SFI Report Meeting the Standard

COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE

INVESTORS IN PEOPLE

ASSESSMENT REPORT

For John Madejski Academy (Visit Date: July 2008)

Prepared by

Mark Story Investors in People Assessor

Contents Assessment Report for The John Madejski Academy – July 2008 Page 2 of 21

1. Introduction 3

2. Strengths and areas of good practice 3

3. To what extent is the John Madejski Academy becoming a reflective 3 and sustainable organisation? 5  To what extent are people taking responsibility for their performance and that of their teams and the Academy? 6  To what extent do people feel accountable for their performance and that of the Academy? 6  To what extent do staff feel empowered? 7  To what extent can the Academy maintain its momentum if key personnel leave? 7  To what extent do staff understand the opportunities available to them within the Academy? 8  To what extent is the Academy good at recruitment?

4. Opportunities to improve 9

5. Other areas of general interest that will support organisational 9 development

6. Recognition Panel Feedback 10

7. Conclusion 10

APPENDIX: Summary of findings against each Indicator of the Standard 12

Document Version – January 2008 Assessment Report for The John Madejski Academy – July 2008 Page 3 of 21

1. Introduction

The John Madejski Academy is a new school in Reading which is part of the Government’s Academies Programme. It is independent of the Local Education Authority and not bound by the national curriculum.

The Academy is near completion of its second year so is very much a formative organisation in a new building with extraordinary facilities. The Academy’s specialism is sport and it benefits from links with Reading Football club and Basketball team.

The Academy has replaced a failing school in the area and is situated in a deprived part of the town. Students in the area have traditionally presented challenging and complex behavioural issues and support needs.

The assessor found an organisation which has achieved a remarkable amount in its short history. This has been in no small part due to the highly effective leadership of the Principal who has been able to “accelerate the pace of change” to the degree where a sound culture of reflection and continuous improvement already exists, supported by new yet robust and practical management processes.

However, it cannot be ignored that staff are galvanised by a sense of novelty (everything is new and they are not bound by the national curriculum), a sense of still writing the script (inventing methods, processes) and being highly scrutinised by external bodies. This creates a positive energy that has been effectively harnessed by empowering leadership, high levels of challenge and high levels of support.

The key challenge for the Academy and one that should be considered whilst still riding this wave is sustainability. This report seeks to demonstrate that some of these energising and galvanising factors may have a certain shelf life and the key to sustainable performance improvement will be continuing to develop a strong core understanding of and capability in the leadership and management of people.

2. Strengths and areas of good practice

 Leadership – The prevailing leadership style is one of empowerment and involvement. This results in high levels of ownership of and accountability for performance.  Encouraging innovation – initiatives such as the ‘daredevils’ encourage staff to try new ideas. This has created an attitude of ‘can do’ and a renewal of passion for teaching as new methods can be explored.  Staff development – There is a significant commitment to the development of staff, which is well organised and focused on performance improvement. The performance management system, Monitoring Evaluation Reviews (MER’s), devolved planning structures, lead teachers, teacher training and INSETs are all examples of systems that focus staff development on performance improvement at Academy, team and individual level.

3. To what extent is the John Madejski Academy becoming a reflective and sustainable organisation?

The Academy has used this assessment to focus on a specific organisational issue – that of needing to be a self-reflecting and sustainable organisation. The issues the Academy identified as essential to get right in order to achieve this are as follows:

 Responsibility – taking responsibility at all levels of the organisation for what happens  Accountability – at all levels of the organisation  Empowerment – staff believe they have the power to make decisions  Maintenance of progress made – even if one or two key players change/leave  Supporting someone but not doing their job for them  Reflection leading to impact  Opportunities to develop  Staff knowing what opportunities there are  Recruitment – of the right people in the right positions

Following the assessment, the assessor believes this is best addressed by structuring the feedback as follows:

The traffic light system shows at a glance whether an area is a strength, is sufficient to meet the requirements but has opportunities to improve or is an area with significant opportunity to improve.

