Taunton Teaching Alliance Strategic Vision and Goals – 2015/16

Introduction

In 2011, Michael Gove the Secretary of State for Education, announced his intention to set up 100 Teaching Schools ready for the start of the 2011-12 Academic Year. As of January 2015 there are 598 Teaching Schools in 486 Alliances.

Teaching schools are outstanding schools that work with others to provide high-quality training and development to new and experienced school staff. They are part of the government’s plan to give schools a central role in raising standards by developing a self-improving and sustainable school-led system.

In the Summer of 2014, Heathfield School was successful in its application to become a Teaching School and as such ready play an integral role with and through its Alliance partners to raise standards across the partnership.

The Taunton Teaching Alliance members are:

Strategic Partners

Diocese of Bath and Wells

Taunton Learning Partnership

The Mid Somerset Consortium for Initial Teacher Training

The Partnership Teaching School

Somerset Centre for Integrated Learning (SCIL)

Somerset School Centered Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)

Somerset Association of Secondary Headteachers (SASH and the Somerset Challenge)

Somerset Association of Primary Headteachers Organisation (SAPHTO)

Somerset LEA

University of Exeter

Wessex Teaching School, Yeovil

Secondary Schools

Bishop Fox's School, Taunton

Haygrove School, Bridgwater

Heathfield Community School, Taunton

Stanchester Academy, Stoke-sub-Hamdon

The Taunton Academy

The King Alfred School, Highbridge

Uffculme School, Devon

Wadham School, Crewkerne

West Somerset College, Minehead

Chilton Trinity School

Middle Schools

Dulverton Middle and Community School

Primary Schools

Bishop Henderson C of E PrimarySchool, Taunton

Holy Trinity Primary School, Taunton

North Town Primary School, Taunton

Special Schools

Selworthy School, Taunton

Vision

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance identifies outstanding leadership, teaching and learning within the partnership and uses this expertise strategically to raise standards of achievement across the Alliance and succession plan for the future.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance works collaboratively and strategically with a range of ITT providers to ensure a constant flow of trainee teachers into Alliance schools and beyond.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance plays an integral role in promoting and supporting innovation, identifying and nurturing talent in its mission to raise standards across the Alliance.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance offers and provides outstanding opportunities for leadership development and professional learning for Alliance members.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance is “outward facing” always seeking to learn from the best.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance is at the forefront of enabling system improvement through networking, collaboration and through the services that it provides, finding new and innovative ways to achieve this.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance seeks to build capacity for system improvement by empowering schools to become delivery agents, through both delegation, distributed leadership and effective resource management.

The Taunton Teaching School Alliance seeks to build strategic partnerships in order to add value to its “offer” and to ensure there is no duplication of work, dovetailing with other local networks and local improvement initiatives.

Ethos and values

The vision of the Taunton Teaching School Alliance is underpinned by a common set of values that bring together our joint efforts to raise standards.

Essential in our joint endeavours iscollaboration and openness;recognising that we can achieve more by working together rather than operating in isolation. That in our joint work we are honest but not judgmental, displaying mutual respect, trust and transparency in all that we do.

That together we share responsibility for raising standards and in doing so we value risk taking, innovation and openness to new ideas in our mission to improve outcomes. Finally, that we value each and every contribution and recognise that all Alliance members have a role to play.

How will the success of the Teaching School and Taunton Teaching School Alliance be judged?

National Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

1. Pupil attainment and closing the gap

The improvement each year in attainment at key stages 2, 3, 4 and 5 for pupils attending schools in alliances is greater than the national average. The reduction in the achievement gap for pupils in receipt of free school meals and/or in care in teaching school alliances is greater than the national average.

2. Overall effectiveness of school

Schools in alliances show a greater than national average improvement in Ofsted judgements, resulting in fewer poorly performing schools and more good and outstanding schools.

3. Quality of teaching

As a result of effective initial teacher training and continuing professional development, schools in alliances show an improvement in Ofsted judgements for teaching and learning that is greater than the national average.

4. Quality of leadership

As a result of effective leadership development, schools in alliances show an improvement in Ofsted judgements for leadership and management that is greater than the national average.

5. Number of trainees trained

The number of initial trainees trained in teaching school alliances increases year on year (in total and for each teaching school cohort).

6. Supply of leaders

As a result of effective talent spotting and succession planning, schools in alliances show an improvement in headship vacancy rates that is greater than the national average.

7. Number of schools in teaching school alliances

The number of schools in teaching school alliances increases year on year (in total and for each teaching school cohort).

8. The number of SLEs designated, trained and deployed

The number of SLEs designated and trained by teaching schools is in line with targets agreed with DfE. 50% of SLEs are deployed within three months of designation.

Teaching School Governance

The Director of the Teaching School and Taunton Teaching Alliance is line managed by the Headteacher of Heathfield School and is accountable directly to him and the Governing Body. The Director will report formally to the Governing Body termly in the form of a written report and will attend Senior Leadership Meetings as and when required.

