HC 269 Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Girls’ Day School Trust
Executive Summary
The GDST has a distinctive model. The Council of the Trust is responsible for the overall running of the organisation. Day to day the GDST is managed by the Chief Executive and the directors on the Senior Management Team. Heads report to the Chief Executive and each school has a local school governing board who liaises with a designated Council member.
Partnership lies at the heart of the organisation—between schools, between school leaders, between teachers and increasingly between pupils across the Trust.
The GDST is a learning community, committed to the encouragement, identification and dissemination of best practice.
This submission explores the benefits of various forms of partnerships GDST schools have within and outside the Trust:
GDST-wide expertise and economies of scale—by working as a group our schools are efficient and cost effective as we don’t duplicate services.
Collaboration to support Continuous Professional Development—we use the power of collaboration between schools to further the professional development of our 3,500 staff.
Collaboration between pupils—the GDST also organises cross-school events for pupils, providing opportunities to develop new skills and learn new things.
Partnerships between our Academies and fee charging schools within the Trust—The fee-charging Trust schools benefits from having two Academies in the group and vice versa.
Partnerships with schools outside the Trust—our schools have partnerships—academic, sporting, artistic—with others in their local communities.
This submission also explores how the GDST incentivises school collaboration and overcomes possible tensions:
Ensuring collaboration is targeted—the GDST’s interventions and partnerships are very carefully chosen, to ensure that efforts are being directed appropriately.
Encouraging collaboration from the top—cooperation between schools is encouraged by having a definition of “high performing” schools which includes an expectation of collaboration.
Communicating the benefits of collaboration—it is vital to articulate the benefits of collaboration clearly to staff and parents.
Use of data—the GDST shares school performance data to encourage those who are not performing well in some areas to seek advice from those who are.
Full Submission
1. Founded in 1872, The Girls’ Day School Trust owns and runs 24 independent schools and two academies and is the largest single educator of girls in the UK. There are nearly 20,000 pupils and 3,500 staff members in the Trust’s schools and academies throughout England and Wales.
2. Partnership lies at the heart of the organisation—between schools, between school leaders, between teachers and increasingly between pupils across the Trust. The GDST is a learning community, committed to the encouragement, identification and dissemination of best practice. Our partnerships within and outside the GDST allow us to continuously improve and ensure our girls are receiving the best possible education.
3. Schools in the GDST serve different constituencies and have different profiles in terms of pupil ability range. However, they share a commitment to adding value, not just with regard to exam results, but in terms of deeper, more long-lasting outcomes.
4. The GDST’s partnerships are very carefully chosen, to ensure that efforts are being directed to where the most value can be added. Partnership means a larger pool of support around teachers’ working processes. It allows us to share best practice, resources and have shared expectations around the quality of teaching and learning. It also allows schools to gain confidence in introducing innovations, where they have been successful, or lessons can be learned about implementation, from other schools in the network.
The GDST Model
5. The GDST has a distinctive model. The Council of the Trust is responsible for the overall running of the organisation. Day to day the GDST is managed by the Chief Executive and the directors on the Senior Management Team. GDST Heads report to the Chief Executive but have great autonomy over how their schools are run, with control over their curriculum and choice of qualifications, their staffing, their marketing, their educational philosophy, their choice of ICT equipment, management of their school’s budget (within agreed targets) and the public exams the pupils take.
6. Each school has a local school governing board, whose members don’t have executive authority or legal accountability, but provide ongoing support, inspiration and constructive challenge to the Head, as well as being vital links between the schools and their local communities. Each Council member is associated with a small number of schools to promote the exchange of information between school governors and trustees and advice on governance issues.
7. The success of this model is demonstrated by the achievements of our schools and the stability of the organisation. As a registered charity any surplus is reinvested in the schools. Last year the Trust had a turnover of over £200 million with a £24 million surplus. Academically, students at GDST schools continue to outperform their independent and maintained sector peers at all ages and all stages—in 2012, 84.3% of pupils gaining A*s, As and Bs at A Level and 73.6% of gaining A*s and As at GCSE.
GDST-wide Expertise and Economies of Scale
8. The GDST is committed to optimising the benefits of being a group of 26 high performing schools and academies in a variety of ways. It is a huge advantage that the GDST is one charity rather than each school being its own charity. The range of services the Trust offers includes expertise in educational policy and legal issues facing schools, human resources, people development, ICT infrastructure, finance, estates, fundraising and communications support. Schools benefit from our shared knowledge and the on-going GDST-wide training programme. Fees collection and payroll services are administered from the centre too.
