School Self-Review and Evaluation

Self-evaluation is now an integral part of school planning and improvement. It is a continuous process, its importance recognised in the Ofsted school inspection process. For many aspects of their work schools have access to various schemes for self-evaluation.

The Diocesan Framework for the Self-Review and Evaluation of Catholic Education, originally established in 2002 and comprehensively revised in 2007, is designed to assist schools in the process of reviewing the Catholic education which they provide, evaluating its content and planning its future development. It enables schools to systematically assess the nature of their Catholic identity and how effectively their pupils benefit from the curriculum and Catholic character of the school so as to inherit the teaching of Christ: "I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly." (John 10.10).

The Catholic school offers an education which is religious in both its context and content. There is no area of its life or curriculum which is not relevant to its Catholic character. However, because many aspects of school life are subject to review processes by such bodies as Ofsted and ISIS, the Self-Review and Evaluation of Catholic Education focuses on the following key aspects:

• The school as a Catholic community
• Curriculum religious education
• Pupils' spiritual and moral development

The school’s self-review report and the evidence to support it will provide the structure and format for its validation by Diocesan validators. The Validation Report fulfils the requirements of Section 48 inspection and the Bishop’s right under Canon Law to inspect religious education in schools.

School Self-Review and Evaluation Handbook

• The Complete Self-review Handbook
• Guidance on Making Judgements for Diocesan Self-Review Framework
• Validators' Handbook

Self Review Toolkit

Support for Monitoring Activities

• Ethos and Learning Walk
• Observing Worship
• Observing Teaching
• Pupil Work Scrutiny in RE
  

Working with Others

• Staff Survey
• Staff Meetings
• Working with Governors
• Pupil Survey (General)
• Pupil Survey (RE)
• Pupil Conferencing (RE)
• Working with the School Council
• Parental Survey (Primary)
• Parental Survey (Secondary)
• Pastoral Areas and Parishes
• Community Cohesion

Guidance on Completing the Self-Review Sheets

• Guidance on Completing the Sheets
• Examples of Completed Sheets
• Questions to consider: section A, section B, section C.
• Self-review Sheets A1 – C2

Validation Toolkit

• Validation process
• Validation report
• Stages of the Validation Process
• Getting Ready for Validation: A Checklist for Schools
• Contextual Information: Request Form
• The Pre-Validation Visit (Primary)
• The Pre-Validation Visit (Secondary)
• Documentary Evidence (Primary)
• Documentary Evidence (Secondary)
• Interview Form
• Report Template
• Examples of Completed Validation Sheets