Up in the cloud: taking performance review to new heights
Manor Church of England Academy in York has over 1,000 students and 140 staff members. Like most schools, they initially recorded performance reviews on paper, but this ran the risk of files being misplaced, developmental needs that couldn’t be tracked and material that wasn’t always on hand when needed. Here, vice principal, Mike Thunder, discusses how the school has benefitted from moving to a digital, cloud-based solution for performance management.
When it came to performance management, we needed a tailored solution that was flexible to our needs and incorporated all the key elements of school improvement. With our paper-based system, staff didn’t always know what their targets were and that meant we couldn’t monitor them effectively.
We chose to work with SchooliP because it provides a centralised location for staff members to see all the information they need easily and quickly. Everything is customised to individual staff members, so they can see their own objectives and reviews. They can even update their record and upload supporting evidence with the help of handy reminders to make sure that they are meeting their required actions.
Monitoring professional development was also a challenge previously, as we would spend a great deal of time filling in spreadsheets with details of the courses staff members had been on and whether they had been worthwhile. However, working digitally means that staff members can now provide this information themselves in a few clicks, and we can then collect the data in one place to see where we’re allocating budget and staff time.
By adding an ‘impact box’ for staff, we were able to measure the results of the training they received, which is incorporated into reports and provided for accountability to the board of governors as evidence of our spending. More importantly it also allows us to demonstrate the impact of professional development activities against teaching and learning, and school improvement.
The overall impact of digitising administration for our academy means that our performance management processes, our professional development, our whole-school development plan and our self-evaluation forms, are much more effective than they were before. All staff save valuable time and effort. The real benefit is the ability to quickly and simply generate reports, as it enables us to not only access vital information easily but also to share it with our stakeholders including staff members, governors, and of course Ofsted!
Our staff feel empowered by the ability to build their own portfolio of professional development and evidence that contributes towards their own performance. All staff members, not just teachers, have really taken ownership of their training and performance management, so it saves us time and we have a comprehensive record of how we’re doing as a school. The system is continuously updated to fit with education and government changes, so we can ensure that we’re always up-to-date and meeting the required standards.
The main benefit of having a cloud-based system is that everything is integrated. We have everything we need for performance management and school improvement goals in one, easily accessible place!
For more information, visit: www.manorceacademy.org or www.schoolip.co.uk