Welcome to the web pages for School Improvement Partner accreditation. NCSL is responsible for the accreditation of SIPs on behalf of the National Strategies. These pages provide information about the accreditation of SIPs, including news, updates and useful links.
Since 1 April 2008, every maintained school and academy in England has had a SIP attached to it.
NCSL and the National Strategies have announced that the School Improvement Partner Accreditation Programme is to continue in all three phases, for the next two years, until 31 March 2010 to meet an expected demand for accreditation by local authorities and individuals. NCSL will continue to provide opportunities for accreditation, albeit at a reduced level.
NCSL will make every effort to keep all those interested in the accreditation programme fully informed of the key dates to help their planning. Opportunities to apply will be provided at regular intervals and online assessment for primary and secondary prospective SIPs, online self-assessment for special school applicants will continue as before. The dates of two-day residential development and assessment programmes will be published on NCSL’s website.
All queries should be referred to [email protected].
Please use the links on the right-hand side to read more about the different stages of the SIPs accreditation process, and to access the online application form and online assessment.
A school improvement partner provides professional challenge and support to the school, helping its leadership to evaluate its performance, identify priorities for improvement and plan effective change.
The school improvement partner acts for the local authority and is the main (but not the only) channel for the local authority communication about school improvement with the school. The guiding principles of the school improvement partner’s work are:
For more information on the role of the SIP please see:
For further information on the New Relationship with Schools:
The eligibility criteria for all phases are directly related to the experience and expertise set out in the person specification in the School Improvement Partner’s Brief. Please refer to this before completing the application form.
The application round for secondary school SIPs is now closed. Details of future application rounds will be published here as soon as they are available.
The application round for special school SIPs is now closed. Details of future application rounds will be published here as soon as they are available.
The application round for primary school SIPs is now closed. Details of future application rounds will be published here as soon as they are available.
If you have any queries, we recommend that you first read through the information on these web pages. However, if you cannot find the information you are looking for, you may find the following contact details useful.
For queries about the School Improvement Partner (SIP) accreditation process or for technical help with the online application or online assessment:
The help desk is open between 8am and 9pm, Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
For queries relating to the employment and deployment of accredited SIPs or for queries about the SIP induction conferences: