School Strategic Plan

Policy

This policy sets out the requirement for schools to develop a 4-year School Strategic Plan.

Summary

• All Victorian government schools must develop a 4-year School Strategic Plan (SSP) in the term following a review. The SSP should be endorsed by the principal and school council president in the Strategic Planning Online Tool (SPOT).
• Guidance for Developing the key directions for the SSP is available on the Guidance tab on this site.

Details

• Under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) and Ministerial Order 470 all schools must prepare a 4 year School Strategic Plan (SSP) that sets out the school’s:
  • philosophy
  • goals
  • targets to improve student outcomes
  • strategies for achieving them.
• The recommended goals, targets and key improvement strategies (KIS) for the SSP are referred to as key directions and are developed through the school review process.
• These are shared with staff and the broader community to ensure collective ownership and support for the SSP over the next 4 years and to inform the vision, values and intent sections of the school’s SSP.
• Members of the school leadership team will lead the school in reviewing or updating the school’s philosophy, which is communicated through the vision, values and intent sections of the school’s SSP.
• Upon endorsement by the senior education improvement leader (SEIL) in SPOT, the goals, targets and KIS articulated in the SSP cascade into the Annual Implementation Plan, which operationalises the SSP over 4 years.

Related policies

• School Review
• Framework for Improving Student Outcomes
• Annual Implementation Plan (AIP)
• Annual Report to the School Community

Relevant legislation

• Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic)
• Ministerial Order 470

Guidance

This guidance contains the following chapters:

1. Preparing the School Strategic Plan
2. Developing the key directions for the School Strategic Plan
3. Advice on target setting for small schools

1. Preparing the School Strategic Plan

A School Strategic Plan (SSP) is a 4-year plan for school improvement, completed by schools after their School Review. The plan is based on the key directions (goals, targets and key improvement strategies) recommended by the school review panel. These are informed by the findings of the school review. The school’s allocated school reviewer documents the key directions and supporting rationale in the school review report. Once finalised, the department pre-populates the key directions and supporting rationale on behalf of schools into the draft SSP on the Strategic Planning Online Tool (SPOT).

The SSP:

• outlines the school's vision and values
• sets goals and targets for improved student outcomes
• lists the key improvement strategies (KIS) that will help achieve these goals and targets
• is sensitive to local needs.

Once key directions are pre-populated on SPOT, it is recommended schools share and discuss these with school staff and the wider community to generate ownership and support for the direction of the SSP over the next 4 years. Discussions can include a review of the school’s vision and values.

Following these discussions, schools complete the vision and values section of the SSP on SPOT. Schools can make any required edits to the key directions in SPOT and submit the SSP for endorsement by their senior education improvement leader (SEIL) and school council president.

Schools must complete their SSP by the end of the term after their school review and have it endorsed before they commence developing a new Annual Implementation Plan (AIP), which operationalises the SSP.

All schools review the SSP goals, targets and KIS when preparing to develop the AIP each year. Schools can unlock their SSP on SPOT to update the goals, targets and KIS where needed in response to changes in school priorities and context.

2. Developing the key directions for the School Strategic Plan

At the end of a school review, the school review panel draws on the insights gathered to collaboratively develop key directions for the new School Strategic Plan (SSP). Key directions are where schools articulate their improvement focus for the next 4-year SSP cycle and comprise goals, key improvement strategies and targets.

Goals reflect the school’s focus on improving learning and wellbeing outcomes for their students. Key improvement strategies (KIS) are the practices schools implement to achieve the goals and targets. Targets measure improvement of student learning and wellbeing outcomes and the school practices that can influence change in these outcomes.

The goals and targets are aligned to the twin outcomes of learning and wellbeing at the centre of the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) 2.0. The KIS align to the FISO 2.0 core elements of Leadership, Teaching and learning, Assessment, Engagement, and Support and resources.

The school review process and development of SSP key directions align to the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle stages as follows:

• Evaluate and diagnose (school review)
• Prioritise and set goals (school review and development of key directions)
• Develop and plan (development of key directions).

For further information on the school review process, refer to the School Review topic on the Policy and Advisory Library (PAL).

2.1 Develop goals

Developing goals for the School Strategic Plan (SSP) is aligned to the 'Prioritise and set goals' stage of the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle. The prioritise component is completed through school review activities, before key directions are developed.

Goals are high-level statements that reflect the focus for all schools on improving learning and wellbeing outcomes for their students.

Consistent with FISO 2.0, all schools should set at least one goal to improve student learning and one goal to improve student wellbeing.

