Annual Implementation Plan (AIP)

Overview: school improvement planning

The School Strategic Plan and the Annual Implementation Plan

All Victorian government schools participate in a 4-year strategic planning cycle to support school improvement and meet the requirements of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic).

Every school must prepare a School Strategic Plan (SSP), which identifies:

• the school’s vision and values (including contextual challenges) and the intent, rationale and focus for their SSP
• the school’s Goals, Targets and Key Improvement Strategies (KIS) that will drive their school improvement over a 4-year period.

Schools translate their 4-year SSP into practice through the development of the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP), which outlines:

• the SSP Goals, Targets and KIS selected for focus in that year
• the 12-month Targets that track progress against 4-year Targets
• the Actions that will be undertaken to implement the selected KIS
• the intended Outcomes of the Actions (changes in knowledge, skills and behaviours)
• the Success Indicators that will be used to measure the Outcomes
• the related Activities that will be completed to achieve the Outcomes, including resourcing and timelines for completion.

The School Improvement Team

The School Improvement Team (SIT) leads the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the AIP and supports school staff to regularly engage in the school improvement process.

The composition of the SIT will vary depending on school size and context, for example:

• in larger schools the SIT may exist independently to the formal leadership team
• in smaller schools the SIT may be comprised of all staff in the school
• in some schools the SIT may include all principal class and leadership class staff
• in certain schools it may be appropriate to include the school business manager or other education support staff with school leadership responsibilities in SIT meetings
• schools may wish to elect classroom teachers or education support staff to the SIT alongside core leadership staff
• some schools may wish to use different terminology to refer to the group of staff member/s responsible for the AIP and other school improvement processes.

The Strategic Planning Online Tool

Schools complete all strategic and annual planning documentation in the Strategic Planning Online Tool (SPOT).

SPOT supports schools to:

• document plans for school improvement
• store all school improvement documentation in one place
• share information easily with regional and central colleagues
• monitor implementation and evaluate progress
• adjust plans based on monitoring and evaluation.

Principal class and delegated users can access SPOT using their @education.vic.gov.au login credentials. Further advice on functionality and directions on how to use this platform is provided on SPOT.

The Framework for Improving Student Outcomes Improvement Cycle

The Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO 2.0) is the continuous improvement framework for all Victorian government schools.

FISO 2.0 can be used at different levels, from the whole-of-school to the classroom, and over different time periods, from 4-week cycles to annual cycles. The AIP takes schools through a one-year improvement cycle, during which the school employs the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle to:

• evaluate and diagnose student learning and wellbeing outcomes
• prioritise and set goals by identifying the improvement strategies that will have the greatest impact on student learning
• develop and plan the implementation of improvement strategies to ensure improved student outcomes
• implement and monitor selected improvement strategies and the impact these have on student learning and wellbeing outcomes.

The chapters of this AIP guidance are aligned with the 4 stages of the improvement cycle. For further information about FISO 2.0, refer to the department’s policy on Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO 2.0).