NPQSL Leading Culture and Ethos Cycle 2 Practice Activities Select three of the following nine activities to submit to your leadership coach. Choose activities based on your areas of interest and the results of the initial needs analysis undertaken at the start of the course.
School culture Activity 1: Using groups to sustain school’s strategic direction Rachel Jones’ practice piece in the ‘School culture study pack’ explains how the senior leadership team at Halifax Academy communicate and sustain the school’s strategic direction through groups:
quality of education group, responsible for curriculum achievement
teaching, learning and pedagogy group
student well-being group
student experience group
Reflect on the management structure, division of responsibilities and use of groups in your own school, and how that contributes to establishing and sustaining the school’s strategic direction. How are groups used in your school to communicate and sustain strategic direction? How do groups and meetings ensure all aspects of the school’s approach to continuous improvement are aligned to each other and around this strategic direction (for example, through standing agenda items to review progress, allocation of responsibilities)? What action is needed to support communication of the school’s strategic direction through groups (for example, updated agendas or templates for recording minutes, changes to roles and responsibilities, creation of new groups or changes to group membership)? How could groups be designed or organised to ensure the school’s strategic direction promotes ambitious standards for pupils more effectively?
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