In ‘School Cultures and Practices:  supporting the attainment of disadvantaged pupils’ the DfE looked at schools that have achieved high standards whilst working with deprived children.

The report points out that the challenge of teacher recruitment and retention needs to be addressed in poorer areas outside of London.

The strength of this work is that it gives very clear examples of effective practice with quotes from the teachers involved.

There are several references to training being needed in how to use data in order to focus the support that these children need. There is clear emphasis on early action here, with both NQTs and RQTs being given this training. It also states that this type of training should be included in ITT programmes.

This ‘data literacy’ level needs to be extended to governors as well so that they can hold the school to account.

Away from the the data aspect, it states that the most successful schools have teachers

• who believe in their school’s ethos
• are confident that their work can make a difference.

It is not surprising to see: “High-performing primary schools emphasised their investment in the EYFS.” (p 86)

There is also a recommendation that they look into the impact of shared purpose on performance.

Strong visionary leadership is noted as is parental involvement

Effective deployment of support staff is worth looking at (p73).

The leadership aspect is reported well (p78) and has some interesting comments about heads and senior leaders who regularly teach. This appears to be far more evident in primary schools rather than secondary.