Beacon Status

It is vital that the participating schools are clear as to what they can expect from their involvement with us. It can not be seen as a ‘quick fix’ solution. We would wish the involvement to be seen as part of a clearly defined development process for all the schools involved, including Parklands Junior school.

The process should begin with the school identifying their needs. We could provide support for schools in the development of their audit process. There needs to be a clear agreement of what both schools expect of each other with clearly defined criteria and commitments. We would wish to develop the evaluation process as an integral part of the plan. It is imperative that the short and long term impact on the professional development of the staff at participating schools and those at Parklands are monitored and evaluated and adjustments made. We hope that LETEC, The Institute for Education and the LEA will perform a strategic function in monitoring and evaluation.

It may be difficult to quantify the effect of our involvement over a singe year, particularly in this first developmental year. As the project and its funding runs over three years it should enable this to happen more effectively. We would look to our project partners to help with external assessment of our effectiveness. Running the project over a longer period also means that the preparation and training will be more cost effective and we can plan more effectively.

PARKLANDS JUNIOR SCHOOL - STRENGTHS

Parklands Junior School is a popular, high achieving, well established

school situated on the edge of Romford. It draws its pupils from a variety

of socio- economic backgrounds. The school is over subscribed and

has 457 children on roll.

The school has an ethos based on caring. The school aims to create a

secure and stimulating environment where everyone can develop the

confidence and ability to reach their full potential. The staff, both teaching

and non teaching and governors, work together as a close knit team.

Everyone has a tremendous commitment to do the very best for the children

in their care - in partnership with parents. We have invested a tremendous

amount of time, effort and thought into the development of the school, its

people, the site and resources, within the constraints of a tight budget.

All are encouraged to do their best, we have high expectations of staff,

children and parents. We encourage children to have a pride in themselves

and the school, we expect them to take responsibility for their actions, to be polite and friendly and to care for themselves, each other and the environment. In order to foster this we have created a school garden, a nature reserve and a pets area where we keep a variety of animals including Rough and Tumble the goats. Sally the cat has free access to the whole site. The children tend all of these during the term . The school won a National Curriculum award for this in 1987. Ofsted saw these as part of the positive ethos of the school and as a distinctive feature.

The schools mission is to strive for excellence. Our recent Ofsted report gives external verification that we are achieving this. The reports opening statement is ‘Parklands is an excellent school with many significant strengths and no significant weaknesses.’ It goes on to say that the school has a clear vision of what constitutes excellence in a junior school, that the vision imbues all aspects of school life and is fully understood and supported by all governors, teaching and non - teaching staff.

The school was Highly Commended by the Charter Mark in December 1997.

We have responded to the feedback and are reapplying this year.

The school priority is the development of people, they are our greatest resource. The way a head and senior management team work with the people resource is absolutely fundamental to the success of a school. We believe it is vital that we make the most of the combined skills and enthusiasms of the whole staff, so that we can do the best for the pupils in our care. This has never been more important than over the past five years where the rate and quantity of changes in education have been huge.

The school achieved Investors in People (IiP) status in March 1997. Since then we have initiated a Post Investors package for schools which will enable schools to continue the process of development after achieving IiP. The principle has been accepted by LETEC and we are now in the process of planning the programme for other schools. The head teacher is actively involved in supporting schools who are considering Investors in People or who are in the process of working towards their assessment. The school was one of the three finalists in this years prestigious Blue Ribbon Awards in the IiP category.

We have a long history at Parklands of sharing our ideas and expertise. We have often been used to pilot schemes and research projects in the use of IT and maths. There was, in most cases a requirement to share the expertise learnt with other schools. We also became a training school for the ‘My Body’ Health Education Project. Three of us were trained as ‘trainers’. We then ran courses for staff from a number of schools. The school is used to receiving visitors, over the years we have hosted NQTs, experienced teachers and foreign visitors. They have come to share a wide variety of things including management, display, IT, maths, professional development, use of resources, assessment and record keeping etc. The most recent of which was a group from Sweden which included a Head and 2 Senior Education Officers. We were approached by The Leadership Centre as a result of the Head teachers involvement their bid made for the Experienced Headteacher qualification last summer.

The School Development Plan is our central planning tool. This was described as an impressive document by the IiP assessor. Our Ofsted report states that the success of development planning has been a crucial factor in the school’s ability to achieve success on a low resource base.’

The school has a culture of being forward thinking, we embrace change and are used to looking for solutions. Monitoring and evaluation is ongoing it is an in-built part of this process and involves everyone. This has been possible because training and professional development provide the structure to support each initiative.

