Messages from the WELL Team:

Universal and Targeted Grant Funding

If your implementation plan has been returned with feedback and you would prefer to return your revised plan to WELL@cumberland.gov.uk in early January, please be reassured that we will follow this up with you in the new year and your grant will be kept safe.

We are in the process of transferring all grant funding to schools that have had their implementation plan quality assured and approved by the WELL Team.

Standardisation of Maths Assessments

If Maths is a priority for your school and/or outcomes are not yet where you want them to be, there is an opportunity to get involved in the NGMT assessment trial next term. WELL, is exploring how we might be able to support our schools with effective and efficient approaches to standardised assessments in Maths. There may also be potential to enable a group of WELL schools to use this as a powerful individual and collaborative driver for improvements. Therefore, we encourage our schools to consider this.

To find out more about NGMT Testing, please find a link to the GL Assessments 'Introducing NGMT' video HERE.

To express an interest in participating in this trial, please complete THIS FORM and return to WELL@cumberland.gov.uk by Friday 10^th January 2025.

We are also aware that a number of WELL schools already use White Rose termly assessments. If you are interested in exploring how WELL might be able to support standardisation of these, without additional workload, please email WELL@cumberland.gov.uk  and we will this explore this as a project, if a sufficient number of schools come forward.

Pupil Premium (PP) Statement

Deadline Tuesday 31st December

This is a polite reminder to all WELL Schools, that you are required to publish an updated PP statement on your school website by Tuesday 31st December.

Please find PP strategy guidance on the Government Website HERE.

A number of schools have already reached out to us for an example of a promising PP Statement. If you would like an example of a promising PP strategy, please email WELL@cumberland.gov.uk and we can share this with you.

University of Nottingham (UoN) External Evaluation of WELL Project

At the WELL board meeting, held on the 5^th December 2024, University of Nottingham provided a presentation, outlining the key findings from the independent evaluation.

We hope to receive the final report before the end of December and will make it available on the WELL website in the new year.

The WELL Team would like to place on record our thanks to Professor Toby Greany and all members of the evaluation team that have worked with us over the last three years. Their evaluation approach has served to both challenge and support our work and the formative process has enabled improvements to be made over time.

The key message is that schools in West Cumbria have engaged well with the project to date, and the use of evidence and research to support school improvement has significantly improved over the three years. While there is still some understandable variation, overall, this use of evidence is becoming increasingly sophisticated. The importance of the role of a local Education Research Alliance (ERA) in bringing nationally recognised expertise to work alongside locally identified expertise is also recognised as a key enabler for the project going forward.

 At a time when funding pressures continue to be experienced, the WELL resource is an important enabler of school improvement, and the implementation process is supporting most schools well.

The quality of WELL’s Professional Development offer is recognised, as is the work undertaken to enable schools to access specific expertise when addressing regionally identified priorities.

The importance and impact of our pastoral work are commended, though challenges in using precise, numerical impact measures for this key strand are also recognised. Case studies and surveys do provide positive evidence.

Confidence in WELL mechanisms, and in the successes, possible through WELL, remain strong. The percentage of schools that are very satisfied with WELL’s programme has increased year on year, and confidence in the impact it will have on disadvantaged pupils has remained. Though there has been a small reduction in the percentage that are very confident of this, this appears to be mainly due to greater appreciation of  external challenges, beyond WELL’s or a school’s control. Factors such as the cost-of-living crisis, recruitment and retention of staff, attendance, lack of SEND support and pupil mobility are articulated as some of the barriers faced.

As you will be aware, we have not made WELL primarily about Year 6 and Year 11 examinations, and the evaluation judges this to have been the right approach. 

However, these measures are not where we want them to be yet, and there were low outcomes in KS2 Maths in 2024. As only a small minority of WELL school have focused on Maths to date, it has been recommended that we do explore what we can do to support the Maths priority for the region. We will seek to engage with the LA KS2 Maths Plan leads, and the Maths Hub to see how we can support the work already taking place. We will be further exploring the potential to develop groups of schools using consistent standardised assessments that can support both individual and project level collaboration and impact evaluation.

Pleasingly, 97% of schools can evidence either strong or emerging positive evidence of impact for their specific WELL funded implementation work.

We have summarised the learning from all WELL schools that submitted an implementation evaluation and can be found HERE, to support your work this year, including core components examples for a number of priorities.

Several schools have raised some challenges to participation in WELL. These include capacity, due to conflicting pressures/staff absence, and the paperwork and deadline expectations of the project. We received some helpful feedback from Headteacher board members, that the individual evaluation expectations of WELL going forward will also benefit from further reflection and review.

We will continue to reflect, and review this in our efforts to balance efficiency of time, with the accountability we all have for such generous investment. Dale will be discussing this through LASL, Secondary Heads and Clusters to see how we can improve further.

The main conclusion is that we are doing things the right way and therefore to continue to focus on strengthening evidence-informed practice and a collaborative, outward facing system – avoid narrowing the focus onto Y6 and Y11 tests/exams. We should continue to support and challenge school leaders to embed rigorous evidence-informed implementation linked to grants and encourage ‘sophisticated’ approaches.

University of Cumbria Endorsement

You may have seen in the local press, the wonderful news that Cumbrian Award is now officially endorsed by University of Cumbria and will provide opportunities for young people to progress into exciting studies in the future.

“Applicants who have already completed the Cumbrian Award are prime candidates to become ‘the lifesavers, innovators, adventurers, creatives and educators of tomorrow.”

- Dr Ruth Harrison-Palmer, University of Cumbria

Click to read the full press release HERE. 

We are involved in positive conversations to secure similar endorsements from local employers, so that achievements will be recognised and that Cumbrian Award, offers a genuine currency to all young people, after achieving it.

We encourage all WELL schools to consider participation in an award that is by this place, for this place.

Most importantly, it is designed for the benefit of our children and young people and it also aligns beautifully with OFSTED’s focus on belonging and inclusion.

To get involved with the Award in the new year, please email Cumbrian.Award@cumberland.gov.uk.

Annual Events Planner and Programmes Padlet 2024/25

The WELL Programmes Padlet outlines all of our high quality professional development programmes available for 2024/25.

All WELL Events and upcoming training sessions are detailed in the WELL Annual Events Planner.

Events on the Annual Events Planner with a 'green dot' are bookable via SLA Online/ School Development Team. For all other events, please email WELL@Cumberland.gov.uk directly to express an interest.

The Annual Events Planner is a live link and will be updated throughout the year.