FOUR Island schools have received positive comments following the latest review of a wide of school functions and teaching standards.

The four schools – Arbory Primary School, Ballaugh Primary School, St Thomas’s CofE Primary School and Ballakermeen High School – will share the comments of an external validation of their School Self Review and Evaluation (SSRE) with parents. 

The process of SSRE is continuous and entails schools reviewing all aspects of their work and making judgments about what they are doing well and where they need to take action to secure improvement, explained Deputy Director of Education and Children Stuart Dobson. The possible judgments are outstanding, good, satisfactory and inadequate.

“This process supports schools in having a clear view of how to build on their current strengths to ensure they continue to offer the best possible learning opportunities to pupils,” said Mr Dobson. “The Department of Education and Children believes that this process is proving very effective in helping schools to improve their practice.”

To support schools in confirming that the judgments they have made are accurate, the process has an external element built in to it. 

Since September 2008 a validation cycle has been taking place in primary schools. It involves an external validator, together with a Department of Education and Children Adviser, spending time working with head teachers to review the evidence schools have used to make judgments and to quality assure their accuracy. The validating company, Fieldwork Education, was chosen from a number of companies which tendered for this work.

Any areas for improvement or further dissemination of best practice are then identified in the annual School Improvement Plan and supported by the school’s link adviser.

Autumn 2009 saw validations commence in secondary schools and other aspects of the education service as well.

Mr Dobson added, “The main aim of the validation process is to provide professional support to schools to help them to refine their own judgments. In addition, when a school has been involved in this validation process they will take the opportunity to share key outcomes with parents by summarising them in a newsletter.”

Some of the conclusions reported by head teachers in each of the schools were as follows:-

Ballakermeen High School:

Ballakermeen was the first secondary school on the Island to be awarded Investors in People status and was the very first organisation in the Isle of Man to be recognised as meeting the Investors in People Model for Leadership and Management. The school has a very good understanding of the quality of its provision and outcomes. Ballakermeen is characterised by very positive relationships, teaching that is consistently good or better and a curriculum that is increasingly tailored to the needs of students. 

Ballaugh Primary School:

The team commented that Ballaugh School provides a large number of learning opportunities for its pupils. It provides a nurturing environment and has many good features. The school knows itself well and has capacity to improve further. 

St Thomas Primary School:

The school knows itself very well and has accurately identified the development of ‘assessment for learning’ and pupils’ ownership of their learning as areas which will further develop children’s attitudes and standards. 

Arbory Primary School: 

The conclusion reached by the validation team is that the school knows itself well. Its judgments in the School Self-Review and Evaluation provide a good basis on which to plan for improvements and to fulfill its shared vision.