The head teacher has been a local Headteacher Mentor and is now employed as a tutor mentor for the NAHT/ OU SOL NVPQ course.

The development of people at Parklands includes training and development for Governors and parents. Each Governors meeting includes a short training section. New governors have the opportunity to take part in an induction programe. We have a Parents Information Steering Group and run regular information and training sessions for parents. Teachers continue to develop materials to inform and involve parents in their children’s education.

Our Professional development programme includes a number of initiatives. It is a continuous process which starts with initial teacher training and continues until the day of retirement. Everyone on the staff has access to the programme and it is an indication of its success that they make full use of the opportunity. Colleagues from other schools often ask for help and support on an informal basis and we have been happy to oblige. We believe that competence and confidence are the key to the raising of standards and the future success of our children and to society as a whole.

PARKLANDS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

1) Initial teacher training (ITT) - the school has a long history of supporting students from a variety of colleges. Teaching staff mentor the students guiding, advising and training. We have a clear procedure for monitoring and evaluating performance. Students are encouraged to be reflective and involved in self evaluation. Proformas have been devised for this. There are currently severa experienced staff who act as mentor. We run in-house training and have developed materials to support students. Some provide the basis for discussion with the mentor. We have also developed advice for mentors when observing lessons. Both students and mentors have found these to be useful.

2) The school has an induction programme for newly qualified teachers which was considered exemplary by the Investors in People assessor. The report said ‘ the involvement of the headteacher in the mentoring of NQTs was exceptional, all new staff valued this above all else.’ NQTs are seen every week, plans are gone through, issues including record keeping, report writing, marking, display etc. are tackled. NQTs also have the benefit of a training programme run by the LEA. They attend LEA courses fortnightly, in the alternate weeks they receive curriculum development support in school from subject co-ordinators. There are two hours of non - contact time a week built into the budget by the LEA.

3) Through our monitoring and evaluation process we discovered that whilst new staff were extremely well supported, there was a discernible difference in the skills, confidence and expectation demonstrated by those teachers emerging from their probationary year when compared with those teachers who has 5+ years teaching experience. In order to address this issue we set up a 2 year Programme. Staff are invited to become part of the ‘Next Step’ group. We have combined with a neighbouring school, we meet twice a term, once with a local school and once in - house Both heads have worked closely to plan and deliver the programme. We cover issues including - standards, comparison of work from both schools, discipline, display, the role of the co-ordinator and assessment. It is an indication of its success that everyone has taken up the opportunity to join the group and attended every meeting. Our whole school monitoring programme demonstrates that people are benefiting from their involvement, and that confidence and competence have increased. This has had a direct effect on the raising of standards. This initiative would have relevance to most schools.

4) We are unable to give financial incentives because of our poor budget allocation. Instead we offer the opportunity for professional development through the ‘Next Generation’ group. This group operates on two levels:

Needs are identified via self review, discussion with the Head and the group etc.

The group meet regularly and look at issues which have been identified by the group and the head. There is an emphasis on People Skills. We employ a mixture of approaches including role play and discussion to explore ways to handle situations. There has been much laughter but much has been learned about strategies to deal with potentially difficult situations.

Individual needs are dealt with in 1:1 work with the Head.

All those who have been through the ‘Next Step’ group and new members of staff who have been teaching more that 3 years are invited to join the Next Generation group. So far we have 100% take up. Some teachers who have joined the staff have chosen to belong to the Next Step group despite the fact that they have over 3 years experience. Our IiP assessment saw The Next Step and Next Generation schemes as exemplary evidence of innovation and pragmatism in training.

5) More experienced staff were asked if they would like to be involved in Initial Teacher Training. Initially seven teachers volunteered to become mentors. We are now running in-house training to support nine mentors.

It is an indication of our commitment to professional development that every member of the full-time teaching staff are involved in one or more of the above groups.

6) The role of the co - ordinator is well defined, Ofsted found them to be highly effective in their role. They have clear job descriptions and are fully involved in the planning, delivery monitoring and evaluation of their subject. Training is given to support co - ordinators in their role. The IiP assessment found there to be a clear link between the goals of the school and the planned training of the staff. The named leaders/co-ordinators have an impressive grasp of their training role and there was ample evidence of constant updating by them.