Issue Relevant areas of the Relevant areas of the wider IIP Standard framework (i.e. Beyond the Standard) Responsibility  Involvement in decisions  Actually taking ownership for  Contributing ideas decisions  Involvement in planning  Supported by managers to  Effective management make decisions  Effective support for  Leadership capabilities learning and development  Belief in vision  Commitment to success Accountability  Involvement in agreeing  Understanding and using data objectives (KPI’s)  Objectives being  Leaders as role models measurable  Involvement of stakeholders  Effective support for (external scrutiny) learning and development Empowerment  Involvement in decisions  Being able to challenge  Contributing ideas  Leaders as role models  Effective management Maintaining  Succession planning (talent Momentum and potential)  Belief in vision  Culture of continuous improvement  Leaders as role models Staff  Career development understanding  Motivated by learning opportunities Good  Fair and efficient Recruitment  Involvement of people in selection process  Focus on values

To what extent are people taking responsibility for their performance and that of their teams and the Academy?

This is a key area of strength within the Academy. The prevailing leadership and management style is to involve and encourage staff to make decisions and contribute ideas.

Encouraging and supporting staff to make decisions and contribute ideas:

 Staff are involved in all levels of planning, from individual level to Academy wide level through structured planning processes and conferences. This results in staff taking responsibility for the achievement of these plans. While senior leaders and staff alike recognise that ‘this is not a democracy’, in practice staff feel that they are listened to and consulted effectively through these processes.  There is an excitement which has not been observed to such a degree in other schools, to a large degree this is the result of a strong sense of collective purpose but a key contributing factor is the extent to which people are encouraged to contribute ideas – to identify new ways of doing things. This is typified in the Daredevils initiative where staff are invited to challenge the way things are done and try something innovative. Staff who involve themselves in this initiative have a high degree of ownership and sense of responsibility for the outcome.

“We are encouraged to take risks. I have a renewed passion for teaching and am committed to making this successful.”

The role of leaders and managers in encouraging a sense of responsibility:

 Managers and leaders are consistently effective at involving people in decision making and encouraging ideas. To this extent, leaders are effective and inspirational role models.  There is opportunity for improvement in leadership and management within the Academy for two reasons: the first is that people identify positively with some members of the senior leadership team as role models more readily than others suggesting that while leaders capabilities in this area is consistently good, some are better than others. The second reason is the same perception from staff of managers – that while consistently good, some are better than others.  Organisations that have been observed as being successful at sustaining performance improvement are those that are most effective at leading and managing – in the education sector, these organisations have developed an explicit understanding of leadership and management that equals their explicit understanding of teaching and learning.

Effective learning and development support:

 Feedback was consistent in describing learning and development as being able to keep pace with the high expectations being placed on staff. There are high levels of investment through INSETs, MER’s, teacher training, induction, lead teachers, use of external expertise and formal courses.  Learning and development is well co-ordinated and planned. Some feedback suggested that time can be a prohibitive factor in getting access to learning and development. This could have a future effect of limiting the sense of responsibility if staff feel that the support available no longer matches the challenges presented to them.

 It will be increasingly important to ensure that managers and leaders are able to continue to find methods of learning and development that cause minimal impact on staff time. Time, therefore, should be a key factor in the overall evaluation of the investment in people development and innovative methods of development should be a key area of development for managers and leaders.

Belief and commitment to the vision and success of the Academy

 The opportunities many staff perceive to exist within the Academy – i.e. being able to be innovative, not being restricted by the national curriculum and being ‘in it from the beginning’ are significant factors in people’s commitment to the success of the Academy.  There is inspirational leadership in the form of the Principal and staff consistently described a shared belief in the vision that the Principal has developed.

To what extent do people feel accountable for their performance and that of the Academy?

The goldfish bowl (external scrutiny):

 A key ‘galvanising’ force is the extent of the external scrutiny the Academy is subject to. Many high profile people visit the school and its success has a political importance. Equally, it could be said, so does its failure. The result is a sense among staff of feeling accountable for the success of the Academy.  The Academy does well to involve external stakeholders in its progress, including politicians and the local community. This openness maintains the sense of accountability.

Using data and setting objectives:

 Measures develop accountability as they are transparent indicators of performance. The use of data is developing within the Academy and staff and management are quickly becoming adept at analysing and using data to make decisions.  As with many organisations in this sector, the Academy Improvement Plan (AIP) shows an opportunity for managers and leaders to be better at integrating data into planning and setting SMART objectives. Accountability will be more readily sustained with clear and transparent measurable objectives at team and individual level.  This opportunity to improve is more about managers and leaders being effective at using data and setting SMART objectives than about the technology which staff seem to agree is very sophisticated and without the ability to interpret and manage could be overwhelming.

