Education

School Improvement Service

A central role of the School Improvement Service is to assure elected Members and the whole community that the quality and standards achieved in the borough's schools are as they should be.

The service celebrates and promotes that which is good and supports and challenges where there are weaknesses. Regular, planned visits to schools provide high levels of support and, where necessary, challenge.

The School Improvement Service provides a wide range of expertise, covering the school curriculum, teaching methods and management. Its core purpose is to work in partnership with schools to raise standards and to ensure all children make the progress they should.

The School Improvement Service promotes the aspiration that children and young people in Barking and Dagenham should succeed as well as those who live anywhere else in the country.

Very good progress has already been made towards this goal and on many measures our children reach or exceed the national average. But much remains to be done and systematic, creative approaches will be pursued as part of a carefully planned programme of development work.

As required by government, school improvement work is centred on the schools with the greatest need, but significant contact is maintained across the system. This, and deployment of services in line with the wider area structure for Children's Services, provides a good knowledge of local circumstances and requirements.

The range of services provided is wide and the support provided is flexible to schools' needs. Some important facets of School Improvement Service work are listed below.

Work is carried out at many levels but a core focus is on the classroom. A comprehensive programme of continuing professional development promotes the most effective curriculum, teaching approaches and methods of assessment
Specialist advice and support is provided for most subjects and also for priority areas such as for pupils who speak English as an additional language
In order to ensure children do as well as they can the School Improvement Service develops innovative approaches to the curriculum. Many of these have been at the forefront of national development and have influenced national policy
The School Improvement Partner programme provides a single point of contact for Head Teachers, and is used to develop an agreed view of a school's strengths and weaknesses
The Governor Support team assists school governors in carrying out their challenging responsibilities and also provides a clerking service for governing body meetings. Advice on legal matters is provided as required
For the small number of children who do not attend school (because their parents have opted to educate them at home) School Improvement Service staff provide an important monitoring service, to ensure they receive a suitable and efficient education
School Improvement staff bring important skills which contribute more widely to information gathering, analysis and evaluation. These skills are used to assist other parts of the council in report-writing, reviews and investigations

The following web links offer more information on the School Improvement Service personnel.