Teaching and Learning Staff Booklet

Lesson Observation Protocol from Sept 2018
John Colet School uses developmental observations to provide quality feedback on teaching to help teachers reflect on practice and
develop their teaching. The aim being that all teachers are involved in a continuous cycle of research, development and review.
Observations are always developmental and will be not be graded and only the areas of strength and developmental are reported to the
SLT lead for Teaching & Learning.
Developmental Lesson Observations
Across the year, each member of the teaching staff will have at least one full lesson developmental observation from their line manager,
and two shorter (approximately 30 minutes) observations where the focus will be selected as part of developmental discussions with
your line manager or members of the department. The shorter observations can be by a line manager or as a peer observation in
consultation with the line manager. The aim being that each teacher is seen teaching each term in an academic year. The focus of the
observation is agreed in advance and is usually suggested by the ‘observee’. The observer will comment primarily on the original focus
of the observation and will identify areas of strengths and weaknesses and in consultation with the observed teacher, agree area/s for
development which will in turn provide the focus for a subsequent developmental observation. No grading or rating is issued,
recorded or offered.
It is expected that every member of the teaching staff has carried out at least one observation during the academic year as part of their
continued professional development. These are arranged with colleagues within or across the school. This may be as part of developing
the CPD focus for the Tuesday Collaborative Planning session.
For all observation, the areas of strength and development are shared with the AHT for T&L in order to maintain a central record. This
database is used to help in providing suitable observers depending on the focus of the observation. It will also ensure that every
member of staff is observed AND observes a colleague at some point in the year.
If serious concerns are identified during the observation the line manager and SLT link must be informed before feedback is given to the
observed member of staff.
All new members of staff to JCS must be observed by their line manager within their first half term. If there are any areas of serious
concern identified this must be addressed immediately with the SLT link.
Further intervention
From September 2018, further observations or longer observations may be required to support colleagues who need help with specific
classes or areas of practice. This may be part of an Action Plan or through teacher choice as a CPD activity. Teachers are informed if
this needs to take place through a discussion with their Line Manager. Issues such as those listed below may cause this to occur (this
list is not exhaustive):
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their external exam results were not rated as good or above
evidence from learning walks, book audits or Learning Cycle data highlights a discrepancy between the rating and current
performance
there is an issue with one or more of their Teacher Standards
Under these circumstances, further book monitoring or data scrutiny may be required.