To what extent do staff feel empowered?

Involvement in decisions:

 There is some overlap between empowerment and responsibility. Effective empowerment should result in people feeling responsible for the outcome of a task. The high degree of involvement in decision making and encouragement of ideas described above is a key element in the high levels of staff feeling empowered.

 Staff describe the default response to ideas of leaders and managers within the Academy is ‘go for it’. However, staff also need to feel that management will support them even if things go wrong and they do at the Academy. The feeling of empowerment would not be sustained if staff felt that this support was absent.

Being able to challenge:

 Defensive leaders and managers do not create a sense of empowerment. Managers and leaders at the Academy are encouraging of dissent and challenge and are not threatened by ‘better ideas’. This is a real indicator of leadership quality within an organisation.  In order to sustain this, the Academy could benefit from making this quality an explicit attribute of leaders and managers within the Academy.

To what extent can the Academy maintain its momentum if key personnel leave?

Succession planning

 Succession planning is considered a key priority within the Academy and at senior leader level, staff are being developed with this in mind. A clear and explicit agreement of the qualities of effective leaders at the Academy would help add structure to this succession planning.  Succession planning is also being considered at other levels but not in a structured and planned way which would help sustain momentum. While there is a generally good understanding of the capabilities required to manage and lead, making this more explicit and accessible to all staff will support succession planning at lower levels.

Culture of continuous improvement:

 What is particularly impressive at the Academy is the extent to which, in just 2 years, the Academy has developed a definable culture. Most organisations recognise that culture takes a few more years to establish or change. Staff attribute this to the Principal and her ability to “accelerate the pace of change through energy, enthusiasm, involvement and empowerment.”  The culture that has emerged is defined by staff, among other positive things, as one of striving for continuous improvement. It is the default attitude of effective leaders to be generally dissatisfied with current levels of performance and this is the default attitude of staff.  As progress and performance improvements continue, the rate of improvement will inevitably decline. There is currently ‘lots to do’ at the Academy. In order to sustain this culture, leadership will need to ensure staff are constantly exposed to fresh ideas and best practice to learn from and aspire to.

To what extent do staff understand the opportunities available to them within the Academy?

Opportunities and Career Development

 Staff recognise a fast paced, fluid organisation which represents plenty of career opportunities. Staff describe how the continued growth of the Academy makes them feel there are opportunities within the Academy. In addition, staff feel that it is in their gift to realise some of these opportunities.

“ The opportunities are there, if you’ve got an idea, they’ll run with it. It’s down to you.”

 Staff also feel that experience within the Academy is developing their career prospects for external opportunities:

“I feel I would be a much better asset to another school from my experience here.”

 Staff are certainly being exposed to activities beyond their comfort zone. An example of this is the involvement of support staff in tutoring. This has helped some staff recognise abilities in themselves that they had not previously recognised. This gives staff a sense of career development.

Still writing the script: Being motivated by learning

 To realise opportunities a culture needs to exist in which staff are motivated to learn and try new things – to move beyond their comfort zone. While not all staff would thrive in such an environment, the Academy has been sensitive and not demanded it of everyone. However, there is a general ‘pioneering’ attitude where staff are motivated by new things and by learning.  There is a real sense of staff being involved in ‘writing the script’ and that the Academy is an unfinished story that they have a chance to determine how it progresses. This motivates staff to adapt, develop and change themselves accordingly.

To what extent is the Academy good at recruitment?

Fair and Efficient

 Those new to the Academy describe the recruitment process as fair and efficient. What struck people was the level of involvement of the Principal and the accurate and un-embellished description of the challenges the Academy faces. New staff understand what they are coming into.

Involvement of people

 There is a consideration of team views during the selection process. This ensures a level of ownership among a team for the success of the new recruit and also helps ensure there is a ‘fit’ with the team. Involvement of staff in the selection process is good modern practice.