Whilst all schools set learning and wellbeing goals, school review panels identify specific student outcomes and related school practices to inform the focus of goals, targets and key improvement strategies (KIS).

It is recommended schools use the standard wording provided below to establish their goals:

• Learning goal – Improve student learning outcomes and/or growth
• Wellbeing goal – Improve student wellbeing outcomes and/or growth.

A third ‘blended’ goal combining learning and wellbeing outcomes may also be developed where there are context-specific priorities related to improvements in both outcomes.

2.2 Develop and plan key improvement strategies

Developing key improvement strategies (KIS) is aligned to the 'Develop and plan' stage of the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle. KIS are the high-level practices the school will implement to improve the student learning and wellbeing outcomes identified for focus through the school review. KIS should link directly to the practice areas for improvement identified through the review process.

Key question to support KIS development:

• What broad school practices were identified through the review that will have impact on student learning and wellbeing improvement areas?

When developing KIS, consideration should be given to:

• the likely impact on student learning and wellbeing
• rigorous, relevant research-informed practice
• capability and resources to implement the strategies (school context, staffing, funding, readiness for change).

KIS should align to one or more FISO 2.0 core elements: Leadership, Teaching and learning, Assessment, Engagement and Support and resources.

A maximum of 4 KIS for each goal should be developed. Each KIS should take at least 2 years to complete. KIS are implemented through 4 successive Annual Implementation Plans (AIP) that cascade out of a school’s 4-year SSP.

Writing a key improvement strategy

A KIS consists of 3 components, broken down into 2 steps:

• the how (verb) and the what (strategy) – this is how the strategy will be implemented and what the strategy is
• the why (result) – this is the expected change in student or practice outcome that is a result of implementing the KIS. The why should directly relate to the areas of improvement in school practices identified through the review.

To develop the KIS:

1. For each of learning and wellbeing, list 5 to 6 broad strategies that are directly linked to the practice areas for improvement identified through the review process.
2. Review each strategy with consideration of:
   • the expected impact on student learning and wellbeing outcomes
   • rigorous and relevant evidence-informed practice
   • the school’s capability and resourcing to implement the strategies in a staged, sequenced approach (school context, barriers/enablers, staffing, funding, readiness for change)
3. Prioritise 2 to 4 KIS that will improve learning outcomes and 2 to 4 KIS that will improve wellbeing outcomes.
4. Review the KIS developed to ensure they include the 3 required components (how, what and why).

Draft supporting actions

To support implementation of the KIS through the AIP, school review panels are provided time to draft a range of possible AIP actions the school can use to implement the KIS. It is recommended that 2 to 4 possible actions are drafted for each KIS to support successful implementation through the AIP. The draft actions should realistically reflect the school’s context and resourcing ability.

Actions are documented together with the KIS and can be reviewed, modified or adapted when schools develop their AIP.

For further information on how to develop an action, refer to the Annual Implementation Plan policy.

2.3 Develop targets

Developing targets is aligned to the 'Develop and plan' stage of the FISO 2.0 improvement cycle. Targets measure improvement of student learning and wellbeing outcomes in 2 ways:

• directly measure changes in student learning and wellbeing outcomes
• measure improvement in school practices related to the KIS that can positively impact student outcomes.

Key question to support target development:

• Which valid and reliable measures will assess the identified student learning and wellbeing outcomes?

To develop the targets:

1. Select 3 to 4 data sources to measure improvement in learning outcomes and improvement in wellbeing outcomes. The chosen sources should directly measure the student outcomes and school practices identified for focus through the school review process.
2. Where possible, use the FISO 2.0 system measures (DOCX) to select the data sources. Examples of key data sources include NAPLAN, the Attitudes to School Survey, the School Staff Survey and Victorian Curriculum Teacher Judgement data.
3. Select the measures from each data source that will most effectively assess progress in the identified student outcomes and school practices. For example, NAPLAN uses 3 measures to evaluate student achievement: benchmark growth, relative growth and proficiency levels.
4. Include a small number of components for each target to capture improvements in specific curriculum areas, student cohorts or focus areas, if desired. For example, panels may set a NAPLAN proficiency level target to measure three components: Year 3 reading, Year 3 numeracy and Year 5 numeracy. These components should directly reflect the student outcomes and school practices identified for improvement and maintain a sharp and narrow focus.
5. Identify a baseline percentage for each target, noting the year the data is obtained. This should reflect the most recent data available.
6. Write an improvement target that is both challenging and achievable by the end of the 4-year SSP. When determining the 4-year percentage improvement for each target, consider the school’s available capability and resourcing, the number of students represented by the percentage and comparison data available on Panorama in the ‘highlight’ measures.

