What makes an outstanding school? @GuardianTeach

My latest post in The Guardian: I did, I didn't and I do work in an outstanding school; and I don't mean Outstanding by Ofsted definition, I mean outstanding in terms of student and staff fulfilment. Let me set my stall out from the start. This article is "not" based on Ofsted definition, so if this is why you came here, you will only be disappointed, so I suggest you are better off reading something else!

 Many years ago I did: I was fortunate enough to be appointed to my first middle leadership position. Starting in 1999, I joined the school as the 13th teacher working for 160 students. Today, the school now thrives with approximately 150 members of staff and over 1300 students. The institution I was joining was established by a group of parents who wanted more first choice places for their children and wanted another local comprehensive school to be part of that decision process. Over a decade later, this would have been known as a Free School I hear you say…
 I can safely say, my time at this school were the happiest teaching years of my career (to date); so let me tell you why. The luxury of a start-up school allows all stakeholders to join a fresh ethos and a crisp vision. I recall the school motto quite clearly, "Success for All". But behind the scenes, the ethos amongst the staff was "the extra mile" and within such a young evolving cohort, a healthy zest of competitiveness remained. It was great fun and staff morale was epic!

Staff relished working, and I loved Monday mornings again. I couldn't get to school quick enough. Parents on the whole, were excited about each new phase of the school's growth, as this made a significant impact on their child's development, fully understanding this unique position of being "the first".
With this inimitable situation, came a huge influx of cash to spend as the curriculum grew and the building work increased. I must have spent a budget in excess of half a million pounds furnishing countless 100sqft Design Technology classrooms. I loved every second! In short, staff worked together and supported each other. Students enjoyed their studies, coupled with an array of enrichment opportunities and great successes. For me, truly outstanding and what I would describe as "my wonder years".

Not so long ago, I didn't: I found myself as a senior leader in a National Challenge school. There was no hiding place and I knew it was an opportunity to tackle the chalkface after working in such a rewarding school. This particular school had its successes. A diverse multi-cultural population, covering at least 50 countries and 70 languages. Cultural diversity and community cohesion it was; nothing short of exemplary. On non-uniform days and national flag days, the school was a vibrant and happy place to be and students worked happily together (given the distraction).

However, staff did not pull together and union representatives were intent on bringing down any new ideology to drive up standards. As a new member of ASCL Council, I found my own union CPD heightened to challenge any misconceptions to ensure even I was represented as a member of the teaching staff. I hope you can understand where this is going, as I know I have certainly not described to you, an "Outstanding" school by any definition. A multitude of issues tainted the vision at whole-school level and in turn departments started to suffer losses in relation to staffing, standards and morale. Systems broke down and at times staff gossip was rife.

Converting to an academy in the short term produced mixed outcomes and staff voted with their feet. I recall a swarm of disputes that hindered the staff from making any expanse of progress in the classroom. I know some of those difficulties are prevalent in other schools, but ice-cold classrooms in winter, juxtaposed with excruciating heat in the summer made teaching and learning an after-thought.
Other examples include an ICT network that just did-not-work! Appalling fire-drills; shocking punctuality to lessons and at times, a tenuous leadership team; legionella in the water; little forward-planning and countess "monitoring visits" oozed the life out of classroom teachers. I mean read this carefully, staff well-being even made it onto the list of school priorities!  To be frank, staff were pissed off, but some of them I admit, needed a good kick up the backside!

Currently I do work in an outstanding school. The keys on my keyboard clunk at a frantic pace to keep up with the ideas that are being consumed across the workplace. I can't get around the corridors quick enough to support colleagues; observe lessons, feedback and discuss the varied and inspiring CPD ideas we are planning. I feel like an old steam locomotive en-route for Outstanding!
Staff are keen to improve themselves and each other. The students are equally clear about their expectations and being a feisty and needy bunch of wonderful individuals, they sure make it known. We are generating plenty of tailored pathways for them, but it's not quick enough to match their complex needs. What we need to do, is meet the definition of "Outstanding".

We are Outstanding, but not by watchdog definition. Staff are happy, students are happy. Systems are in place and do work. Staff are supported and students are achieving. So, given that, what makes me make such an assumption? Well, in layman's terms we are almost there. Pockets of excellence exist in every school, but the key ingredient missing to allow us to have outstanding in every aspect, is fundamental. We just need to simply teach better!

The first week back at work

Monday: Arrived relatively early and was made to feel very welcome by the senior staff. Grabbed a coffee in the conference room before heading upstairs to the main building to be introduced to the whole staff. Despite the bad cold, I gave everybody a wave and smiled. The next hour or so was spent in various short meetings with the senior team, discussing my priorities, duties and office base. I managed to self-discover the ICT Support office and self-allocate a login for the network and email system. Popping down the corridor, I managed to grab the Reprographics member of staff to complete my ID badge with a passport-like photograph. Awful! Managed to locate an office and was given a key. Felt great! Really quirky too. Attended all the relevant duties at break and lunch AND after-school. Great to see some strong systems in place. Managed to walk about the school and introduce myself to a few colleagues. Felt very isolated, but was as good a first day as you can get, starting one week after October half-term.  


Tuesday: Picked up my ID badge; part of the team now and don't need to sign in or out at the reception desk. As I have no timetable, I was allocated 3 cover lessons. Not used to this at all, as in my last school we had appointed cover supervisors to pick up the slack. Still, the positive side of things, the lessons gave me the opportunity to meet the students, set out my stall (so that it could spread like wild-fire) and feel part of the school as soon as possible. Any cover lesson is a hard task, for one, the group are not your own class and secondly, the supply-teacher conversation is always had! Students on the whole were generally cooperative and responsive...so I am really optimistic. When I had a free moment, I found myself retreating to my new office for sanctuary. This was solely to take medication for my worsening cold, check my emails and grab a quick sip of my cold coffee! When walking around the school, I'd smile, say hello to whoever made eye contact and slip into the DT department for some comfort conversations about projects, facilities and aspirations.  


Wednesday: The journey to work took longer than expected today. My cold is worsening and its a struggle to get out of bed; still I cannot afford to mope around or be late! I visited (off the cuff) a Year 10 assembly and was kindly introduced to the students. Note to self, do this for every year group as soon as possible. Another 2 cover lessons today and a walkie-talkie walkabout. I enjoyed this task the most as it set my frame of mind, crystal clear...to walk the entire school, visiting classrooms, saying hello to students, staff and resolving any noticeable problems. The day also consisted of a couple of meetings with SLT colleagues to discuss duties, procedures and the vision for my role.  


Thursday: A couple more cover lessons and an emergency cover today. Another walkabout duty and a break, lunch and bus-stop duty formed the other key elements of my day. Slowly building up a menagerie of medication, pens, drawing pins and work documents in my new office. Also, started to tick off all the names of staff (on the staff list) of those I have managed to introduce myself to.... I must have spoken to at least 50+ staff in 3 days from a total 150. I plan to make this complete by the end of next week. Popped into a few lessons and smiled and said thank you. SLT meeting followed bus-stop duty and was entertaining and educational. Every school does it differently. Very far removed from what I've been used to for the past 3 years! Was also asked to attend an INSET day tomorrow morning.  


Friday: Attended a PiXL Club event at Kings Cross, London. Was great to get out and be inspired, representing my new school, but didn't really enjoy it as much as I could, because I was still full of a cold. Managed to bump into a ex-colleague and catch up. Returned to school by 2pm and volunteered to conduct late-detention from 3-4pm. Home to reflect and work out what my first contribution to the whole staff is going to be....