Editor’s comment

We did it, we got through January! Although at times January felt like it lasted an eternity, we are now finally in February and I know that, for me personally, the increased hours of daylight are already lifting my general mood – so I hope you are all feeling more uplifted too!

In this issue we take a look at how to evolve current strategies, practices and thinking. David Carne kicks things off on this theme by using Albert Einstein as an example to explore why leaders must constantly develop their thinking and Stephen Mitchell discusses how to find new and creative ways to approach the challenges SBLs may face. Alison Kriel gives her advice on how schools can take a more proactive, rather than a reactive, approach to tackle hateful language and Phil Burton emphasises the importance of the report, rectify and record strategy when it comes to fire safety.

We also turn our attention to evolving digitally, including how online searches could enhance the recruitment process and Laura Williams shares some helpful advice on how you can manage those never-ending emails in a more effective way. Austen Puleston explains the importance of the DfE’s digital and technology standards on elevating the discussion around IT, Neil Limbrick gives his top tips on how to segment your IT planning and Nigel Milligan discusses the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 on the Connect the Classroom scheme.

As always, we’d love to hear any suggestions you have for the magazine. If you’d like to get involved with EdExec, or if you’d like us to cover a certain topic, please do let us know. Contact eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk or tweet @edexec with ideas, opinions or success stories.

The education sector can be difficult to navigate at times, and those in school business management play a pivotal role in steering schools to success. Tasked with everything from finance and procurement, to HR and admin, you keep the education cogs turning. Education Executive addresses the most pressing matters faced by SBMs, offering meaningful insights and practical advice.

ELEANOR POTTER

Editor

Education Executive

DAVID CARNE

School business professional and executive coach

CardinalGriffinCatholicCollege

ALISON KRIEL

Experienced headteacher and CEO

LAURA WILLIAMS

Director

L J Business of Education

STEPHEN MITCHELL

Director

KeystoneKnowledge

PHIL BURTON

Business manager

HallbrookandCosbyPrimarySchool

AUSTEN PULESTON

Head of IT

BirminghamDiocesanMulti-AcademyTrust

NEIL LIMBRICK

Is your school doing something wonderful? Do you have an opinion or experience you’d like to share? A story suggestion? Or some advice you’d like to share with your peers?

Get in touch – email eleanor@ intelligentmedia.co.uk

Founder theEducationCollective

NIGEL MILLIGAN

IT technician manager

StHerbert’sRCPrimarySchool

NEWS & VIEWS

04 NEWS

Latest school business management news in brief

06 SOUTHAMPTON SCHOOL OFFERS FREE MEALS AFTER MAN DONATES PENSION

How a donation has enabled more children to have free school meals

08 SPOTLIGHT ON Vulnerable children and young people survey

26 6

10 SAME QUESTIONS, DIFFERENT ANSWERS

Why leaders must constantly evolve their thinking

14 WHY SCHOOL LEADERS MUST DO MORE TO COMBAT DIVISIVE AND RADICAL LANGUAGE

The approaches schools can take to tackle hateful language

16 WHAT ROLE DO ONLINE SEARCHES PLAY IN THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS?

How the extra step of online searches could enhance recruitment strategies

18 EDEXEC LIVE 2023: AN EVENT MADE FOR THE SBL

Join us for EdExec LIVE 2023 – a day that is tailor-made for the SBL

20 MANAGING YOUR MAILBOX

How you can manage those never-ending emails more effectively

22 THE 2023 VERSION OF ‘THINKING OUT OF THE BOX’

New and creative ways to approach the challenges SBLs may face

24 FIRE SAFETY IN YOUR SCHOOL

Best practice for fire safety in schools

16

ICT MATTERS

26 SWITCHED ON The latest news and views from the world of ICT and edtech

28 ELEVATING THE DISCUSSION: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE DFE’S DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS

How the new standards can be used to simplify conversations

30 BREAKING DOWN YOUR IT STRATEGY Advice on segmenting your IT planning

32 TECHNO GEEK

Connect the Classroom scheme

LIVE IT

34 LIVE IT

Close your eyes. Inhale. Count to five… now exhale. Time to take a few moments out for some light and interesting reading – a wellearned break from numbers and statistics!

Education Executive is the first business management magazine written exclusively for school business managers and bursars, bringing you the latest issues affecting your role, from finance to premises, procurement to HR. EdExec delivers the lowdown on all the hottest topics in education management right here, every month.

@EdExec

Design

Graphic designer Amanda Lancaster alancasterdesign.com

Editorial Editor Ellie Potter eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Sales info@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Publisher

Vicki Baloch vicki@intelligentmedia.co.uk

As reported by Bristol 24/7, three more schools could become part of Bristol’s growing School Streets initiative. The programme looks to improve safety and air quality and reduce congestion outside school gates.