The Headteacher will be responsible for the performance management of the Director of the Teaching School as set out in the Job Description.

A link Governor is to be identified who can report back to the Governing Body about the work of the Teaching School.

Teaching School Leadership

Teaching School Leadership Group (TSLG)

This group’s prime responsibility is for the strategic development of the Teaching School:

Strategic Goals - 2015-2018

To have clear structures in place with regard to Governance, Leadership and Management, Accountability and Performance of the Teaching School in relation to the National KPIs.

To have identified key strategic partners to collaborate with and to have formalised working arrangements with them in pursuit of jointly agreed aims with regard to Leadership Professional Development, CPD and Research and Development so as to have a coherent and collaborative offer across Somerset.

To have evaluated current ITT provision and enter into strategic partnerships that ensure growth in the number and quality of teachers trained in TTSA schools in both Primary and Secondary Phases. Roles and responsibilities to be agreed through service level agreements.

To have grownmembership of the TTSA annually and incrementally building capacity across the region for distributed delivery of programmes and activities either through aspiring teaching schools or other “good” schools.

To have devised a communication and marketing strategy that is both inclusive and cross phase, ensuring that there is full participation from Alliance members and that they understand the remit of the teaching school and how best it can support them in their work.

To have developed Teaching School commercial activity, having a business plan which balances income and expenditures achieving financial sustainability.

To have an agreed strategic plan for the provision of an outstanding professional training facility dedicated to the work of the TTSA.

Remit:

  • To develop annual plans in pursuit of the Teaching School and Alliance strategic goals focussing on the “big six”.
  • To monitor the progress of the Teaching School and Alliance against agreed plans and key performance indicators (KPIs).
  • To monitoring budget, income and expenditure on a half-termly basis.
  • To commissionwork in pursuit of the strategic goals.
  • To make appointments to the Teaching School.
  • To design and deliver an annual Taunton Teaching School Alliance (TTSA) Event that invites school leaders, local authority representatives, and HE partners to meet to review the programme being offered and gather feedback on the quality of the offer.
  • To ensure continued growth of the TTSA so that new schools and new partners join the TTSA, in a way that is sustainable.
  • To ensure ITT provision meets school demand annually assessing impact and quality annually.
  • To ensure that the commercial offer made to support CPD development both within and beyond the alliance is of high quality, systematically evaluated and makes a significant contribution to the Teaching School income generation targets each year. Furthermore, that it is a part of a coordinated programme across the region supporting joint aims and avoiding duplication.

TSLG Membership (13 members)

  • Headteacher,Heathfield School (NLE)
  • Link Governor, Heathfield School
  • Director, Taunton Teaching Alliance
  • Challenge Partner Hub Leader
  • Taunton CLP Director
  • SASH/Somerset Challenge Representative (Secondary)
  • Primary Alliance Representative
  • Secondary Alliance Representative
  • SCIL Representative
  • Exeter University
  • Mid Somerset Consortium
  • Diocese Representative
  • LA Representative

Meeting Frequency

To meet Termly

School Improvement Group

This group’s prime responsibility is to identify schools within the TTSA that need additional support and grow capacity through the TTSA and beyond to support them in their efforts to raise standards either maintaining Ofsted Grades or improving them.

Strategic Goals- 2015-18?

Alongside and with key strategic partners to have developed an annual mechanism and forum through which individual school improvement priorities are identified and resource allocated so as to maximise impact and avoid duplication.

Through and with our strategic partners gather a range of data that enables the School Improvement Group to be diagnostic and targeted with regard to need and subsequent intervention.

Alongside and with key strategic partners create capacity to write and submit bids to NCTL for school to school support, levering greater resource to improve standards.

To have developed capacity across the Alliance for individual school-to-school support drawing of the strengths of members and non-members with established systems for identifying, accrediting, deploying, monitoring and evaluating their impact.

To have a clearly defined mechanism for brokering subject specific support requested by schools through the deployment of system leaders.

To develop a support group to provide coaching and leadership advice to middle and senior leadership teams pre inspection and post inspection with a specific focus on moving from “Required Improvement” to “Good”.

Remit:

  • To raise standards and improve exam results across the TTSA.
  • To work alongside and with key partners to risk assess schools within the TTSA in need of school-to-school support and match resources accordingly in a co ordinated way. Where capacity exists deploy expertise outside of the Alliance.
  • To respond to the outcomes of external reviews of TTSA schools either from OFSTED or external consultancy in order to help schools improve.
  • To maintain an overview of school needs across the TTSA, other local Teaching School alliances and more broadly across Somerset to maximise funding through collaborative bids.
  • To work alongside our partners to identify, train and support system leaders (Somerset Challenge Leaders in Education) and therefore build expertise, resource and capacity for school improvement.
  • To grow secondary LLE capacity in the absence of secondary NLEs.
  • To assist in the quality assurance of the effectiveness and impact of Somerset Challenge Leaders in Education in the work that they do.
  • To deploy of talented individuals who can support the TTSA School Improvement Team but who are not designated.

