School Improvement Plan

Introduction

The SIP sums-up our main priorities for this year, across a number of key areas.
Our priorities are based on our ongoing self-evaluation activities, and match the needs of the school.
The overall aim is to enhance teaching and learning, and to continue to raise standards of pupil achievement.
We operate an ‘in focus’ system at GPS, whereby (usually) one curriculum subject each term is focused upon for extensive development. This year we are altering our approach, to enable a focus on Recovery, and to ensure that we commit time to our our Quest 2 Curriculum initiative
- Autumn Term 2022: Science
- Spring Term 2023: Physical Education
- Summer Term 2023: PSHE (Personal, Social & Health Education)
English and Maths are always core elements of the SIP – they are always ‘in-focus’. Early Years and SEND feature in every School Improvement Plan.
We have decided as a school that PSHE and PE should always feature prominently in our annual School Improvement Plan.
For other curriculum areas, each coordinator draws up a ‘light touch’ annual Action Plan (unless the subject is ‘in-focus’), and these subject leaders are provided with non-contact time so that they can develop and monitor their subject area – we call this ‘active maintenance’. This year, we are including the ‘light touch’ plans in the SIP – we took this decision because, with the ‘content & sequencing’ initiative, every curriculum subject is undergoing change and development.
Our SIP is a collaborative endeavour:
- Discussion in SLT and in Staff Meetings
- Discussion with Governors
- Subject Leaders' draft their Action Plans, leading to further discussion in SLT, Staff Meetings and with Governors.
- Valued input from the external partners we work with - for example TfC English, Maths and EYFS consultants, from our local Sports Partnership, and from our experienced Clerk to Governors.
- Where appropriate, input from our Parent Surveys, Pupil Surveys and from our School Council.

Summary of our 2022-23 SIP

The SIP document contains a detailed Action Plan for each of the areas below.

Leadership & Management

To continue to develop and improve the quality and impact of leadership and management, across the school, and - in particular - to ensure consistently high quality teaching and learning.

Develop & refine our Quest Curriculum, so that it makes the best possible contribution to Teaching & Learning at GPS.
Ensure consistently high-quality teaching and learning (high expectations, high engagement, strong outcomes, professional develt, monitoring & evaluation).
Develop the skills & roles of subject leaders across the school, so that they make effective contributions to developing teaching & learning in their subject areas.
Continue to update all Policies, in a systematic way, building on work done so far.
Work with our ‘new’ Office team, to ensure highly effective administrative support for the school.
Continue to develop role of TAs & Nursery Nurses, so that they make a highly effective contribution to teaching, learning & pupil progress.
Explore how we can promote & market the school so that we attract families.
Continue to make tangible adjustments to demonstrate support for staff well-being.
Further develop the effectiveness of the Governing Board in supporting and challenging the school.
Ensure that Behaviour and Attitudes and Personal Development are maintained as strengths, & further developed in line with agreed priorities.

Developing the GPS Governing Board

To continue to develop the effectiveness of the Governing Board in supporting and challenging the school, so that the school continues to develop and improve.

Further develop the skills of FGB, to monitor, set goals, evaluate and review school improvement and pupil achievement.
Ensure that Governors are engaged with school & know the school well – which in turn will give them the knowledge upon which to make judgements & decisions, & to hold school leaders to account.
To ensure GB is at full strength, and that attendance remains strong.
Raise awareness of the governor role within school and with parents.

Teaching, Learning, Curriculum and Assessment

To continue to develop and improve the quality of teaching, learning, curriculum and assessment.

Raise attainment for all children by continuing to improve and develop the quality of teaching.
Keep our SIP under review, to ensure an organised and well-coordinated approach, thus ensuring each priority is carefully accommodated within our ongoing schedule of meetings, and that non-contact time is provided where appropriate. This way, all ongoing developments will be manageable and ‘doable’.
Ensure that TA support in school has a positive impact on the progress and attainment of identified children
Keep our ‘quest’ Curriculum under review, so that it develops in line with use i.e. in line with ongoing teacher reflection and feedback.
Review existing Assessment systems, to ensure: that assessment is well-structured, & that it provides ongoing diagnostic information, as well as periodical summative snapshots of progress & attainment, and that this information is well-used.

