Newham Learning Community: School Improvement

There has been some updated documentation around school inspections this week:

• Updated school inspection handbook https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/school-inspection-handbook-for-september-2023

• A summary of the changes https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspection-handbook-eif/summary-of-changes

• The Early Years inspection handbook and a summary of changes https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-inspection-handbook-eif

• An updated Ofsted Code of Conduct - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/conduct-during-ofsted-inspections

• A new policy on pausing school inspections - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pausing-state-funded-school-inspections

These documents have been added into the news and reading & research sections of the School Improvement Community Webpage, which is available here: https://sites.google.com/view/newhamlearningcommunity-ofsted/home

A selection of news and articles published in the HT Update in November 2023.

Schools Week article 19 Oct 2023, GCSE disadvantage gaps widens again:  https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gcse-disadvantage-gap-widens-again/

Schools Week article 18 Oct 2023, Best headteachers add two GCSE grades, landmark study finds: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/best-headteachers-add-two-gcse-grades-landmark-study-finds/

Ofsted - Statistical commentary on school inspection data 2022-3: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-inspections-statistical-commentaries-2022-to-2023

EEF Blog - Demystifying Disciplinary Literacy: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/news/demystifying-disciplinary-literacy-a-root-and-branch-approach

Ofsted - Careers review

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/most-schools-understand-the-need-to-promote-technical-and-academic-routes-to-students-ofsted-review-finds

The CQC report on workplace cultures: https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/themes-care/our-work-closed-cultures. Although this isn’t specifically education, a lot of the themes apply.

10 Feb 2022

Ofsted have just published the latest videos in a series of 'Curriculum Insights)

A list of the videos is below. A playlist videos have also been added to the 'Videos' page of the School Improvement Community webpage, available here: https://sites.google.com/view/newhamlearningcommunity-ofsted/videos. They will also be added to the subject pages where they exist.

Remember, Ofsted videos often lend themselves to be watched at 1.25 speed, something that you can adjust in the YouTube settings. This can save you valuable time on some of the longer videos.

• Personal Development - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w81iuXjJI4M (1h 02m)

• Science - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfClZx0tl3E (52m)

• Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8mwnQ_IivQ (1h 00m)

• PE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMdKdlK4AGA (52m)

• History - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDUUeyJr2nA (1h 12m)

• Geography - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3T8p-YYRvw (1h 08m)

03 Feb 2022

FFT Education Datalab have published a series of blog posts regarding some research by Bokhove, Jerrim and Sims (2022). It highlights the link between inspector characteristics and inspection outcomes.

Do Ofsted inspection outcomes differ between male and female inspectors?

How do Ofsted inspection judgements vary between OIs and HMIs?

The relationship between Ofsted judgements and inspection team size

What is the joint impact of all the characteristics of Ofsted inspectors that we examine?

How do inspector characteristics link to short school inspection outcomes of primary schools?