Basic Offer
- Half day annual ‘Keeping in Touch’ meeting (KIT)
- Termly Headteacher Briefings (plus one All Headteacher meeting) per year
- Termly Governor/Trustees Briefings with speakers
- Governor/Trustees workshops throughout the year based of areas of priority.
- for example: New to Governors, SEND Governor Workshops (This does not replicate or replace any SLA / training offered through Governor clerking services, but is an additional service)
- Termly School Improvement Effectiveness meetings
- Access to Peer to Peer SEND reviews.
- Single point of contact for Local Authority services
- Point of Contact for Governance and Trustees guidance
- Assessment & Moderation CPD including one place at H/T assessment updates, Termly Assessment and Moderation meeting for KS1 & KS2, Phonic Screening Meeting
- Assistance in brokering temporary senior leadership.
- Pastoral support for school leaders and staff in dealing with the national and local challenges faced by schools.
- Brokering of additional support from the expertise within both the School Improvement Service and the wider Local Authority Teams.
- for example, finance, HR, health and safety (subject to additional SLA)
- Swift access to Monitoring and Intervention Team support in response to an identified vulnerability.
- Brokering of support from local and national systems and associations, as appropriate, for example PEIA agenda co-ordination.
- Co-ordinated and partnership working with diocesan colleagues (where appropriate).
- Access to School Improvement directory of services
Enhanced Offer
- All the basic offer plus:
- Named school adviser.
- 3 x advisor (ASIA) visits a year (equivalent of 1 x 1/2-day visits per term) – summary report each meeting.
- The nature of the support provided by the adviser is determined by the school’s own agenda and priorities for improvement.
- Focused support to drive forward improvements based on your priorities and development needs.
- Summary Report at end of each year
- Full-year-round expert support via telephone and email, as required.
- Support during an Ofsted Inspection including discussion with the inspector and attending feedback.
Premium Offer
- All the Enhanced offer plus:
- 6 x advisor ASIA visits a year (equivalent of 2 x 1/2-day visits per term) – summary report each meeting.
Statutory duties of Local Authority Provided to all schools
- Termly Directors Briefing Booklet for Governors sent electronically.
- Assessment & Moderation
- Key Stage SATS visits
- Phonics Screening Visits
- Data collection and Quality assurance of:
- End of EYFS Baseline Assessment
- KS1 Phonics Screening
- Designated officer at Ofsted feedback
- Attendance at Headteachers Final interview (not full process)
- Contingency support for emergency and critical incidents
- Support for schools in dealing with national and local challenges.
Bolt on Activities
Additional School Advisor Time
£300 – ½ day ASIA visit in school which includes written report (3 hours in school & report)
£600 – full day ASIA visit in school which includes written report (6 hours in school & report)
This time is also available for other commissioned work.
Curriculum School Assurance Review
Curriculum School Assurance Review £800 (1 visit)
Officers will prepare using school documentation including the SEF, IDSR and curriculum information (as per school website), spend a full day in school, evaluating three subjects (including two in depth). We will work alongside subject leaders and senior leaders (if requested) to provide a critical and supportive process to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum, identifying areas of strength and actions for development. The review will typically include discussions with subject leaders, teachers and pupils, joint visits to lessons and work scrutiny. School leaders should provide their own evaluation of each area of the framework in advance of the visit. We will discuss these as part of feedback at the end of the day in school. We will provide a timetable for the day a week in advance for planning purposes. Following the school visit, we will provide a comprehensive written report within 7 working days. All work is based on the Ofsted current framework by a trained advisor in this field of expertise.
