Can I just use the Audit Reporting Tool on its own?

Absolutely. The ART is a tool designed specifically to give you an in depth, RAG rated view of your school’s performance; regardless of whether you adopt all of the QFES principles or teach a conventional curriculum. As well as giving you the information you need to drive your school towards ‘Outstanding’, it will dramatically reduce the time spent on admin, generating all of the reports you need from a single input. HOWEVER, in order to effectively move towards green ratings across the National and Character Curriculum, you will almost certainly need to review how you teach; there simply aren’t enough hours in the school day otherwise.

How do I know that QFES will cover all of the teaching objectives in the National and Character Curriculum?

The Quality First Education System is built around project based learning. Every project is designed around the curriculum – the objectives are woven in and the children gather knowledge and learn with purpose, picking up the characteristics we are trying to instill in them along the way. And they do it in a fun environment, without pressure – almost unaware that they are learning at all. You can see an overview of a typical QFES project and how it meets the Curriculum objectives HERE.

How do we know that the children are learning?

The curriculum is delivered in a different way. It involves less talking and more listening, and this ethos carries through to assessing the childrens’ learning. We train teachers to ask the right questions and be more observant. No more marking – it’s  not necessary. Even Ofsted recognises this now. Instead, children are assessed through careful questioning, watching and listening.

So the teachers don’t have to spend hours marking or planning lessons?

No. QFES teachers don’t spend time marking – they know the children don’t read it. Instead they assess through careful questioning, listening and observation. They don’t spend time planning individual lessons. They know exactly what they want the children to learn, and they know exactly how long they have to learn it. This gives them the time to help children to develop the characteristics they need to become strong, independent learners.

Do you provide training and support?

Yes. We offer IT support to the Audit Reporting Tool, including continuous Ofsted updates. We can also provide you with training and support to help you and your teachers get to grips with the philosophy behind a project based curriculum. We can even carry out the training for you. You can read more about this HERE

Will you supply project templates?

If you want some example project guides to get you thinking along the right lines – no problem. However, your curriculum should reflect the culture and ethos of your school and community. Every school and every community has its own identity and traditions and these should be celebrated. Our bespoke teacher training will help you to put together a project based curriculum that reflects the culture, ethos, location and heritage of your school.

Can I implement QFES without any additional training?

Of course. You may just want to buy the Quality First Education System, use the Audit Reporting Tool to cut down on your admin and feel your way around the project based teaching philosophy in your own time. That’s fine. But to really get the most out of the QFES we would recommend getting your teachers up to speed as quickly as possible. The ART will then help you to audit the impact of implementation, how your school is improving and whether you are on track to achieve your goals.

What is Ofsted’s view of QFES?

Put succinctly, Ofsted have stated that “QFES, the Character Curriculum and ART, if applied fully, under the new framework could meet all ‘Outstanding’ requirements in Quality of Education, Personal Development and Leadership.”
You can read more details of an Ofsted inspection on a school that has implemented the Quality First Education System HERE

What do other people say about SOS and the QFES system?

Local Government is very supportive of the Character Curriculum and ART and are using their headteacher conferences to promote SOS, our products and services. They are currently considering using the ART for all schools ‘Requiring Improvement’ (RI). A Local Government advisor said “All schools should have this in place, why have we never done this?”

A Somerset Headteacher commented “I need this. I need it in place now. I can’t believe I have tried to do everything separately when I could just do one SEF to report to everyone AND meet all requirements for Ofsted as well as SIAMS.”

After finding out about QFES a Diocese advisor said “Why aren’t all schools using this? Why have we never done this before?” and are considering how they can promote the work of SOS.

Does the Quality First Education System work?

Yes. Absolutely. The Quality First Education System was developed by Julie Norman, an Executive Head directly responsible for 4 schools. Using the QFES system these 4 schools have gone from a SEF rating of ‘Requires Improvement’ to Ofsted agreement that under the current framework they would all be ‘Outstanding’.

In one school where the QFES philosophy was adopted, Age Related Expectations went from 20% using conventional curriculum teaching to an ARE of 86% in just one year.

Schools adopting QFES have seen the gender achievement gap between boys and girls narrow dramatically from 18% to 10%.