Focus on values

 There is a focus on the attitude of prospective employees and introduction to the team and observation of teaching go along way to determine this. However, staff and management at the Academy often describe ‘ethos’ and ‘values’ but there is little evidence of a robust and consistent understanding of what the ‘ethos’ and ‘values’ are. Many organisations make their values and ethos explicit (often involving staff) and use these as part of the selection criteria to ensure a consistent approach to recruiting.

4. Opportunities to improve

Understanding of management and leadership

Leadership and management is well understood and effective within the Academy. However, organisations that have demonstrated sustainable performance improvement tend to also demonstrate a deep understanding of the leadership and management of people set out in clear and understood Leadership Principles and Standards.

Such a set of Principles and Standards can do 3 important things:

 Focus generic leadership and management development activity – programmes such as the NPQH, middle leader training, MBA’s and so on can be enhanced if provided within the context of an organisational set of Principles and Standards as it allows groups and individuals to identify areas of specific relevance to the Academy.  Structures succession planning – a clear set of Principles and Standards allows succession planning to become more structured. Individuals can more easily identify the skills, knowledge or behaviours they need to develop. Managers can more easily identify the individuals that would make future Academy leaders and managers.  Allows leadership style to be flexible – an agreed set of Principles and Standards, rather than make leadership and management a static force, can allow leaders to reflect on its appropriateness. As the Academy matures, so the leadership styles will need to develop different areas of emphasis. Having a set of Principles and Standards to reflect on enables this more readily.

5. Other areas of general interest that will support organisational development

It could be helpful to use IiP Interactive. This is a free, online business support tool that is designed to help identify strengths and development areas against the Investors in People Standard, and has links to free information and resources including a library with many guides, examples and templates that you can download and customise. This includes advice on areas such as Strategic Planning, Effective Management, Developing People, Culture and Communication, and Managing Performance, which link directly to the Investors in People Standard. Visit www.investorsinpeople.co.uk to register and use this service.

It could be helpful to visit Quality South East’s website on a regular basis to maintain a view of the developments around the Investors in People Standard and for details of workshops and events across the region. Visit www.qse.org.uk for more information.

Check if any of the Health & Safety information available on the HSE website could be useful in maintaining both your compliance and staff awareness. Your Health & Safety Representative might consider if there are any issues that should be addressed. Visit www.hse.gov.uk for more information.

Useful sources for defining Leadership and Management capabilities include the Institute of Leadership and Management. Visit www.management-standards.org and www.businesslink.gov.uk for general business information and links to the DTI Inspirational Leadership Index.

Consider interactive training packages to continue to develop the IT skills and knowledge of your staff. Try www.learndirect.co.uk for ideas: a good number of these courses are either free of charge or reasonably priced.

For some useful information on the area of Employee Consultation, visit www.acas.org.uk, which has free information and downloads.

For general business advice and employment legislation, incorporating DTI ‘best practice’, the following website might be useful: www.businesslink.gov.uk.

If you would like further advice tailored to your own particular circumstances and needs to assist you in line with the findings of this report, Quality South East’s Advisory Service will be more than happy to assist. For further information please visit www.qse.org.uk or contact Jane Morgan at: [email protected] or telephone: 01329 822077.

6. Recognition Panel Feedback

Congratulations on achieving Investor In People recognition. The Panel was impressed by the assessor's report. The school has some good people practices in place and these are producing results in terms of raising the achievement of pupils at the school. The assessor has provided a wealth of valuable suggestions that the school should consider as it continues to strive for further improvements. It is clear that the newness of the school is providing a great impetus. Please don't let the passing of time stifle the excitement and dynamic development of the school and its people. Sometimes what once was a good idea can become a sacred cow when it is time to rethink. Attention is drawn to page 8 "Focus" - it would be good to see the school working on explicit ethos and values. Congratulations, well done, keep it up!

Martyn Sanders Panel Chair

7. Conclusion

The Assessor’s has found that The John Madejski Academy meets the Investors in People Standard and is pleased to confirm that the QSE Panel has supported this view.

Therefore, The John Madejski Academy’s has been formally recognised as an Investor in People.

The maximum period between Post-Recognition Reviews is three years. However, it is Quality South East’s policy to maintain contact with you between reviews. This is done via regular e-bulletins, and contact from Quality South East and your Assessor. The first contact from your Assessor will normally be in about six months’ time, principally to find out how you are progressing with the Assessor’s suggested opportunities to improve, and to see if you need any further support.

