Ensuring School Success: Knowing your

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Ensuring School Success Knowing your
non-negotiables

• Prue Barnes
• Executive Principal Educational Consultant,
  London, UK

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Personal Context

• Australian trained 22 years in British system
• Executive Principal of 3 Schools
• National and International Educational Leadership
  Consultancy providing corporate training, key
  notes presentations, conference speaker Executive
  Principal mentoring and coaching.
• Conference Speaker 3rd Seminar for Directors of
  Education, The Catholic University of Valparaiso,
  Chile January 2013
• Workshop presenter ICSIE Chile January 2012
• Conference Speaker 2nd Seminar for Directors of
  Education, The Catholic University of Valparaiso,
  Chile January 2012
• Sessional lecturer on the MA in Educational
  Leadership at the Institute of Educational
  Leadership, University of London, UK.

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Main Contextual Themes

• The impact of the political agenda and the
  perceived powerlessness of those that live in
  these communities (Galbraith 1992), (Grace 2006)
• The impact that the historical British class
  system in particular the perceived middle
  class has on urban students expectations (Buck
  et al. 2002), (Thrupp 1999), (Grace 2002), (Reay
  2003), (Willis 1977), (Riley and Stoll 2005)
• Development of a curriculum to create a community
  of critical thinkers (Freire 1993), (Halpin
  1997), (Grace 2006)
• The need for urban school leaders to develop self
  knowledge and through this find successful and
  effective ways to engage in meaningful
  partnership work, so they can build relationships
  with (often) dispersed communities (Riley 2009),
  (Harris 2002), (Riley and Stoll 2005), (Riley
  et.al 2006), (NCSL)

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UK Government School Inspection System
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NEWPORT SCHOOL CONTEXT

• 910958054331
• Government Inspection Findings of Newport 2009
• Levels of achievement in the past have been
  inadequate because poor teaching has failed to
  ensure that all pupils make effective progress.
  Ofsted
• Government Inspection Findings of Newport 2013
• Teaching is consistently good, with many
  examples of outstanding practice, and this has
  led to rates of pupil progress rising rapidly
  since the last inspection and pupils achieving
  highly. The school has a strong commitment to
  learning and teachers are very well supported and
  feel enthused to do their very best for the
  pupils. They have very high expectations of
  pupils and this is reflected in the excellent
  pace of much of the teaching at Newport. Ofsted

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Newport Pupil Outcomes

• The below table shows the pupils attainment
  against the national averages for Age Related
  Expectations (Reading, Writing Mathematics
  combined) at the end of Key Stage 2.

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The Required Elements
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Moral Imperative

• Development of the moral aspect has the greatest
  effect on ones leadership. Barnes, Campbell
  Emmerson
• Geoff Southworth, the deputy executive director
  of Englands National College for School
  Leadership argues that leadership needs to be
  finely tuned to the circumstances in which
  leaders operate.
• Dr Sandra J. Stein argues that you must know your
  non negotiables to ensure success at all
  levels.
• Therefore if the development of the moral aspect
  of leadership has the greatest effect on creating
  outstanding leaders then what are you willing to
  be fired for? What are your non negotiables?

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Cycle of School Improvement
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Newports Professional Development Ethos

• Staff are all given a mentor who acts as a
  professional coach from within the school.
• All staff have an individual professional
  development programme which is evaluated against
  pupil performance outcomes.
• Staff are placed in triads where they work
  together over the year to act as a peer coach to
  eachother.
• All staff are expected to engage in professional
  reading and lead a professional dialogue at
  least once a term.
• All staff are expected to carry out a piece of
  action research each year.

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Supporting this model
How to find time?
Successful Leadership experienced
When is time up?
How to ensure equity?
How to deal with internal deficits?
Physical
How to balance priorities ?
Metaphorical

Is accessibility balanced?
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Newports Professional Development Ethos

• There is an increasing emphasis on collaboration
  and personalisation of professional learning
  activities, with clear links to the Appraisal
  process. All staff are required to carry out a
  piece of action research each year as part of
  their personal appraisal cycle. This research is
  directly linked to the needs of their current
  cohort of pupils based on the students academic
  performance data.
• To ensure that professional learning is valued by
  teachers and supports students progress, staff
  are constantly reminded of three key questions
• Whats in it for them as individual teachers?
• Whats in it for the students
• Whats in it for their team and the whole school?

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We are guilty of many errors and many faults but
our worst crime is abandoning the children,
neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the
things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right
now is the time his bones are being formed, his
blood is being made, and his senses are being
developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.'
His name is 'Today.' Gabriela Mistral

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Contact Details

• Prue Barnes
• Executive Principal Educational Consultant
• Newport School, Newport Rd,
• Leyton. E10 6PJ
• school_at_newport.waltham.sch.uk
• www.newport.waltham.sch.uk