The Secondary Whole-school Audit

Development Planning for Secondary Schools

Brian Drakeford, Jeffrey Cooling

• Publisher: David Fulton Publishers
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781853465581
• eBook ISBN: 9781136621376
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

First published in 1998.  The Education Reform Act of 1988 introduced into schools in England and Wales a range of major reforms, including the National Curriculum, the transfer of certain key powers and responsibilities from LEAs to schools and new and altogether more comprehensive procedures for the monitoring of school performance. Offering a view as to whether or not the OFSTED inspection process will actually secure 'improvement through inspection' is not the purpose of this publication. The Secondary Whole-School Audit has been produced in response to OFSTED's explicit inspection criteria which provide schools in England and Wales, for the first time in their history, with clear direction and standards against which they can continuously judge current strengths and weaknesses and review developmental targets.

Curriculum and assessment – whole-school issues

DOI: 10.4324/9780203064931-4

School:

Audit year:

Audit focus

This section focuses on the planning and content of the curriculum and its contribution to the educational standards achieved by pupils, taking into account their age, capability, gender, ethnicity, background and special educational needs. While in the secondary school it is usually the case that the curriculum is largely based on subject specialist content, there is a need to examine the whole-school curriculum defined in its broadest sense. The audit considers the provision for personal and social education, cross-curricular work and extra-curricular activities. Where the school has used the greater flexibility now possible at key stage 4 the audit should examine the impact of short courses and vocational options and how these facilitate progression to post-16 programmes.

Judgements concerning the extent to which the curriculum meets the needs of all pupils should be focused on what is taught rather than what is documented. Central to all other considerations, in this section of the audit, is the question of whether the curriculum provided by the school meets the statutory requirements of the National Curriculum, including religious education and sex education, where these apply. Providing these statutory requirements are being met, it is for the school to determine the character of its curriculum and the mode of its delivery.

Arrangements for assessment focus on the extent to which procedures are effective in judging pupils’ attainments and whether assessments are used in planning future work so that pupils’ individual needs are met and al...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table Of Contents
• Introduction
• Context and characteristics of the school
• Teaching
• Curriculum and assessment - whole-school issues
• Curriculum and assessment - subject/curriculum team issues
• Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development
• Collective worship and assemblies
• Support, guidance, pupils' welfare and child protection
• Health and safety
• Partnership with parents and the community
• Leadership and management
• Equal opportunities
• Special educational needs
• Staffing and professional development
• Accommodation
• Learning resources
• Efficiency
• Attainment and progress - whole-school issues
• Attainment and progress - subject/curriculum/pastoral team issues
• Attitudes, behaviour and personal development
• Attendance and punctuality
• Evaluating value for money
• From audit to school improvement planning
• Summary of strengths and weaknesses