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School performance procedure

Version number 1.1 | Version effective 09 February 2022
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School performance procedure

Audience

All state schools

Purpose

This procedure sets out the roles, responsibilities and processes for evaluating and improving school performance across the Department of Education (the department). 

Overview

All state schools are required to implement processes to evaluate and improve school performance, in accordance with the requirements and principles of the School performance policy.

This procedure details the responsibilities for individuals and partners in enacting the four prescribed school performance processes, which are school performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting.

School performance planning: Schools engage collaboratively with their community to provide clarity, direction and focus for the school, to shape everyday actions and to foster ongoing improvement. School performance planning is documented in the following school performance plans:

  • School Strategic Plan (every four years)
  • Annual Implementation Plan (annually), which includes as attachments
    • Investing for Success agreement (annually)
    • School Data Plan (annually).

Monitoring: Schools regularly and collaboratively monitor the implementation and impacts of long- and short-term plans and the school budget to ensure enacted plans and budgets continue to meet the needs of the students and the school.

Reviewing: The department, through the Education Improvement Branch (EIB), provides information about school actions and processes at particular points in time to inform future planning, encourage ongoing learning and facilitate communication with, and between, stakeholders.

Reporting: Schools provide access to an Annual Report and produce and share other reports associated with grants and targeted funds, promoting public trust and confidence in school operations.

Responsibilities

All stakeholders:

Principal:

Ensures:

  • high expectations for the learning and wellbeing of all students and a focus on equity underpins school performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting processes
  • stakeholders are identified and engaged
  • plans are evidence-informed and aligned
  • plans are current, available, accessible and retained according to the General Retention and Disposal Schedule
  • effective and efficient processes to manage student safety, workplace health and safety, information security, infrastructure, workforce management, financial sustainability and procurement are in place, including internal audit (DoE employees only) information and resources as appropriate
  • implementation and impacts of plans are monitored
  • the school budget is aligned with plans, is monitored quarterly and adjusted as required
  • stakeholders participate in EIB school reviews and Internal Audit school-based reviews as required
  • decisions made through monitoring activities inform updates to and renewals of plans and budgets
  • key improvement strategies from the school review are considered as part of subsequent school performance planning processes
  • the school’s Action Plan includes review improvement strategies following a priority support review
  • information is made available according to the Schedule of collections (DoE employees only)
  • school performance plan priorities are considered within their annual performance review process and whole-school professional learning.

Other school leaders and teachers:

  • participate in school performance planning (including budgeting), monitoring, reviewing and reporting as appropriate to their role and the school context
  • fulfil specified responsibilities as part of school performance planning (including budgeting), monitoring, reviewing and reporting processes
  • support and enact school performance plans and budget actions
  • consider school performance plan priorities within their annual performance review process.

Business Managers and administration staff:

  • assist the principal in preparing, coordinating and monitoring the school budget.

School Council (if established):

  • provides advice about strategic matters
  • approves the school’s plans and policies that are of a strategic nature
  • approves the budget for the school
  • monitors the school’s strategic direction
  • monitors implementation and impacts of short- and long-term plans.

Local Consultative Committee (if established):

  • provides advice that is inclusive and representative of stakeholders, on request
  • is involved in the co-design and development of the School Data Plan
  • is consulted on changes made to the School Data Plan through monitoring activities.

Parents and Citizens’ Association (P&C) (if established):

  • participates in school performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting if requested by the principal
  • is consulted on the planned use of financial and/or other resources included in the budget that have been provided by the P&C for the benefit of students at the school.

Principal Supervisor (or delegate):

  • ensures the principal understands the requirements of the School performance policy and this procedure
  • negotiates with the principal their role in and support for school performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting processes
  • approves short- and long-term plans, if a School Council is not established.

Education Improvement Branch (EIB):

  • co-ensures the needs-based identification, scheduling and designation of EIB school review types
  • conducts, or supports (for self-determined review types), EIB school reviews
  • communicates findings of EIB school reviews
  • case-manages EIB priority support review schools
  • conducts, or provide supports for self-assessments, on request from the principal.

Internal Audit Branch:

  • provides services to schools to ensure that adequate controls are in place through effective and efficient processes to manage student safety, workplace health and safety, information security, infrastructure, workforce management, financial sustainability and procurement.

Performance, Monitoring and Reporting:

  • provides a pre-populated School Annual Report (SAR) template for schools
  • uploads, in collaboration with Information Technologies Branch, the Next Step post-school destinations summary report to the websites of schools providing Senior Secondary education.

