10. The School Review Report
Future-focused and evidence-based
The School Review Report is a documented overview of school review outcomes, outlining the findings and decisions of the School Review Panel. It draws on the evidence base about the school’s performance, assembled during both the school’s pre-review self-evaluation (PRSE) and the review itself. It also draws on evidence about interventions that research demonstrates are effective in lifting outcomes for all students.
The Review Report serves as a valuable reference that informs practice and guides planning. It celebrates progress and acknowledges key challenges. It identifies specific opportunities to strengthen the school’s instructional core: student voice, agency and leadership, curriculum content and teaching practice.
The Review Report enables the school to navigate its improvement journey by establishing actionable, achievable, and ambitious directions for the next School Strategic Plan.
The public section of the Review Report provides a tangible output that can be shared with the school community. It enables the school community to understand the impetus behind the School Strategic Plan. The confidential section of the Review Report provides more detailed information that will assist the school with planning for its improvement journey.
Guidance for the next School Strategic Plan
The reviewer is responsible for drafting the Review Report following the School Review Panel Meeting (described in section 8 of these guidelines). The Review Report comprises a public section and a confidential section. The public section provides transparency for the school community. It reports on the school context and school highlights, and summarises key findings and directions for the next School Strategic Plan.
The confidential section examines the school’s achievements and challenges with reference to the current School Strategic Plan. It captures observations made during fieldwork and sets out the results from the Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority minimum standards for school registration check.
The confidential section is purposefully structured and written to assist the school to determine the content of the new School Strategic Plan, based on the directions identified by the panel, including goals, targets, and key improvement strategies (KIS).
Quality-assuring the School Review Report
Once the reviewer has drafted the Review Report, it is quality-assured and checked for accuracy by the principal and senior education improvement leader (SEIL). The SEIL’s approval is required before a draft version is declared final. A team in the Department’s Central Office quality-assures a sample of review reports.
The final version of the Review Report is uploaded to Sharepoint by the review company. Once approved by the SEIL (via a workflow email), the review company or reviewer forwards the final version to the principal.
Sharing the confidential section of the School Review Report
The principal presents the approved Review Report to staff and school council, with support from the SEIL, ensuring confidentiality requirements are understood and maintained.
The confidential section of the Review Report is shared, in hard copy only, with staff and school council members. There is a strict requirement that documents remain on school premises. Electronic copies are not made available.
For schools in the Transform school performance group, the reviewer attends a meeting of the school council to present Review Report findings.
Sharing the public section of the school review report
The Review Report forms the basis of the new School Strategic Plan.
After the new School Strategic Plan is endorsed, the public section of the Review Report is shared with the school community through publication on the school website together with the Plan.
Reviewed 20 February 2023