Why Marell Consulting?

Marell Consulting: A Family Business

Why the name Marell? Where does it stem from? What does it mean? Well, Marell Consulting has a simple origin. And like most good stories it begins and centres around family.

First of all, an introduction. I’m Ellen Mukwewa. My role here at Marell Consulting Ltd is as Director and Main Consultant. As a company, we specialise in delivering school improvement solutions for independent schools inspected by Ofsted. In other words, I am a school improvement partner.

Marell Consulting Ltd was born in October 2012. I began this venture with my (then) 10-year-old daughter, Maruwa. Because family is important. She has a stake in the business and is one of the two part-time administrators employed by the company. Of course, this is not her only role at Marell Consulting. She also designed the company logo.

More to the point, although Maruwa contributes to daily business operations in the background, she holds a far more prominent position as the first three letters in the company name. Guess who makes up the last three letters?

Maruwa and Ellen.

Marell.

Effective School Improvement Solutions

As mentioned above, there’s another side to the question, why Marell Consulting? And that is why independent schools choose to work with us.

There are a number of things I do as a school improvement consultant. However, if I were to summarise my main offerings they would be:

Working in close partnership with Headteachers to build systems that drive continuous school improvement.

Ensuring the schools consistently meet the requirements of the Independent School Standards.

Helping schools achieve good outcomes from Ofsted inspections.

Marell Consulting Ltd is built on a decade’s worth of experience working in Quality Improvement and as a school improvement consultant. Consistently delivering on all three areas listed above for independent schools inspected by Ofsted.

Additionally, with over 20 years’ experience within education, which I started as a teacher, the schools I work with feel confident that my advice comes from a place of practical knowledge and experience. A Masters in Education also helps. But, most of all, it’s my passion for continuous improvement and my desire for its importance to be highlighted, that drives me. And it’s what underlines my approach to school improvement.

School improvement is a continuum. It doesn’t just get rolled out when the inspectors are due to visit. In my experience, most schools have a system which is based on the following cycle: Self-evaluation; Improvement planning; Implementation; Review and back to Evaluation.

This system is usually a 1-year cycle. As part of this, schools also monitor the quality of teaching and learning through activities such as lesson observations, learning walks, and book scrutinies. However, they don’t tend to have a system for identifying issues as they arise outside the 1-year cycle.

Therefore, it is important to build an integrated system for monitoring, not just the quality of teaching and learning but every aspect of the provision including pupil behaviour, attendance, feedback from stakeholders, amongst other elements of school provision.

If a system is fashioned in the image of the self-evaluation cycle, running on a monthly schedule, then the school can simultaneously improve issues raised through self-evaluation as well as those that arise during the year.

For both these cycles to work in harmony, schools require internal accountability and external accountability.

Internally, there needs to be a school leader driving improvement. Externally, it helps to have a critical friend who is not involved in the day-to-day operations, casting an eye on implementation and impact to drive improvement.

This is why schools choose to work with me.

I offer ongoing support pre- and post-Ofsted, regardless of the outcome. My aim is to help every independent school build the right systems and execute the right strategies for their particular school improvement needs.

The Marell Vision for Independent Schools

Whether you’re looking for training workshops, INSET training, CPD support, or a complete school improvement consultancy package, find out why Marell Consulting is the school improvement partner of choice.

We work tirelessly with independent school leaders to consistently deliver an excellent quality of education.

Above all, we help turn the ‘fear and threat of Ofsted’ into an opportunity for schools to showcase how amazing they really are and show off the excellent work they do.

Why Marell Consulting?

Why not?