Setting maintain targets

Schools with strong learning and wellbeing outcomes data can set ‘maintain’ targets as this reflects the school’s ongoing commitment to sustaining strong performance. The baseline for maintain targets should be set using the school’s own, specific data rather than comparison data, such as similar schools or statewide data.

An additional supporting resource for developing key directions is available on the Resources tab which includes complete worked examples.

Small schools and designated purpose schools for which the system measures are either not accessible or do not apply can adopt a tailored approach to target setting.

Specific advice to support target setting for small schools is available in Chapter 3: Advice on target setting for small schools.

Designated purpose schools’ context and student cohorts can vary significantly. The School Planning, Review and Annual Reporting Unit and the Schools and Regional Evidence Unit will provide individualised support for target setting as needed, via schoolplanning@education.vic.gov.au and school.performance.data@education.vic.gov.au

2.4 Rationale for the School Strategic Plan key directions

To finalise the key directions, school review panels should review the goals, targets and KIS to ensure these clearly reflect the panel’s identified areas for improvement in relation to learning and wellbeing outcomes and school practices.

The school reviewer will, on behalf of the panel, prepare a summary rationale for each goal that explains the relationship between the review’s findings and the key directions developed by the panel. This will include brief detail on the findings related to school’s outcomes data and school practices that informed the key directions.

3. Advice on target setting for small schools

3.1 Schools with stable enrolments

It is recommended small schools with stable enrolments set School Strategic Plan (SSP) targets using aggregated data across 3 years. When evaluating achievement of targets, it is recommended to use the same aggregated data over 3 years approach.

3.2 Schools with fluctuating enrolments

It is recommended small schools with fluctuating enrolments, such as new schools in high growth corridors, set a 3-year baseline by calculating a weighted average to account for varying cohort sizes. When evaluating achievement of targets, it is recommended to use the same weighted average data over 3 years approach.

The Schools and Regional Evidence Unit supports all schools with fewer than 100 enrolments to prepare data for the school review, including support for calculating weighted averages for the pre-review self-evaluation and to set SSP targets. Schools who require further support calculating 3-year and weighted averages can access this via school.performance.data@education.vic.gov.au

3.3 Using existing local data sources

Local data sources can provide useful and reliable information to set improvement targets and evaluate school improvement. Small schools are not required to create or collect additional data and are encouraged to use data sets already in place as part of regular assessment practices. This includes any system level data available.

Local data sources can include formal and informal, formative and summative assessments:

• student work samples
• individual education plans
• school-developed student tests
• classroom observation and/or learning walk records
• learning and/or behaviour management system data
• school-developed staff, student and parent/caregiver surveys.

3.4 Additional advice for schools with 100 enrolments or fewer

Victorian Curriculum Teacher Judgements

It is possible to set benchmarks and targets that are aggregated within a domain, such as student growth in all 3 modes of English: reading and viewing, writing, speaking and listening.

VCE scores

An adjusted VCE study score is only available if more than 5 students are enrolled in a given subject. As such, the panel may wish to use the mean of all VCE study scores and/or VCE English to set targets.

Department of Education perception surveys

System level perception surveys include:

• Attitudes to School Survey (AtoSS)
• School Staff Survey (SSS)
• Parent, Caregiver, Guardian Opinion Survey (PCGOS).

Data for these surveys is not provided where there are less than 6 respondents to the AtoSS and less than 4 respondents to the SSS and the PCGOS.

Schools may choose to assess student, staff and community perceptions through other existing means of feedback such as:

• parent-teacher interviews
• school-developed surveys
• feedback received via email, phone or in-person
• observational data from key staff.

Attendance

Absence data is scalable, meaning it applies to each student in the same way it applies to smaller or larger groups of students. For small schools, panels may set targets to improve the average attendance rate.

3.5 Additional advice for schools with 30 enrolments or fewer

In addition to the advice above, schools with 30 enrolments or fewer and finding their year-level cohorts too small for the options above, may choose to set student achievement and growth targets against individual student learning goals. Individual student names should not be listed due to privacy.

Further support

If further support regarding measuring achievement against the previous SSP, identifying other outcome measures or setting targets for the new SSP, contact the School Planning, Review and Annual Reporting Unit at Schoolplanning@education.vic.gov.au

For questions regarding Panorama data, contact the Schools and Regional Evidence Unit at School.Performance.Data@education.vic.gov.au

Resources

• Additional supporting resource for developing key directions (DOCX) (staff login required)
• Additional supporting resource for developing key directions (PDF) (staff login required)