How good is our school – The Journey to Excellence aims to provide practical support for all schools and services which are ready to make the step change from good to great and achieve excellence. The Journey to Excellence encapsulates the key drivers for such improvement and exemplifies them in a range of contexts. It presents a coherent view of what works and how schools can achieve excellence in all that they do. It gives practical advice on classroom approaches which focus on improving children’s learning. It is useful for leaders at all levels within schools and local authority officers who link with schools. It can be used for whole-school and local authority professional development activities. It can also be used by individual staff as part of their own staff development.
The ten dimensions in excellence in The Journey to Excellence address those key aspects of the quality indicators which we know are significant drivers for achieving excellence in learning and success for all. They focus on the key activities and key relationships which lead to effective learning. The statements in the charts in Part 2 in the document are descriptions of excellence but do not alone provide schools with a means of evaluating level 6 – excellent. They describe strengths, but not weaknesses, in practice. They should be used alongside the descriptors in the revised version of HGIOS? (third edition) and in this staff development guide to assess the strengths of what is observed and to identify areas for improvement. For many schools, particularly those with a track record of improvement, the challenge now is to move on from being good or very good and to aim for excellence.
The Journey to Excellence suggests clearly that there are different ways of achieving excellence. The statements in the charts themselves are essentially generic and provide targets for all schools. The advice to schools is to use the resource selectively to focus on the aspects which are most relevant for the needs of their pupils.
At the heart of the document is the expectation that schools should aim to achieve success for ALL children, no matter their background. The Journey to Excellence refers the reader to other resources such as the Missing Out report which looks closely at the needs of children at risk of missing out. In addition, the numerous references in this staff development guide emphasise the need to aspire to excellent service for vulnerable children and young people.
Each of the dimensions of excellence in Part 2 of The Journey to Excellence is associated with one of the key areas in which the indicators in How good is our school? (third edition) are organised. The dimensions can help you to take a leap forward in those aspects of your work where you judge that you are ready to go from good, or very good, to great. They can help you to make radical changes to those aspects which are at the heart of what your school is about – learning and success for all. The dimensions are not audit tools. They do not cover everything which goes on in a school. They only look at those aspects which have a direct impact on learning and outcomes for all young people. They are levers for ‘transformational’ change, taking you straight into the activities and practices which are associated with excellence. The dimensions and their related features give you an idea of some of the things you can do to make your school an excellent school.
How and when you use the dimensions will depend on the stage your service has reached on its journey to excellence and the kinds of improvements which are necessary. It will also depend on features of its capacity for improvement, that is how well prepared your service is for making the kinds of changes which can transform the lives of its learners. These include:
The information below provides some references, albeit only a starting point, for services to use so they can plan how to use The Journey to Excellence to improve practice and provision.
QI 1.1 |
Dimension 10 ‘Develops a culture of ambition and achievement’ demonstrates how services should aim high and enable all children and young people to achieve. |
QIs 2.1 and 3.1 |
Dimensions 1,2 and 9 entitled ‘Engages young people in the highest quality learning activities’, ‘Focuses on outcomes and maximises success for all learners’, ‘Values and empowers its staff and young people’ demonstrate how services should promote learning as personal development, and report on success in achieving outcomes, including promoting healthy attitudes and behaviours. |
QI 2.2 |
Dimension 6 entitled ‘Works together with parents to improve learning’ demonstrates how services should develop parents’ support for their children’s learning and promote collaboration; and where possible seek their representation in identifying improvements. |
QIs 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4 |
Dimensions 3 and 4 ‘The nature of the vision’ and ‘Fosters high quality leadership at all levels’ demonstrate how services should create and sustain the shared vision and lead the school community, through managing change. |