Leadership in 'outstanding' schools
Understand what makes leadership Ofsted ‘outstanding’. Based on extracts from recent 'outstanding' reports, find suggested actions to help strengthen your leadership in key areas.
Contents
What the grade descriptors say
To be 'outstanding' in leadership and management, your school must:
- Meet all the 'good' criteria in leadership and management securely and consistently (for the 'good' criteria, see below paragraph 329 in the School Inspection Handbook)
- Have "exceptional" leadership and management
Additionally, as leaders you must:
- Make sure that teachers receive focused and highly effective professional development so their subject, pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge consistently builds and develops over time, and this consistently translates into improvements in the teaching of the curriculum
- Make sure that highly effective and meaningful engagement takes place with staff at all levels, and that issues are identified. When issues are identified, in particular about workload, consistently deal with them appropriately and quickly
- Receive consistent reports from staff on high levels of support for wellbeing issues
Below are 4 key themes based on these grade descriptors. Find suggested
Also in 'Learning from good and outstanding practice'
- Developing an 'outstanding' school: examples of strategies
- Features of an 'outstanding' EYFS setting
- How to run 'outstanding' interventions: case study
- Ofsted's MAT research: key learnings and recommendations
- Outstanding practice in alternative provision: examples
- Progressing teaching from 'good' to 'outstanding' (primary)