The approach to School Excellence is student-centric and built on:

• strong self-assessment and evaluative practices
• a clear focus on student wellbeing, growth and attainment
• an evidence-informed Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) for every school
• progress monitoring, through regular collection and analysis of evidence, to inform next steps.

The School Excellence cycle is underpinned by the School Excellence Framework which supports all NSW public schools in their pursuit of excellence.

The School Excellence Framework (SEF):

• provides a clear description of effective practice across the key educational domains of learning, teaching and leading, and informs and guides decision-making by principals.
• is evidence-based and identifies explicit school practices that are directly related to continuous, school-wide improvement and better student outcomes for your students.

The School Excellence Policy and requirements

The School Excellence Policy requires all NSW public schools to develop a Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP), which is informed by authentic self-assessment and evaluation, and aligned to purposeful resource allocation.

An external validation (EV) process provides an assurance to your school, and to the system, that the progress being made aligns with the expectations articulated in the SEF. It enables your school leadership team to validate ongoing self-assessment practices, and identify evidence for consideration by an external panel of peers.

The School Excellence Policy also:

• outlines the roles and responsibilities of principals, Directors, Educational Leadership, and Executive Directors, School Performance, in the pursuit of school excellence
• incorporates the use of the School Planning and Reporting Online (SPaRO) tool as the means for constructing the Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) and preparing the annual report.
  

School Excellence cycle animations

Watch the range of animations to find out more about the School Excellence cycle and its components.

• A brief overview and introduction to the components of the School Excellence cycle - the situational analysis, the Strategic Improvement Plan, implementation and progress monitoring, and annual reflection.
  

External validation and a 4 year cycle

Excellence in every NSW public school is supported by the external validation (EV) process, which in turn, supports the development of your Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP).

Your school is assigned to one of 4 School Excellence cohorts, supporting the 4 year School Excellence cycle. Each year, one group – about a quarter of all schools – will be selected to complete the aligned EV. The distribution of your school across the 4 years has been determined by the timing of your external validation during the 2016-2020 cycle.

School improvement is a continuous process which does not begin or end with any one Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP).

Your school will develop a new 4 year Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) in the year you undertake EV. The EV process, and the evidence collated for the EV panel, will form part of the situational analysis for the development of your school's new Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP).

Support and resources

The following support contacts and online resources are available to you to assist you in developing and implementing your Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP) and external validation:

• Director, Educational Leadership
• Principal, School Leadership team
• School Excellence and Accountability.

For further information on the timelines specific to your school's external validation cohort group, please consult the Quick Reference Guide (QRG).

Components of the School Excellence cycle

There are 4 components of the School Excellence cycle:

1. Situational analysis informed by external validation - Where are we now? How do we know? What are our next steps?
2. Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP)
3. Implementation and progress monitoring of your SIP
4. Annual reflection and adjustment of your SIP.

Leading school improvement

Key educational research highlights the direct connection between your leadership, teacher professional learning and improved student outcomes.

There is no question that excellence in leadership remains a crucial factor in determining whether students in your school succeed. It is second only to the in-school effects of excellence in teaching practices (Leithwood et al 2010).

The enactment of this strong moral purpose combined with relational trust, a commitment to action, and collective efficacy establishes a mindset that places every child and young person at the centre of decisions leading to improved outcomes for your students.

High performing school leaders lead school improvement with a strong focus on leading teaching and learning and the development of teachers. Teachers need to see you as having strong pedagogical knowledge that progresses student learning. You will be able to develop teacher capabilities through engaging in evaluation of teaching and its effect on student learning in a highly collaborative, trusting environment.

The School Leadership Institute (SLI) provides resources and frameworks to support effective leadership for school improvement.