Membership (9 Members)

  • Headteacher, Heathfield School (NLE)
  • Director, Taunton Teaching Alliance
  • Headteacher,Wessex Teaching Alliance
  • Headteacher,Somerset Partnership Teaching School
  • Taunton CLP Director
  • SASH/Somerset Challenge Representative (Secondary)
  • SAPHTO Representative (Primary)
  • Diocese Representative
  • LA Representative

Meeting Frequency

This group to meet Half-Termly

Teaching and Learning Group

This group’s prime responsibility is to focus on creating and designing opportunities to improve teaching and learning. It will be made up of the subject network leads (secondary) and primary colleagues.

This group will be established in conjunction with the launch of subject networks and will steer the Teaching School offer specifically around latest pedagogy, action research and CPD specifically aimed at improving teaching and learning.

Membership

To be established

Meeting Frequency

This group to meet Half-Termly

The Taunton Teaching Alliance Action Plan 2015-16

1. Initial Teacher Training
Objectives / Action Steps / Timescale / Led by / Outcomes/Success Criteria / KPI
To increase the number and quality of teachers trained in alliance schools /
  • Evaluate existing ITT organisation and identify a strategic partner to grow ITT recruitment with collaboratively.
  • Agree SLA in relation to ITT Provision for 2016/17
  • Ensure that ITT recruitment and admissions to the Teaching School through an external application process is understood and contributed to by each Alliance Member
  • Continue work with the University of Exeter to continue to increase the number of PGCE students in Alliance schools
  • Establish School Direct subject need across the Alliance and bid for 10-15 School Direct places with partner provider
  • Evaluate exiting marketing strategy and roll out new process that ensures full take up of all School Direct places attracting high quality applicants in shortage subjects
  • Ensure that Initial Teacher Education trainees get an outstanding experience wherever they are placed and that their development is supported by exposure to a range of different schools experiences and contexts.
  • Monitor the quality of our school direct trainees into their NQT year to support them to ensure that 100% of them are consistently judged to be at least “good”
  • Design innovative ways to promote interest in education for adults in the region interested in findingout the different routes into the education profession and the different jobs available to them.
/ Sept 2015
July 2015
Ongoing
July 2015
July 2015
Ongoing
Ongoing
Ongoing / Director
Director
Exeter
ITT Lead
ITT Lead
ITT Partner
Director
ITT Partner
Director
ITT Partner
Director / Evaluation completed and partner SCITT(s) identified
SLA written and agreed
Track numbers annually and target shortage subjects
Places successfully bid for and recruited
Evaluation completed and new marketing strategy implemented
Lesson observation outcomes and evaluation of training
Lesson observation outcomes
New programme designed and implemented / 1,2,3,5
2. School Improvement - School to School Support
Objectives / Action Steps / Timescale / Led by / Outcomes/Success Criteria / KPI
To provide effective school to school support according to the capacity of schools in the Alliance /
  • Establish membership, roles and remit of TTSA School Improvement Group.
  • Agree meetings structure to “triage” schools in the Alliance aligning resources to needs.
  • Work in collaboration with Somerset LA, other Teaching School Alliances and Headteacher Associations to provide support for schools in need of improvement in order to avoid duplication of effort.
  • Respond to the outcomes of external reviews of TTSA schools either from OFSTED or external consultancy in order to help schools improve.
  • Develop a clearly defined mechanism for brokering subject specific support requested by schools through the deployment of system leaders.
  • Maximise bid opportunities by working to address common needs collectively. Increase capacity for bid writing.
  • Consider the provision of data analysis courses to support school self-evaluation
/ July 2015
July
2015
Ongoing
Ongoing
Dec 2105
Ongoing
Dec 2015 / Director
Director
Director
School Imp Group
School Imp Group
Director
School Imp Group / Group established with clear remit
Calendar of meetings scheduled
Planned and co ordinated schedule of activity
Half termly meetings to identify schools and support implemented
Mechanism published and understood
Bids submitted and successful
Provision organized if required / 1,2,3,4
To raise standards across the alliance via school to school support, including maintaining and improving Ofsted grades and driving up examination performance in conjunction Challenge Partner Hub leader /
  • To develop a support group to provide coaching and leadership advice to middle and senior leadership teams pre inspection and post inspection with a specific focus on moving from “Required Improvement” to “Good”.
  • Offer support on a mutual exchange basis to schools in the alliance in order to help them move from RI to good, or good to outstanding
  • Design and promote the SIP/Challenge Partners type service to schools across the alliance, offering a range of activities from Headteacher Performance Management to a full package of confidential support.
  • Arrange Ofsted briefings drawing upon the expertise of external advisors, trained Ofsted inspectors within the alliance and recently inspected schools
/ Dec 2015
Ongoing
Dec 2015
Ongoing / School Imp Group
Director
Director
Director / Role, remit and membership agreed and in operation, resulting in improved Ofsted outcomes
Evaluation outcomes of visits