A new relationship with schools
The New Relationship with Schools (NRwS) is breaking new ground in working to help schools raise standards, with clearer priorities, less bureaucracy for schools, and more information for parents. It will support schools as they implement the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda, which emphasises the provision of coherent local services that are child-centred and family-centred.
What will the new relationship do?
- introduce a school improvement partner (SIP) into every school
- reduce unnecessary bureaucracy
- build the capacity of schools to drive their own improvement
- establish a more intelligent, coherent, evidence-based accountability framework
- make better use of data
- ecure better alignment between schools' priorities and the priorities of local and central government.
The NRwS will facilitate schools' involvement with local children's trusts and help schools adapt to the multi-agency working and joint-commissioning structures being put in place under the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme. So the NRwS supports the five ECM outcomes for all children:
-
being healthy
-
staying safe
-
enjoying and achieving
-
making a positive contribution
-
achieving economic well-being.
How will this new relationship work?
The following practical changes are under way:
- Budgets: greater
certainty and predictability for schools in their future funding through the
introduction of multi-year school budgets with fewer distinct funding
streams.
- Inspections: new
inspection arrangements are now in place for shorter, sharper and more frequent
inspections that give schools a clearer idea of whether they are pursuing the
right priorities for raising pupil attainment and ensuring pupil well-being.
School leadership teams reacted positively to the 180 trial inspections, which
were seen as more participative.
- Communicating with
parents: better information for parents through a
school profile which will replace the governors' annual report. The
regulations for the school prospectus are also simplified, so that there
is much more flexibility over what is included, and schools will have more
freedom to respond to requests from parents for particular pieces of
information.
- SIPs: SIPs are
building schools' capacity to improve by helping school leaders to evaluate
their school's performance, identify priorities for improvement and plan
effective change. All secondary schools now have a SIP; and SIPs are being
introduced into primary schools in four waves, the first in January 2007 and
the last in April 2008. Following a successful trial, SIPs will be introduced
into special schools between September 2007 and April 2008. You will find
a list of which local authorities are in which wave for each sector here.
-
A single school plan: the DCSF is committed to reducing the bureaucracy surrounding school planning systems. A short, electronic, consolidated form (the single school plan annex) for schools to apply for wider roles was tested during 2005-06, after which schools should be able to produce one plan, which can then be used, together with the annex and other existing documentation (for example, the summary of their self-evaluation) as evidence for initiatives in which they participate.
- Self-evaluation: more
weight on self-evaluation, which forms the basis for planning,
inspection and the SIP's work with the school.
- More accurate data: the
latest electronic data and information systems make interpretation of
pupils' progress fairer and reflect the context of the school. These
systems will also help schools make contact more easily with other
practitioners to support individual children with additional needs.
- Access to information:
fast, easy access to communications for schools, giving them greater
choice.
- Coordination with local agencies: the Common Assessment Framework being introduced under the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme will help schools to identify their role in meeting pupils' needs and to target referral to other specialist services when needed. Schools will be able to work with local children's trusts to find places for hard-to-place pupils.
What schools and local authorities need to do now
On 9 March 2005, the DfES and Ofsted published A New Relationship with Schools: Next steps. This document sets out the changes that are planned and what their implications will be for local authorities, schools, governors, parents and pupils. It also outlines the timetable for change and the actions that schools and local authorities should start to take now.
All schools
Schools will want to be sure that their approach to self-evaluation is
fit for purpose. The DfES and Ofsted jointly
published high-level guidance for schools, A New Relationship with Schools: Improving performance
through school self-evaluation and development planning.
Schools which have not been inspected for the last four years might also expect an inspection at very short notice at any time from September 2005. All such schools may therefore wish to give immediate priority to reviewing their approach to self-evaluation and the use of the new self-evaluation form (SEF) to update their conclusions. More than 8,000 schools have started working on self-evaluation forms. Ofsted has written to all schools that have not had an inspection during the last five or six years, advising them of the importance of completing an online SEF as soon as possible.
The IRU (Implementation Review Unit) has published guidance on
writing an effective self-evaluation form. The guidance covers issues including
the purpose, length and approach to SEF completion. Read the full guidance on the IRU website.
Governors
Since January 2006, all maintained schools have been required to
produce an annual school profile. Profiles will be accessed
by schools and governing bodies through TeacherNet. Parents will be able
to read profiles on the Directgov website.
Where to find out more
- NRwS was first announced by David Miliband at the North of England Conference in January 2004. Read a summary of the January speech.
- Find out more about the role of the SIP in our downloadable SIP brief. More information about the new relationship is available in our downloadable A New Relationship with Schools: Next steps.
- A New Relationship with Schools: Improving performance through school self-evaluation and development planning.
- The ECM website has a dedicated section on education, training and employment, including a briefing document for schools, Every Child Matters: Change for Children in Schools.
This page was last updated 6 August 2007