Planned date for next contact by your Assessor: January 2009

Signed:

Investors in People Assessor

Date: 11th July 2008

APPENDIX: Summary of findings against each Indicator of the Standard

Developing strategies to improve the performance of the organisation. An Investor in People develops effective strategies to improve the performance of the organisation through its people.

1. A strategy for improving the performance of the organisation is clearly defined and understood.

1.1 Top managers make sure the organisation has a clear purpose and vision supported by a strategy for improving its performance.

 The Vision and Mission of the John Madejski Academy (JMA) is defined within the Academy Improvement Plan (AIP). It is comprehensive, well understood and believed in by staff, proving it to be an energising and galvanising set of intentions.

1.2 Top managers make sure the organisation has a business plan with measurable performance objectives.

 The AIP contains a range of measurable performance objectives for the Academy as well as a range of less measurable objectives, described as management priorities. Examples of measurable objectives include: o Attendance: Improvement of 2% on 2006/07 figures of 89% o Attainment: 40% of students achieving 5+ A-C grades at GCSE  Examples of management priorities include: o Monitor and support the development of team leaders o Explore the effects gender has on learning

1.3 Top managers make sure there are constructive relationships with representative groups (where they exist) and the groups are consulted when developing the organisation’s business plan.

 There are no representative groups within the Academy

1.4 Managers can describe how they involve people when developing the organisation’s business plan and when agreeing team and individual objectives.  At Academy level, managers involve staff in the planning process through regular Staff Conferences in which staff are invited to discuss how whole Academy objectives can best be achieved.  At team level, managers develop curriculum and support service plans in conjunction with their teams during team meetings and INSET days. “We always make sure planning is a team activity, everyone has their ideas and areas of responsibility that need to be brought together. It is very much ‘our’ plan, not ‘my’ plan.”

1.5 People who are members of representative groups can confirm that top managers make sure there are constructive relationships with the groups and they are consulted when developing the organisation’s business plan.

 There are no representative groups within the Academy

1.6 People can explain the objectives of their team and the organisation at a level that is appropriate to their role, and can describe how they are expected to contribute to developing and achieving them.

 People are very familiar with and focused on their objectives, teachers have Monitoring, Evaluation and Review visits (MER’s) three times a year which provides objectives for improving teaching and learning. The performance management system is used to review progress towards these and for support staff to set their objectives.  Examples of individual objectives include: o Achievement of GCSE A-C’s o Development of new curriculum areas o Integrating sport into other areas of the curriculum

“We all understand how our objectives link back to the team and the Academy, one of our strengths is the focus we all have on the vision, everything is focused on achieving that.”

2. Learning and development is planned to achieve the organisation’s objectives.

2.1 Top managers can explain the organisation’s learning and development needs, the plans and resources in place to meet them, how these link to achieving specific objectives and how the impact will be evaluated.

 One of the key areas of focus for learning and development is literacy. Data is sufficiently sophisticated to identify where students are and whether they have improved. The AIP states that the key focus is on building staff’s awareness of language, emotional literacy, reading, intervention programmes and Individual Education Plans (IEP’s).  Resources include use of INSET and time allocation for internal Literacy Champions training.  Evaluation criteria set include students having IEP’s in place with appropriate individual literacy targets by a certain date as well as using Monitoring, Evaluation and Review (MER) observations to monitor changes in staff’s skills, strategies and awareness of literacy in the classroom.

2.2 Managers can explain team learning and development needs, the activities planned to meet them, how these link to achieving specific team objectives and how the impact will be evaluated.

 At team level an example of learning and development planning is the Sport Directorate’s focus on Literacy. Key activities defined in the Directorate plan include identifying a literacy champion, increasing the use of literacy in PE, developing a Wall of Words in the changing rooms and exploring where teaching and learning styles can have the biggest impact on literacy.  Resources planned include releasing staff to attend Literacy Champion development, attendance at INSET and use of team meetings.  Evaluation methods include the use of MER and review of Student Data.

2.3 People can describe how they are involved in identifying their learning and development needs and the activities planned to meet them.