9. Schools benefit from economies of scale in terms of procurement. By working as a group our schools are efficient and cost effective as we don’t duplicate services across schools—utilities, ICT services and insurance are all procured centrally. For example, we recently rolled out a new enterprise wireless system in all our schools, making a significant saving through one contract rather than 26. Our costs are low and therefore our fees represent good value for our competitor peer group.
Collaboration to Support Continuous Professional Development
10. Within the GDST, we use the power of collaboration between schools to further the professional development of our 3,500 staff, by encouraging the sharing of best practice between staff at all levels. For example:
Subject Champions
11. This year we launched a pilot of “subject champions” in English, drama, music, junior creative curriculum, Mandarin, classics and the extended project qualification. These individual teachers own and lead collaboration areas on the GDST-wide intranet and contribute to the development of subject knowledge and teaching practice across GDST schools. This has been such a success that we are looking to roll it out for all subjects taught in our schools from September 2013.
Cross Trust groups and training programmes
12. Amongst other things we also run cross-Trust training programmes for Aspiring Leaders, Middle Leaders and Heads, and regular conferences for our Senior and Junior Heads and Deputy Heads. For example, the Aspiring Leaders programme, started in October 2012, aims to develop middle leaders. All participants have a mentor from another school, usually a Deputy Head. Running for the full academic year, it gives participants focused school leadership development and training as well as the opportunity to raise their profile in school through their leadership of a School Project. Three people have already been promoted as a result of this programme.
13. Collaboration is also encouraged amongst school support staff. For example, there is an annual Health and Safety Coordinators day, a group for Directors of Finance and Operations who meet twice a year, and an ICT school leader group. As a result of the Health and Safety Coordinators meetings a set of protocols for all schools has been developed.
Maths in Junior Schools project
14. Over the past year our 24 Junior Schools have worked together with support from the Innovation and Learning team at the GDST to design and trial a unique project to enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics. Many are already reporting a noticeable change, particularly in the early years.
15. Although the standard of mathematics across all GDST schools is generally higher than the national average, this can always be improved upon and the main objectives of the project are to ensure that the pupils are enjoying and succeeding in the subject and that Junior School teachers have the confidence and skills to teach maths effectively.
16. Strategies to engage teachers, pupils and parents in the initiative were identified and training courses, alongside in-house support, were delivered to all 24 Junior Schools. Lessons have been modelled across many schools demonstrating best practice. Part of the excitement with this cross-GDST project lay in getting teachers together to discuss and disseminate best practice, and to encourage the growth of a community to share best practice.
17. Three regional cluster groups have now been formed and from September 2013 they will have one twilight meeting per term to share best practice, discuss new initiatives and investigate new resources together. All teachers taking part in the programme can also contact one another through an email group as well as share information and lesson plans online through the GDST’s intranet.
18. It is clear that the schools involved are now aiming to make their maths teaching better and more enjoyable for pupils. Schemes of work have been rewritten, plans have been made to support low achievers and pupils are being motivated through new, maths-focused, extra-curricular clubs and activities such as the Jaguar Maths in Motion software. This activity enables a group of girls to fine tune a “car” that will perform in a Formula 1 race. Through discussing and working together using their maths skills they aim to create the best performing car which will win the race. A total of 14 GDST schools took part in the first race in February, and 12 GDST schools have entered the knockout round for the national finals of the competition in May. In previous years only one of our schools has entered this competition.
Collaboration between Pupils
19. The GDST also organises cross-school events for pupils, for example, an Oxbridge conference for 200 Sixth Formers, a Young Leaders’ conference with outstanding external speakers, sports rallies that bring schools together across the network, cross-Trust public speaking competitions, poetry competitions and chess championships. Sixth Forms also join up with regular video-conferenced master classes from expert staff. The evidence suggests that pupils appreciate the sense of being part of a network reaching beyond their own school and it opens up opportunities to develop new skills and learn new things. For example:
At this year’s annual Young Leaders’ Conference for head girls and other members of student leadership teams, the challenge was to create, develop and present ideas for a new marketing and fundraising event for charities Clic Sargent, Camfed, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Whizz-Kidz. The conference equips students with skills to make an impact in their school leadership roles and open their eyes to career options after school. The charities involved also received original and creative ideas that they could put into action.
