterprise and sustainability'and this reassures me that creating a unique curriculum that caters for the needs of our school and community is important. The first INSET days at my new school gave us a chance to do just this. Together we created our educational tree, which I will add to this post very soon. It shows how we view our creative curriculum at East Harling. I feel satisfied that my teaching style and ethos will be allowed to flourish in my new school - and that is a good feeling.

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So that is as far as I got with this post in the summer holidays. It's not a great post, but will serve as a reminder about things I find important, so will be very useful to me.