Self-Evaluation Policy
Introduction
Self-evaluation is central to the work of Bellahouston Academy. Reflecting on our ethos, policies and practice allows us to identify our strengths and areas for improvement. In identifying priorities for improvement, we take account of national and local priorities and we consider the views of staff, pupils and parents/carers.
Self-evaluation and planning for improvement requires the involvement and commitment of all staff. Teachers have a vital role to play in shaping and implementing the priorities in their own classrooms, in their Faculties/Departments and across the school as a whole.
The Senior Management Team leads on developing and implementing priorities at whole school level and also links with Faculties and Departments.
An ‘Extended Leadership Team’ which includes Faculty Heads/Principal Teachers and Staff Working Groups also play a major role in supporting the implementation of priorities across the school.
In developing and implementing priorities we have considered the importance of:
o HGIOS 3 – Quality Indicators
o The Ten Dimensions of Excellence
o The principles of Curriculum for Excellence
o All available data
o The views of stakeholders
The analysis of performance and other data are important strands of our self-evaluation which should be used to provide an evidence base for areas of improvement in attainment and achievement.
Observations of the classroom experience are used to evaluate our practice and ensure we are meeting the needs of our young people.
Sharing good practice in terms of learning and teaching, effective strategies for quality assurance etc are important in ensuring that our self-evaluation has a lasting impact for our school community.
Evaluating the impact of our plans for improvement allows us to reflect on our successes and their impact on the cycle of improvement itself.
The policy below sets out our approaches to self-evaluation in planning improvements in the work and life of our school.
Our Vision:
In Bellahouston Academy, our vision is to ensure that every young person realises her/his full potential in an inclusive environment which encourages her/him to be a successful learner, to grow into a confident individual and responsible citizen and to be an effective contributor.
Our Values:
o We encourage our young people to develop independence and take responsibility for their learning, behaviour and achievement and to contribute to our school community.
o We promote an ethos of high expectations and seek to celebrate the achievements of our pupils.
o We promote an ethos of inclusion and equality and work hard to achieve the very best for all of our pupils.
o We celebrate the diversity which exists within the school and recognise and celebrate the cultures, race and religions of all pupils and staff. We adopt a robustly anti-racist and anti-sectarian stance in all that we do.
o We recognise the rights and responsibilities of pupils and value the views which they express.
o We are committed to working closely with parents/carers and external partners and welcome their support.
Our Aims:
o We are committed to providing an ethos of care where pupils feel safe, healthy and supported, with a focus on the health and well-being of all members of our school community, pupils and staff alike.
o We seek to provide a learning and teaching environment of the highest quality and encourage our pupils to do the very best that they can.
o We seek to provide an appropriate curriculum for all our young people which incorporates opportunities for the development of their abilities, skills and talents.
The vision, values and aims will be publicised via:
o School website
o School Handbook
o Departmental Handbooks
o School Improvement Plan
o Departmental Improvement Plans
The Senior Management Team, in collaboration with staff, pupils and parents, will agree on priorities for the school. The School Improvement Group, however constituted, will also have an important role to play in the discussion and implementation of the relevant School Improvement Plan priorities and targets.
o The agreed priorities will be written up in the School Improvement Plan.
o There will generally be a limited number of priorities for the school.
o Specific tasks on how the priorities are to be delivered should be practical, manageable and measurable in terms of their impact on improvement.
Organisational structure for school improvement and self-evaluation
Self-evaluation is assigned to a remit of a member of the SMT (currently K Johnston, Formal DHT) who is assisted by a Self-evaluation Committee (currently L Albarracin, D Anderson, C McLaughlin, T McWaters, S Rashid, J Richardson and A Welsh). Ultimately it is the responsibility of all teaching staff, promoted or unpromoted. SMT with remits for Attainment and Achievement, Learning and Teaching, Curriculum Development and Health and Wellbeing will all have a close link to self-evaluation.
Role of the Senior Management Team
Each member of the Senior Management Team has responsibility for a priority on the school improvement plan as part of her/his remit.
