Tutorials & Operational Walkthroughs
This section provides practical, step-by-step guides for completing and managing your school’s Orthodox Self-Evaluation Form (SEF).Tutorial 1: Establishing Religious Context & Inspection Trajectory
Articulate your school’s religious foundation, Rabbinic/ecclesiastical guidance, and progress against previous inspection recommendations.1
Navigate to Context Statements
In the Orthodox SEF hub (
/sef), click Context Statements (/context) in the top navigation bar.2
Create and Sequence Contextual Statements
Click Add Context. In the modal:
- Enter a descriptive Title (e.g., Religious Foundation & Ethos, Rabbinic Guidance & Community Partnerships, Pupil Demographics & Pastoral Context).
- Draft concise narrative statements explaining your educational philosophy and religious standards.
- Click Save. Use the drag handles (
fa-bars) to reorder statements into a logical introductory sequence.
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Navigate to Priorities & Previous Inspection Trajectory
Return to the SEF hub and click Priorities (
/priorities) in the top navigation bar.4
Record Inspection Recommendations and Actions Taken
Click Add Priority. In the modal:
- Enter the specific recommendation from your previous inspection report.
- Document the strategic Actions Taken by the school to address this area.
- Record verified Impact demonstrating measurable progress across religious and secular studies.
- Align ongoing priorities with your current School Development Plan.
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Export Standalone Priority Report
Click Print Priorities to generate a clean, standalone PDF summary of previous inspection recommendations for governors and trustees.
Tutorial 2: Conducting Domain Evaluations & Drafting Five-Part Summaries
Area Owners synthesise evidence and formulate high-level strategic narratives across the five core evaluation headings.1
Open the Domain Workspace
In
/sef, locate your assigned inspection domain (e.g., Religious Life and Ethos or Religious Studies / Kodesh) and click on the domain title or select View from the action dropdown menu.2
Draft the Five Evaluative Text Sections
Click the edit icon (
fa-pencil) next to each section header:- Summary: Synthesise religious distinctiveness and overall effectiveness in this domain.
- Actions Taken: Outline key strategic initiatives implemented since the last inspection report.
- Impact of Actions: Detail verified improvements in student knowledge, spiritual development, or community engagement resulting from those actions.
- Strengths: Highlight distinctive areas of religious life, teaching excellence, or character development.
- Areas for Development: Define targeted improvement goals that feed directly into the School Development Plan.
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Assign Holistic Evaluative Judgement
Click the action dropdown menu (
...) in the top right of the area card and select Update. Choose the appropriate overall rating (Exceptional, Strong, Expected standard, or Needs attention) and click Save.4
Engage in Asynchronous Leadership Discussions
Click the comments icon in the breadcrumb bar to open the slide-over discussion drawer. Exchange notes and feedback with religious leads and governors.
Tutorial 3: Evaluating Granular Criteria & Hyperlinking Evidence
Item Owners review individual criteria descriptors, evaluate implementation security, and provide substantiated commentary with hyperlinks to school evidence repositories.1
Locate Assigned Criteria
In the criteria table on the area page (
/sef/{area}), locate the criteria descriptors assigned to your subject, department, or pastoral remit.2
Update Evaluative Status & Commentary
Click the edit icon (
fa-pencil) on the criterion row. In the slide-over modal:- Status: Select the evaluation rating that reflects current practice:
- Exceptional: Exemplary practice embedded across the school.
- Secure: Robustly embedded with consistent supporting evidence.
- Insecure: Developing practice where evidence is inconsistent.
- Weak: Urgent developmental priority requiring intervention.
- Comment: Record evaluative commentary explaining how the judgement was reached.
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Insert Hyperlinks to External Evidence
Substantiate evaluations by hyperlinking directly to external cloud repositories (e.g., Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive):
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Save and Verify Progress Bar Update
Click Save Changes. The area progress bar immediately recalculates to reflect the updated criterion rating.
Tutorial 4: Managing Notification Noise & Update Pausing
When conducting intensive review cycles or making extensive multi-item updates, Area Owners and Managers can temporarily pause email notifications to avoid inbox clutter.By default, updating an inspection item automatically dispatches an email notification to both the Item Owner and the Area Owner.
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Pause Notifications on a Single Area
In the main Orthodox SEF table (
/sef), open the action dropdown menu (...) on the target area row and select Pause Updates. A paused icon (fa-pause) appears next to the area title.2
Pause Notifications in Bulk Across Multiple Areas
Select multiple areas using the table checkboxes. In the bulk actions toolbar at the top of the table, select Pause Updates.
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Conduct Intensive Drafting Sessions
Perform all necessary criteria updates, rating changes, and narrative edits without sending automated email alerts to colleagues.
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Resume Notifications
Once the editing session is complete, return to
/sef and select Resume Updates from the row menu or bulk toolbar to re-enable real-time notification alerts.Tutorial 5: Generating Dedicated Inspection Summaries & Custom Dossiers
Generate publication-ready PDF documents tailored for inspection teams, trustees, and governors.1
Open the Print Dossier Modal
Click Print in the top navigation bar of the Orthodox SEF hub (
/sef) or within any individual area workspace (/sef/{area}).2
Select Official Inspection Format or Custom Elements
Configure the export modal by selecting your intended format:
- Print for Inspection (Official Summary): Compiles an official summary incorporating your primary context statements and area narrative summaries specifically formatted for inspectors.
- Print Context: Includes introductory demographic and religious ethos statements.
- Print Priorities: Includes previous inspection recommendations and current responses.
- Print Summary: Includes the executive overview for each inspection domain.
- Print Actions & Impact: Includes detailed actions taken, verified impact, strengths, and development priorities.
- Print Evaluation Detail: Includes granular item-level criteria, status ratings, and evidence commentary.
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Generate and Download PDF
Click Generate PDF. The system compiles a formatted, branded inspection document ready for immediate printing or digital distribution.
Tutorial 6: Delegated Administration & Federation Synchronisation
Orthodox SEF Managers configure local inspection areas, manage criteria applicability, and oversee federation synchronisation.1
Access the Administration Console
Click Manage in the Orthodox SEF hub header (or navigate to
/admin/areas).2
Create or Customise Inspection Areas
- Click New Area to create bespoke school-specific evaluation domains.
- Use the dropdown menu to Archive unused areas or Restore previously archived domains.
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Configure Area Criteria (/admin/area/{area})
Click into an area’s administrative view:
- Toggle Active State: Deactivate criteria that do not apply to your specific school phase.
- Bulk Assign Item Owners: Select multiple criteria using checkboxes and allocate a designated lead teacher or coordinator.
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Review Multi-Academy Trust Synchronisation
Centrally deployed framework areas and criteria display a locked badge (
isSynced). While core wording is centrally locked to ensure cross-trust alignment, local leaders retain full control over local evaluations, narratives, and evidence links.Next Steps
Return to Overview
Review the high-level value proposition and framework summary.
Conceptual Model
Explore data models, rating scales, and user permission matrices.