 At individual level and example of learning and development planning is the ongoing development of the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) to support student achievement and encourage more teaching staff to use the service.  Development activities agreed include attending courses on running effective LRC’s and visits to other school’s to see how different LRC’s work.

2.4 People can explain what their learning and development activities should achieve for them, their team and the organisation.

 An example of people’s understanding of what their learning and development activities should achieve for them, the team and the organisation include the current development of psychology as a curriculum area. The learning activity involves understanding examination board criteria. The impact on the team (Sports Directorate) will be the development of a wider offering to students including the integration of sports psychology into the sports curriculum. The impact on the Academy is the continued expansion of course provision which will help attract students and the continued development of the Academy’s specialist sports status.

3. Strategies for managing people are designed to promote equality of opportunity in the development of the organisation’s people.

3.1 Top managers can describe strategies they have in place to create an environment where everyone is encouraged to contribute ideas to improve their own and other people’s performance.

 The prevailing leadership style is one of encouraging ideas. An example strategy is the development of ‘Daredevils’ – an initiative which encourages staff to try new approaches to engaging students in curriculum activity.  Further examples include the commitment to regular residential staff conferences in which all staff are encouraged to contribute to Academy planning and the invitation to all staff to attend regular staff meetings.

3.2 Top managers recognise the different needs of people and can describe strategies they have in place to make sure everyone has appropriate and fair access

Document Version – January 2008 Assessment Report for The John Madejski Academy – July 2008 Page 15 of 21 to the support they need and there is equality of opportunity for people to learn and develop which will improve their performance.

 Top managers recognise the different needs of support and teaching staff. All staff are involved in performance management which differs depending on teams. For the cleaning staff, for example, this is a less formal structure than for teaching staff.  Those new to teaching, such as NQT’s, have more focused support structures in place, including fortnightly mentoring meetings and more frequent observations.  A recent focus of the Academy wide MER’s has been the effective use of teaching assistants in the classroom.

3.3 Managers recognise the different needs of people and can describe how they make sure everyone has appropriate and fair access to the support they need and there is equality of opportunity for people to learn and develop which will improve their performance.

 Managers described additional support offered to new staff or staff in training, such as Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) students, Overseas Trained Teachers (OTT’s) and NQT’s.

3.4 People believe managers are genuinely committed to making sure everyone has appropriate and fair access to the support they need and there is equality of opportunity for them to learn and develop which will improve their performance.

 People described a culture in which ‘everyone is equal’ and confirmed that they felt they have equal and appropriate access to learning and development. People described being involved as a whole staff team in meetings and planning activities as well as having regular team meetings and performance management.  Support staff are directly involved in the new schools within schools system, mostly as support/assistant tutors. This involves support staff directly with the students and gives them a shared responsibility for student progress.

“They involve all of us, even us in the admin team. We’re all treated equally, we’re invited to all staff meetings and we all have personal portfolios for our development. They spent a lot of time making sure everyone understood the new structure.”

“I’ve become a support tutor, it’s something I never thought I would be capable of but am finding it very rewarding. I came here as a member of the support team.”

3.5 People can give examples of how they have been encouraged to contribute ideas to improve their own and other people’s performance.

 People described many examples of contributing ideas, ranging from changing room/reception layouts to getting involved in planning activities to finding innovative ways of delivering the curriculum.

“They are always encouraging us to come up with ideas, I know that if I try something new and it goes wrong, they’ll support me and not blame me.”

“The opportunity to come up with ideas has completely transformed my approach to teaching, the data show that students attitude to learning improves as a result.”

“Even outside the MER’s we observe each other, we feedback to each other and learn from each other – it’s like ‘oh, that’s a good way of doing that’.”

4. The capabilities managers need to lead, manage and develop people effectively are clearly defined and understood.

4.1 Top managers can describe the knowledge, skills and behaviours managers need to lead, manage and develop people effectively, and the plans they have in place to make sure managers have these capabilities.

 In September, a 12 week middle leader programme was delivered as a result of consideration of the key capabilities required by managers. The focus was on empowering, giving responsibility and making sure people are accountable.  In addition, at senior level there is a succession plan developing with key senior leaders going through the NPQH programme for headteachers.

