Empowering Teaching Excellence at Wath Academy with Sisra Observe
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Sisra Observe brings all of your professional development processes into one place. From a personalised dashboard, staff can measure their progress, access relevant documents, and track tasks on an easy-to-use platform.
Key Information:
- Challenge: Wath Academy needed a comprehensive system to develop feedback mechanisms for teaching and learning across the Academy that would centralise notes and written feedback, following teaching and learning discussions, allowing for analysis of strengths and areas of development across the Academy that would facilitate and direct professional development priorities.
- Action: Implement Sisra Observe for lesson drop-ins, feedback, IRIS reflections and inform teaching and learning discussions and professional development.
- Outcome: Continually improve teaching standards, targeted professional development, a platform to ensure high quality teaching and learning discussions take place, ensuring all staff can be supported and developed.
School Profile:
- Name: Wath Academy
- Type: Academy sponsor-led, part of the Maltby Learning Trust
- Location: Sandygate, Wath-on-Dearne, Rotherham, S63 7NW
- Age Range: 11 to 18 years
- Capacity: 2000 students
- Ofsted Rating – July 2023:
- Overall Effectiveness: Good
- Quality of Education: Good
- Leadership and Management: Outstanding
- Behaviour and Attitudes: Outstanding
- Personal Development: Outstanding
- Sixth Form: Outstanding
Implementing Sisra Observe
Initial Steps and Focus:
Wath Academy, guided by Assistant Principal Kate Boyd, initiated using Sisra Observe with a specific focus on capturing lesson drop-in feedback, following teaching and learning discussions and coaching conversations.
"We started with Sisra Observe for lesson drop-in feedback forms," Kate explains, describing the school's tailored approach, aligning with the Maltby Learning Trust Teaching and Learning Standards.
Customisation and Template Development:
The academy developed custom templates within Sisra Observe, capturing around 50 sub-standards.
"We built those structures within the Sisra Observe templates to support our low-stakes drop-in records," Kate mentions, highlighting the importance of tailored feedback for staff development.
Enhancing Feedback and Professional Growth
Feedback Process and Staff Support:
The Academy's approach ensured that feedback celebrated strengths and exceptional practice and ensured that all staff were provided with constructive and supportive feedback. Kate notes,
"Sisra Observe helped us arrange verbal feedback sessions within 24 hours of the drop-in." This approach fostered a nurturing environment for staff improvement and ensures that high quality and frequent teaching and learning discussions take place, placing the quality of teaching and learning at the centre of the Academy’s approach.
Template Evolution and Cohort Analysis:
Over time, Wath Academy refined its templates to include student voice, actions and cohort analysis.
"With Sisra Observe we can easily amend the templates to add further capacity and develop the process, for example adding an action box to capture the discussions taking place after a drop in and the next steps to embedding future practice and strategies," says Kate, emphasising the school's commitment to continuous improvement and targeted teaching strategies.
Broadening the Scope and Application
Diverse Drop-In Forms and Work Scrutiny:
The school expanded the use of Sisra Observe to include various forms for different teaching scenarios and work scrutiny, creating a comprehensive overview of teaching practices.
"Thanks to Sisra Observe, we've now got drop-in forms for lessons, tutor periods, IRIS reflections and work scrutiny feedback forms," Kate points out, showcasing the platform's versatility.
Data-Driven Professional Development:
Wath Academy utilises Sisra Observe data to tailor their professional development programmes.
"Our professional development is responsive to the data that's coming through the lesson drop-ins we're seeing from all staff using Sisra Observe. This is identified by our Maltby Learning Trust teaching and learning standards" Kate asserts, underlining the data-driven approach to staff development.
Impact on Early Teachers (ECT) and Quality Assurance
ECT Portfolio Development:
For ECTs, Sisra Observe is essential in building their professional portfolios and evidence towards the teaching standards.
"Sisra Observe links the teaching standards. This helps to formulate part of an ECT’s professional evidence plan," Kate explains, highlighting the platform's role in supporting new teachers' growth.
Quality Assurance Checks:
The academy uses Sisra Observe for quality assurance, ensuring consistent high standards and quality of feedback is given to all staff.
"With Sisra Observe we have everything in one area allowing us to use quality assurance when reviewing the feedback being provided for teaching staff," says Kate, emphasising the importance of maintaining excellence in teaching.
Reporting and Analysis
Regular Data Review and Reporting:
Wath Academy regularly reviews Sisra Observe data to direct professional learning and development of staff and also share excellent practice with staff.
"We analyse Sisra Observe data every couple of weeks," Kate mentions, indicating the frequent use of data in directing professional development.
Impact on Teaching and Learning:
The school's strategic use of Sisra Observe has significantly improved teaching and learning. Kate summarises,
"You can see the impact in the data and in the teachers’ professional development." This evidence-based approach has propelled Wath Academy towards achieving its goal of world-class learning.
Conclusion
Wath Academy's integration of Sisra Observe has revolutionised its teaching excellence and professional development approach. Through tailored feedback, data-driven strategies, and continuous refinement of practices, the academy has established a supportive and high-performing teaching environment, aligning with its ethos of growth mindset and integrity.
