Create a Team

The challengeSeven year-group teams have interpreted the school's vocabulary decision differently. Staff are working hard, but the lack of precision creates repeat planning and an inconsistent experience for pupils.

What the leader doesThe headteacher circulates the proposed entitlement beforehand, has everyone examine the same pupil work before subject experts speak, invites the strongest case against it and agrees what teachers will stop doing.

What success looks likeBy day 30 every year group should state the entitlement and apply it to one sequence; by day 60 pupil work should show it in every year group; by day 90 independent vocabulary use should improve in at least five year groups.

The challengeA Year 5 pupil's learning, attendance and wellbeing needs sit across nine actions on three systems. The parent has had three calls in eight days and is unsure which plan is current.

What the leader doesThe assistant head maps the case with the inclusion team, invites a 'what are we missing?' round before adding provision, and agrees one outcome, one sequence and one named contact for the family.

What success looks likeBy day 30 every complex case should have one shared outcome, contact owner and review date; by day 60 families should know the current plan and duplicate contacts should halve; by day 90 targeted pupils should show improved attendance or settled learning.

The challenge82% of sampled pupils decode the target phonics pattern in reading, but only 47% use it accurately in independent writing, with a 27-point gap between classes. The team rarely examines uncertainty together.

What the leader doesThe phase leader asks teachers to bring matched reading and writing samples, hears teaching assistants first, shares the leader's own least successful sample and agrees one adaptation all six classes test for ten days.

What success looks likeBy day 30 all six classes should complete one comparable ten-day test; by day 60 the phase should run two inquiry cycles that hear teaching assistants first; by day 90 independent use should rise from 47% to at least 65%.

The challengeIn six SLT meetings, 31 polished portfolio updates produced 18 actions, 14 allocated by the headteacher. Peer challenge appears in the minutes of only three meetings, and cross-portfolio problems keep travelling upwards.

What the leader doesThe headteacher replaces updates with a decision paper that states the strongest counter-case, brings one of the headteacher's own unresolved decisions for testing, and asks peers to own actions and name dependencies.

What success looks likeBy day 30 every cross-portfolio action should record its owner, dependency and peer check; by day 60 three major decisions should use an evidence-first challenge round; by day 90 checks for understanding should improve in two pilot faculties without extra workload.

The challengeEight faculties report using checks for understanding, but only three can show how the response changed teaching. The cross-faculty group passes on techniques rather than testing whether they work.

What the leader doesThe assistant head agrees the learning function, lets each faculty design a subject-appropriate test, models a failed test from the leader's own work and pairs faculties as critical friends before keep, adapt or stop decisions.

What success looks likeBy day 30 all eight faculties should have an inquiry question and a critical friend; by day 60 every faculty should bring confirming and inconclusive evidence; by day 90 at least six should show a more reliable response to pupil uncertainty.

The challengeFour of the last six repeat absences had warning signs recorded by tutors at least five days earlier, but information sat in separate channels and three actions had no named owner.

What the leader doesThe head of year runs a fifteen-minute huddle, collects one factual sentence from every tutor beforehand, states the confidentiality boundary and leaves each priority pupil with one action, owner and escalation trigger.

What success looks likeBy day 30 every huddle should end with a named owner and escalation trigger; by day 60 all tutors should contribute and unowned actions should fall to zero; by day 90 repeat absence after early warnings should fall to no more than two in six.

The challengeA successful autumn concert hid an unsustainable workload: three colleagues worked more than twelve extra hours, two Year 13 clinics moved and technical reset time went unseen.

What the leader doesThe head of music maps every visible and hidden task before agreeing the scope, treats raising a capacity concern as professionalism rather than lack of passion, and leaves no task assigned to 'the department'.

What success looks likeBy day 30 the concert scope should be agreed with every task owned and timed; by day 60 rehearsals should be on schedule without displacing Year 13 support; by day 90 the concert should meet artistic and inclusion criteria within agreed hours.

The challengeSeven school leads report figures in turn at the cross-school attendance meeting. In three meetings, 21 updates produced two collective decisions, and four 'trust support' actions had no named owner.

What the leader doesThe director swaps verbal updates for a one-page pre-read, uses the time for an anonymised case clinic, brings a case where the director's first assumption was wrong, and makes every dependency owned aloud.

What success looks likeBy day 30 every shared attendance action should have a named owner, date and early-warning point; by day 60 at least four cross-school cases should be resolved; by day 90 families should report fewer repeated contacts and handover gaps should narrow.