The professionals...

The focus in this Leader is on Council’s Professional Committee, which has a wide-ranging remit that includes accountability and inspection, teacher standards, appraisal, continuing professional development (CPD), teacher supply and quality. After discussion about the current situation with Ofsted at the June Council meeting, the committee issued the following position statement:

Ofsted judgements

ASCL believes that confidence in the English schools system is being needlessly undermined by inaccurate and inconsistent judgements from some inspection teams. The recruitment of inspectors needs to ensure that candidates have suffiient experience to offer credibility in the role.

Similarly, training must ensure a level of competence, particularly in the interpretation of data, an area that currently requires improvement. The involvement of serving school leaders in quality assurance would be a further step towards addressing the flaws in the current system.

ASCL believes that a twin-track approach is required in order to secure reforms to the current inspection system. The association will work with Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) to address the direct affect of flaws in the current arrangements. However, we will also seek to persuade the secretary of state that fundamental changes are required. In particular, we believe in a model of intelligent accountability based upon the validation of school self-evaluation.

Sian Carr is Principal of The Skinners’ Kent Academy in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Chair of the ASCL Council Professional Committee, Sian was formerly Operational Director, Stakeholders & Networks, at the then National College for School Leadership (NCSL).

What’s your current focus on the committee?

Inspection’s a hot topic. Some people believe it’s done to them and I would prefer it’s done with them so it becomes something that develops a school properly. That’s how we work with students and I think education really works when you operate with young people and adults in the same way.

Describe what you found when you arrived at The Skinners’ Kent Academy in 2009

It was a new school with new governance but very few pupils because no one wanted to go there. It had a poor reputation; remember this is Tunbridge Wells, which has fantastic grammar schools, great church schools … and us. There was a huge lack of confidence and stability. It felt as though everyone had almost turned in on themselves in self-defence, so we had to peel away the layers. A lot of people have an 18-month run-up to an academy opening but we had three months to put all the basic policies and processes in place. We built the ethos in the old school building and achieved a very good Ofsted and four years later, we have a successful thriving school community.

How did your new premises evolve?

I hadn’t quite realised the power you hold when you have building companies in front of you who would rather like your £20 million project. They asked me what styles I liked and I said I rather admired the [Solomon R.] Guggenheim Museum in New York, particularly its circular form and the way the building flows. ‘Excellence’ and ‘elegance’ were the two words I used to describe what was wanted. Much to my surprise both bidding companies arrived at the next meeting with mini Guggenheim designs. Our specialism wing, for example, is a beautifully curved cantilevered construction.

Were there any hiccups?

I did make it clear that nothing should be chosen without my say-so but there were some battles. We have an outdoor theatre space with a canopy that could have been lost from the original design but I was determined that it should be built. Outdoors is just as well-planned as indoors; we have a developing orchard, allotments, a place for outdoor sculpting and engineering projects.

Have you any other favourite buildings on which to base future school design?

I’ve always been rather keen on the Roman theatre in Orange [Théãtre antique d’Orange] in southern France. People have asked how any school will be able to measure up after Skinners but we still have a job to do here to ensure it has a sustainable, vibrant future.

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