schoolcentre.net transforms Ofsted inspections for Cornish schoolsOfsted success
at St Newlyn East and St Hilary Primary Schools enhanced by online
self-evaluation and school improvement tool
9 August, 2006 – schoolcentre.net, the online self-evaluation and school improvement tool from The Skills Factory, has been welcomed by schools who have recently undergone their first Ofsted inspections under the new framework. Using schoolcentre.net to aid their preparation, St Hilary School and St Newlyn East Primary School in Cornwall received excellent feedback from the inspectors, with St Hilary awarded “outstanding” in every category bar one. Both head teachers believe that their success was enhanced by the use of the schoolcentre.net. schoolcentre.net is designed to provide schools with a flexible yet structured online environment to manage their self-evaluation processes. School staff and governors are given secure passwords in order to cross-reference their self-evaluation form (SEF) with their school development plan, action plan and improvement plan. They also have the options of attaching evidence such as assessments, photographs and video files to support their statements, and uploading their SEF directly to the Ofsted website without having to log in separately. As Gill Greenwood, head teacher at St Newlyn East Primary, explains: “We could see the benefits of schoolcentre.net as soon as we saw it. We were able to implement it quickly and our staff and governors were soon well versed in using it on a daily basis. Its flexibility means that we were also able to add new areas to meet our school’s needs and we now store every piece of day-to-day paperwork on the system.” With the help of schoolcentre.net, the preparations for St Newlyn East’s latest Ofsted inspection differed greatly from their last inspection in 2000. “The previous inspection was a paper chase. We had to spend weeks gathering a massive amount of information, which was both stressful and time consuming.” “This time, it was a smooth and easy process. Within an hour of being notified about the inspection, we were able to upload our SEF directly to Ofsted via schoolcentre.net. We also decided to give the inspectors access to the portal so they could view every conceivable aspect of our school life – from our Every Child Matters programme to details of our children’s council. Ofsted didn’t have to ask for any additional information and gave us very positive feedback on how the paperwork and the SEF was managed.” Kelley Butcher, Assistant Head at St Hilary Primary, agrees. “During our last inspection in 1999, staff spent weeks preparing for the inspection, which we found scary and intimidating. This time, we decided to give Ofsted access to schoolcentre.net as soon as we were notified about the visit so the inspectors had a pretty good picture of the school before they came through the gates. Everyone just felt a great deal more confident.” St Hilary and St Newlyn East Primary are not the only schools benefiting from schoolcentre.net in Cornwall. Following a successful pilot programme, the tool has now been adopted by over 100 schools in the local authority. Geoff Broadbent, Director of Online Learning at Granada Learning, said: "The success stories of St Hilary and St Newlyn East show how schoolcentre.net can be used to great effect in the inspection process, especially as Ofsted's inspection framework means that teachers need to be constantly up-to-date with their school improvement planning. Enabling teachers to complete their SEF and add evidence to support their evaluations on schoolcentre.net means that the process can be done simply, easily and in line with their other school management plans." For more information on schoolcentre.net, please visit www.schoolcentre.net/showme
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About The Skills FactoryThe Skills Factory has created a range of school management tools and lesson planning and record keeping software. The company’s aim is to reduce the time teachers spend on school administration and management, and our innovative software programs can be used to aid school improvement, plan lessons, set targets, assess pupil attainment and create reports. For more information, please contact Danielle Morgan PR Manager, Granada Learning Telephone: 020 8996 3632 Email: danielle.morgan@granadamedia.com
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