Invicta Grammar School has just become one of only three schools nationally who have been recognised for ‘transforming’ practice in all 12 strands of the SSAT Framework for Exceptional Education.
Invicta Grammar have long had a reputation for innovative and effective practice. Dr Maria Marchesini, Assistant Headteacher and Marelle Giles, Head of School, shared some reflections on the way they work at Invicta and their experience of the Framework for Exceptional Education.
Marelle and Maria explain how they always value the opportunity to pick up practical ideas from other schools. As with most schools, they feel that there is always a lot on their priority list and learning from others helps to move their practice on. In particular, they recognise that working with other schools through the framework has supported the development of their quality assurance processes and the way they use lesson observation.
Senior leaders at Invicta take time to carefully scrutinise every aspect of their practice and the framework has supported with this. They use self-evaluation processes to consider how to bring the best out of their team – thinking not only about where they could do more, but also which people would be best-placed to lead development.
Professional development is key to the school’s successes. Tailored support is provided to staff at all levels and development programmes, e.g. for ECTs are carefully designed. A coaching programme is now well-established and being delivered across the Trust. Marelle stresses the importance of all members of staff feeling valued and explains that they work to ensure that every member of the team receives opportunities and investment –“the CPD budget is never compromised on.” There are regular opportunities for staff to share ideas and best practice – both within departments and the sharing of small, practical ideas across the school.
Staff have also been supported to reduce their workload through careful consideration of marking and feedback practices. There has been a comprehensive re-evaluation of the impact of marking, which has resulted in much greater use of live marking. Teachers at Invicta have found that the dynamic nature of live marking allows for immediate engagement, with more immediate and personalised feedback.
Homework practice has changed considerably, moving away from asking students to undertake formulaic tasks at home and instead using that time to focus on knowledge acquisition. As a result, students now spend around 50% of lesson time working independently, often on longer written tasks, which in turn supports the use of live marking.
Marelle and Maria have greatly valued the conversations they have had with other schools and their moderator whilst working through the framework. They wanted to use the framework as an opportunity to really drill down into their practice in key areas and identify practical ideas for further development. As Marelle says “we really want to make sure that we get it right.”
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