An essential tool for monitoring standards is a well-structured Development or School Plan. Drawing up the plan allows the school to identify and agree its priorities and allocate the necessary resources. Governors and staff can see where the school is going and how it plans to get there. An effective planning process involves the whole school community.

Governors should be involved both in identifying and in monitoring and reviewing its implementation and effectiveness. There is no blueprint for span or size, though it ought to cover the major areas of school life: the curriculum, pupils, staff development, special needs, premises, parents, the community and governors. Its success criteria should be clearly spelt out, focussing on pupils’ learning and its impact of this on standards in the school.

Characteristics of a good plan are that its aims make sure that:

• The school achieves the five key outcomes of  Every Child Matters

• All pupils have a good chance to succeed at school;

• Resources are used as effectively as possible to improve pupils’ learning;

• There is a sense of shared purpose; competing priorities are ranked in a rational way;

• In-service training for staff is linked to the plan’s priorities.

School Improvement Planning from FMSIS
School Improvement Planning Toolkit from TDA		622kB
Modules and Tools for the TDA Toolkit

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