Curriculum School Assurance Review and Revisit
Curriculum School Assurance Review and Revisit £1350 (2visits)
Part 1
Officers will prepare using school documentation including the SEF, IDSR and curriculum information (as per school website), spend a full day in school, evaluating three subjects (including two in depth). We will work alongside subject leaders and senior leaders (if requested) to provide a critical and supportive process to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum, identifying areas of strength and actions for development. The review will typically include discussions with subject leaders, teachers and pupils, joint visits to lessons and work scrutiny. School leaders should provide their own evaluation of each area of the framework in advance of the visit. We will discuss these as part of feedback at the end of the day in school. We will provide a timetable for the day a week in advance for planning purposes. Following the school visit, we will provide a comprehensive written report within 7 working days. All work is based on the Ofsted current framework by a trained advisor in this field of expertise.
Part 2
Following the above Curriculum School Assurance Review, senior leaders may wish to request an officer to return for a half day visit a term later to look at the progress made towards the identified actions for development. We will also provide a brief report capturing the progress and suggesting any further actions for development. All work is based on the Ofsted current framework by a trained advisor in this field of expertise.
Headteacher Recruitment advice and guidance
All maintained schools must notify Halton MBC of the Headteacher’s resignation as soon as possible by contacting Benjamin.Holmes@halton.gov.uk
Support for recruiting a new headteacher
The School Improvement Team provides support for both maintained schools and academies when recruiting a new headteacher.
It is essential to make the most of the short time between receiving notice from your current head and the desired start date for your new appointment. We strongly recommend that governing boards notify us as soon as they are aware of the impending vacancy.
The council will provide/commission attendance at headteacher interviews in maintained schools free of charge. This may be an attendee from a partner organisation. All maintained schools must have LA representation to advise the appointment panel
In addition, schools can buy professional support and advice for the governing boards’ appointment panel during shortlisting and interviewing.
Bespoke governor training can be bought in to ensure there is a shared understanding of governors’ statutory duties and to provide advice about the recruitment process. As well as all appointment panel members, we strongly recommend that other governors attend this session, so that governors understand what they are delegating to the panel. Please contact Governor Services for further information. The link below gives information to help governors and trustees make effective decisions when recruiting and selecting headteachers and other school leaders. We recommend that you use the DfE guidance and the tool kits throughout the recruitment process. These were produced in conjunction with the NGA (National Governance Association).
Price TBA
Headteacher Appraisal
Halton School Improvement team are delighted to be able to offer a new service to Governing Boards who can now commission a member of our ASIA team to the complete HT Appraisal Process.
Your ASIA has a thorough understanding of the work of the school and knows the needs and priorities of the HT. They will ensure that robust target setting is in place as well as focusing on the , finance, wellbeing and career aspirations of your HT.
In addition, the ASIA will be able to advise you on appropriate pay scales for the HT based on agreed terms and conditions.
£450 Half day
Various courses
Please see our training price
Securing judgements at end of KS1
£125 With the end of statutory assessment at KS1 Halton are offering a group moderation half-day model with support of trained KS1 moderators. Please contact mike.stapleton-chambers@halton.gov.uk to arrange this or to speak further about the offer
Schools Games SLA
School Improvement Planning & SEF
School Improvement Planning: bespoke support for senior leaders reviewing previous priorities and consideration of current and future key priorities. Discussion to support leaders in determining SMART targets and success criteria so that a clear outline of the SIP is in place and leaders can consider the actions that need to be taken to achieve the success criteria.
Support as required for headteachers, deputy & assistant headteachers, governors, individuals, groups and whole staff.
Price on application
INSET: bespoke support for leaders and teaching staff
Bespoke INSET for leaders and teaching staff/ all staff on a range of themes:
- Developing effective subject leadership
- Readiness for Ofsted
- What does effective School Self-Evaluation and monitoring look like?
- Holding others to account and performance management
Support for individual/small groups of subject leaders, or whole staff.
Price on application
Teaching Assistants: opportunities to share good practice
Support for teaching assistants through discussion and sharing of good practice.
Teaching assistants often need practise in articulating ways in which they respond to individual pupil’s needs, what the quality of their working relationships with pupils is, how they support pupils that do/do not have SEND and how they ensure that all pupils have equal access to opportunities to learn and develop.
Price on application