Rivington & Blackrod High School
Background
Size: 1,860 pupils, 200 staff and 20 governors
Sector: Education
Location: Bolton
Status: Gained Investors in People in 2000; working with Internal Review; undertook Leadership and Management Model in 2004; awarded Champion status in 2005
“The experience of achieving Investors in People and our range of activity was a significant factor in us becoming accredited by the Teacher Training Agency as a Training School in September 2003. Here, our best practice was disseminated among partner schools, we directly trained significantly more teachers and shared our expertise with other schools.”
Jim Mitchell, Training School Director
The organisation
Rivington and Blackrod High School (RBHS) is a mixed comprehensive for 11-18 year olds serving 1,860 pupils, of which 300 are in the Sixth Form. Serving the towns of Horwich and Blackrod and the broader community of West Bolton, it was built in 1882 and is on two sites that are one mile apart.
The school has been a Specialist Technology College since 1999, has Training School Status and also holds the Sportsmark Gold Award.
RBHS was the first school in its borough to become a Training School back in 2003. Training schools are dedicated to improving all schools through Continuing Professional Development for staff and research into teaching and learning. The school was awarded £220,000 of extra Government cash so it could develop into the educational equivalent of a university hospital.
The school has a unique collaborative partnership with another local secondary school, Ladybridge High School, as well as leading a cluster of primary and secondary schools. It also has international links with schools in South Africa and Sweden.
Nine years ago the previous senior management decided to use the Investors in People framework. It did some preliminary work, moved to the diagnostic stage but never fully committed.
The challenge
A change in the leadership of the school seven years ago resulted in a total rethink as to the role of Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The school also needed to address how it would equip a changing workforce to face the challenges of an institution facing a major shift in direction.
“We already knew our ideal was to support the development of our staff as that in turn would bring about improvements in both the quality of the teaching and learning for our pupils,” says Jim Mitchell, Training School Director. “The access to CPD had been variable and random at times. We needed to make the staff feel more valued and wanted to create an ethos where everyone in the institution felt they really mattered.”
“Our intention was to create a professional learning community which would serve the needs of an innovative and forward-looking school.”
The strategy
Professional development of staff was put at the heart of the school improvement strategy. It is also the key element of its Training School agenda.
The school identified three clear objectives with the staff at the heart of them. Firstly, to improve the education of its students through CPD and research into teaching and learning; secondly to provide career-long support for staff underpinned by quality mentoring; and finally to motivate staff to deliver a high quality performance in the classroom.
It renewed its links with its previous Investors in People Adviser, reassessed the diagnostic and set new action plans.
A new Training Directorate and a steering team were established, the training budget was expanded and audits of everyone’s training needs were undertaken.
“We implemented a very well laid out and structured strategy,” says Jim. “As a result staff became more aware and proactive about their own professional development. All processes relating to staffing, from job specifications and recruitment to training and evaluation in relation to the School’s development plans, were reviewed and redesigned.”
Every member of staff now has one hour of guaranteed CPD time in the working week and this is supported by regular mentor meetings. The CPD operates on a six week cycle and time is allocated for both parties to focus on activities highlighted as targets for development. The school has developed programmes for emergent and middle leaders, has trained facilitators and mentors, introduced a new coaching role and provides opportunities for staff to seek best practice with its local, national and international network partners.
“Staff observe other lessons, either in their own or another subject,” continues Jim. “We regularly look at staff training needs and analyse what needs to be altered. We also host regular forums in which people are able to discuss and contribute to the current aims and objectives of the organisation as a whole.”
There are opportunities for early leadership experience and the school adopts many other innovative and motivational approaches. These include research scholarships, which enable staff to explore classroom practice and evaluate it as well as opportunities to visit South Africa, Sweden, USA and Brunei for example.
Celebration of achievement is now firmly embedded in the school culture, whether for training, innovation or output and is both formal and informal.
Jim adds: “The Investors in People framework is an excellent thinking frame, enabling us to see the complete cycle from planning through action to evaluation and matching training to improvement activity and school effectiveness. We use the opportunities to network through Investors in People organised sessions such as breakfast seminars and this has given us a perspective wider than education.”
The strategy allows for flexibility and the school makes use of its ‘critical friends’ – both its Advisers and Assessors often suggest ideas it had not thought of and also challenge some of its assumptions and practices.
“The framework has forced us to identify core skills, competencies and knowledge required for our ever-changing work but also to define the culture of our school community,” says Jim.
Results
RBHS achieved Investors in People status in March 2000, now works with the Leadership and Management Model and the Work Life Balance Model. It was awarded Champion status in 2005.
“The experience of achieving Investors in People and our range of activity was also a significant factor in us becoming accredited by the Teacher Training Agency as a Training School in September 2003. Here, our best practice was disseminated among partner schools, we directly trained significantly more teachers and shared our expertise with other schools,” says Jim.
Staff morale has remained high over the past five years due mainly to the opportunities for CPD, equality of opportunity, professional satisfaction and the sense of being valued.
“Working towards and gaining the Investors in People Standard coupled with us being awarded Training School Status has transformed the culture completely,” adds Jim.
“Staff retention figures and attendance of both staff and pupils has continuously improved. There has also been a notable improvement in the examination results and general class climate. There is increased credibility and prestige surrounding our people and the organisation. And we remain significantly oversubscribed by parents despite an expansion of our role to try to meet the demand for places.”
The quality and success of the training programme is also borne out in that senior posts are now increasingly sourced via internal promotions, particularly over the past two years.
RBHS’ Investors in People success has also benefited its partners. Ladybridge High School, a once failing partner school, has been successfully restarted on the basis of best practice and shared management; Mount St. Joseph’s has implemented RBHS’ restructured working week to facilitate CPD; Bolton LEA is modelling some of its leader programmes and is using it to advise on the establishment of a local leadership working group.
“We need to provide opportunities out of school for our pupils to develop social skills as well as tradeable skills. We have been able to invest a lot of time and expertise in expanding youth provision in the local area and have captured significant grant money enabling us to re-energise local facilities,” adds Jim.
“The Investors in People approach increasingly matches the new Ofsted frameworks and is helpful because it forces us to continually think of the ‘how’ and not merely the ‘what’.”
The school’s achievements received further recognition in 2005 when it became one of only eight organisations in the country to achieve prestigious Champion status. Jim says: “Being an Investors in People Champion helps us to continue to strive to further raise our game by comparing our practices with some of the best practice nationally.”