4.2 Managers can describe the knowledge, skills and behaviours they need to lead, manage and develop people effectively.

 The newly appointed heads of school define their required leadership capabilities in terms of empowerment, encouraging staff to take responsibility and ensuring accountability. This understanding was also demonstrated in other managers.

4.3 People can describe what their manager should be doing to lead, manage and develop them effectively.

 Staff described their understanding of management capabilities as being about involving them in decision making, being supportive and receptive to new ideas and giving regular feedback. This ties in well with the general definition of management and leadership capabilities.

Taking action to improve the performance of the organisation. An Investor in People takes effective action to improve the performance of the organisation through its people.

5. Managers are effective in leading, managing and developing people.

5.1 Managers can explain how they are effective in leading, managing and developing people.

 Managers described how they involve staff in decision making and planning to encourage staff taking responsibility. An example is encouraging staff to take risks:

“We encourage staff to pilot things, to take risks. One member of staff decided to remove all the furniture from their room and replace the tables and chairs with beanbags, the management role is to let them give it a go and go back to see how it’s working. We have to give them that freedom.”

5.2 Managers can give examples of how they give people constructive feedback on their performance regularly and when appropriate.

 Examples were provided by managers and evident from performance management examples provided.

“This isn’t about being in people’s faces, this is about encouraging staff to reflect by asking the right questions that make them think.”

5.3 People can explain how their managers are effective in leading, managing and developing them.

 Staff were mostly positive about the effectiveness of their manager. The capabilities they valued most were being encouraged to develop new ways of working and being involved in decision making.

“He’s so supportive, he would never say ‘no, that’s not a good idea’ the response is always ‘if you think you can make it work, then go for it’.”

5.4 People can give examples of how they receive constructive feedback on their performance regularly and when appropriate.

 Performance management and MER’s are the key formal structures for giving constructive feedback. Staff described managers as effective at doing this.

“He helps me reflect, he’s always constructive in his feedback, he asks what I think could have gone better and sometimes prompts me in areas. I’ve really improved in my teaching and learning.”

6. People’s contribution to the organisation is recognised and valued.

6.1 Managers can give examples of how they recognise and value people’s individual contribution to the organisation.

 Managers recognise and value people’s contribution through praise and the trust they demonstrate in letting people run with ideas or take additional responsibility. Senior leaders are very visible across the Academy and make a point of talking to staff and finding out how they are doing.

“We want to be leaders that are out there and part of the team, not stuck in offices.”

“I trust my team, I give them encourage and space to develop their ideas.”

6.2 People can describe how they contribute to the organisation and believe they make a positive difference to its performance.

 Staff feel they have a positive contribution to make. For teaching staff this contribution is more direct and obvious. However, in other areas support staff recognise an impact on students, especially now most are involved in tutoring. The catering and cleaning teams recognise their contribution to maintaining facilities or supporting the healthy schools agenda.

6.3 People can describe how their contribution to the organisation is recognised and valued.

 Staff feel recognised and valued for a range of reasons:

“Yes, I’m always being asked how I am doing and in a recent external observation the Principal wished me luck.”

“I feel we’re as valued as the teachers, there’s no us and them.”

“Yes, I feel like they trust in my skills and passion for teaching, they let me explore different ways of doing things.”

7. People are encouraged to take ownership and responsibility by being involved in decision-making.

7.1 Managers can describe how they promote a sense of ownership and responsibility by encouraging people to be involved in decision-making, both individually and through representative groups, where they exist.

 Managers are very effective at encouraging a sense of ownership through involvement in decision making. Many examples have been described and explored within the tailored section of this report.

7.2 People can describe how they are encouraged to be involved in decision-making that affects the performance of individuals, teams and the organisation, at a level that is appropriate to their role.  People are routinely encouraged to be involved in decision making that affects performance at all levels. These have been explored in the tailored section of this report. . 7.3 People can describe how they are encouraged to take ownership and responsibility for decisions that affect the performance of individuals, teams and the organisation, at a level that is appropriate to their role.

 People accept high levels of ownership and responsibility for decisions they have been involved in. Many examples have been described in the tailored section of this report.

8. People learn and develop effectively.

8.1 Managers can describe how they make sure people’s learning and development needs are met.

 Managers support staff’s learning and development activities through performance management and MER’s. Needs are discussed and reviewed effectively. The personnel function within the Academy is effective at supporting managers identify appropriate learning and development opportunities.

