I started at Rosebrook Primary School in Stockton-on-Tees in September 2015. Rosebrook is a large primary school that serves a deprived catchment area. Many of our families are vulnerable and, in recent years, raising attainment had been a challenge.
My core responsibility at the school is to improve teaching and learning. As a leader I was determined to ensure better outcomes for pupils at Rosebrook. Rates of progress across all year groups and key stages had, up until 2015, been poor.
Teaching and learning needed to improve rapidly. When I joined, the senior leadership team were all new in post and most of the middle leadership team were either new or inexperienced.
Raising expectations; boosting progress
My impact initiative (as part of the Future Leaders leadership development programme) aimed to raise the combined reading, writing and maths attainment level at key stage 2, the percentage of pupils attaining at the “expected standard” (or the old 2b) in reading, writing and maths at key stage 1, and the percentage of pupils achieving the Good Level of Development (GLD) in Reception. I decided to focus on two key areas: strengthening middle leadership and improving the quality of teaching for all pupils.
The engine room of school improvement
I wanted the middle leaders to understand their vital position of being able to influence outcomes throughout the school. At the fortnightly meetings I kept communication channels between leaders open and transparent by asking them to share key information.
I commissioned SLE (Specialist Leader of Education) support. The SLE planned and delivered team meetings alongside middle leaders and modelled how to communicate team priorities, aligning them with the vision, in order to win team support.
By conducting monitoring and evaluation activities in pairs, middle leaders were able to learn from experience and modelling. At leadership team meetings we discussed the purpose of each monitoring and evaluation activity and how we could adapt it to make it more focused on school improvement priorities. Middle leaders were then able to see that the monitoring and evaluation was not conducted for the sake of it and that each activity should provide feedback to staff that would enable whole-school, team or individual practice to improve.
Regular and consistent feedback
Early in the autumn term an external review of the school highlighted that the vocabulary used during maths lessons was not always in line with year group expectations in the national curriculum.
I invited the maths link governor to conduct a learning walk alongside me and the maths team with a very specific focus on the vocabulary used within lessons. After the initial learning walks, staff were given targeted feedback.
All staff involved in the maths team (including teachers and teaching assistants) were part of creating a set of whole-school vocabulary cards explicitly linked to the national curriculum vocabulary lists for each year group. As an objective was covered within lessons, the related vocabulary would be used throughout the topic, and displayed on the working walls in the classroom.
Staff felt encouraged to use vocabulary at an age-appropriate level and the initiative also encouraged them to teach new topic-related vocabulary.
As a follow up learning walk, the link governor later came back into school to evaluate the impact and the use of vocabulary. All teachers were using the vocabulary cards effectively within lessons to promote a range of language relating to the topics they were teaching.
Identifying CPD needs/areas
Through my work on the impact initiative, I identified several CPD themes and led a staff meeting around developing and improving practice. Among the themes identified for CPD was the need for teachers to be fully aware of and communicate to the children the objectives of lessons. I ran a series of staff meetings on this and drew on external expertise from the local authority to deliver training. Alongside this, I developed documents to support planning for progression and planned and modelled lessons.
The impact
The school’s previous three-year trend saw 53, 63 and 64 per cent of pupils achieving the national average at key stage 2 (Level 4-plus). The school did not rise above floor standards (65 per cent combined reading, writing, maths) during these years.
In 2016, (although not comparable to national curriculum levels), 40 per cent of pupils left key stage 2 at the “expected standard”. The school has narrowed the gap between our results and the national average by seven per cent. Progress measures are now above floor standard and in line with the national average.
In 2015, 24 per cent of pupils left the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) having achieved GLD. This year, this figure increased by 14 points to 38 per cent.
Reflections
I found five key areas of working that had a positive impact as we worked to drive these improvements:
- Relationships.
- Authenticity.
- Leading by example.
- Core values.
- Prioritisation.
Thanks to my Future Leaders coach I was able to stand back and develop the necessary self-awareness and self-reflection to make progress. I made it my aim to establish open, trusting, professional relationships with all members of the school community. People remember the way you make them feel and colleagues can put up barriers to change as a result of a clumsy meeting, an ill-thought-out response, or an inconsistent approach.
When colleagues were difficult to convince, I relentlessly presented a compelling case for why change was essential for the pupils at Rosebrook; better outcomes would increase their opportunities in future education and in life.
Maintaining core values
I revisit my core values almost every day, reflect on them and act in line with them. When things have been challenging and energy or motivation levels suffer, having the opportunity to talk about these with a trusted peer has refocused me. In my mind, I see a pyramid. At the top of the pyramid are the key actions that I need to focus on in order to drive through the impact initiative. Below this are the wide range of other school issues that, although important, can pull you away from your main focus.
My aim on a daily basis has been to spend as much time working at the top of the pyramid. This prioritising, and the move from the operational to the strategic, has been a challenge. I will be able to sustain the improvements made to date because the systems that I have set up have added to the leadership capacity through the school.
To conclude, the key learning from my impact initiative has been across the following areas:
- The pace of change is dictated by the culture that the senior leadership team creates.
- Relationships come first, trust builds through effective professional relationships and colleagues develop quicker in a climate of trust.
- It is vital to try and spend a significant part of everyday being strategic and not exclusively operational.
- Being consistent as a leader is vital to your team and helps manage and sustain change.
- School improvement processes need to be connected to be really successful.
Looking ahead I don’t underestimate the challenges we face but with a strong staff, a supportive network and access to coaching we will continue to raise attainment.
- Amy Blackburn is deputy headteacher, teaching and learning, at Rosebrook Primary School in Stockton-on-Tees.
Future Leaders
Amy is a participant on the Future Leaders leadership development programme. This month, the Future Leaders Trust is joining forces with Teaching Leaders to form one organisation tackling educational disadvantage through high-quality school leadership. Read more at www.future-leaders.org.uk/about-us/our-future/