The GAL Friends Newsletter: Autumn 2012

Education: Welcome Back Leadership Culture Club

@gal_education: Contacts Publications Analysis Reports Hello!! With one thing and another we failed to get this edition of our free newsletter out in time for the end of term, so we apologise! Please enjoy this late edition and feel free to contact us directly on our website through the contacts page or by responding to a blog. Alternatively, we can be found on twitter @gal_education and on Facebook. If you’re new to GAL Friends, please login to download our previous newsletters and don’t forget all of our other free downloads and discounts available.

Education: Welcome Back: Liz Greensides

The start of a new academic year has always been one of the most exciting times for me, with the prospect of new children, new classes, often new staff,

and changes and improvements to the way we work. This year, especially, we shall be looking (forward?) to many more changes in the way education is run in England: Curriculum changes, Performance Management improvements, Ofsted “upgrades”, the ever-swifter passage to Academy Conversion, Free Schools …. The list goes on!! At GAL Education we are working together to support school leaders in all that you are doing currently, and especially in all the changes which you will no doubt be experiencing. We’d love to work with you too, either on a

consultancy day, through our in house conferences, through cluster days or staff INSET days. Don’t forget we have very popular and up to date publications as well! We hope to see you soon! Leadership by Kel Greensides

What makes a great leader? Ask 100 people and you'll probably get 100 different answers. To narrow it down, what makes a successful school leader? What do they do? And how do they do it? What is your response to these seven claims and where do you fit?

Seven strong claims: 1. School leadership is second only to

classroom teaching as an influence on pupil learning.

2. Almost all successful leaders draw on the same repertoire of basic leadership practices.

3. The ways in which leaders apply these basic leadership practices – not the practices themselves – demonstrate responsiveness to, rather than dictation by, the contexts in which they work.

4. School leaders improve teaching and learning indirectly and most powerfully through their influence on staff motivation, commitment and working conditions.

5. School leadership has a greater influence on schools and students when it is widely distributed.

6. Some patterns of distribution are more effective than others.

7. A small handful of personal traits explains a high proportion of the variation in leadership effectiveness.

Culture Club by TGKG I’m currently undertaking research into the characteristics of a school in the North East, with a focus on organisational culture and learner voice. It is not the easiest bit of research I’ve ever done as it relates to perceptions, beliefs, shared aims and values – intangible things that cannot easily be measured.

With the help of some useful literature (namely a Hay Group publication, ‘A Culture for Learning’, Charles Handy’s ‘Understanding Organizations’ and others) I hope to collect useful evidence that shows the school culture as it currently stands and highlight areas for its development.

What is the organisational culture within your school? Is it Unitary – all members pulling in the same direction towards 1 vision; or multicultural – different groups who work together and bring different beliefs and values into the mix in order

to move your school forward? Or is your school somewhere else altogether? How can you measure it? How can you report it in yourself evaluation document?

The theory states that, where school culture is successful and agreed, the school itself will be successful in achieving its aims. Just another thing to think about before I close – Are children included in the culture of your school? – do they have a voice that is heard and valued?

My research isn’t easy, but it is certainly going to help me answer these questions and learn a lot about the role of culture in schools in the process.

@gal_education: Contacts You can now contact us in so many different ways …

Tel: 0845 521 37 18

Fax: 0845 521 37 27

Email: info@gal-education

‘Like’ us on facebook

@gal_education

Post: 1st Floor Offices, Millfields House, Huddersfield Rd, Thongsbridge, Holmfirth, HD9 3JL

Finally - It’s Here!

Monitoring and Self Evaluation

The Pathway to Success

Created by: Liz Greensides Price: £ 99.95

Liz has taken the most relevant and important features of her 2 most successful publications, ‘Self Evaluation matters’ and ‘Make Monitoring Matter’, to produce this new and invaluable tool for school leaders – ready for all the demands of 2012 and beyond .

The Ofsted framework may change, performance data may change and the requirements from schools may change, but one thing remains true – Self Evaluation Matters. And quality self evaluation only comes from quality monitoring procedures.

This new publication links the new Ofsted framework, self evaluation and the raised expectations for all schools - and aids school leaders in developing robust strategies to move their Ofsted judgement forward.

The Pathway to Success takes a detailed and practical look at school improvement from an evidence based self evaluation system. It contains a

range of tools and suggested activities to help schools build upon their self evaluation, towards effective planning and, ultimately, raised achievement for all children.

Self Evaluation Matters because:

It is the most significant tool for raising all outcomes for children – both academic and personal

It is the most significant tool for ensuring the best quality provision for all schools

It is the most significant tool for ensuring that the school has excellent capacity to improve

It is the most significant tool for future school improvement and development planning

A Diagnostic Approach to School Improvement

Benefits for School Leaders

Clear guidance to help schools move Ofsted grades forward – e.g. from good to outstanding.

Supportive strategies and practical activities to aid head teachers in monitoring and evidencing their judgements to Ofsted.

A range of documentation and practical activities to support self-evaluation and school improvement planning.

Features include:

Ofsted’s perspective on monitoring From good monitoring to great

monitoring Strategies for information gathering How to be analytical Accurate evaluation Working with all stakeholders Developing a Self-Evaluation

document Action planning from monitoring

information and more...

Analysis Reports SEF / RAISE Analysis

You will have heard of our FREE GAL SEF template, but GAL also offers a service to evaluate the effectiveness of your SEF against your RAISE data.

Submit your completed GAL SEF along with your most recent RAISE Online summary and we will evaluate your evaluation!

A trained Ofsted consultant will use both documents to analyse and evaluate your judgements and supporting statements to ensure that your Self Evaluation covers all areas and that it is accurate and complete in all of its evaluations, the questions that it poses and the summary areas for development it reaches.

Price: £475 with 5% discount for all GAL Friends

RAISE Analysis

RAISE Online is on its way again very soon!

Be ready, beat the queue and pre-order your Full RAISE Online Analysis now and be one of the first to receive your electronic report (accompanied by a CDROM and printed copy).

Use your personalised report to inform your key stakeholders of the attainment, the progress and the areas for development for your school this academic year.

Price: £475 + VAT