• home
• about us
• find a programme
• publications
• events
• research
• managing your school
• online collaboration
• NCSL in your region

• succession planning
• ECM leadership direct
• leadership library

• help
• contact us

School Improvement Partners (SIPs)

Overview

Welcome to the web pages for School Improvement Partner accreditation. NCSL is responsible for the accreditation of SIPs on behalf of the National Strategies. These pages provide information about the accreditation of SIPs, including news, updates and useful links.

Since 1 April 2008, every maintained school and academy in England has had a SIP attached to it.

NCSL will run the School Improvement Partner Accreditation Programme in all three phases at a reduced level until 31 March 2010.

New responsibilities from April 2011

As part of the recent white paper, NCSL has been asked to do the following.

• To review and develop the accreditation process for SIPs to take account of their expanded role and provide or commission better, more consistent training and support, including guidance on multi-agency working and on special educational needs (SEN) and disability. Over time, all existing SIPs will be required to be re-accredited to ensure they have the necessary skills.
• To undertake quality assurance of SIPs, providing SIPs with an ongoing 'licence to practise'.
• To hold a national register of SIPs that shows which SIPs are best suited to working with particular types of school (eg poorly performing, below floor, outstanding, coasting, clusters etc).

NCSL welcomes this opportunity and will take on these new responsibilities from April 2011.

Application opportunities

There are currently limited opportunities for new SIPs to be accredited and NCSL has no application rounds planned.

All queries should be referred to sips@ncsl.org.uk.

Please use the links on the right-hand side to read more about the different stages of the SIPs accreditation process.

The role of the SIP

A school improvement partner provides professional challenge and support to the school, helping its leadership to evaluate its performance, identify priorities for improvement and plan effective change.

The school improvement partner acts for the local authority and is the main (but not the only) channel for the local authority communication about school improvement with the school. The guiding principles of the school improvement partner's work are:

• focus on pupil progress and attainment across the ability range, and the many factors which influence it, including pupil well-being, extended services and parental involvement
• respect for the school's autonomy to plan its development, starting from the school's self-evaluation and the needs of the pupils and of other members of the school community
• professional challenge and support, so that the school's practice and performance are improved
• evidence-based assessment of the school's performance and its strategies for improving teaching and learning

For more information on the role of the SIP, please see:

• A New Relationship with Schools: School Improvement Partner's Brief (260kb, 36 pages)

Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for all phases are directly related to the experience and expertise set out in the person specification in the School Improvement Partner's Brief. Please refer to this before completing the application form.

• Eligibility criteria for primary and secondary school SIPs
• Eligibility and selection criteria for special school SIPs

Availability

Secondary schools

Details of future application rounds will be published here as soon as they are available.

Special schools

Details of future application rounds will be published here as soon as they are available.

Primary schools

Details of future application rounds will be published here as soon as they are available.

Contact us

If you have any queries, we recommend that you first read through the information on these web pages. However, if you cannot find the information you are looking for, you may find the following contact details useful.

For queries about the School Improvement Partner (SIP) accreditation process or for technical help with the online application or online assessment:

• telephone the NCSL help desk on 0845 609 0009
• email enquiries@ncsl.org.uk

The help desk is open between 8am and 9pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.

For queries relating to the employment and deployment of accredited SIPs or for queries about the SIP induction conferences:

• telephone the National Strategies Customer Service help desk on 0845 850 1444
• email secondarysips@nationalstrategies.co.uk or primarysips@nationalstrategies.co.uk or specialsips@nationalstrategies.co.uk

• help
• 0845 609 0009
• enquiries@ncsl.org.uk
• contact us