Running a Review (Complete a PDP)

To run a PDP, you must first be set up as a reviewer and have reviewees assigned to you.  For more information on this, please refer to the Setting Reviewers and Assigning Reviewees guide.

Scheduling the PDP

The first stage of the review process is to schedule the PDP meeting. To do this, navigate to the Performance Management Dashboard. It will look something like this.

Next, click the Start section.

The Start section contains a list of all reviewees that have a scheduled PDP, or where their PDP is yet to be scheduled.

If you cannot see a staff member in the Start section, they may not be assigned to you as a reviewee. Please refer to the Setting Reviewers and Assigning Reviewees guide for more information on this.

To schedule the review for a specific date and time, click Schedule. You can also click Meet to skip this step and schedule the PDP for the current date and time.

Once a PDP is scheduled, it will appear under the Scheduled subheading and be ready for you to prepare.

Preparing the PDP

To begin the PDP, from the Performance Management Dashboard, expand the Start stage and click Prepare, alongside the review under the Scheduled subheading.

If you do not have the Prepare option, then you may need to schedule the PDP, please see the steps further up in this guide.

Clicking Prepare takes you inside the PDP, this is split into five sections,

Targets

The main part of the PDP is the target setting. What does your reviewee need to achieve over the forthcoming academic year?

To set a brand new target, click New Target or, to select from any existing targets, click Existing Target.

For guidance on creating new targets, please see this guide. 

When you click Existing Target, the system will search for all targets related to your reviewee in any way. These may be personal targets or targets assigned to a team that the reviewee is in. 

To add these to the PDP, tick the box alongside the target and click Add Selected Targets.

You'll be taken back to the review and the targets will be displayed.

If you need to remove a target, click the bin icon on the right. You will then be prompted to remove the target from the PDP or delete it altogether.

CPD Needs

Here, the Reviewer should declare the CPD and support needs for the Reviewee during the coming year.

To add a new CPD Need, click New CPD Need. You can then select a category from the dropdown, this defines the area that the CPD is in relation to. You can be more specific in the Detail box as this is free text. 

If you can't find a CPD Category that matches what you need, speak to your Head Teacher. They can add new ones via the system Preferences.

Once you have added detail, select a team and year and click Add. You can then add further CPD Needs if necessary.

Observations

This tab shows you all of the observations which have been recorded against the reviewee. You don’t have to take them all into account when doing the Review but they are here to provide a picture of “typicality”. You can filter Reviews by date to narrow the number you are seeing.

Standards

This tab shows how the reviewee has graded themselves against Professional standards.

By moving the mouse over the grades which they have given, you can see the statement that they have subscribed themselves to. You can also see any other notes or comments that they may have made. The performance of the reviewee against standards is a vital part of their appraisal.

The dropdown menu on this page will let you switch template, so you can select the relevant standards for that reviewee.

Other Evidence

The Other Evidence tab allows you to include any written evidence to support the conversations in the PDP meeting. You can also use the Other Evidence area to upload any supporting documentation. The reviewer may want to provide documentation to support their progress.

Make sure to click Save once you have finished typing in the written evidence field. 

Activating the PDP (Submitting or Skipping Feedback)

When you have completed the PDP meeting, you can choose whether to submit it to the reviewee for feedback or skip this process and activate it straight away, so the reviewee can start contributing to it as well.

Please note: Your Head Teacher can control whether it is possible to skip feedback. If you do not have the option to skip feedback, your Head Teacher may have turned the setting off.

Submitting the PDP for feedback will essentially lock the review down, until the reviewee marks it as accurate or inaccurate. Please see the Responding to your Performance Review guide for more information on this. 

If you want to skip the feedback and simply activate the review, tick the Skip feedback to Activate the Review box and then click Activate Review Cycle. You'll then just need to confirm, by clicking Agree Review.

 

If you chose to skip feedback, or your reviewee has given feedback and marked the document as accurate, it will move into the Active stage.

For information about updating the active review throughout the year, please refer to the Updating a PDP Throughout the Year guide.