“I try and use MER to focus on specific team issues and I’m developing a calendar of training which uses INSET to meet these needs. I’ll follow that up through performance management.”

8.2 People can describe how their learning and development needs have been met, what they have learnt and how they have applied this in their role.

 People mostly describe their learning and development needs as being met.

There were many examples of what people had learnt and how they had applied this to their role. For example: training in child protection and sustaining attendance.

“I attended a course on attendance and got some ideas to improve it, one thing we learnt was to reduce the timescale agreed with the student for improvement of attendance from 12 weeks to 2 weeks, I’ve implemented this as a result.”

8.3 People who are new to the organisation, and those new to a role, can describe how their induction has helped them to perform effectively.

 People new to the Academy described an improving induction. New teachers have time to understand the way the Academy works for a few weeks prior to timetabled teaching. There is a structured induction programme and checklist for new staff, including cover teachers.  Some staff described being ‘thrown in the deep end’ which suggests that the structured process is not working consistently across the Academy.  NQT’s and other new teachers or training teachers describe excellent support.  The new Heads of School also described effective support into their new role.

Evaluating the impact on the performance of the organisation. An Investor in People can demonstrate the impact of its investment in people on the performance of the organisation.

9. Investment in people improves the performance of the organisation.

9.1 Top managers can describe the organisation’s overall investment of time, money and resources in learning and development.

 There is a clear budget allocation for staff development which is tracked and monitored. Top managers have a clear understanding of this and the other resources including the use of INSET days, costs associated with residential conferences and the use of ‘collapsed days’ for staff development.

9.2 Top managers can explain, and quantify where appropriate, how learning and development has improved the performance of the organisation.

 The results of the school are improving as a result of this investment in staff development. In addition, MER’s show continued improvement in the quality of teaching and learning.  Student data shows improvements in the progress of students outside of GCSE results and improvements in their attitude to learning.  Attendance rates are improving which is an indicator of student engagement.  Less quantifiable are issues such as behaviour which are also described as improving as a result of staff development in this area.

9.3 Top managers can describe how the evaluation of their investment in people is used to develop their strategy for improving the performance of the organisation.

 Improvements in performance as a result of staff development allow the Academy to set more challenging and stretching targets for student achievement in the following year.  Attendance targets continue to rise as a result of improvements.

9.4 Managers can give examples of how learning and development has improved the performance of their team and the organisation.

 In the Sports Directorate, team development in the use of ‘DartFish’ motion analysis software which enables sports activities to be filmed and manipulated as a learning aid has improved the abilities of students in various sports.

9.5 People can give examples of how learning and development has improved their performance, the performance of their team and that of the organisation.

 In Music, developing new ways of teaching such as ‘running round the classroom and round the school banging drums’ has resulted in a lower ability class becoming the second highest ability class for a particular teacher.  This has an impact on the individual teacher’s target achievement, the department’s achievement rates and as a result will impact on the Academy’s overall achievement levels.

10. Improvements are continually made to the way people are managed and developed.

10.1 Top managers can give examples of how the evaluation of their investment in people has resulted in improvements in the organisation’s strategy for managing and developing people.

 Top managers described how staff development has changed to minimise disruption to pupils.

“We recognised that getting cover was disruptive to the students so we timetable external programmes into the last term when teacher’s timetables are a bit more relaxed.”

“We see now that we need to be more externally focused, bringing new and fresh ideas in.”

10.2 Managers can give examples of improvements they have made to the way they manage and develop people.

 Managers described how the new structure and improved use of data has enabled them to encourage staff to be more accountable for the performance of their students.

“We can be more focused now at looking at the whole student, rather than just in academic terms. The data and the structure allow us to ensure tutors are accountable for whole student development – pastoral and academic.”

10.3 People can give examples of improvements that have been made to the way the organisation manages and develops its people.

 Staff described continued improvements in involvement and inclusion, particularly support staff who, in the previous schools often felt a little distant from the core purpose of the school. In addition, performance management is now a routine process which gives them a regular opportunity to discuss performance and

development needs.

“We’re much more involved, the tutoring is a massive difference.”

“It’s much better, we really feel like part of the team now.”

Document Version – January 2008