St Bernadette Catholic Primary School in Whitchurch, Fair Furlong Primary School in Hartcliffe, and Ashley Down Primary School look likely to be the next three schools to introduce School Streets. It will increase the number of School Streets participants to 11 across the city, following an initial pilot scheme in 2020, with some campaigners saying that the initiative is not being introduced fast enough due to red tape.

The School Streets initiative turns the streets outside schools into ‘priority zones’ for people to walk and cycle, as well as restricting car use at the start and end of the school day. Only people walking, wheeling, cycling and scooting are permitted access to the School Street zone while the restriction is in place, with exemptions given to emergency vehicles and blue badge holders and permits given to residents and businesses living or working within the zone.

@exciteddaytrip: I bumped into two members of SLT today who told me that they really appreciated me looking after the staff with my emails, particularly the ‘menopause’ and ‘schedule send’ ones. Newly qualified and new to post in September - that really filled my bucket today #sbltwitter #sbm

@Ed_Dorrell: I’m a governor of a new secondary school that is trying to do incredible things in incredibly challenging circumstances and today I learnt that its football team managed to register a result for the first time *ever* (a 2-2 draw), and honestly it’s completely made my week.

Two Essex schools ban pupils from hugging and holding hands

BBC News has reported that pupils at two schools in Essex have been banned from having any physical contact while at school. Parents and carers at Hylands School, in Chelmsford, were told in a letter the ban included ‘any aggressive contact’, ‘hugging’ and ‘holding hands’.

Southchurch High School in Southend wrote, ‘Students are not allowed to touch each other’, with performing arts, sport and PE the only exceptions. Both schools said they had received positive feedback.

In the letter seen by the BBC, the school’s assistant headteacher, Catherine McMillan, said, “We will not tolerate any physical contact within our community. This includes any aggressive physical contact, hugging, holding hands, slapping someone, etc. This is in order to keep your child safe. If your child is touching somebody else, whether they are consenting or not, anything could happen.

“It could lead to an injury, make someone feel very uncomfortable, or [lead to] someone being touched inappropriately.”

As reported in The Guardian, headteachers and school leaders are becoming increasingly worried that a ‘cultural shift’ in attitudes is causing a crisis in attendance, with more pupils absent than before the COVID pandemic.

Teachers say parents are now more reluctant to send children to school - and more resistant to efforts to encourage attendance - with school leaders in England warning it may take years to repair national attendance figures. Specialists who spoke to The Guardian said fears around illness had been heightened since the pandemic and are being driven by worsening support for mental health, as well as the strain experienced by the NHS and the cost of living crisis.

Their fears are supported by figures from the Department for Education showing a sustained increase in authorised and unauthorised absences in state schools across England.

A primary school in Burnley has thanked a charity for lending them a minibus after theirs was ‘damage beyond repair’ by thieves who siphoned diesel from it, the Lancashire Telegraph has reported. Pupils at Cherry Fold Community Primary School were facing a future without day trips or extracurricular activities after their minibus’ tank and fuel cap were damaged.

After hearing of their plight Burnley charity, Healthier Heroes CIC, has donated its minibus to the school until theirs can be fixed or replaced. “When I heard about the minibus being vandalised, I was gutted for them, so I reached out to help the school,” explained the charity’s director, Rio Powell. “The thieves stole around £15 worth of petrol but actually caused a couple of thousand pounds worth of damage.”

Rio and the team have also offered to pay for the children’s taxis to activities if the minibus is ever out of use, or needed by Healthier Heroes.

Police chiefs have defended a 43%, year-on-year, rise in the number of officers based in UK schools. The Runnymede Trust race equality think tank found that there were 979 safer schools officers (SSOs) in schools last spring, compared with 683 in 2021. It found that SSOs are more likely to be based in schools with higher numbers of children on free school meals, often with higher numbers of black pupilsbut the national police chiefs’ council says SSOs play an essential role.

The Runnymede Trust gathered the freedom of information data following the case of Child Q, a 15-year-old black girl who was strip-searched by the Metropolitan Police at school without an appropriate adult present. Children from ethnic minority groups are up to three times more likely to be stripsearched by police after an arrest than white children, according to Met Police data.

Dr Shabna Begum, head of research at the Runnymede Trust, is concerned that schools could be leaning too heavily on police to sort out ‘quite trivial’ behavioural or pastoral problems that should be dealt with by teaching staff. If this is happening, black children may face harsher consequences – creating a pathway to the criminal justice system.

@susie_dent: Two, once very literal, expressions: a ‘backlog’ was a large log at the back of the fire that kept smouldering away while smaller wood came and went, and the original ‘deadline’ was a boundary around a prison; any inmate attempting to cross it was liable to be shot.