NAHT Leadership Focus September 2016

Issue 75 / September 2016 / £5

THE MAGAZINE FOR NAHT AND NAHT EDGE MEMBERS

FOCUS

A liffe in Edu ucatio on Kathryn Jamess on Working for NA AHT

Unpacking academisation

The key questions answered

Getting creative Managing challenging budgets

Relationship building Why quality SRE is so important

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

OPINION

KIM JOHNSON: NAHT president 2015/16

A time of change t has been a remarkable start to my year as NAHT president, to say the least!

The political landscape has changed dramatically since we gathered at the Annual Conference in May, with Brexit kicking off a complete change in political leadership and resulting in both a new Prime Minister and a new Secretary of State for Education.

Underlying these national headlines, however, school leaders know that the real problems facing education at the moment have not gone anywhere. In a letter to Justine Greening in July, NAHT urged her to take advantage of the DfE’s ‘change in management’ and tackle the crucial challenges of funding, recruitment and assessment.

The last six years have seen the government tinker to an extraordinary level of detail with the minutiae of teaching and the curriculum, but they have taken their eye away from their fundamental responsibilities – ensuring there are enough school places, teachers and funding in every part of the UK, so that teachers and school leaders can get on with the teaching and learning that they are trained for.

May was a difficult time for schools as SATs proved as problematic as expected. We now await the publication of performance tables with seemingly no acknowledgement of the chaos and meaningless data

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that testing has generated this year. NAHT continues to lobby the Department for Education on assessment, and, following the resolution passed at conference, we have set up a full independent review of assessment from reception to Key Stage 3 – the Assessment Review Group. This group will be looking to create a stable, coherent vision of assessment that we can pitch to the government, and will aim to provide interim recommendations as quickly as possible.

In taking on the role of NAHT president I have begun to travel widely around the country, and abroad, visiting schools and hearing from school leaders their concerns, successes and gathering best practice. I have been so impressed with everyone I’ve met and it is wonderful to meet so many excellent practitioners. My heartfelt thanks to the branches and regions I have visited to date for their great work and kind hospitality.

I have been further impressed with NAHT staff on my more frequent visits to HQ. The energy to ensure we are represented and at the forefront of challenge on policy developments is particularly impressive.

Our new director of NAHT Edge, James Bowen, has made a cracking start and I congratulate him for his superb work so far. He and the team working on NAHT Edge have made

Above: Kim Johnson

great progress and are recruiting a rapidly growing number of middle leaders. If you would like to invite him to speak to staff in your school, do get in touch.

NAHT continues to punch above its weight in the national media, thanks to the press team led by Steven George. I am enjoying taking on a more public profile in the interviews they secure, and thank them for their guidance in doing so.

And I am particularly excited by the development of the Autism Spectrum Condition for Girls work, ‘Flying Under the Radar’, with NAHT members Barry Carpenter and Dr Rona Tutt in leading roles.

This new approach to the diagnosis and support for girls with autism spectrum conditions is much needed and will have real impact.

I wish you all a very happy and successful new academic year.

Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation: 28,060 (July 2014–June 2015)

ASSOCIATION AND EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES NAHT and NAHT Edge 1 Heath Square, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1BL www.naht.org.uk www.nahtedge.org.uk Tel: 0300 30 30 333 Editorial Strategy Board: Christine Milburn (chair), James Bowen, Tim Bowen, Nick Brook, Colm Davis, Tony Draper, Lesley Gannon, Steven George, David Gilmore, Nicky Gillhespy, Magnus Gorham, Russell Hobby, Steve Iredale, Kim Johnson, Helena Macormac, Judith Stott, Paul Whiteman, Rob Williams. @nahtnews #NAHT2016

EDITORIAL TEAM Editor: Nic Paton Publisher: David Gale SALES DIRECTOR Ian Carter Tel: 0207 183 1815 Leadership Focus is published on behalf of NAHT by Headlines Partnership Publishing Ltd, Headlines MediaHub, Radian Court, Knowlhill, Milton Keynes MK5 8PJ.

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Acceptance of advertisements does not imply recommendation by the publisher.

The views herein are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor or NAHT.

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CONTENTS

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Contents 6

News roundup The latest from across NAHT and NAHT Edge

10 Unpacking academisation Everything you needed to know about academisation but were afraid to ask!

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22 Justine Greening What do we know about the new Secretary of State for Education?

