Making a major contribution to the progress of children
William Barcroft Junior School
Increasing accountability and giving staff the power
to make a real difference were two
key drivers behind headteacher Claire Constantopoulos’ search for a new school
improvement management system.
“We were looking for a system which ensured that staff and governors could be actively involved in the development of the school,” says Claire, head of William
Barcroft Junior
School in Cleethorpes.
“We wanted something that
increased accountability and strengthened
performance management processes - and went hand in hand with the staff’s
desire to make a real difference,” she explains.
“We always strive to be transparent and gain trust, so I wanted
a shared location for all the schools documents that was easily accessible to
staff, regardless of where and when they were working.
“Another important element was
to make sure that school self evaluation was constantly informed by the great work
being done throughout the school.”
Says Claire: “When the
leadership team was led through the demonstration, we discussed the benefits of
the system. It had to become an integral
part of the way the school worked. This needed to be modelled by the senior leadership team. Bluewave.SWIFT
needed to become an everyday word in school.
“It was also clear that as a
speedily developing school the implementation
needed to be planned carefully and
the staff had to understand the benefits
of learning a new way of working.”
When Bluewave.SWIFT went
‘live’ at William Barcroft the first action for Claire and her team was to
build up the system as a resource bank by putting all documents into the
resource area.
“We were very strict and it
became a joke in the school. The response was always ‘That’s great, have you
uploaded it to Bluewave?’”
Before Bluewave.SWIFT the
school’s leadership team did all the SEF. Now self evaluation and action
planning is much more of a shared
endeavour. “The staff are amazed that many of the pieces of
evidence they have already put onto the system are crucial to informing self-evaluation and in turn action planning,”
says Claire.
The next step was to move the performance management process
into Bluewave. This has helped William Barcroft Junior School
make significant strides in the way
teachers conduct pupil assessment for
learning.
“When we did a round of lesson
observations a common thread that emerged was the need for
assessment training as most of the staff were quite inexperienced in this area.
This was flagged in performance management as an issue so we found some
training which the staff completed,” explains Claire.
“In a recent round of lesson observations, assessment for learning has become good to outstanding
throughout the school, from what was a very mixed picture.”
The Bluewave.SWIFT system
means that Claire gets an instant picture of the school’s progress in any
development area – and this helps her justify spending decisions.
“When I have done a round of
lesson observations I go back to the lesson observation section of the Bluewave
system which brings up all the data. I can
explain to governors why I am spending so much money on school training.”
William Barcroft staff have recently been issued with iPads and
this has enhanced the lesson observation process, says Claire. “I input straight into Bluewave.SWIFT during
the lesson observation and then the teacher can see exactly what I have written
straight after the lesson has finished.
“I can also shoot video of the
lesson and take pictures of materials such as lesson plans and attach them to
the observation record.”
Claire is convinced that
the Bluewave.SWIFT system is making a
major contribution to the progress of children at William
Barcroft.
“The impact of Bluewave has been huge
to the progress of children in our school. The way in which staff and
governors are interacting with the action plans and creating evidence means that they always keep the
Ofsted criteria in mind and this has created many questions which of course
leads to discussion and the team generating ideas. Our team feels empowered and valued. The easy access to all
evidence has made us all feel more secure that we are working in the right
direction.”
