Why consistency is key

In 2016, although our school was improving, we needed to do more. Faculty leaders reported spending too much time reactively managing behaviour; staff saw a need for higher expectations and greater consistency; students were not achieving enough. And, when we were judged by Ofsted as ‘requiring improvement’ for the third time in October, we knew that it wasn’t gradual change we needed. We needed transformation. Visiting exceptional schools, seeing what could be achieved by students just like ours, we realised that it was true – our expectations were low. The selective system in Kent meant that our students were often already disadvantaged in comparison to their grammar school counterparts. We needed to expect more. Starting with a blank sheet, we decided what school we would create if we were starting from scratch. Bennett (2017) talks about the fact that good school leaders are conscious architects of their school cultures, which have as foundations what is behaviourally ac