Customer success stories:

Case studies from our schools, trusts & groups

“I found the whole implementation process very supportive. Although BlueSky Education could be used off-the-shelf, it can be customised, and I think I’ve asked for everything to be customised!”

Watford Grammar School for Girls (WGGS) introduced BlueSky Education in early 2022, with the aim of streamlining their appraisal processes – moving away  from a paper-based system that often caused delays and made it difficult to track progress.

“We wanted a system that allowed us to manage all of our CPD processes as well as triangulating this with objectives and quality assurance. We looked at other solutions and concluded that BlueSky Education was the only platform that could do this effectively.”

Saracens High School joined BlueSky Education in 2022, and uses the platform to support teachers and operations staff with appraisal, CPD and evaluation.

“We document professional development conversations in BlueSky. Using the online platform ensures that the practice is consistent, it is an ongoing dialogue and that it is protected time for professional development, not just in terms of improving practice, but also celebrating.”

Intelligence for Ofsted is easy to access, helping the school to tell its improvement story in a simple but powerful way

“The ease of pulling off reports is key. If someone asks me how something has improved, I can very quickly say, well this was the picture in 2018 but this is the picture now.”

BlueSky underpins a consistent approach to performance management that aligns the appraisal objectives of all staff with trust priorities: improving literacy, supporting SEND and disadvantaged students, and the use of research in improving teaching and learning.

“I absolutely recommend BlueSky. It is a solution to achieving consistency across a Trust and is a universal tool that can be used in so many different ways to support school improvement and development, which ultimately has a positive impact on student outcomes.”

A strong emphasis on developing teaching practice through professional learning is supported by BlueSky’s comprehensive staff development platform.

“BlueSky allows us to ensure that all staff are treated fairly. With BlueSky, everything is on one system, from application to approval to evaluation, so the whole process is much, much simpler.”

City Learning Trust uses BlueSky Education to support a clearly defined CPD strategy that ensures the trust’s core priorities are threaded through the professional learning objectives of all staff.

“When we realised BlueSky would allow us to manage appraisal and CPD activities more effectively across the whole trust, we were in. BlueSky was vital when we moved all our training online. It’s much easier to link the PMR and CPD together now, and have the same system in every school.”

“BlueSky has benefited us by bringing all of our quality assurance and CPD activities together in one platform. This makes the process much easier to manage and ensures staff continue to keep their focus on their professional development.”

“We wanted a one-stop shop where people knew when, where and how they were dealing with appraisal, and they could find everything that they needed.”

BlueSky has helped replace the leading independent school’s fragmented approach to appraisal with a customized system that made it easier for staff to engage with the process.

Move from paper to online system delivers a more consistent approach to appraisal and engages staff in professional learning, while holistic intelligence allows senior leadership team to identify development needs and evaluate impact of improvement actions.

“Staff have really bought into BlueSky and are now using it to log their own development.

“Before deciding on BlueSky as our new model, we conducted a survey of staff attitudes and it was clear everyone was ready for change. Ensuring that staff would use the new system was essential and thanks to the strength of the support we received from BlueSky, including training and unlimited use of the BlueSky helpline, this need has definitely been met”.

“The project facility on BlueSky can be used by people to collate evidence of professional learning, demonstrating that they are research-based in terms of their thinking, that they’re trying out new ideas to develop their pedagogy and that they’re working across departments”

The capacity to combine performance data, professional development and whole school targets made BlueSky the ideal digital solution

“It allows staff to feel they are part of the process and they can see themselves as part of the bigger picture. Staff don’t tend to see that usually: they don’t see how their development is connected to other people’s, but with BlueSky, they see at a glance how their appraisal links to national standards and the school’s standards and to the school’s improvement goals and the work that others are doing.”

Using BlueSky improves staff engagement with professional learning and appraisal processes, while teaching quality assurance practices are more efficient and consistent.

“BlueSky is helping us to shift our appraisal practice towards a more developmental approach – we want to help people to achieve their career goals, develop their teaching ability and knowledge.”

BlueSky helps the all-through school guard against a ‘tick-box’ culture for performance management and puts staff in control of their development.

“BlueSky allows me and the leadership team to reflect on things that are important for us, providing a rich source of evidence that we can triangulate with pupil outcomes and the impact of training on wider school outcomes.”

“Transparency is key to holding people to account and staff have warmed to BlueSky as it enables them to highlight their successes. They view it as progressive and particularly like it when it supports them to progress up the pay scale!”

BlueSky provides leaders at the school with an evidence-based analysis of performance and a deep understanding of the impact of CPD.

“With BlueSky, it is now a quicker, more responsive approach to observations, which is important in a large school and appreciated by staff.”

BlueSky has provided an excellent platform for the trust to analyse and evaluate the impact of its performance management strategy, Claire says. But beyond the technical accessibility, a key element is that it matches their culture and philosophy around performance management.

“Now that everything is on BlueSky, we have hard data to demonstrate how training is addressing skills and development needs directly and the impact it is having on the academy not just immediately but in the longer term.”

Sherborne School’s new paperless process links the development of staff with its professional standards and school improvement.

“It is reassuring to know that we have a system to help us operate our CPL more effectively and productively. We are now a more effective organisation.”

“Set up was simple, involving just a few emails about log ins and activation. BlueSky’s website, including FAQs and explanatory videos, has been really useful too”.

“It has been revolutionary! It has helped enormously with showing staff how to cherish their own professional development.”

“The teachers are comfortable with using BlueSky, and the processes we use it for. That makes a huge difference. They know their own objectives, they can request CPD and they know the school development plan. BlueSky links everything together, that’s a huge impact for everyone.”

BlueSky has helped bring together and share best practice across the whole school. Between September 2016 and July 2017, the school went from being in special measures to outstanding in every category.

“If you want to make teacher development, professional learning and appraisal teacher centred, and give the teachers the onus to be at the forefront of their own development then you need a platform that you can set up and hand over to the teachers. BlueSky is perfect for this because it brings it together so well”

“We can provide feedback very quickly after lesson observations. Whereas in the past I would have been entering data into spreadsheets and then making comparisons, the system does it all and the Head of Department can discuss the evidence with the member of staff almost immediately.”