Regional Director:

  • oversees regional support for evaluation and improvement of school performance
  • approves Action Plans for EIB priority support review schools
  • co-ensures the needs-based identification, scheduling and designation of EIB review types and schools
  • provides input as part of the risk-based assessment for internal audits.

Process

School performance planning, monitoring, reviewing and reporting processes are guided by the principles of the School performance policy, and enacted according to the steps below and the content and timelines in Annual actions and additional information.

School performance planning

  1. The principal considers the purpose of school performance planning to be undertaken – for example, the strategic and operational context of the school and community – and:
  • determines and engages who needs to be involved within the process
  • communicates the role/s and responsibility/ies of those involved within the process, appropriate to their role and identified responsibilities
  • identifies relevant evidence and makes it accessible to responsible persons in the planning process, for example
    • departmental strategic documents
    • other plans that may be informed by or may inform planning
    • information pertaining to the learning and wellbeing of current, past and prospective students
    • research that deeply and directly connects with locally identified opportunities for improving student wellbeing, engagement and achievement
    • the perspectives of the community, including students attending the school
    • key improvement strategies from EIB school reviews
    • information and resources provided by Internal Audit Branch about managing student safety, workplace health and safety, information security, infrastructure, workforce management, financial sustainability and procurement
    • determines engagement activities and protocols, within overall planning timelines, needed to
    • ensure the ethical evaluation of evidence
    • enable perspectives to be heard and recognised.
  1. The principal organises the documentation of informed, aligned, viable and fit-for-purpose plans that reflect agreed outcomes from school planning processes and containing methods of evaluation appropriate to the purpose of the plan.
  2. The principal organises approvals relevant to the plan and the school from the School Council (if established) or principal supervisor.
  3. The principal communicates to those involved in the process the responsibilities of others in the implementation of, monitoring of, and reporting on outcomes (reporting relates to outcomes from targeted funds, for example Investing for Success funding).

Monitoring

  1. The principal ensures monitoring of short- and long-term plans and the school budget are, at a minimum, enacted according to methods of evaluation and the schedule detailed in the plan (for the school budget, occurring at least quarterly).
  2. The principal and identified stakeholders provide information to facilitate monitoring related to their responsibilities within plans and budgets. This information may include:
  • the implementation of planned activities
  • intended and unintended short- or long-term impacts
  • revenue and expenditure, for example, actual against planned
  • the availability of new opportunities (for example, funding, partnerships and professional learning)
  • changes in school-level conditions impacting on priorities and planned activities.
  1. The principal ensures agreement is reached on actions arising from monitoring. These actions may include:
  • continuing, adapting or terminating planned activities
  • changing priorities, establishing new activities and methods of evaluation
  • changing or re-allocating expenditure. Adjustments to the school budget, if necessary, are made no later than the quarterly review of the budget.
  1. The principal ensures that information regarding workload or viability of plans that results from monitoring is used in consultation with identified stakeholders.
  2. The principal ensures decisions made as a result of monitoring are documented.
  3. The principal ensures communication of budget information relevant to the school context to identified stakeholders on an as required basis.

Reviewing

  1. The EIB and Regional Director conduct the needs-based identification, scheduling and designation of review types for schools for the following calendar year, and communicate with schools being reviewed.
  2. The principal provides school contacts for staff involved in the review. 
  3. The EIB conducts or supports the review according to the review designation and schedule; and finalises the review and communicates findings.
  4. The principal organises for the School Review Executive Summary to be published on the school’s website.
  5. The principal organises a school self-assessment (optional).

Reporting (school annual report)

  1. Each year in Term 2, the Performance, Monitoring and Reporting provides state schools* with a pre-populated school annual report template that fulfils the mandatory requirements of the Annual Reporting Policy for all Queensland schools.
  2. The principal may add information to the pre-populated school annual report template.
  3. The school annual report is to be published on the school’s website before the end of Term 2.

*Outdoor and Environmental Education Centres are not required to publish a School Annual Report.

Reporting (other)

  1. The principal reports to the school community about outcomes related to the school’s use of Investing for Success funding prior to the end of the year.
  2. By September 30 each year, Performance, Monitoring and Reporting, in collaboration with Information Technologies Branch, uploads a Next Step post-school destinations summary report to the website of schools providing senior secondary education that have five or more responses to the Year 12 Completers survey.

Definitions

Term

Definition

Action Plan

A short-term school performance plan developed by schools following an EIB priority support review that details the agreed:

  • responsibilities and accountabilities for the principal, principal supervisor (or delegate) and EIB senior reviewer
  • baseline, interim and targets in identified measures aligned to objectives
  • strategies to achieve objectives, along with information about implementation and evidence of success.

