At Ashford Hill Primary School, we were keen to develop our website. Mike Warnock from Pinpoint Marketing Support, who had connections with the school, agreed to do this for us. In order to do this, he felt that he needed to know more about the school and the perceived way forward.

We had recently sent out a questionnaire to parents and one to pupils to establish their views on the school and to identify ways in which they felt we might improve. In order to give Mike a clearer picture and to move on from the parent and pupil questionnaires, we set up a Workshop on April 9th led by Mike (supported by Dorothy, Pinpoint Marketing Services) to which we invited all parents, staff and governors. We decided that the meeting would focus on the way forward in the light of the questionnaires.

Mike ran the meeting in a very interactive way, based on the Pinpoint Facilitation™ process. On entering the Workshop, all participants were invited to write their names and interest group on a Pinboard and to focus on their ideas for taking the school forward. Various ideas were written on cards, pinned up and prioritised and three key areas were taken forward as points for development.

People worked in the group where they felt they could contribute most effectively. By the end of the evening, we had identified areas that the group perceived to be priorities and ways of tackling them. We had also elicited the help of members of the Group other than school staff in developing certain areas.

Photographs were taken of all the boards containing ideas at various stages in the evening and published in Workbooks. The ideas discussed are in our School Development Plan and we are looking at ways to improve their delivery in the light of the evening.

This was an exciting evening (or should I say night - people were still working enthusiastically at 10.30p.m.). The whole approach was active and everyone's views were valued. The comments from people involved have been very positive. School meetings are not usually the most exciting of events, but this put a whole new slant on school development planning and I would be eager to use the approach again in the future.

Susan Watson
Headteacher, Ashford Hill Primary School, Berkshire, UK
Telephone 0118 981 3822