Several schools are ahead of Ofsted and drawing up their own report cards. Schools Week investigates
Schools already drawing up their own report cards have warned Ofsted that parents want a “richer” overview that shows their child will be happy, rather than data overload.
New national report cards will be rolled out next September after Ofsted scrapped single-word headlines.
The inspectorate has pledged to consult and pilot the new model, which will include a focus on school context, inclusivity and pupil happiness and wellbeing.
What are the local models?
Camden Learning, a partnership between the council and schools, has been developing its own report card for more than a year.
Its chair, former Ofsted chief inspector Dame Christine Gilbert, said the card would reflect the breadth of education provided by a school, its strengths and areas for development – alongside what it does to incentive inclusion.
It would also recognise schools’ success in improving pupils’ health and wellbeing.
A group of Camden headteachers have been developing the card through focus groups with parents. A pilot will be extended across more schools to get further feedback before it’s rolled out.
The Camden “home page” allows schools to describe themselves in 100 words, with space for 15 views from parents, staff and pupils.
It includes 10 photos of the school, plus four key priorities ,and will be updated each year.
‘Hard data’ also needed
But Gilbert said the cards should also include “quite a lot of hard data”, such as what Ofsted said about the school and exam results. “It’s got all the accountability stuff in there but just a much broader picture.”
She said an external view was still needed and that Ofsted could look at the Camden cards before inspections to see if the school knew itself well.
Parents could also click through to four key sub-sections: school community and context, support and wellbeing, “achievement and destinations” and curriculum, teaching and learning.
The community and context panel, for instance, will include information on facilities, extra-curricular offerings, pupil admission characteristic and admissions.
Gilbert said the design had been “influenced by what parents told us they wanted to know. [They are an] opportunity for the government to ensure parents have far richer information about local schools than they have had before and at very little cost.”
Sheffield Learning, a similar school-council partnership, and Milton Keynes Education Partnership, are following Camden’s lead and creating their own cards.
In Milton Keynes, leaders have developed a prototype and plan to consult soon. Sheffield said it could be ready to pilot its model later this year.
What will the cards look like?
The Milton Keynes prototype’s overview page has key information and a community views section that includes details such as what percentage of parents would recommend the school.
Parents can click through to read more about key areas, including personal development and the school workforce. The latter gives information such as the pupil to teacher ratio and staff absences.
In an example template, the workforce section includes a summary of survey data on whether staff feel their wellbeing and professional development is a priority.
The sub-sections have short narrative sections on key features and strengths of the school, what it is working on and what the community thinks.
“It’s much more visually appealing, accessible, and gives you a sense of where your son or daughter might be going to school,” said Alex Warner, a deputy principal at Weston College in Milton Keynes.
Learn Sheffield’s “front page” includes details such as the percentage of parents who would recommend the school and the “top five positives from parents about the school”.
It also includes “nationally available data, but packed in a more parent friendly way”, said Stephen Betts, the group’s chief executive.
He said Learn Sheffield could gather some of the staff survey data, but it would also include external data from other sources such as the Department for Education because this “carries more credibility”.
All three report cards include a short section on what Ofsted says about the school.
Parents don’t want ‘piles of data’
The report cards seem just as much about admissions, as opposed to accountability.
But those involved say there are lessons for Ofsted, which is working with the DfE on the plans.
Helen Connor, the executive head of Rhyl Community Primary School who has led on the Camden plan, said: “One of the things we all felt very strongly, and that’s definitely come back from feedback from parents, is that the profile shouldn’t be piles of data. That’s readily available elsewhere.
“The risk is that the DfE is going to produce some sort of electronic version of all the data that is readily available. Parents have said they aren’t interested in this.”
They wanted to know from a quick glance whether their child would be happy at the school, and to get a “flavour” of what it was like to attend.
Parents “really liked the photographs” and were “very interested” in the extracurricular opportunities.
Betts said the “biggest feedback was that they wanted to get a ‘feel’ for the school as well as receive quality assured information from external sources”.
Sarah Creasey, the head of Parliament Hill School, a Camden secondary, piloted it in May. She said parents were “really interested” in the curriculum and “being able to see the differences across schools, what we see as curriculum strengths”.
Learn Sheffield could host the cards on its website or offer it to schools as a tool to use on their own sites.
Connor hopes admissions literature will also include a QR code so parents can download individual cards.
‘Consensus needed on model’
Jonny Uttley, the chief executive of The Education Alliance, has been working with trusts, including the Greenwood Academies Trust and the Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust, to develop their own accountability dashboard.
This could include data on the proportions of pupils who are disadvantaged or have EHCPs, the levels of managed moves and suspension rates.
But development could stall as the dashboard could be similar to “what a (national) score card may look like”.
However, Uttley added: “In a really mature trust system, we would not necessarily wait for an external organisation like the DfE or Ofsted to see how we would be accountable – but actually hold ourselves accountable to the our stakeholders.”
‘Extensive consultation’ needed
But Gilbert said one of the issues is that “report card” meant “different things to different people and we need to arrive at some consensus”.
“Many of the examples I have seen cited are data dashboards, which can prove a valuable management tool but are pretty meaningless for wider purposes.
“It’s important that there should be extensive consultation with the sector about the benefits of report cards, but that should also involve consideration of unintended consequences.”
Jo-Anne Hoarty, the headteacher of St Paul’s Catholic School in Milton Keynes, warned the cards could become a “marketing tool” for schools, who wrote their own profiles.
She suggested a group of local heads could “quality assure” each other’s entries to mitigate this risk and that the local model could “inform or work in tandem” with the national cards.
Connor said it. Would be “a really good opportunity for the DfE to work alongside schools that are actually ahead of the game”.
Gilbert added: “Done well, school report cards tell the real story of a school.”
“It’s important that schools see them as positive and energising rather than as yet another pressure. That means schools must feel ownership of what’s being introduced but that doesn’t mean they would lack rigour.”
