Services for Independent Schools
Our expert consultants have expertise across a wide range of independent schools, including faith and special schools.
Bespoke packages
If you’re considering registration as an independent (special) school or you need advice and guidance setting up a new school or preparing for a pre-registration or material changes, our consultants are ready to help.
Annual package
We offer tailored school improvement partner packages.
Typically these will include 3, 6 or 9 visits throughout the course of the academic year dependent on the level of support your setting requires.1-2 Days
Our consultant will evaluate the effectiveness of the school against the Education Inspection Framework.
The review will comprise of several elements, including discussions with leaders and staff, visits to lessons, review of pupils’ work, discussions with pupils and a meeting with those who are responsible for governance.
Verbal or written feedback will be provided (written feedback will incur an additional 0.5 day cost).1 Day
Our focused reviews look at a particular aspect of the school’s work.
This may be a particular subject or department or could be a particular area of the framework, for example leadership, behaviour, attendance, personal development or pupil premium.
1-2 Days
Our consultant will evaluate the setting’s child protection and safeguarding systems and processes.
Our consultant will review the single central record, policies and practices relating to safeguarding, including the review of child protection records. Our consultant will meet with the designated safeguarding lead(s), SENCo and a selection of governors or trustees, staff and pupils to explore safeguarding.
Discussions will also take place about the safeguarding curriculum.
Verbal or written feedback will be provided (written feedback will incur an additional 0.5 day cost).
1-2 Days
We provide bespoke SEND reviews.
Our consultants will work with settings to build on their own self-evaluation and priorities.
The review will look at policy and practice, including the identification of and support for pupils with SEND. It will evaluate the whole-school approach to SEND and whether the setting meets its statutory obligations.1 Day
Our consultant will evaluate the effectiveness of governance against the six features of effective governance: strategic leadership, accountability, people, structures, compliance and evaluation.
The review will include a meeting with the chair of governors or the chair of trustees as well as a separate meeting with other members of the governing body or trust board.
Our consultant will also scrutinise a selection of meeting minutes. Verbal or written feedback will be provided (written feedback will incur an additional 0.5 day cost).1-2 Days
This review will take place remotely.
It will provide settings with a detailed analysis of the website’s content and will provide advice on how to improve the website and ensure it is fully compliant.1-2 Days
We will take the stress away from the statutory responsibilities you have when you use any type of alternative provision.
We will visit each alternative provision, carry out thorough checks on the setting’s safeguarding arrangements, safer recruitment, insurances, fire safety, health and safety, first aid and a premises tour.
We will complete a checklist for you, ensure you have the required paperwork and policies in place and advise you as to whether the alternative provision is suitable for your pupils to attend.
In addition, we can provide regular oversight checks to ensure continued compliance, as well as a review of the quality of education your pupils are receiving in the alternative provision (Verbal or written feedback will be provided (written feedback will incur an additional 0.5 day cost).Annual package
This service is offered remotely or in person.
Our consultant will provide independent external advice for members of the governing body. It includes all paperwork and an agenda for the headteacher performance management.
Support is provided to governors so that they understand their role in the process.
Our consultant will provide advice on setting objectives.Hourly or Block Bookings
We provide knowledgeable, skilled and expert coaches that support executive, senior and middle leaders, both in person and remotely.
PROFESSIONAL COACHING IN SCHOOLS (Delivered by our coaching partner Melanie Harte)
Melanie is a member of EMCC and abides by the Global Code of Ethics.
With a real understanding of the intensity, complexity and challenges of teaching, our coaching partner, Melanie, supports those who work in education to grow and thrive in their roles.
We provide remote, video call coaching, however we can provide face-to-face coaching too. This may incur additional travel costs.
Leadership
For leaders, Melanie's ability to listen deeply allows them to reflect, gain new perspectives and improve
self-awareness. She also encourages them to acknowledge their strengths so that they feel confident
and well-equipped to handle difficult conversations, build effective teams and implement the
changes that will make a real difference to students.
Well-being
With a passion for education and a deep commitment to do the best for the students, educators
often prioritise the needs of others over their own. From personal experience, Melanie understands these
conflicting priorities and can support teachers and school leaders from a place of real empathy to
establish and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
Career and Transitions
Melanie's structured approach will help you shape your career goals or re-imagine your professional life
as you navigate life’s transitions. With a clear vision in place, she will then support you to prepare so
that the next stage in your career is a success.
Professional Skills
Through her work as an ECT mentor and subject leader, Melanie has extensive experience in working with
colleagues to develop classroom practice and maximise impact on student progress. She adopts a
flexible approach in this context, blending coaching and mentoring to suit each individual’s needs
and level of experience.
Melanie's Coaching Approach
Melanie's approach is person centred, so she encourages individuals to identify the focus of the sessions and decide on their own way forward. Sessions are structured around the STRIDE model of coaching, but
with training in a range of different models she blends approaches to suit each individual’s needs. She also
recognises that different aspects of work and life are interconnected and therefore, rather than a
rigid focus on one goal, the flexibility to interweave different areas of focus may be important.
Where she feels it might be helpful, she may propose working with a specific coaching tool or offer a
‘homework’ activity as a way forward. Individuals are completely free to choose whether to take up
these offers, adapt them or set them aside.
Key Info
- Melanie offers a free 30-min chat for individuals who would like to find out more or make sure there is a
good fit, before committing to a coaching package.
- All discussions are confidential. An exception to this is the anonymous discussion of cases during
supervision for the purposes of developing best practice. Other instances where confidentiality
would not be maintained include, for example, illegal activity and safeguarding.
- Individuals are free to contact Melanie between sessions via email, should an immediate need arise
relating to their coaching focus.
- Once dates/times are agreed, we will regard these as a confirmed booking and cancellations
with less than 48 hours’ notice will incur a cancellation fee.
- Personal contact data is securely stored electronically to facilitate our coaching work and to
ensure compliance with legal and safeguarding requirements.
- Melanie is a member of EMCC and abides by the Global Code of Ethics for Coaches, Mentors and Supervisors.
- If you are not happy with any aspect of your work together, we urge you to
discuss this with us and we will do our best to resolve the issue as quickly as
possible. In the unlikely event of us not being able to resolve the issue to
your satisfaction, please refer to the EMCC.
Pricing
Please make contact with us to enquire about pricing.Negotiable
We work with a range of settings to support the development and implementation of peer reviews.
This is particularly helpful for multi-academy trusts or federations of schools that want to work more collaboratively.Negotiable
We offer end-to-end executive search for leadership posts both in mainstream and SEND/AP settings. Click here to see what our recruitment offer looks like.
Negotiable
Having a great, easy-to-use website is important. We design websites for educational settings, tailoring them to your individual requirements.