Case Study – Sixth Form Review

Brief

  • To support senior school leaders in making accurate judgements about the quality of learning and teaching in the Sixth Form – with a particular focus on departments which were seen as satisfactory.
  •  To give an overview of the key areas to be addressed in order to drive improvement.
  • To gather student views of strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement in the Sixth Form.

Organisation

  • Girls Secondary School Maintained Sector.

Scope

  • Working with school leadership team – Head, Curriculum Deputy, Head of Sixth and Head of Department – and with the Local Authority Good to Outstanding Lead.

Background

  • School in third year of delivery of post-16 programmes – exclusively an A level curriculum provision.
  • In previous academic year work had been done with staff to move from a teacher-led pedagogy to more learner-centred and interactive delivery.

Methodology

  • Discussion with school leadership team to identify the focus and scope of the Sixth Form Review, including – subjects observed, staff observed, timescale, feedback and methodology to gather student views.
  • Observation of Learning and Teaching – including joint observations – and feedback to staff on grades, strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Led student focus groups.
  • Written report on findings produced – including – overall grade, strengths and areas for improvement and student views.
  • Discussion of recommendations and next steps with school leadership team.
  • Delivery of workshop on differentiation to key staff as a result of above discussion.

Outcomes

  • Increased confidence in School Senior Leadership Team in grading and confidence in identifying and addressing issues around learning and teaching – particularly differentiation.
  • Accurate grading of learning and teaching and agreement on areas of strength and areas for improvement.
  •  Exploration by School Senior Leadership Team of processes to embed continuous improvement in learning and teaching – beyond regular observation schedule.
  • Key barrier to differentiation identified by staff – sufficient development time to effectively use a range of resources and materials to support differentiated learning both in and out of class time. Acted on by Head of Department and Leadership Team.

Delivered by

Sonia Thomas