Archdiocese of Cardiff

Section 48/50 and Canonical

Inspection

The new arrangements

Programme • Welcome and introductions • Opening Prayer• Main changes• The Framework• The Self-evaluation Report and Guidance• The School information Form• Areas for Governors to consider• Discussion Groups• Refreshments break and collation of questions• Question and answer session• Inspectors share their experiences• Closing prayer and blessing

• National Board of Religious Inspectors and Advisors

• Estyn

• The Province

The Bishop’s authority and Canon Law

‘The Bishop has the right to watch over and inspect the Catholic

schools situated in his territory’ (Canon 806)

‘We have much to celebrate regarding the quality of Catholic education, and the

inspection process is an opportunity to acknowledge the dedication and

commitment of the staff, governors, parents, pupils and parish communities

that work in and for our schools’(Archbishop Peter Smith)

The Main changes

• Self-evaluation and school improvement – Greater emphasis

• Notice is shorter– 4 weeks or 20 working days

Three key questions

• How good are outcomes?• How good is provision?• How good are leadership and

management?Mirrors Section 28

Each question addresses the Catholic life of the school and curriculum

religious education

Judgements

• No numerical grades• 4 judgements

– Excellent– Good– Adequate– Unsatisfactory

Judgements (continued)• Overall effectiveness• Prospects for Improvement • How good are outcomes?• How good is provision?• How good are leadership and

management?

Length of inspection

• Primary – process within one week– Monday to Wednesday (possibly

Thursday depending on the size of the school)

• Secondary – process within one week– Monday to Friday

Length of inspection (continued)

• Estyn team arrive lunch time on the Monday for pre-inspection team meeting

• Section 50 team arrive at 8am on Monday– Begin review of pupils’ work– Attend an act of worship– Meet with headteacher– Begin session observations following the mid-

morning break

Feedback

• Headteacher and subject leader on a daily basis to:– Agree new arrangements– Clarify inspection issues– Obtain further information – Discuss matters of concern – Discuss emerging findings

Feedback (continued)

• Session observations– Brief feedback at the end of the session– Fuller feedback if needed can be

arranged • End of inspection

– Confidential oral feedback that conveys the main judgements and the reasons for them

– Inspectors do not return to the school at a later date

Timetabling• Estyn do not issue a timetable for

session observations• The Section 5o team agree a

timetable with the headteacher and share this with Estyn

• Estyn inspectors observe sessions for a minimum of 30 minutes

• Section 50 inspectors observe sessions for the period of the session

Questionnaires and meetings

• Parents are issued a questionnaire – See Framework: available in English, Welsh, Lithuanian,

Polish, Portuguese and Tagalog• No parent or governor meeting prior to the week

of the inspection• The section 50 team join Estyn for the parents’

meeting on the Monday evening• The section 50 team will arrange to meet the

Chair of Governors, the RE link governor, any other governors, particularly foundation governors, the school chaplain/chaplaincy team, and local clergy at a mutually convenient time during the week of the inspection.

Listening to learners

• Estyn are introducing pupil questionnaires• The section 50 inspectors are not using pupil

questionnaires • ‘Learner voice’ is a key source of evidence of

achievement, attitudes and well-being found through:– Meeting pupils in class and around the school – Meeting with particular groups (this may vary depending

on the line of enquiry)

• The school’s own ‘learner voices’ and surveys of pupils and parents

Acts of worship

Because of the short notice and to ensure parity for schools, section 50 inspectors will only participate in the daily act of worship, and other opportunities for formal and informal prayer and reflection, during the week of the inspection.

Follow up activity

• Estyn will consider whether the school needs any follow-up activity

1. Good practice case study2. Local authority monitoring 3. Estyn monitoring visit4. Significant improvement 5. Special measures

Section 50 Follow up activity

1. Good practice shared with the Catholic family of schools through the website, cluster meetings, on-site visits, published papers, training days, etc

2. Those identified as needing support:a) The reporting inspector informs the headteacher and

Director of Religious Education of the required areas for improvement

b) The Director of Religious Education will plan a programme of appropriate support with the school

c) ‘Significant area for improvement’: a formal review of progress will be undertaken by the Director of Religious Education or representative approximately a year later.

Meeting statutory requirements

• How requirements are met• Should be evaluated through the school’s

own self-evaluation reviews• If statutory requirements are not met, this

will be reported in the text and may result in a judgement no higher than adequate for the relevant quality indicator

• Details of relevant regulations and guidance are in Annex 3 of Estyn’s ‘Guidance for Inspection’.

Meeting statutory requirements: section 48/50

• Collective Worship (schools’ standards Framework, 1998, Section 70) Circular 10/2004: ‘Religious Worship and Collective Worship’

• Sex Education: Section 352 (1) (c) of the 1996 Education Act. Primary schools are not required but can decide whether to include sex education in the school’s curriculum and keep a written record.

Other points of information

• If the inspection is to take place early in the school year, the inspectorate may ask for samples of pupils’ work from the previous year.

• The task of the inspector is to sample, test and validate the evaluations made by the school. They decide what evidence needs to be reviewed.

The Framework

• Questions, quality indicators and aspects• Description of judgements • Sector leading practice (Estyn)• Exemplification paragraphs for good and

unsatisfactory

The Framework (continued)

• The procedure• Required documentation• Code of Canon Law• Education Regulations• Bishops’ Statement on religious education• Parent questionnaires• Post-inspection questionnaire• Welsh Assembly Grant

Self-review Report and Guidance (1)

• Greater emphasis – the starting point for inspection

• Needs to be embedded• Not a one-off event• Within a few days of being notified of

inspection, schools must e-mail their current self-evaluation report to the reporting inspector, together with their SIP/SDP, etc (see appendix 3)

Self-review Report and Guidance (2)

• The registered inspector will highlight the initial lines of enquiry on the SER: the PIC (pre-inspection commentary) and email it back to the school by midday of the Friday prior to the first day of the inspection

• These initial lines of enquiry may change during the period of the inspection.

Self-review Report and Guidance (3)

• The inspector will assess whether:– The process is a regular part of the school’s

working life– The process is robust– All aspects of the Catholic life of the school and

curriculum religious education are being reviewed and how these impact on pupils and their achievement

– It is an accurate assessment of strengths and weaknesses

– The information is used to set priorities and appropriately challenging targets for improvement

Self-review Report and Guidance (4)

The paramount guidance for the way in which this is written is to always remember that the key measure of the quality of provision is the impact on pupils

Ask 3 questions as you address each quality indicator:

1. How well are we doing?2. How do we know?3. What needs to be improved?

Self-review Report and Guidance (5)

• No need to provide an overall final grade/judgement for each key question

• Evaluation should clearly indicate strengths, anything considered innovative with evidence of its impact and dissemination and areas for improvement/development

• It is possible to reduce paper by creating a virtual self-evaluation and inspection ‘room’ (folders) with hyperlinks to evidence

• From October 2011, all schools to e-mail their annual, current SER to the DRE.

•The School Information Form

•Areas for Governors to consider

•Discussion Groups

•Refreshments and collation of questions

•Q & A session

Inspectors share their experiences of inspection

• Mrs Margaret White (Primary)• Mrs Patricia Landers (Secondary)

Closing Prayer and blessing May He support us all the day long, till the shades

lengthen and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of

life is over, and our work is done. Then in His mercy may He give us a safe lodging,

and a holy rest and peace at the last. (Cardinal John Henry Newman)