SEND

To raise the attainment of SEND children and ensure that children with SEND make similar rates of progress as their non-SEND peers. To ensure early identification and appropriate support for children with SEND. To ensure that support for children with SEND is appropriate to meet their identified, specific needs.

To ensure that outcomes for children as identified on Individual Support Plans (ISPs) are appropriately matched to the identified area of need
To ensure that assessment of children with identified SEND is appropriate and informs the Plan-Do-Review cycle
To ensure that TA support for children with identified SEND is high quality, appropriate and meets the needs identified on ISPs
To plan and ensure delivery of targeted, high quality maths interventions, in response to analysis of maths attainment. To monitor the impact of interventions across school.
To plan and ensure delivery of targeted, high quality interventions in Y3 in response to analysis of attainment.
To raise awareness of specific identified SEND (e.g. Autism) and to ensure that provision for children with such diagnoses is appropriate

English

To raise standards in reading and writing, and ensure good or accelerated progress for all children.

To identify curriculum adaptations required for Year 3 (due to the low percentage of Y2 children on track for reading and writing).
To evaluate, devise & implement a well sequenced and progressive oracy curriculum from EYFS to Year 6.
Devise a whole school approach to the teaching of fluency, beyond the teaching of phonics
Evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching of spelling and reflect upon policy and curriculum
Continue to develop teachers’ approaches to the assessment of writing

Maths

To raise standards and accelerate progress in Mathematics.

To develop pupil’s confidence and fluency in maths calculations in order to improve rapid recall – including multiplications tables
Ensure that all pupils routinely deepen their ability to use and apply learning in mathematics by providing open ended problem solving and reasoning tasks
Develop children’s ability to explain and verbalise strategies and generalisations in maths by improving maths oracy.
To develop self-esteem and confidence leading to improved resilience and perseverance when completing maths tasks
Review and implement maths intervention to support children’s understanding, ensure children do not fall behind and close gaps in attainment Update Long Term and Medium Term Planning for maths to incorporate Mastering Number and New White Rose Maths
Update Long Term and Medium Term Planning for maths to incorporate Mastering Number and New White Rose Maths
Evaluate, review and update maths assessment – restructuring to align with white rose maths scheme

Science

To further develop the planning and teaching of science across the school, to ensure a coherent & engaging curriculum utilising outdoor learning opportunities

To further develop the use of the outdoors as a means of enhancing children’s learning in Science
To continue to develop our Science planning (Quest 1 and 2), ensuring that this is embedded across the school and that there is a positive impact upon pupil learning
To maintain high standards in the teaching and learning of Science across the school, thus improving outcomes for children
To apply for and achieve the platinum Green Trees School Award to help enrich the curriculum.
To continue to raise the profile of Science across the school to increase opportunities for all children.

EYFS

To raise standards and ensure the EYFS settings are of a high quality.

To develop the outdoor enhanced provision in EYFS to challenge and motivate all pupils
To make improvements with reading at home and promote reading for pleasure
To make improvements with Reception overall attendance and persistent low attendance
To continue to support and lead EYFS, in particular new staff members or new to year group staff members
To develop a link with another EYFS unit and share good practise
To develop how we teach communication and language and develop interventions to support accelerated progress

Behaviour and Attitudes/Personal Development

To support pupils’ readiness for and engagement with school and learning. To promote emotional health and well-being to help children understand and express their feelings, and build their confidence and emotional resilience and their capacity to learn.

To develop a cross phase group to lead on a review of Behaviour & Attitudes and Personal Development
To review and update the whole school policies: Anti-Bullying, Children’s Anti-Bullying and Online Safety Policies
To review and update whole school Child on Child abuse policy in keeping with KSCIE 2022
To renew the Anti-Bullying Charter Mark
To investigate different methods used to assess children’s progress in PSHE
To continue to develop children’s confidence and resilience to keep themselves mentally healthy

Physical Education

To ensure the profile of PE and sport remains high by continuing to raise the outcomes for all children through high quality PE provision as well as increasing the engagement of all pupils in daily physical activity and ensuring all children have a positive approach towards an active and healthy lifestyle.

