SWA-Ormiston Meridian Academy-ST37DF-07/Nov/2025

One of your benchmarks was about conducting a workload impact assessment – you could include feedback from that and briefly describe what you did in response. Survey/focus group staff about the changes to assessment rounds – how has this improved workload? You could include feedback on similar changes introduced to reduce workload for non-teaching staff.

Include feedback/data on the impact of the drop in sessions (case study/survey). Show how you have “made significant progress is in the areas of menopause [and] supporting staff who are parents” – perhaps with a couple of brief case studies. The before and after feedback you referred to in your discussion on the benchmark “Make the workload manageable” could be useful as well.

The staff voice leaflet included in your evidence is telling me HOW you collect feedback – a few examples of the types of feedback you’ve collected, and actions taken as a result would be useful. Feedback on the staffroom changes and how that has helped to improve wellbeing would be good. I think you surveyed staff on this. Do they feel that the suggestion box is effective and that leaders effectively respond to suggestions? Can you point to something that has changed as a result of staff suggestions? A couple of pieces of data you quote (eg. reductions in absenteeism) are helpful but I struggled to find them. Summarise actions in the discussion and focus on impact in the pieces of evidence

You’ve mentioned some data in your descriptive text but it would be helpful to include the actual examples in your evidence as well. How do you know that things like the shout out board, postings on social media, acknowledging life events as part of INSETs etc have improved wellbeing/made staff feel more appreciated? You may not have individual data on all of these but you could ask what has made the biggest difference/what else would you like etc. There’s an opportunity here to show how these strategies are working for all staff (support staff, admin etc) by surveying different groups.

Brief case studies could be useful here – or redacted notes from line management meetings showing how support has led to improvements for staff. Do you know if giving staff extra time off on INSET days is working for everyone (where do you fit in the training that usually happens on these days into timetables etc)? Focus on outcomes specific to the benchmark - do staff find the individual leaning plans helpful in terms of managing work/life balance, for example?

Include data to show the numbers accessing wellbeing check ins. Are there particular issues emerging from these and how have you addressed them? Again, a couple of case studies might be useful. You mention ‘positive feedback from colleagues’ in the report document but haven’t included any examples. Do staff find the reflection time in appraisals helpful? How have you checked that line managers are using the pro forma consistently? What impact has the appointment of a wellbeing governor had?

You mention that “the increased focus on professional development and mental health and wellbeing has been welcomed by staff” and that “staff provided feedback to reviewers that was highly positive in the areas of professional development and wellbeing.” Include some examples of this feedback. Make sure your evidence is specific to the benchmark – you mention that “in the recent OAT survey wellbeing scored +12, strategic management +30 and values and culture scored +28 against National external benchmarks.” This is good as far as it goes but isn’t telling me anything about how staff feel about the support offered for professional development.

Again, feedback on ‘strategic management’ isn’t really telling me how much autonomy/influence/control staff feel they have in terms of decision making. You’ve included feedback saying that managers consult with staff but not about whether this is effective (i.e. it’s about actions rather than their impact). Look at the benchmarks and see what data you have to show the impact on wellbeing of, for example, increasing staff involvement in decision making or giving them more responsibility with regard to T&L. You could ask an open question (“how could we increase your involvement in decision making…”) in a survey or focus group and describe how you acted on the feedback.