Our unique CareerStart programme, delivered in our schools by staff from our head office, also equips GDST girls with vital skills—resilience, negotiation, leadership, teamwork, enterprise, communication and more—to succeed in life after education.
The GDST Student Council, with representatives from all the GDST senior schools, gives students a voice and an input into the GDST’s vision and values.
Partnerships between our Academies and Fee Charging Schools within the Trust
20. All of our schools are high performing, although the pupils in the two Academies have a wider ability range. We find that the other Trust schools benefit from having two Academies in the group and vice versa.
21. There are strong links between our academies and our fee-paying schools, with staff and pupils from the academies participating in cross-GDST activities and sharing best practice. Academy staff participate for free in the GDST’s extensive staff training and development programme. We provide the academies with expert advice on governance, legal, health & safety, HR and other educational matters, as well as support services in payroll, ICT and finance. As a big educational provider we have the capacity to support our Academies in things they would otherwise have to source on the open market. For example the Academies’ ICT infrastructure costs them £40,000 a year, significantly below what it costs the GDST to provide it for them. The 1,500 pupils in our academies are very much “GDST girls”, and the students have access to the same benefits of being part of the GDST network that students in our fee-paying schools enjoy.
22. Our Academies achieve impressive results. For example, The Belvedere Academy’s first Year 11 mixed ability cohort achieved 98% five A*–C grades including English and maths, and also featured strongly in the Department for Education’s national performance tables for all schools in England in January 2013.
23. Our 24 schools benefit hugely from the two Academies’ knowledge of the use of data in promoting pupil progress. The Belvedere Academy, for example, contributes to inset days on this topic and in the summer term we are holding a focus day there, where leaders of teaching and learning from all our schools will be able to share best practice in quality assurance and see how the Academy achieves this.
Partnerships with Schools Outside the Trust
24. The GDST is committed to its charitable mission to make an excellent GDST education available to the widest possible range of girls. One of the ways in which we achieve this is through partnerships—academic, sporting, artistic and other—between our schools and others in their local communities. Many GDST schools share their facilities with local schools and with community groups and sports clubs, often free of charge or at reduced rates. They regularly run joint taster and enrichment days in specialist subjects with local schools. GDST senior schools routinely open up talks and events exploring career and higher education options to students from other schools.
Case study: Sheffield High School
25. Sheffield High School’s extensive range of partnerships have resulted in winning awards at the Independent School Awards for an unprecedented three years in a row, this year for “Outstanding Community Initiative” and for “Best Independent-Maintained School Collaboration” two years running. Projects include an “Aim Higher” project, working with eight Sheffield maintained schools to support more students to apply to Oxbridge, which is being extended to pupils in Years 9 and 10.
Partnership with the Shine Trust
26. A number of our schools work in partnership with the Shine Trust to deliver lessons and activities on a Saturday to pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds living in their local area. The “Serious Fun on Saturdays” programme is hosted by independent schools for students from local state schools who are unlikely to be able to access additional educational support at home. Sheffield High School was the first GDST school to take part in this programme and they have seen extremely positive responses from the pupils and schools involved. Vanessa Langley, Headteacher of Arbourthorne Community Primary School, said: “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities the SHINE project has afforded our pupils. Our school serves one of the most socio-economically disadvantaged areas in Sheffield. It has been one of the most joyous moments of my career to see aspiration and ambition grow amongst the pupils involved and as a result of these opportunities, see parents realise that hopes and dreams can become a reality and that we have to be prepared to challenge what we may have always accepted in our lives in order to give our children the best possible life chance.”
“Driving Outstanding Practice Programme”
27. Sheffield High School has been working with Wickersley School and Sports College, Horizon Community College and Clifton Comprehensive School to develop and deliver an innovative “Driving Outstanding Practice Programme”, aimed at enhancing teaching in local schools. Six schools in Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham have been invited to encourage their secondary school teachers (who have achieved outstanding learning and progress from students) to apply for the course of six half-day events.
28. This is an opportunity for them to learn from experiences and best practice in different environments—an outstanding Teaching School, an ethnically diverse inner city school, a leading independent school and a newly created “school within a school” learning community.
29. It helps teachers to develop the skills and strategies to achieve outstanding learning and progress from students in both their own classrooms and those of colleagues. The idea is that these teachers will then be able to drive forward improvements in teaching and learning by sharing best practice with colleagues back in their schools.