6) Co - ordinators regularly run in-house training sessions for staff in their subject area, this helps to develop staff confidence and expertise which has the knock on effect that the trainer is also gaining a different expertise in working with adults. Training in the role of the co - ordinator is available from the head, through the LEA INSET Programme and in externally run courses as the budget allows. Our recent Ofsted report was very impressed with the fact that, ‘staff are committed and work well together in a mutually supportive way, building on the strengths of individuals. ‘

7) The school has a well established culture of curriculum development where co - ordinators support less confident or competent teachers within the classroom. In latter years this has been dependent on very limited funds. We have had to be very creative in our use of time. Any release time created by the student training is used to allow co-ordinators to work along side colleagues to do curriculum development, or to monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and learning. This has a profound effect on developing staff confidence and skills and ultimately raises standards.

The co - ordinator can operate in a variety of ways either taking the class to introduce a skill or concept, or the class teacher and co - ordinator will team teach. We have found this type of training to be particularly effective. As a school we have a broad base of co -ordinator expertise to offer other schools.

8) Senior staff are involved in appraisal of colleagues. Training is given to those undertaking appraisal for the first time.

9) Our latest venture is the development of our new Library and Information Centre, we have introduced 6 PCs with Internet facilities. The school has close links with the LEA Educational Computer Centre. We are working closely with them to develop teaching strategies. The vast majority of the money to build and resource the centre has been raised by the school in a huge range of fund raising events. We have a clear vision for the development of ICT at Parklands, however like all schools we have to face the problems of finite resources.

10) The headteacher is a trained Headteacher mentor and is involved in the support and training of new headteachers. The skills acquired through the training for this have enabled her to set up our training programme for teacher mentors within Parklands.

11) The head is a trainer / mentor on the new professional qualification for deputies aspiring to become heads. This is run jointly by the NAHT and Open University. All the students so far are newly appointed heads who have come through the Headlamp route. They have enlisted with the SOL programme as they are keen to have mentor support. All of them are from other Education Authorities. Support is provided in all aspects of management and leadership.

12) The school has been involved in working with the Educational Computer Centre to develop ways of electronically collecting and interrogating data. We use the information to inform planning and to target SEN resources. Our intention is to become more effective in setting targets and to use the data more effectively. We are currently exploring how best to develop this within the wider arena, with the LEA English Inspector and the Chief Inspector. The school enjoys close links with its feeder infant school and with Marshalls Park Secondary school. At a recent meeting between the three schools it has been agreed that we will develop a way of tracking pupil performance from Nursery to GCSE. This will build upon the work we have already done in collecting data over the past few years.

13) The school identifies its priorities via the school development planning process. Expertise is bought in from the LEA advisers through a service level agreement. We have bought in advisers to work along side teachers either in the classroom or on creating or evaluating policies. Twilight training sessions are run on Mondays after school until 5.00pm, these are run by our own staff or by LEA advisors. We also have our full ‘Baker’ days when the school is closed to children. We particularly value these as everyone can come to the day fresh and we are able to have a more sustained length of time.

14) The school has a clearly defined programme of monitoring and evaluation. All staff have a responsibility to monitor their own role and that of their colleagues. All whole school monitoring is determined via the General Management Team. Criteria are determined well in advance and the process is carefully planned. Individual and whole school feed back is given and is part of the professional development programme. It is through this process that we have been able to see the impact made by our professional development initiatives.

15) The school has a clearly defined Management structure. The Head, Deputy and Incentive plus 2 post holders are the Senior Management team, they meet every morning at 8.30 am to discuss the day. Issues are discussed with the group and they play a major part in the school. The General Management Team meets to discuss whole school issues. All members of staff are welcome so long as they are prepared to give up their time for the year. All but those in their probationary year are currently members of the GMT. This is an indication of how it is valued. The Chair of Governors is also a valued member of this team.

The school has accrued enormous benefit from the programme of training.

Our teachers have developed the skills, confidence and competence to deal with the enormous number of changes and developments which have been thrown at them in the past five years.

We have made a virtue out of a necessity, our lack of money has made us look for alternative solutions many of which have had benefits over and above those expected.

The non teaching staff offer impressive support. The secretary and site manager effectively line manage their teams who are highly motivated and supportive of the school. They are instrumental in the success of the school.

We have developed a system of ‘tandem training’, examples of this are where an inexperienced co-ordinator is given training on how to monitor their subject and give constructive feedback in order to help train other teachers, and where we have hosted students we have used the release time created to enable co -ordinators to work with other staff, this time is very precious because of the financial constraints.

Our IiP assessor reported that every employee believed that the school was interested in them and had taken steps to develop them.

