SEF framework

How do we know our school is effective – and what evidence demonstrates it?

This comprehensive School Self-Evaluation and Assurance Framework helps school leaders, governors and trustees move beyond simply describing what a school does to evaluating impact, evidence, assurance and risk.

Built around the powerful question “How do we know?”, the resource provides a structured approach to evaluating key aspects of school life and identifying strengths, areas for development, emerging risks and next steps.

Ideal for headteachers, senior leaders, governors, trustees and those aspiring to leadership roles.

Includes:

✓ Curriculum, achievement and inclusion evaluation
✓ Safeguarding assurance framework
✓ Leadership and governance review
✓ Workforce and staff wellbeing evaluation
✓ Compliance and risk management tools
✓ Three-year trend analysis templates
✓ Executive assurance dashboard
✓ Governor challenge questions
✓ Strategic risk register
✓ Action planning framework

Use it to:

• Strengthen school self-evaluation
• Focus on evidence and impact rather than description
• Identify gaps and emerging risks
• Support strategic improvement planning
• Strengthen governor and trustee challenge
• Create a clearer evidence trail of evaluation and assurance
• Bring key information together in one structured framework

Suitable for mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision settings.

A practical, adaptable leadership resource designed to help schools answer one of the most important questions in school improvement:

“How do we know?”