School Improvement Plan

 

To ensure our school continues to provide an effective education for your children, we continually evaluate what we do and how well our pupils achieve.  As part of this process we look for ways of doing things better of differently to ensure we continue to provide the best education and care we can.  Our priorities for development may change as the needs and strengths of our school change. Each year we decide on our improvement priorities for the coming year after evaluating and assessing the impact of the School Improvement Plan from the previous year. This is done through working with the Governing Board and our LA link advisor.

 

After careful reflection and robust evaluation of pupil outcomes, we have chosen the following School Improvement Priorities for 2025-26:

 School Improvement Priorities - Key Areas for Development

Teaching and curriculum

  • That the curriculum is reviewed and adapted as required to ensure it meets the curriculum review when published.
  • That where curriculum and/ or assessment changes are made these are supported through robust, evidence informed approaches.
  • Maths: That a maths mastery approach is adopted and taught across the school with parity within year groups.
  • Reading: That the weakest readers (lowest 20%) are best supported to make accelerated progress to catch-up with their peers (nationally and school) or if on phonics/ identified SEND they make sustained progress against their starting points.

Achievement

  • That the % of children at EXS, especially those recognised as vulnerable or in receipt of PP, is raised.
  • That the % of children reaching GDS is raised.

Safeguarding

  • That the school is robust in its procedures and holds multi-agency and council teams to account to ensure best outcomes for the children and families of Windmills.

Inclusion

  • That the schools takes an OAIP approach first and foremost and where interventions and alternative approaches are used these support the inclusion and learning of the respective pupils and their wider cohorts.
  • That staff feel supported and have the knowledge and understanding to use these approaches.

Attendance and behaviour

  • To review and implement a consistent behaviour policy that meets the needs of the children and staff to ensure that the best learning environment is fostered for all pupils.
  • That attendance of vulnerable pupils is raised and school attendance remains at least in-line with 2024-25.
  • That vulnerable pupils at risk of EBSA or who are deemed to be EBSA pupils are supported to increase their attendance.

Leadership and governance

  • That a smooth transition is achieved during this period of change including the recruitment of a new Chair of Governors.
  • That the HT builds and enables a distributed leadership model and one-school culture to empower staff.
  • That subject leaders are well trained within their respective areas and can demonstrate good knowledge of and leadership of their respective subject.
  • That the SENDCO supports staff knowledge and understanding of needs and their ability to meet these within their class.
  • That the school develops into an outward facing and reflective organisation that makes the most of local, national and international opportunities to raise the quality of teaching and learning and maximise its offer of a broad and balanced curriculum.