School Improvement: Halifax Excellence Cluster

One of a series of podcast discussions about school improvement, Dave Jobbings interviews Carlton Midgley, the coordinator of the Halifax Excellence Cluster to gain some insight into the effective support to secure improvements in a group of 27 schools in the Metropolitan District of Calderdale, West Yorkshire in England.

Carlton Midgley took up his post in January 2004 after a successful period directing the work of the Halifax Learning Zone. Not only has Carlton experience of secondary headship, he has a wide range of expertise in inspection and advisory services at a senior level. He also works as an educational consultant with national organisations, schools and colleges.

In the UK, all of the Excellence Clusters are funded by the Department of Education and Skills. The Halifax Cluster is the largest and started operation in January 2004 and funded until March 2008.

This podcast covers the following areas:

Main principles of the cluster and the four learning strands
Working in partnership with the schools and the local authority in Calderdale
Achieving a partnership approach in the cluster and with other strategic plans and school improvement activity in the area
Areas that have improved in primary, secondary and across all the schools
Models for monitoring, evaluation and accountability
Opportunities and threats presented by the UK Government's New Relationship with Schools agenda and the recently published White Paper (2005)

You can listen to this podcast online with your browser using the Quicktime plugin or via our iTunes listing.