The report concluded Parklands is an impressive school with staff who appear motivated and well prepared for the tasks they are required to undertake. The training drive from the top which is considerable, is valued by staff. It is the training programme which has been the key to our success.

Ofsted considered that the standard of teaching was good, teachers planning excellent, the expectation of attainment and behaviour high and they felt that these were key reasons for the high academic standards achieved. It said that there is some variation in the level of expertise of teachers, but the staff support each other, exchanging ideas in an atmosphere of excellent personal relationships. The result is that the quality of teaching tends to rise towards the best.

The schools performance at the national end of Key Stage tests are well above the national norms and have shown a significant improvement since they have been introduced.

Our future plans are based on the continuing evolution of training opportunities for the school. The school has to build upon its present success and move ever forward. We must ensure that we continue to strive for excellence, we believe the way to achieve this is through an ongoing commitment to the training of teachers.

The raising of standards is central to every school and LEA development Plan.. Many of the procedures, structures, approaches and materials developed at Parklands school have a relevance to other schools. Indeed the school is used to sharing these informally at Parklands. We aim to continue the development of a dynamic, living process.

RANGE OF ACTIVITIES ON OFFER

The sharing of existing materials e.g. Policies, ITT pack, A range of Parent Support materials. (We have already helped a number of schools in this way.)

The development of new materials.

To run the Next Step Initiative for / with other schools

To run the Next Generation for / with other schools.

Provide the opportunity for shadowing - co - ordinators / deputy / head.

Buddying of NQT / co - ordinators / senior management, so that they can share experience, expertise, materials etc.

Provide the opportunity for co - ordinators to track strands of the curriculum through the Key Stage

Provide the opportunity for secondary colleagues to experience Key Stage 2 curriculum in order to plan for Key Stage 2/3 transfer. more effectively.

Provide the opportunity for Curriculum Development . ( visiting staff to work alongside staff at Parklands in the classroom on a planned programme, we use this in - house and have found it to be an extremely effective way to develop teacher confidence and competence.)

To involve other schools in our Parents Information sessions or to run sessions with / for other schools, ( other schools have joined us for Health and Drugs Information sessions in the past ).

The development of the Post Investors Initiative

Attending governors meetings to assist the development of issues

To give or to provide support in the development of presentations on aspects identified above for parents, governors, staff ( already ongoing with IiP ).

Sharing materials developed at Parklands to inform / train staff/ governors on new issues.

Running workshops or courses on any of the aspects indicated above.
PARTNERSHIP INVOLVEMENT

East London LETEC are keen to work with us. Parklands has been actively working with LETEC to support other schools since May 1997. The existing working relationship forged with LETEC provides a useful platform from which to develop. The focus of the IiP criteria is to improve staff confidence and competence in order to raise standards. Monitoring and evaluation are central to their principles.

By networking in this way we aim to raise the general awareness of the benefits to a school of embarking upon the Investors in People process, one which can only enhance the professional development of staff involved.

The bonus to participating schools is that LETEC have agreed to support schools by match funding the diagnostic stage of IiP in order for schools to audit their position more effectively.

The London Borough of Havering - Inspector and Advisory Team (HIAS) is working in collaboration with the London Institute and LETEC to initiate and manage a benchmarking project for Havering schools to begin in the accademic year 1998/9. This project will involve twelve schools in process benchmarking against six schools with identified strengths in relation to the quality of education provision and the standards of pupil attainment. Following a bidding process successful schools will be supported in process benchmarking against the recipient schools. The model will replicate the principles and processes involved in the national Beacon Schools initiative. Through a systematic approach to sharing good practice, The project intends to raise the standards of achievement in schools requiring support, as well as enhancing further quality within the supporting schools. The inter - agency structure of the project enhances the contribution of each of the partners in securing school improvement. It is intended that the project will continue to develop over a three year period. Parklands Junior School has been identified as one of the recipient schools identified by the Borough. We hope to play a significant role in the development of this project. We believe that we have much to contribute to the project and that our involvement will in turn enhance our ability to help other schools outside the project both in Havering and across Borough boundaries.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

An increased awareness of participating schools of the practical strategies which impact on the quality of provision and the standards of achievement in schools.

An improved quality of provision and raised standards of achievement in participating schools.

The development of a model for continuous school improvement through the sharing of good practice.

The development of a strategy to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of involvement with schools.

The continued professional development of all Parklands Junior School staff. The continued raising of standards at Parklands through structured opportunities for reflection on our practice and through further training and development.

For more details please contact the school.