Local Authority Partnership Criteria

To become a partner an Local Authority has to be able to meet specific criteria. These are set out below.

1. Quality Assurance

An LA has to provide a copy of its quality assurance procedure. This needs to include information on what the LA does to:

Help primary schools identify strengths and weaknesses in performance
Support and advise primary schools in planning
Help and support primary schools in setting and achieving targets
Provide ´benchmark´ data for primary schools to help improve effectiveness
Monitor the performance in literacy and numeracy of primary schools
Provide support and training for Headteachers and other senior staff to improve data analysis and planning
Give additional support to schools where underattainment is a significant problem.

2. An assessment plan

The LA has to submit a plan for assessing schools for the Quality Mark and how this fits into the LA´s quality assurance procedure. An LA may decide to make the Quality Mark available to all of its primary schools immediately or make it available at a specific period. Alternatively an LA may decide to work with ´clusters´ of schools or primary schools in a particular part of the LA's area.

The LA's pan needs to include information on how it proposes to monitor the Quality Mark once it has been awarded to ensure that the standard reached is maintained

The plan for how the LA intends to operate the Quality Mark should cover a three-year period.

3. Accredited staff
The LA has to provide a complete list, including the experience and qualifications, of all staff to be considered for accreditation by the Agency to assess schools for the award of the Quality Mark. Appropriate experience and qualifications of LA staff to be accredited would include staff who have successfully undertaken training provided by OFSTED or OHMCI (Wales) for Registered Inspectors and Team Inspectors, experienced Primary Headteachers and advisory staff with at least two years experience of assessment relevant to the Primary Quality Mark.

4. Information
The LA has to agree to act as the information point for schools about the Quality Mark. This includes making information available to maintained and voluntary aided primary schools in the LA area.

5. Assessment
The LA has to agree to assess all maintained and voluntary aided primary schools in the LA's area applying for the Quality Mark. At least one visit should be made to each school applying for the Quality Mark and this should take place within three months of an application being made by a school.

6. Supporting evidence
The LA has to provide, on request evidence to support a recommendation for the award of the Quality Mark. We intend that the information required is relatively limited and will focus on how a school has met each of the 10 elements of the Quality Mark. While the LA may have more substantial and detailed information, including documentation produced by a school, we do not intend to ask to see copies of this information as a general rule.

7. Additional guidance
From time to time, and taking account of the operation of the Quality Mark, we will produce additional information and guidance for LA's. We plan to produce this in collaboration with our partner LA's. An LA in the partnership will have to agree to adopt this additional guidance.

8. Publicity
The LA has to include direct reference to us - the Basic Skills Agency - in all publicity and information about the Quality Mark.