Dear Parents and Carers,
An external validation visit was undertaken at Cronk Y Berry School on the 17th and 18th June 2024 as part of a programme of external validation of schools commissioned by The Isle of Man Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC). The aim of the external validation visit was to promote continuous improvement and to deliver consistency, share best practice and deliver positive outcomes for children and young people. The visit was undertaken by two independent external validators from Tribal Education.
External validators looked at a wide range of evidence presented by school leaders, including the school self-evaluation, and sampled the work of the school during the visit. These activities were focussed on key areas based on the self-evaluation of the school and included visits to a cross-section of lessons, meetings with staff and pupils, gathering the views of parents and Governors where appropriate and scrutiny of documentation.
During the visit, external validators considered key areas of focus which were explored in collaboration with the school leaders to validate school leaders’ own evaluations.
The school puts your children at the very heart of all that it does. They want every child to become the very best version of themselves; the school nurtures and supports children to grow as rounded individuals. Positive relationships and care are evident throughout and across the school community and are central to its success. A shared culture and common values are ‘lived’ by all its members on a daily basis. As one child so beautifully put it, ‘at this school we learn to be really kind to each other’.
Your children are indeed confident and articulate ambassadors for the school and reflect these core values in their behaviours. The children actively support, share and promote the school’s priorities, such as reading initiatives and digital learning, and take their responsibilities in doing so seriously and with great maturity. For example, the Reading Ambassadors are able to clearly explain how they want to ‘share the pleasure of reading’ with younger learners, the e-Squad are committed to supporting the safe and responsible use of technology and there is pure enjoyment evident in children engaged in choir club.
The provision and support for children with additional needs is a positive feature of how effectively teams of staff within the school work closely together and in wider partnership with parents and carers.
Parents and carers greatly value the positive impact that the school makes on children’s lives, both within and well beyond the classroom. Proactive home-school communication can be seen in various forms and staff are regarded as visible and approachable with a genuine ‘open-door’ approach.
The school’s reflective leadership recognises the importance of the foundations put in place to support the next phase of its prioritised development and improvement planning. As part of their continuous self-evaluation, they recognise the need to develop the curriculum offer in a way that is matched to their vision for every young person to become a lifelong learner, which reflects children’s interests and aspirations. This whole school curriculum focus is linked to a review of approaches to teaching for learning and assessment, so that children can progress in their skills, knowledge and understanding, where the most effective approaches to teaching and learning that were observed as part of the visit are being shared, developed and celebrated throughout the school.
The school are now ready for contributions from the whole school community to lead the next stage of development, built on the solid foundations which have already been put in place.
The areas of growth identified above, as part of the external validation visit, are being reviewed and actioned by the school as part of a continuous cycle of self-evaluation, aligned to its core values and vision.
Kind regards
Nicola Morris
Lead Validator
External Validation Team