Peter Hughes
CEO of Mossbourne Federation
It was a long time ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
One of those moments in school leadership that stays with you.
A results day that didn’t go as expected, not even close.
It was a class we thought was doing well.
Lessons were happening.
No behavioural issues.
No concerns raised.
No complaints from parents.
On the surface, everything seemed fine. But then August rolled around.
A results day that changed everything
The results were devastating. An entire Year 13 class of poor grades.
Firm offers missed. Insurance offers missed.
Students and teachers were thrown into last-minute panic, trying to secure courses through clearing.
The sense of shock was felt across the staffroom.
These were good students.
Taught by good teachers.
What had gone wrong?
Once we’d supported the students as best we could, our attention turned to that difficult but essential leadership question:
Why didn’t we see it coming?
Looking for answers
We explored every possible reason.
Was it an exam board issue?
An error in marking?
A mistake in transcription?
None of the above.
We knew these were capable, experienced teachers. They’d had strong results in the past. And there had been no indications of concern throughout the year.
But when we opened ProgressTeaching to check our records, we saw the answer immediately, in black and white.
They hadn’t been visited. Not once.
No feedback.
No guidance.
No conversations about how teaching was going.
Nothing.
Even the best teachers need feedback
This wasn’t about poor teaching. These staff had a proven track record of success.
But no one is above feedback.
No one is immune to drift.
And in Sixth Form, where the pressure is immense and the margin for error small, drift has real consequences.
Would feedback visits have changed the outcome? We’ll never know.
But here’s what we do know:
If you don’t go in, if you don’t give feedback, you definitely won’t spot the problem.
In our free eBook, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly! Top Tips for Delivering Effective Staff Feedback in Schools, senior leaders and teachers share candid stories of feedback that shaped their careers — both positively and negatively — along with top tips to deliver effective feedback.
Sixth Form: High stakes, often overlooked
Sixth Form is often the most high-stakes teaching in a school. Yet, paradoxically, it’s often the most overlooked.
We assume that because students are older, the teaching is fine.
We assume that because teachers are experienced, they don’t need checking in on.
We assume that because there are no behaviour issues, learning must be happening.
But assumptions don’t improve teaching.
Feedback does.
We explored this issue further in Are We Overlooking Sixth Form Teaching? A post that dives deeper into why Sixth Form often escapes the level of scrutiny and support it truly needs.
Leadership means showing up
Leadership means visiting classrooms not just when there are concerns, but especially when everything appears to be going well.
Supporting your best teachers to stay their best is a mark of strong leadership.
It’s not about scrutiny, it’s about partnership, trust, and growth.
We learned that lesson the hard way.
We won’t make that mistake again.
How ProgressTeaching helps us stay connected
At the Mossbourne Federation, we use ProgressTeaching to stay close to the classroom. It helps our senior leaders ensure that feedback is happening regularly, and that no teacher, however experienced, is left isolated.
It brings visibility, consistency, and structure to our culture of professional growth.
And crucially, it prevents assumptions from taking the place of actual insight.