Tracking and Monitoring Partnership Penicuik, Dunbar and Preston Lodge – School Improvement Partnership Programme

Michael Atkinson, Mark Edie, Paul Raffaelli, Gavin Clark

Effective school improvements are locally owned and led by teachers and school

leaders working in partnership.

Projects should focus on educational inequity with a commitment to mutual

benefit for all involved.

Closing the gap is the priority!

Rationale

Midlothian and East Lothian formed random trios because we believe in the

principle that every school has something to bring to the table.

We want to close the gap between our most successful learners and those not reaching

their full potential – “the bottom 20%” – and identify those students who are falling

behind at an early stage and put in place appropriate intervention strategies.

Form

ation

While the schools have a common destination it is very clear that they are on

three different roads to it.

We are each developing systems to identify youngsters who require additional support

and sharing expertise along the way.

We are planning a “closing the gap conference” for October 2015 which will showcase strategies from each school.

Progress

We have shared experiences from the past (including the dead-ends) and have avoided

completely re-inventing the wheel three times by having regular collaborative

discussions.

Wider benefits have included the opportunity to give staff meaningful

“thinking time” and to share expertise from areas outwith the stated remit of the project.

Benef

its

The “closing the gap conference” will share expertise on visible learning, effective feedback, flipped classrooms, effective

learning and teaching strategies as well as whole school approaches to improvement.

We will implement efficient whole-school

tracking and monitoring systems which will be coherent and coordinated, have clear outcomes and actions, and utilise clear

responsibilities for all levels of staff.

Targets

Historically, the local authorities have been keen to forge links and so it is likely that the

partnership will continue in some form.

We are keen to see inter-departmental collaboration, and recognise that this will

take more time to develop.

It is likely that learning partnerships will form on Insight although it is not known

how these will develop. In the

futur

e

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