The Central South Consortium Joint Education Service, Wales, builds on its work with OLEVI and introduces the OLEVI Hub.

Cardiff High School, in Cyncoed, hosted 15 primaries and secondaries in the Central South Consortium’s latest drive to engage school leaders and teachers in working together to share best practice. The schools, all accredited by OLEVI, have been identified as “Hub” or “Specialist Schools” – whose skills and experience can be drawn on to construct support programmes, which can be accessed by the 408 schools in Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Headteachers from across the region were encouraged to participate in a “speed-dating” session with the 15 schools and sign-up to show their support.

Dr Jude Brigley, strategic lead for the learning and teaching at the Consortium said: “The launch of the OLEVI hubs is an extremely exciting time for education in Central South Wales. Today, for the first time in the region, we see schools offering other schools an accredited catalogue of support based upon their own understanding, practice and knowledge.

“There is no better way to improve than by engaging with a colleague or school in your region that has successfully achieved and is continuing to achieve, what your schools needs.”

Stephen Jones, Head of Cardiff High and chairman of the Consortium’s improvement hubs board said: “For too long there has been over-reliance on external support to achieve improved pupil outcomes when most of the expertise needed to achieve this is already here in Welsh schools. This is a wonderful opportunity to export the knowledge we have in Wales. This region has some of the best practitioners not just in the UK but worldwide.”

ITP and OTP, along with the DR ICE model, have been used to unpick what is needed for Welsh schools. In turn, this has created a “cultural shift”, with schools taking the lead in driving forward change in education in Wales.