30. The tailored programme draws on a range of learning experiences including: focussed lesson observations in a range of schools in contrasting contexts; demonstration of best practice by the programme leaders and fellow participants; discussion panels with students and staff; collaborative learning opportunities with colleagues from the same school and in other schools and engagement in their online learning community for outstanding teachers to share best practice.
31. The programme is already proving popular, with 12 teachers joining the first cohort, 15 in the second and another 15 signed up for the course beginning in September 2013. Teachers in the first cohort were asked to fill in evaluation forms at the end of the course. One teacher said: “I have created lots of new and exciting resources that the pupils have really taken to”. Another stated: “Now I am delivering regular staff coaching sessions to improve teaching and learning across the department”. Another concluded: “You have given me opportunities to talk and share within my own school and with other schools”.
Incentivising Collaboration and Overcoming Possible Tensions
Possible tensions
32. We have found that the following issues may have to be overcome to pursue collaborative approaches:
Some schools fear that the more a teacher does outside of school (eg attending a course or taking time out of the classroom to work on a collaborative project), the more their work/lessons will have to be covered.
Another issue can be parental anxiety about their children’s teachers being absent.
Whilst the majority of our schools are not in competition with one another, as they are spread across England and Wales, some of our South London schools do have similar catchment areas and are therefore in competition with one another for pupils.
Incentives
33. We have found that collaboration can be encouraged and incentivised by:
Ensuring collaboration is targeted
34. The GDST’s interventions and partnerships are selective and very carefully chosen, to ensure that efforts are being directed to where the most value can be added.
35. It helps that most of our schools are not in direct competition with each other, but face similar challenges, and they find it extremely helpful to share ideas, learn from each other’s examples of best practice and discuss similar challenges they may be facing. For example:
36. Key Stage 3 Working Group—Heads at some of our schools have chosen to form working groups around certain issues. We have found that these work best when four to five Heads work together on a problem, then put together a package of what works when looking to address it, which can then be shared with Heads of other schools. For example, the Heads of Wimbledon High School, Central Newcastle High, Oxford High School and Norwich High School recently flagged up their concerns around not being able to bring more innovation into their curriculum, because of government restrictions. They decided that at KS3 there was more room for innovation than at any other level, and so formed a “Key Stage 3 Working Party” to share ideas about how they can do this. There is evidence of substantial innovations around KS3 curriculum, with schools sharing ideas for cross-curricular, collaborative and enquiry-based learning, within a curriculum much less dominated by subject disciplines operating independently of each other.
37. Girls’ School Associations’ London Middle Leaders Development Programme Cluster—Another example of collaboration around one particular goal is the GSA’s MLDP cluster, which includes six GDST schools amongst its members. A group of GSA members from across the London region have grouped together to focus on developing their middle leaders. Although some of the schools are in competition for students, this conflict can be resolved with openness and a vision for a desired outcome from the partnership.
Encouraging collaboration from the top
38. We encourage cooperation between schools within the GDST by having a definition of “high performing” which includes an expectation of collaboration, and continually highlighting its importance to the Senior Leadership Teams in our schools.
39. The Trust Office also works to formalise collaboration by organising a range of targeted events and initiatives to encourage our schools to collaborate and share best practice. Many of these have been outlined above, for example subject focused days, a Deputy Heads’ Conference and a Heads’ Conference.
40. It is up to Heads to formalise an expectation of collaboration within their schools, for example by weaving this in to their staff reviews and objectives.
41. Collaboration should also mean a continued drive for improvement which in itself should be the most important incentive of all.
Communicating the benefits of collaboration
42. It is vital to articulate the benefits of collaboration clearly to staff and parents.
43. We make it clear how much added value is derived from being part of a group, with partnership efforts focused on a specific issue or desired outcomes. For example, by organising events for pupils from all our schools, as outlined above.
44. Schools need to be aware of the fantastic opportunities for free continued professional development that collaboration can bring. Additionally, if some staff are absent due to attending training this provides opportunities for other staff to step up and take on new responsibilities too.
45. It needs to be made clear to parents that, when staff are at a training session, the ultimate aim is to have a positive impact on our pupils.
Use of data
46. The GDST measures the performance of our schools and Academies and shares this data with all other schools in the Trust eg academic data, Sixth Form retention rates, financial performance information. This gives schools the opportunity to see how they’re performing against one another, encouraging those who are not performing well in some areas to seek advice from those who are.
October 2013