Last Thursday, as Senior Partners and Hub Managers gathered in London for the System Leaders’ Conference, Dr Kate Chhatwal, CEO, joined Sir Martyn Oliver, HMCI, and Kirsty Godfrey, Senior HMI, Ofsted, for Day 2 of the Quality Assurance Review of North Primary School, Compass Hub.
Sir Martyn saw, first-hand, how our ethos truly is ‘one team, two parts’ and ‘done with, not done to’, and how it is fundamental to our review methodology, with every evaluation activity being conducted jointly by senior leaders from North Primary and one of the visiting peer reviewers. He also saw that dedicated time and evaluation tools facilitated rich professional dialogue, enabling the internal and external senior leaders to reach agreement on the strengths and developmental areas of what they had seen.
Thursday’s visit was as rewarding as ever for the host school and peer reviewers. North Primary School, based in Southall, London, is led by the brilliant Nicola Forster, Headteacher, Compass Hub Senior Partner, and a valued Challenge Partners Education Advisory Group member, who shared the following,
“We gained so much insightful advice and encouragement throughout the day. It was a pleasure to spend time with both Sir Martyn and Kirsty. I really hope the day was as useful for them too”
The review was led by Stuart Busby who, as Lead Reviewer, guided and supported his team to make robust and evidence-based evaluations about what the school is doing well and next steps to improve. North Primary School also welcomed peer reviewers Fathima Fareeda, Gary Palmer and Ruth Onyekaba, from Charles Dickens Primary School, Old Palace Primary School, and Gorsefield Primary School, respectively.
After her visit, Kate shared the following reflections
“It's not every day that HMCI and a Senior HMI from Ofsted join a Challenge Partners Quality Assurance Review. Yet in every other way, today was a typical day 2 of our 3-day peer review process.
I was pleased that what Sir Martyn Oliver and Kirsty Godfrey witnessed was the 'everyday excellence' of a QA Review team at work. They spent the whole day with the team and couldn't have been more engaged and curious about the process, remarking on the rich professional dialogue between host school leaders and peer reviewers, and the immediacy of this after each activity.
True to our name and ethos, I invited challenge by asking for an 'ebi' and will be reflecting on Sir Martyn's prompt about how we could bring an even sharper focus to evaluating provision and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs. Since 2019, our reviews and reports have had a specific focus on this but we are never complacent in seeking even better ways to tackle this most critical of challenges.”
Kate continued,
“We have never seen peer review as an alternative to inspection. They each perform a different and important function.”
Challenge Partners have never subscribed to the view that peer review should replace inspection; inspection is about public accountability and peer review focuses on development. What makes peer review so powerful, is that it is a safe space where school leaders can talk candidly about what they find difficult.
Kate’s comments follow her article published by Schools Week last year, in which she suggested that some of the QA Review ethos and methodology could be relevant to inspection.
Apt then, that Kate should conclude with a final reflection,
“It is refreshing to see Sir Martyn focusing so carefully not just on *what* is inspected, but also *how* inspections are conducted, and I hope what he saw today has furthered his thinking.”
Photos published with kind permission from HMCI, North Primary School and reviewers.