What makes successful schools successful? And what makes them continue to build on their success?

It is a simple but nonetheless valid observation.  No school improves by itself.  Schools get better because someone puts energy into improving the school.

Linked to this there is a second, equally simple and equally valid observation.  Even the most brilliantly performing school will slip back over time, unless one simple action is taken which will keep it improving, term after term, year after year.

So what is it that some school managers are doing which helps improve a school in terms of its Ofsted rating, parental satisfaction and its exam results?

And, leading on from the note above, what is it that some school managers do, which keep these improvements running, growing and developing, year after year after year?

Interestingly, the answer is the same in both cases.

And yet many organisations fail to see the benefit of embedding the notion of improvement within the very fabric of the organisation and its day to day activities.

Indeed if you have difficulty dealing with your bank, the local council, the garage that services your car, or anything else – and you get the feeling, “they used to be ok, but now they’ve slipped,” the cause is always the same.

Someone has set up an improvement programme – but then left it, thinking the job is done. No one has thought – how do we keep this improvement running.

Of course, an approach to constant development and improvement is something that many teachers and managers resist. The old phrase, “Why can’t you just leave me alone to get on with the teaching?” can readily be heard in response.

And yet, as the schools that use this approach have found, it is possible to use such an approach without putting any strain on the school or your fellow teachers.  But the results can be extraordinary.

The entire process is described in The Ever Improving School, a report commissioned and produced by the School of Educational Administration and Management – a body set up with government funding and the support of the government’s Department of Trade and Industry  and the University of Northampton Department of Education.

The Ever Improving School is available as a Kindle book for £9.99 and as a hard copy or CD which can be printed out, copied and given to colleagues within the school for £24.95.

ISBN: 978 1 86083 852 1   Order code: T1843emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1843.pdf

  • Photocopiable book, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Both the book and the CD: £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
  • Kindle book: £9.99
  • Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…