Quality Assurance
At de Ferrers we have ensured that raising standards of achievement through the monitoring of teaching and learning remains our key priority. Our vehicle for achieving this is our Quality Assurance programme which uses a developmental model to engage staff and students in a dialogue over effective strategies. Q.A. provides the resources for a variety of lesson observations which, in turn, inform the college’s CPD, curriculum design and behaviour management approaches. We involve both senior and middle managers in the process to monitor areas such as homework and marking, as well as to introduce whole-college approaches to Learning 2 Learn, New Technologies and Student Voice. Q.A. has played a part in moving the GCSE 5 A*-C pass rate from 38% to 66% in the summer of 2006, and achieving consistent core SATs results of 80% level 5 and above.
Ofsted’s comment on the college’s Q.A. programme is reproduced below:
“A rigorous quality assurance programme has been effectively implemented. This ensures that the college’s view of its performance is accurate. Extensive and thorough monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning is conducted by the senior managers of the college. The accuracy of judgements that senior managers make was effectively demonstrated in a joint lesson observation conducted by an inspector and a senior manager.” (Ofsted Report November 2005)