About the Learning Improvement Service

As part of Children's Services, the Learning Improvement Service (LIS) aims to champion excellence for every child and young person in Cumberland. This is done by:

• collaborating with all stakeholders, we will ensure the statutory educational rights of young people are met
• working in partnership with all providers and services to enable children and young people to enjoy learning for life
• supporting, developing and challenging leaders, including ourselves, to deliver excellence so that all children and young people in Cumberland have every opportunity to succeed and make a positive contribution, through the lives they choose for themselves

How we work

The Learning Improvement Service includes a team of officers with specialisms across early years, primary and secondary, and post-16 education, education safeguarding and support for school governance.

We are based in two local areas

• Carlisle
• Whitehaven

Who we work with

Officers work with:

• private, voluntary and independent early years settings
• childminders
• LA maintained nursery, primary, secondary, special and sixth forms both locally in district areas and at countywide levels

Who we work with

Since 2012, officers of the local authority and representatives from the Cumbria Association of:

• Secondary Headteachers (CASH)
• Primary Headteachers' Association (PHA)
• School Leaders, University of Cumbria, Local Leaders in Education (LLEs)
• National Leaders in Education (NLEs)
• National Leaders of Governance (NLGs)
• the two Diocesan Authorities and our National College Associate

Have worked together to establish a truly integrated system of school-to-school support and challenge. 

Aims of the partnership

Through partnership and collaboration, we seek to provide the best learning and outcomes for all children and young people in Cumberland. 

We will work relentlessly to achieve the ambition of every Cumberland school, setting and provider being great.

Collectively, as a system, we will work to ensure that every learner in our county is the best they can be.

Our aims are to develop a distributed, self-improving system designed to:

• undertake a systematic analysis and assessment of the learning needs of schools and localities
• co-ordinate school to school support in partnership with the LA, National College and other school improvement agencies
• develop leadership potential and succession planning at all levels from Initial Teacher Education to System Leadership and associated continued professional development

Contacts

Sue Lowndes
Interim Senior Manager
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07553 376938

Jayne Williams
Senior Advisor
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 07586 021078