Heads are key to improvements

Good headteachers and well-trained classroom assistants are key factors in ensuring that a primary school implements the national literacy and numeracy strategies successfully, a report by Ofsted has found. The report, Strategies in Action, published last week, said headteachers who provided a combination of strong leadership and good management were 'a major factor in the improvement schools make' regarding the literacy and numeracy hours. It added that such successful headteachers 'regarded good planning for improvement as central in achieving a whole-school approach to improvement and ensuring a shared commitment to agreed goals'.