Annual Implementation Plan

An AIP documents the school’s explicit improvement agenda over 12 months in relation to the priorities in the School Strategic Plan, and provides information about the actions to be undertaken and planned methods of evaluation. The AIP may also document the content, mode and timing of professional learning designed to support and sustain changes associated with addressing school improvement priorities within plans, and mandatory staff professional development. The AIP may also include information on how innovations are being trialled and how continuity of learning is maintained. The AIP links all short-term school performance plans, including the:

  • Investing for Success agreement
  • School Data Plan.

Approve

Indicate readiness for implementation or publication.

Community

All partners and school personnel (see also – Partners).

Endorse

Indicate support for (plan or budget).

Initiative

The collective actions planned to achieve positive changes in learning and wellbeing.  These may include, but are not limited to, professional learning, consultation and decision-making processes, resource or infrastructure development, events and activities.

Long-term plan

School performance plans with an implementation period of greater than 12 months. This is the School Strategic Plan.

Methods of evaluation

The way/s in which the plan, or initiatives within the plan, will be monitored. These can include:

  • process evaluations to understand whether plans/initiatives are being implemented as intended, including what is working more or less well and why
  • impact evaluations to understand what changes have occurred, the size or scale of those changes and the extent to which they can be attributed to the plan/initiatives.

Other School Leaders

Stream 2 (Heads of Program) and Stream 3 (Deputy Principals and HOSES) in the Department of Education State School Teachers’ Certified Agreement, school-based administrative officers (AO8) in the Department of Education Certified Agreement and school-based senior officers (AO8 and above) in the Senior Officers – Employment conditions.

Partners

Partners are the people, businesses or organisations with whom schools establish and sustain strategic relationships in order to provide students or staff with access to experiences, support and intellectual and/or physical resources not available within the school.

Partners include school-based groups, such as the Local Consultative Committee, Parents and Citizens’ Association and School Council, and central and regional offices, including, but not limited to, the teams and branches identified in this procedure.

Partnerships may also exist between a school and other organisations, for example, other education and training institutions, early childhood and care services, local businesses, and community organisations (including transition planning, allied health, family support, counselling and rehabilitation services).

Parents, carers, kinship and families, including students, are recognised as integral partners in education.

Plans

Short- and long-term school performance plans.

Principal

The person in charge of a State instructional institution and accountable officer for school performance planning (including school budgeting), monitoring, reviewing and reporting.

Principal Supervisor

The Level 2 Reporting Officer, as indicated on the School profile overview page in the Department of Education Schools Directory (note: appears immediately above ‘Contact details’).

School budget

An annual estimation of revenue and expenditure, monitored quarterly and adjusted as required in response to monitoring information and decision making.

School Council

A school partner; an established School Council must:

  • comply with the establishment, name, functions and other matters described in Chapter 6, Parts 1–10 of the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006
  • be recorded in School Information Collection (Term 2, annually).

School performance plans

School performance plans is an overarching name for all planning documents and processes. They are the point-in-time physical or digital (or both) records of intended or enacted school performance planning. They have a range of purposes and durations.

School Strategic Plan

The School Strategic Plan is the school’s succinct statement to its community about what the school wants to achieve in the future and how it plans to get there. School Strategic Plans include descriptions of:

  • the vision and purpose of education in the local context
  • the values that students, staff and community are expected to demonstrate
  • what the school is going to focus on over the next four years, with associated targets (the explicit improvement agenda)
  • how the school is going to do this (strategies and resourcing).

Short-term plan

Plans with an implementation period of 12 months or less. These include:

  • Annual Implementation Plan
    • Investing for Success agreement
    • School Data Plan
  • Action Plan (only for EIB priority support review schools).

Stakeholders

Individuals and groups (for example, school personnel, partners and other representatives of the community) performing a role or having a responsibility within school performance planning, monitoring (and enacting plans), reviewing and reporting processes (see also – Partners, Community).

State schools (schools)

Institutions funded by the State of Queensland that provide primary, secondary or special education to persons enrolled at the institution, or to persons enrolled at other state schools in Queensland. 

State schools include Schools of Distance Education, Community Schools, Educational Units, Specific Purpose Schools, Outdoor and Environmental Education Centres, and schools accredited with the Council of International Schools.

Viability

Ability to work successfully.

Legislation

Delegations/Authorisations

Other resources

School performance planning

Reviewing

Reporting

Superseded versions

Previous seven years shown. Minor version updates not included.

1.0       School performance procedure

Review date

12 July 2024
Attribution CC BY

Policies and procedures in this group

  • School performance procedure (current page)
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