The Consortium’s role is to develop the capacity of schools in the region to lead improvement by supporting teachers and leaders to learn from each other, intervening only where progress is insufficient.     There are around 400 schools in the Central South Consortium region. How well children and young people, particularly the most vulnerable, achieve in this region significantly influences how the country and its education system are perceived within our borders and beyond.   Our aims are to:   Improve outcomes for vulnerable learners  Develop school-to-school working to deliver curriculum reform Develop leadership, governance and workforce reform  Deliver rapid and sustainable intervention Develop effectiveness and efficiency in Central South Consortium   To do this. the Consortium:   Provides teams of challenge advisers working with all schools in the region (with more time allocated to the schools most in need) Provides timely data analyses to support schools’ self evaluation and improvement planning (including school categorisation judgements) Supports and funds school-to-school improvement partnerships and brokers support between schools Allocates grant funding (e.g. the pupil deprivation grant - PDG) to schools in the region along with guidance and advice on how grant funding can be used to drive improvement; and works with the Welsh Government to deliver its priorities in the region

The Central South Consortium (CSC) is a school improvement service which operates on behalf of five local authorities: Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff and the Vale of Glamorgan. This region has the highest population of any in Wales and continues to be the fastest growing.  146,000 children and young people are served by 398 schools. This is a third of the Wales’ school-age children. The region is home to the highest number of children living in poverty; it is also home to the capital city and the economic, financial and creative industries of Wales. Our Aim To improve educational outcomes for all pupils, and the outcomes for vulnerable learners fastest. The success of schools in this region is the key to the future economic and social success of Wales. We are improving. We need to do more. Our Ambition Our ambition is, by 2020 that: Learners sustain the best educational outcomes in Wales, rivalling similar parts of the UK The poverty-related attainment gap is reduced faster here than anywhere else in Wales That the region is known and recognised for its high-quality school-led professional learning and the impact it has on outcomes   Buidling a Self Improving System   Improved teaching and leadership can only be sustained by a move away from a school improvement model dependent on central support, to a by-schools-for-schools model which builds capacity for collective improvement. In this way teachers learn from other teachers, leaders support each other to improve and learning about improvement through practice is embedded in the culture of schools across the region.     In this system resources are focused on opportunities for teachers and leaders to learn from each other, to try out new approaches or lead research projects which will improve their teaching and that of others.  Leadership grows through succession planning to lead improvement across the system.  The challenge adviser works to signpost and broker support, intervening only where necessary. Accountability is clear and used effectively to drive improvement.    Under the Central South Wales Challenge, schools across the region design and lead models for sharing practice, underpinned by effective evaluation. The strategy assumes that:     Schools are communities where collaborative enquiry is used to improve practice Groupings of schools engage in joint practice development Where necessary, more intensive partnerships are formed to support schools facing difficulties Families and community organisations support the work of schools  Coordination of the system is provided by school leaders themselves Local authorities work together to act as the ‘conscience’ of the system

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