Case Study: The Ribbon Academy

Breaking from traditions

At The Ribbon Academy, we understand the importance of professional development in school improvement. We saw that the traditional one-hour staff meeting, where we introduced a new initiative and expected implementation, was not having sufficient impact, so we transformed our approach to professional development. I completed the National Professional Qualification in Leading Teacher Development to develop my knowledge and better evaluate our existing practice. I recognised that our model missed opportunities to practise, apply and review strategies and their effectiveness, so my initial adaptations were to decelerate input in staff meetings and incorporate each of these elements. We saw improvements, but our quality assurance showed that knowledge which was developed and evident in staff meetings, was not consistently implemented in classroom practice. We identified this as the ‘knowing-Doing gap’ and recognised that to overcome it, the work done with individual teachers needed to be tailored to their specific needs. Instructional coaching was our strategy and Steplab was to be our tool.

Learning from others

To help develop expertise I signed up to the Certificate in Coaching Leadership (CCL) with Steplab, where I was guided on how best to plot our implementation journey, recruit and train our team of coaches, and monitor, quality assure and refine our coaching programme. I was also able to engage with like-minded professionals to share good practice and problem solve together, because everyone’s first question is, ‘How does it work practically in a primary school?’ Listening to others and building on their successes while considering the individuality of our school was vital for successful implementation. We also visited our nearest Steplab Coaching Hub, where I took a great deal from their bravery in re-inventing staff meeting time by splitting it into focused staff briefings. This had to be our approach moving forward.

Our logistics

For instructional coaching to have the impact we knew it could, we needed to find 30 minutes each week for coaches to meet coachees and deliver coaching sessions. There was no capacity in the school day for this, or for coaches to drop-in and plan for feedback. Our solution was to remove the one-hour weekly staff meeting. This would allow coaching and feedback sessions to be delivered, and leave an additional 30 minutes to have the team together for group rehearsal, sharing good practice, and developing a shared understanding and language. We split this time into two focused briefings, one on teaching and learning and the other more subject specific. We found the reduction in time allowed us to be more focused and specific with expectations, and set manageable goals. Moreover, staff attention was not lost at the end of a busy day!

As most of our coaches are classroom-based, we examined how to release staff to ensure drop-ins and coaching feedback could be carried out effectively. Each week, we now schedule a selection of 90-minute slots for coaches, who choose the most appropriate ones while colleagues cover their classes. The flexibility of choice has proven successful, as the coaches and coachees can collaborate on which lesson – or part of a lesson – might be best to work on.

The Steplab champions

The Headteacher and I discussed the importance of staff culture and noted the impact of having a non-teaching Deputy Headteacher. To promote buy-in we decided to recruit another member of the team: a classroom-based teacher who was also being coached on a fortnightly basis and continuing to make progress in their own practice, and could also support with the quality assurance of the programme. We recruited internally for a Lead Teaching and Learning Coach (with TLR) and found our perfect candidate. This decision was, and continues to be, instrumental in our success with instructional coaching; the person is engaging, forward thinking, and reflective, and our collaboration enables instructional coaching to go from strength to strength.

Setting up for success

For engagement to remain high, we know we must plan with success in mind. As a result, our coaching cycles are synchronised with our yearly calendar. When conflicting events are taking place after school we know it's important to pause our coaching cycle. This balances our coaching expectations with other expectations of classroom teachers, ensuring engagement when it matters.

Consideration of content is also vital. We have amended and combined the comprehensive coaching curriculum provided by Steplab with support from their Create your own playbook webinar. This allowed us to utilise our shared language and school-specific systems to focus on the right coaching content at the right time.

Our outcomes

Firstly, staff voice consistently highlights that teachers recognise the improvement in our professional development model and the resulting improvements in their own teaching. Secondly, our systems are showcasing success, with engagement sustained at 100% in this academic year. Most importantly our practice continues to improve, with increased consistency across the school. As a result, our learners are more engaged in learning, attention is maintained, participation is high and therefore End of KS2 outcomes continue to be in line with or above national averages, with a real strength in maths where we have sustained 86% of children achieving expected standards for the past two years. Significant progress has been made in our combined data over the past two years with an increase of 13% where we are now exceeding national averages. This is a huge success considering the starting points of many of our children, and we know our approach to professional development and our work with Steplab have been key factors in these achievements. We look forward to continued engagement with Steplab as our school, and our pupils, go from strength to strength.

Book a visit to Ribbon Academy or another of our Steplab Coaching Hub schools.