Developing the 'school led system' in Warwickshire
Much of current government policy relates to ‘the school led system’, a phrase that sounds good but which is sometimes difficult to interpret. The idea behind it is a laudable one- that schools should shape their own destiny rather than being ‘done to’ by others outside education.
Warwickshire has been one of the first West Midlands authorities to try to turn this rhetoric into actual practice. By building on already established structures - the consortia, area headteacher groups, and School Improvement Board - and by establishing the Education Challenge Board and Area Analysis Groups we have taken a tangible step towards the ‘school led system’. These groups represent school leaders who are willing to take responsibility for the improvement of schools across the authority. Hence if something is going wrong it is not someone else’s problem, but instead a shared concern that we all have to address.
New framework for school improvement
The landscape for school improvement in Warwickshire has changed dramatically and continues to evolve in response to changes at a national level. Warwickshire Local Authority (LA) currently has a responsibility to support and challenge schools in an OFSTED category to enable them to get to and maintain ‘Good’, and to increase the number of ‘Outstanding’ schools. This is always a journey and will usually require the school (where possible) and the LA to fund support to enable the school to improve. The likelihood is that the LA’s responsibility for school improvement will cease from April 2018 and there will be no funding for the LA to carry out this role.
School improvement will continue to be a priority and the aim of the new local framework is to set up a sustainable model to challenge and support schools needing to get to ‘Good’.
This new local framework for school improvement can be described as a three tiered model that operates over five areas. The areas are;
- North Warwickshire
- Nuneaton & Bedworth
- East area
- South area
- Central area
The diagram below illustrates the tiered model and how the different groups link together to give an overall cohesive structure.
For more information about the systems and structures that operate within each of the tiers please click the links below:
Tier 1 - Consortia and area network groups
Tier 2 - Area Analysis Groups
Tier 3 - Education Challenge Board