In September, schools are rightly looking ahead, introducing new approaches designed to make a difference. But amid all the novelty, it’s also worth considering the things already in place that might need our attention.
The Education Endowment Foundation identifies ‘Unite’ as one of three cross-cutting behaviours that drive implementation: ‘Unite people around what is being implemented, how it will be implemented, and why it matters.‘
For school leadership teams, the start of a new school year is a useful opportunity to reset and unite understanding. In this blog, we share what is worth focusing on, and some ways you might do this as a team.
Here is what we believe
It’s particularly important in all the ‘newness’ to find the constants. What are the values and principles that shape everything that we do? As well as resetting and reaffirming, these provide a foundation on which everything is built, including any new approaches.
Values should be visible. If one of your values is ‘Everyone belongs’, reaffirm what you mean by it, but then make it concrete. You might point to greeting pupils at the school gate, enrichment activities, predictable classroom routines, or the way pupils are welcomed back into class after a sanction. These familiar practices are the artefacts of the value: this is what we believe, and these are some of the places where you can see that belief in the everyday life of our school.
The reaffirming of values can also act as a springboard into something new, so it’s seen as just another artefact of an existing approach.
As a leadership team, choose one of your school’s core values or principles. Write it at the top of a page and underneath it answer:
Where would we expect to see this value in the everyday life of our school? Which routines, artefacts, policies and approaches make it visible? Which of these would be recognisable to pupils and staff? Is anything we are introducing this year clearly connected to it?
Then it becomes a clear message to unite understanding:
We believe _____. You can see this in_____, _____ and _____. This year, we are building on it by _____.
We’ve made these tweaks
Not every change needs a big launch, but it does need attention. Implementation is an ongoing process of reflecting and refining. If we don’t capture the small changes we make (and the reasons for them), it’s easy to lose track of what the agreed approach actually is.
I like the ‘evolutions’ idea from Dixons Trinity Chapeltown, shared by James Dyke in this blog. It’s a simple document that captures small changes to existing approaches, giving “absolute clarity at all levels of the organisation” while helping to avoid “lethal mutations” to established routines.
The document makes these small changes visible by capturing what was in place before, what is changing, and why. Here are some examples of the kinds of tweaks we might record:
Before
Now
Quality Assurance
Formative Feedback replaces the term QA to reflect that the emphasis is on feedback that supports development rather than assurance.
Shared language: silent working
Independent practice – a small language change that better describes the behaviour and purpose we’re trying to establish.
Morning arrival: all pupils enter through the main pupil gate
Years 7 and 8 now enter through the lower gate to reduce congestion..
As a leadership team, identify the small changes that might otherwise go unnoticed.
What language has changed? Which routines or processes have we refined? What will staff or pupils do differently? Have any roles, timings or locations changed? What have we stopped doing?
For each change, capture: Last year we… This year we… Because…
We’ve noticed these shifts
Not every change is deliberate. Over time, practice can shift away from what was originally agreed or written down. The policy says one thing, but what happens day to day is slightly different.
For example, a homework policy states that homework must be set by each subject weekly, but different curriculum teams have changed the frequency.
The gap between policy and practice might tell us that the policy was never implemented consistently, that staff no longer see its value, or that teams have adapted their practice because a different approach better serves the purpose of homework in their subject.
The question for leaders, then, is whether practice needs to move back towards the agreed approach, or whether the agreed approach itself needs to change.
Ask all members of the team to write down: If a new colleague asked how we do this here, what would you tell them?
Gather the answers before looking at the written policy. If the team’s shared answer differs from the policy, don’t immediately correct it. Ask why the practice has shifted, and whether it is practice or policy that now needs attention.
Starting a new school year well means paying attention to what we already have, as well as what we want to change.
