Embracing Your Magpie: School Improvement Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Case study: Building A School Improvement Framework

Just over two years ago, the kind people from Chiltern Learning Trust invited our Strategic Leader for School Improvement to a session for people with similar roles.  Our lead, Mark McLaughlin, met the incomparable Lorraine Hughes and learned about the approach of the Chiltern Learning Trust to school improvement, including the role of their School Improvement Framework.

We shamelessly took that framework and learned all we could from the work of some really talented people.  Through careful co-construction our Trust team re-shaped the framework in a way that reflected the distinctive character of our Catholic schools, but took care to avoid the toxic mutations that see great ideas in one organisation fail when applied to another organisation.  That process was not straightforward and it would be daft not to recognise seeking to build on the ideas from one organisation and applying it to your own is not without challenge and the occasional firm 'push-back', but that process actually enhances the final product.

So, what is the difference?  Well, we always had a strong understanding of our schools both qualitatively and quantitatively, but the framework has done something very different.  It has helped us to support schools in identifying the precise priorities that represent the best next step in their journey and identify those schools where that next step would benefit from support and capacity.  I have lost count of the number of times a school has identified a specific issue in an area of the curriculum that needed to be addressed and has made the necessary changes thanks to the application of the School Improvement Framework.  We have unlocked a collaborative way of working that sees leaders across schools supporting one another through Collaborative Review that they recognise as a brilliant way for leaders to learn from one another, but doing so through a clear shared language and shared expectations.

Like many of you, I looked at the press release around Ofsted's Big Listen with keen interest.  Sir Martin identified a need to move towards a better conversation around each school's improvement journey between inspectors and school leaders and I am sure he made reference to rubrics that may help.  Our friends at Chiltern Learning Trust saw a need for that some time ago - we stood on their shoulders and have reaped the benefits of doing so.  That was only possible because our friends at Chiltern Learning Trust - Adrian Rogers, Sufian Sadiq and Lorraine Hughes - are outward looking and work with a spirit of generosity.  

So, embrace your inner magpie.  Go out, find great practice, make sure it works and that there is great evidence to back it up...and then shamelessly claim it was your brain child if you really must!

Joe Richardson
CEO of St Thomas Catholic Academies Trust

September 2024