The West Norwich and Dereham SSP
The West Norwich and Dereham School Sports Partnership has supported schools for over 14 years. The partnership has evolved to become one of the most successful of its type in the country, supporting over 40 local schools to deliver PE/School Sport and Physical Activity outcomes for over 12,000 pupils.
The partnership provides key school support for PE and beyond, and offers a significant provision of competitions, events, festivals, and high end professional development opportunities.
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What were you looking for? What challenges did you hope to overcome?
We knew we were doing lots of good work with our schools and making a positive difference, but we couldn't measure or evidence it effectively. We wanted something which could align with our provision of services and evidence the progress that schools we work with made. It was important to us, in order to support senior level conversations around membership renewals, to really evidence the powerful impact we knew we were making.
Why did you choose The Development Wheel?
Simplicity of use and alignment with our own provision was key. It aligned very well with what we were doing and were planning to do in the future.
How have you implemented The Development Wheel to achieve your goals?
The Development Wheel has evolved our entire provision and service immeasurably. We found aligning our mentoring support with the Wheel really brought it to life; we could shape conversations, create development plans for PE leads, better identify gaps in our provision, identify opportunities to expand our offer and, indeed, increase our income-making capacity. At the same time, it has supported PE leads/schools better than ever and all progress is measured and evidenced. It was so powerful that the following year we built mentoring into our compulsory offer for all schools, meaning we could deepen the impact for all. It’s a tool which we can now evolve with our offer to ensure we continue to drive improvements and change.
Over time, one of the best things the Wheel has done, is encourage us to create internal solutions to the areas of identified need. This has increased our intrinsic value to schools as we provide the answers to their problems, such as support and training to improve Teaching and Learning; Health and Wellbeing programmes and services; swimming CPD provision and much more.
What impact has using The Development Wheel had at your organisation?
The Development Wheel has ensured our survival in a difficult world. The PE leaders are the best supported Subject Leaders in their schools and are better prepared for Ofsted and Deep Dives than any of their colleagues. This has impacted hugely on children, as we have driven changes to behaviours, i.e., targeted intervention, competition opportunities for all, supporting the least active and supporting mental health and wellbeing. It has also helped the SSP move to a future buy-in model, where this year over 75% of our schools have committed for this academic year and paid in advance. None of this would have been possible without the Wheel.
Would you recommend The Development Wheel to others?
Absolutely! The cost versus reward return makes it a no brainer. The value we have gained in hearts and minds through The Development Wheel is incredible and financially it has paid for itself so many times over and allowed us to support schools better than we could have imagined before using it.
The Development Wheel has made us better at everything we do. It has increased our relevance and importance to our member schools and our value to those schools is seen and acknowledged.
After 14 years with the Partnership, I know we now offer the best possible package of support for our schools. It simply wouldn’t have been possible to evolve to this extent without the Wheel.
Rob McCombe, Partnership Development Manager, West Norwich and Dereham School Sports Partnership
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