Hardwick Middle School Sports College

A Focus on Improvement

Hardwick Middle School is a four form entry school in Bury St Edmunds, taking children at year 5 from five or more feeder schools, both from the town and surrounding villages.

The Tough NewsFollowing publication of the 2012 results we shared information widely with staff and governors about where Suffolk is compared with schools nationally, both for progress and attainment, and where our school fits in to that picture. It makes uncomfortable reading.But we have to tackle it, be open and get on with itnow! It can’t be hidden away until we are all feeling comfortable!

Suffolk is ranked third from bottom nationally for attainment and fourth from bottom for progress.A major issue in Suffolk is that the majority of schools, regardless of their attainment level, are below the national median for two levels of progress. The median changes each year to reflect the national middle value of SATs results.Across the county only 30 out of 166 are above the national median for 2 levels progress in English and Maths.

Strategies and InterventionsWe then analysed all our strategies and interventions, discovering that some children were being ‘interventionised to death’. They were out of class in a whole series of well-intentioned programmes with committed staff, but we had to consider what was being missed and whether responsibility for their progress was blurred. At times it was too ‘comfortable’ and they would be better served with differentiation as part of Quality First Teaching. We retained the elements of the programmes that we felt would serve our learners the best.

We took a close look at our available resources, pooling a number of funding sources together and rather than employ another teaching assistant we decided funds this time would be best used to employ an experienced teacher. They are to work with students on HOW to learn at first and to support them, thereby giving them confidence. The focus at the moment is looking at the gaps in students’ learning and devising personalised programmes to ‘plug’ the gaps. We have also taken on another trained teacher to work part time on literacy and Maths.

We produced a chart for all staff, which is shown below. This sets out the steps being taken and seeks their ideas of other ways to obtain improvement.

The local authority state that the following strategies are known to work in terms of raising attainment: / Our Implementation of the strategies / Other ways?
High expectations for all children: two levels of progress is expected as a minimum / GO4Schools targets
Appraisal objectives 1 & 2
Class and group APS known by subject teachers
Headteachers and teachers tracking pupil progress half termly and acting on slippage / GO4Schools tracking
Middle Leader termly SEF meetings with Headteacher
Leadership team / middle leader drop-ins
Interventions: RAP,1to 1, Venn, Brain Boosters
Whole Staff termly Student Progress meetings
Rigorous performance management with all teachers held accountable for pupil progress / Appraisal objectives 1 & 2
Governors’ progress monitoring group – termly with headteacher
A close focus on classroom practice and the quality of teaching and learning with support provided to teachers for rapid improvement / Paired observations
Lesson observation grid – Ofsted aligned and followed up
Observation by TA
Drop-ins / Involvement of Maths AST to support moving to outstanding learning
Engaging parents with a clear emphasis on supporting their child’s learning / GO4schools live updates half termly
Parents’ evenings plus Year 6 progress meetings
Attendance information / Easter School for English and Maths

We have all of these strategies in place. The focus is on how weconsistently and persistently use these strategies to the best effect.

  1. Review our Priorities for Improvement that we have identified for our focus this year
  2. Evaluate their effectiveness
  3. Recognise what our Actions to Ensure Progress in Learning will look like in our classrooms
  4. Modify planning as we are working.

We need tocontinue to act collaboratively to ensure that our students make the progress that will ensure that they leave us with the foundation for being successful at GCSE at least.

Andrea Smith HeateacherFebruary 2013