School Self Review and Evaluation (SSRE)

All schools on the Isle of Man are required to undertake on-going school self-review and evaluation (SSRE) and this requirement is defined within Articles of Government for schools. This involves a programme of monitoring of all aspects of their own work and to reach judgments about the quality of that work. SSRE requires schools to evaluate what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Schools consider aspects of their work, judging them as being inspirational, very effective, effective, not yet effective – improving and not yet effective – urgent action required. School self-review and evaluation is regarded as a more beneficial process than a brief, one-off inspection.

In order to test out the judgements schools are making about themselves and ensure rigour and objectivity, a validator from an organisation called Graham Reeves Ltd then visits the school with an adviser from the Department of Education, Sport and Culture.

Graham Reeves Ltd, of 54 Cameron Road, Bromley, successfully tendered for the contract to undertake SSRE in a competitive tender process over the summer 2017.  They were the only organisation to put in a tender bid.  (NB other companies did initially tender but then dropped out of the process) The validators have both been Ofsted Inspectors, being members of teams inspecting schools in England.  They are also familiar with the Isle of Man and have previously led the external validation the SSREs of primary and secondary schools in the Isle of Man from 2013-2016.  They have also conducted inspections, reviews and accreditations of primary schools in England, Scotland, USA, Russia, Malaysia, Brunei, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, Nigeria, Gabon, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Singapore and South Korea.  They have also conducted inspections and reviews of secondary schools in England and the USA.

The validation process either confirms a school’s judgments or helps it re-evaluate them – perhaps finding, for example, that a school has been overly self-critical or that it doesn’t quite yet have the evidence to support a judgment.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture believes that while the judgments themselves are significant, of greater importance is how well schools know themselves and can measure what they achieve.  The main aim of the validation process is to provide professional support to schools to help them to refine their own judgments.

The Department is of the view that schools, having evaluated themselves, are then in a strong position to improve practice and provide the best possible learning opportunities for pupils.  Any areas for improvement are included in schools’ improvement plans and schools are supported in doing this by Link Advisers from the Education Improvement Service (EIS).

The external validation reports of recent SSREs can be viewed on the School Self Review and Evaluation reports webpage.