The Senior Management Team will plan the use of time available for taking forward school priorities. This may include:
o Working Time Agreement
o Whole School Meetings
o Extended Leadership meetings
o Faculty/Departmental Meetings
o Use of link-DHTs
o Calendar of observations of the Classroom Experience, etc
o SQA attainment meetings with Faculties/Departments
o Evaluation of particular QIs from HGIOS 3 as part of the whole school self-evaluation of the core indicators (1.1, 2.1, 5.1 ,5.3,5.9)
Role of Link DHT to Faculties/Departments
This includes:
o support of the Faculty/Department in implementing whole school priorities
o support of the Faculty/Department in implementing Faculty/Departmental priorities
o share with Faculty/Department updates on progress in SIP
o liaise with FH/PT in formation of the Departmental Improvement Plan
o quality assurance role
o observing learning and teaching
o PRD interviews
Extended Leadership Team
The Extended Leadership Team includes the complement of Curricular FHs/PTs and PTs Support.
The role of which is to:
o Discuss the School Improvement Plan
o Discuss updates on progress
o Share approaches to implementing priorities
o Share progress on tasks/priorities with members of staff
o Use Faculty/Departmental Meetings to discuss progress
o Share effective practice
e.g. Faculty/Departmental calendar of quality assurance
e.g. outcomes of observing the classroom experience
This Extended Leadership Team also constitutes an invaluable source of expertise and commitment from which the school as a whole will benefit. This group works together in order to help with the necessary ‘succession planning’ which will be required when the various posts are remitted.
The role of all staff – FHs/PTs and Teachers includes:
o contribution and implementation of whole school priorities including School Improvement Plan
o formation of Faculty/Departmental Improvement Plan
o quality assurance role
o observing learning and teaching
o PRD
o self–evaluation policy for the Faculty/Department
o Evaluation of self-reflection on teaching and learning
Self Evaluation/Improvement Priorities (Faculty/Department)
In general terms the following priorities appear regularly on Faculty/Departmental Improvement Plans:
· Attainment and Achievement
· Curricular Development
· Teaching and Learning
· Whole school Initiative
· Self-evaluation
It is, however, important for Faculties/Departments to decide which priorities are the most important for their purposes. Faculty/Departmental Improvement plans should, of course, reflect the priorities in the School Improvement Plan.
Annual Calendar of Self-Evaluation Activities
By drawing together all our routine monitoring in an annual calendar, it is possible to spread this evenly throughout the year. The calendar itself is integrated into the whole-school calendar and is updated as events dictate. It also operates on a month-by-month basis. The calendar is attached as an Appendix.
Observation of the Learning Experience
Currently, we undertake observations at two main stages of the Session – prior to Christmas and during the main period of SQA exam-leave in May. The purpose of the observations continues to be that which is outlined in the school’s existing Teaching and Learning Policy i.e. to focus on the overall learning experience, with an emphasis upon the learning experience itself. Such observations and evaluations continue to be undertaken by:
· SMT
· FHs/PTs
· Peers
· Self
Sharing effective practice
o The SMT produce a general summary of learning and teaching, based on the collated observations they have undertaken across the school. This is shared and discussed with staff and the emphasis is firmly upon the sharing of the many examples of effective practice which these observations would confirm.
o The FHs/PTs discuss their classroom observations in their Faculty/Department.
o Individual teachers’ self-evaluations are collated and summarised and used to inform priorities for inset and CPD.
o Members of the SMT, FHs/PTs and individual members of staff share effective practice at whole staff meetings, INSET days, FHs’/PTs’ Meetings etc.
Appendix 1: Sources of Evidence
There are a number of ways of collecting evidence.
Ask people what they think
o individual interviews
o surveys and questionnaires
o group discussions
o written responses and detailed comments
o working parties
o team meetings
o minutes of meetings
Look at documentation and resources
o pupils’ work
o forward plans
o reports to parents
o progress reports on the development plan
o profiling of pupils’ responses to tasks
o course materials across the ability range
o diaries or records of work
o policies and guidelines
o programmes of study or schemes of work
o minutes of meetings
Engage in direct observation
o shadow individual pupils
o exchange classes
o follow a class
o observe each other in pairs
o observe lessons
o work alongside other teachers
o video record teaching
Analyse data
o progress from prior levels of attainment
o levels of attainment
o overall progress towards school targets
o data collected nationally or locally
o Examination results using INSIGHT
o value-added measures of performance
Bellahouston Academy Revised Self-evaluation Policy – October 2014