To continue to increase the engagement of all pupils in regular physical activity, providing pupils with the opportunity to access at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity every day.
To increase the confidence, knowledge and skills of all staff in teaching PE and Sport.
To raise the attainment in primary school swimming to meet the requirements of the national curriculum.
To continue to ensure a range of competitive sports are delivered for intra/interschool competitions.
To ensure the SLA provision provides children with access to a wide range of sporting opportunities.

Computing & ICT

To continue to develop leadership, teaching and learning in Computing and ensure that gaps in learning are addressed.

To continue to refine and embed our computing curriculum, ensuring that it matches the needs of the children and is progressive within and across year groups
To ensure that the new Online Safety planning is embedded across the school.
To continue to develop, integrate and promote use of existing software and hardware.

History

To continue to develop leadership, teaching and learning in History, and ensuring that the Quest curriculum is fully embedded throughout KS1 and KS2.

To develop the teaching and learning of History by ensuring that each year group have an improved range of resources available and ensuring that these are well used within lessons.
To improve the children’s understanding of chronology in History by ensuring that timelines are routinely used in the teaching of History
To build up pupil’s knowledge and understanding of substantive concepts such as empire, invasion and leaders/government
To create a whole school history display to promote History in school

Geography

To further develop leadership, teaching and learning in Geography and ensure that gaps in learning are addressed.

To ensure that children are offered a broad range of visits and visitors in order to creatively cover aspects of the geography curriculum
To improve teaching and learning in geography through developing field work across school
To continue to develop leadership, teaching and learning in Geography and ensure that the Quest curriculum is fully embedded across the school in order to embed curiosity and engagement about geography in the children
To understand how and when geography is taught in EYFS through understanding the world

Area: Art

To further develop leadership, curriculum, teaching and learning in Art, to ensure a positive impact upon pupil engagement and achievement.

To ensure the objectives set are clear and concise and the work is evidencing the achieved objectives.
To ensure that the planning is being followed clearly and consistently through evidence in art and DT books and discussion with children
To ensure that the teachers teaching art are confident with the skills and terminology used in order to teach effective and exciting lessons.

Religious Education

To embed the new RE curriculum across the school, ensuring children are exposed to new activities whilst developing their knowledge, skills and understanding of various religions that are prominent in the North East of England.

To ensure the new RE curriculum is being taught accurately, ambitiously and consistently across all year groups
To monitor the progress children are making and identify any gaps in knowledge
To link with the local religious community to raise the profile of RE within school.

Area: Design Technology

To further develop leadership, curriculum teaching and learning in Design Technology, to enhance pupil engagement and achievement.

To ensure the new DT curriculum is being covered and delivered consistently.
To develop the teaching and learning of DT by ensuring that each year group has the resources needed.
To ensure teachers are confident in teaching all aspects of the DT curriculum.

French

All children to be given the opportunity to gain the knowledge and skills needed to continue learning an additional language.

To ensure that learners in key stage 2 are aware of which language learning skill(s) they are practising and that they self-reflect at the end of a unit of work.
To include additional opportunities in lessons for learners to recall prior learning.
To ensure that learners in key stage 2 have access to tailored knowledge organisers which are age appropriate and accessible.

3 year Vision document – Summer and early-Autumn 2022. This will build upon the previous Vision document (GPS 2020 Vision), and will cover the period 2022-25 – we are calling our new Vision document ‘GPS Vision 2025 - Going Places’.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Each Action Plan has a column setting out how we will monitor and evaluate i.e. the methods we will adopt to record progress in implementing the Actions, and assessing ongoing impact.
For 2022-23 we are adopting colour coded termly comments, designed to assess progress through the planned actions (& record any changes). This system was trialed during 2021-22, in Core subjects, and has proved useful. We are maintaining the ‘Evaluation’ column, and this is designed to assess impact upon learning and practice (as opposed to simply describing what’s being done).
The colour coded comments are added at the end of each term (though coordinators can add more frequently if they wish): Autumn – Spring – Summer.

The higher level evaluations of impact are added twice yearly, in February and July.