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Three simple truths that explain why a Facilitated Peer Review will help your school to grow
1. When you truly know how effective your school is, you can plan accurately for an even better future.
2. When individuals truly understand their impact on others, they can plan honestly for powerfully inspiring and motivating colleagues .
3. When everyone has a truly honest understanding of how their work together achieves great results, they can plan efficiently for achieving more.
Peer Reviews - school evaluation done the way it should be.
The most common phrase heard at the end of day two is "If only our whole profession worked like this to evaluate effectiveness..."
How does it work?
Peer Reviews work because they bring together People with a carefully structured two day Process, using high quality Materials.
Full training is provided to Peer Review participants. This allows the participating schools to clearly define the behaviours that they expect of someone visiting their school to support in a review process. It also provides them with an understanding of the Four Threads School Review materials, which help to underpin the Review process and the school's self-evaluation.
The host school is always in control. The Peer Review team, including the Lead Facilitator, are in the school to support the school to feel confident in their evaluations, and to support them in developing quick win actions and strategic opportunities.
Peer Reviews are equally relevant in Primary, Secondary, and Special schools. Where MATs have Primary and Secondary Schools, a mutli-phase approach to the Peer Review process has real benefits for all schools.
The Lead Facilitator
The Lead Facilitator plays an essential role in enabling a successful review.
They have an expert knowledge of the Materials and the Process.
They have an expert knowledge of how to support the People to perform the role of Peer Reviewer effectively.
They support the Peer Reviewers and the Host School to get the most out of the experience, and to stay focused on the needs of the Host School.
What do schools say about the impact of Peer Reviews?
These are a sample of recent review comments from the follow up surveys.
Supporting MATs and Local Authorities
In December 2021, Cornwall Council decided to invest in Peer Reviews for all of the schools who remained with the Authority, with the intention of building a cost-effective way of offering fully Facilitated Peer Reviews.
To do this, three Cornwall School Headteachers undertook Peer Reviews in each other's schools, and then completed a two day Lead Facilitator training course.
They then co-facilitated a Peer Review in another Cornish School with their trainer, undertaking the Lead Facilitator role with real-time support. Having completed this, Cornwall now has three fully qualified lead facilitators who are able to lead groups of schools through Peer Reviews.
This has dramatically improved the capacity of the Authority to enable all Cornwall Schools to participate in a Peer Review cycle over a 30 month period.
This model for developing capacity is especially relevant for Multi-Academy Trusts with ten or more schools, and for other Local Authorities who want to follow Cornwall's example.