School Improvement

What is self evaluation and improvement planning?

Self evaluation and improvement planning is an important part of any school’s work. At St Julian’s we invest a vast amount of time engaging in rigorous self evaluation processes to ensure that we know precisely what our strengths and areas for development are in all areas across the school. We set out success criteria for each area for development and address them through improvement plans at a whole school, department and year group level. Senior and middle leaders regularly monitor, review and evaluate plans for effectiveness through a range of activities which ensure that evaluations are accurate and are supported with robust evidence. As part of this ongoing cycle, we update and adapt plans where necessary.

How exactly do we monitor, review and evaluate?

We monitor, review and evaluate (MRE) the quality of teaching, learning, curriculum, student support and leadership across the school through a range of MRE activities.

These include:

Learner work reviews;
Learning observations;
Discussions with learners;
Discussions with teachers;
Data analysis;
Seeking views from parents/carers;
Document reviews

What are the school’s improvement priorities and how will we improve?

Self evaluation processes have identified the following priorities:

2023/2024 Priority	What exactly do we want to improve?	How will we improve this area?
Reduce variation in the quality of learning and teaching	Improve participation and prevent passivity Challenge learners to think more deeply through purposeful and relevant activities Develop learners’ ability to independently apply their knowledge, understanding and skills at a later date by using effective revision strategies Develop learners’ ability to independently improve their work through effective feedback Develop learners’ ability to effectively demonstrate their knowledge and understanding through extended and accurate written responses and developed verbal contributions Ensure learners effectively apply their data-handling skills in numeracy-rich subjects	INSET Department professional learning Support for individuals Action research Regularly sharing effective practice (briefing and bulletin) Development of resources Intervention programmes
Develop the curriculum in line with the curriculum for Wales	Further develop curriculum plans to ensure experiences support learning and learners can make progress in conceptual knowledge and skills from 3-16 Improve provision and maximise opportunities which support learners’ personal development	INSET Department meeting time Support and development for departments Development of schemes of learning and resources Development of PDCS curriculum and wider curriculum
Further improve student support	Improve learner attendance and punctuality Further improve the impact of behaviour systems for a few challenging learners Further develop targeted support for learners’ wellbeing	Utilise support staff to improve provision and communication home Open Cwtch wellbeing support centre Refine processes and systems to further strengthen their impact
Further improve provision and support for groups of learners	Increase targeted provision for ALN learners and improve teacher understanding of how to support different ALN Ensure needs for EAL learners are accurately identified so that appropriate provision and support can be implemented Reduce the impact of poverty and remove barriers to learning for eFSM learners	INSET Support and development for departments/teams/individuals Utilise support staff to improve provision and communication home Refine processes and systems to further strengthen their impact
Strengthen middle leadership	Further develop middle leaders’ ability to use MRE findings to challenge, support and develop their teams Develop the ability of all teachers to accurately evaluate the quality of learning and teaching and use findings to improve practice and learning	Middle leader professional development Support, development and challenge for departments/teams/individuals Provide opportunities for teachers to evaluate and develop

Who will support the school?

Different stakeholders will be involved in the professional development and support of staff in each priority area. Middle and senior leaders within the school will be responsible for much of the professional development and support in driving the school forward towards meeting our aims. We are held to account by governors on the Academic and Pastoral School Improvement sub-committees: Progress reports are submitted to these committees, who meet periodically to discuss the progress being made in key priorities and the evidence used to support evaluations. In addition, all schools in Wales are allocated a School Improvement Partner, whose role it is to support and evaluate the work of leaders in the school on behalf of the Local Authority and Education Achievement Service for South East Wales (EAS). The school also accesses other support services, offered to all schools by organisations such as the EAS.