Objectives and risk at Hillcrest Academy
Hillcrest Academy is a fee-paying school with 780 pupils, 64 teachers and a 31% annual teacher turnover rate. Over two years, mathematics results have fallen for three consecutive terms, and supply cover has risen to 410 teacher-days a year. A new national curriculum starts next September and requires retraining in two subjects. The head teacher states that risk registers are for factories, and the school's quality objectives read: improve the quality of teaching, enhance our reputation, and raise standards. None has an owner, a baseline, a deadline or a way of being measured. Internal data exists but is scattered: exit-interview notes in the HR folder, attendance records in the office, and learner survey results in a spreadsheet the deputy head keeps. Management review meetings run twice a year, and the minutes are three pages of budget variance. The governing body wants ISO 21001 certification within twelve months and has asked for a plan showing that the standard is changing how the school is run, not just adding paperwork.
1. Evaluate the three existing quality objectives against ISO 21001 Clause 6.2 and rewrite two of them so they would survive an audit.
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The Clause 6.2 test. Objectives must be consistent with policy, measurable where practicable, take account of applicable requirements, be relevant to conformity of educational products and services and to enhancement of learner satisfaction, be monitored, communicated and updated, and be planned with what will be done, what resources are needed, who is responsible, when it will be completed and how results will be evaluated (6.2.2).
Why the three fail. Improve the quality of teaching, enhance our reputation and raise standards have no baseline, owner, date or measure, and no link to a function or level. They cannot be monitored, so they cannot be evaluated at management review, and nobody can be held accountable. They are aspirations, not objectives.
Rewritten examples.
- Reduce mathematics teacher turnover from 31% to 18% by 31 July 2026. Owner: Head of HR. Resources: exit-interview analysis, revised induction, subject mentoring. Evaluation: monthly HR dashboard; reviewed at each management review.
- Raise the proportion of mathematics lesson observations graded secure from 54% to 80% by December 2026, with all teachers of the two new-curriculum subjects completing retraining by 31 August. Owner: Deputy Head (Curriculum). Evaluation: observation records and training completion logs.
Judgement points. Measurable where practicable permits qualitative objectives, but then the indicator and evidence source must be defined. Objectives should also cover process performance, such as feedback turnaround, and learner satisfaction, not only end results. Each objective should trace to a risk - here, turnover and curriculum change - otherwise 6.1 and 6.2 become disconnected exercises, which is precisely what an auditor will probe.
2. The head teacher rejects risk management as irrelevant to a school. Identify the risks and opportunities visible in the data, and explain what Clause 6.1 actually requires of Hillcrest.
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Risks visible in the data.
- Loss of subject expertise - 31% turnover with mid-year exits means unfilled mathematics posts and 410 days of supply cover; continuity of teaching is the casualty, which is consistent with three terms of falling results.
- Curriculum transition failure - the new national curriculum needs retraining in two subjects and there is no competence plan; 7.2 requires competence, and 6.1 requires the transition risk to be planned for.
- Decision-making on poor evidence - exit notes, attendance and survey data sit in three places, so the principle of evidence-based decision-making cannot operate, and management review receives only budget variance.
- Opportunities - analysed exit interviews could reveal a fixable driver of turnover; the curriculum change is a chance to rebuild schemes of work, mentoring and observation criteria.
What 6.1 requires. Determine risks and opportunities considering 4.1 and 4.2, evaluate them, plan actions to address them, integrate those actions into the management system processes, and evaluate their effectiveness. A risk register is one format, not the requirement; the head teacher's objection confuses a template with the thinking.
Integration in practice. Turnover risk is addressed in recruitment (mathematics succession), induction (first-term mentoring) and the management review agenda (trend data). Curriculum risk is addressed in the training plan and in observation criteria. Both need an owner and a review date, and both should be revisited if turnover does not fall.
Judgement. Framing this as how the school is run rather than as extra paperwork is exactly what the governing body asked for: 6.1 actions should change existing processes, not sit in a file.