24 The balancing act Workflow balance versus the government’s accountability framework

28 Kathy James An interview with the retiring deputy general secretary

31 Russell Hobby Message from the general secretary

32 Getting creative How schools are managing budgets under challenging circumstances

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37 A legal view NAHT senior solicitor Simon Thomas takes a look at the issue of redundancy

40 A listening ear How retired members can play a vital role within the education system

42 Pensions Why everyone needs to start thinking about pensions now

46 Sex and relationship education Why good quality SRE is so important

50 Getting SENCos right Dr Rona Tutt takes a look at SENCos

54 School categorisation in Wales What does the reality of categorisation look like?

56 London region A look at the challenges facing the capital

58 Family Childcare Trust

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How can schools engage with parents?

60 Your professional development A comprehensive round up of the best CPD around

62 The final word Star-studded book helps kids’ behaviour

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NEWS ROUNDUP

T H E L AT E S T F R O M A C R O S S N A H T A N D N A H T E D G E Get in touch and share your thoughts on this month’s news via publications@naht.org.uk

NEWS IN BRIEF

NEW SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME 6

Instead, the NAHT’s peerreview school improvement programme, has been specially designed to identify which areas of school delivery should be prioritised, developed, maximised or sustained.

A successful pilot of Instead with three secondary schools from North-East England was completed over the summer. Participating schools stressed the benefits, both long- and short-term, of the programme, citing its collaborative approach as one of the key reasons for its effectiveness. They felt that the relationships developed during the process would continue to deliver new opportunities in the future.

One school noted that Instead was a ‘platform for change’, and all agreed that focusing on whole-school improvement was a merit of the system.

NAHT is committed to rolling out Instead into more secondary schools nationally.

For more information email instead@naht.org.uk

Experienced education campaigner to succeed Kathryn James ducation campaigner Nick Brook (pictured) has been appointed as NAHT deputy general secretary.

Taking up his new position in September, Nick will work alongside Kathryn James until she retires at the end of this year.

Beginning his highly successful career as a primary school teacher, in schools in areas of high deprivation, during the late noughties, he played a leading role in Social Partnership – working closely with NAHT, other school workforce unions and the then Labour government, to influence government reform programmes. Nick has since held a number of senior roles in government departments and education agencies before setting up his own education consultancy.

Nick has also worked with NAHT more recently acting as interim director of policy and campaigns during the 2015/16 academic year. Nick covered for Lesley Gannon, director of policy and campaigns, between November and May. Lesley, who left the association in July following eight years with NAHT, has taken up a new role in the education sector.

“As interim director of policy and campaigns, I was proud to be at the forefront of NAHT’s work to influence government and secure changes to policy on behalf of members,” said Nick. “Schools and school leaders are facing unprecedented levels of change and challenge on every front. I look forward to making our voice heard at

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the highest levels of government.”

Commenting on Nick’s appointment Kim Johnson, NAHT president, said: “I’m delighted Nick is joining us as deputy general secretary. His extensive knowledge of the education landscape makes him ideally positioned to lead crucial work to influence national policy on behalf of members. I look forward to working closely with him in the months ahead.”

Kathryn James provides an insight into what Nick can expect in his new role on page 28. Read her interview with Richard Garner, former education editor of The Independent newspaper.

IF YOU HAVE A NEWS STORY TO SHARE THEN CONTACT THE EDITOR Email: nic.paton@headlines.uk.com

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Understanding outdoor accreditation ny purchase involves research. Everyone wants good value for money and expects to get a quality product, whether they’re buying a new microwave or booking a residential activity for their students.

But, with a plethora of outdoor or adventure accreditation available, how can you establish what you’re getting?

Schools and FE establishments can be checked by their results but that’s not so easy with an outdoor or adventure education provider. Many display awards on their websites and letterheads – AALA, AHOEC Gold Standard, LOtC, Adventuremark – but what do they all mean?

Since the inception of the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA), schools have become used to checking for the statutory licence covering specific activities and age groups. This has led to increased awareness of the need to request information about staff competence, and any reputable provider will have that information readily available. But customers may not be aware that Adventuremark assesses to the

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same level as AALA, but over a wider range of activities and ages.

AHOEC (Association of Heads of Outdoor Centres) is a branch of NAHT. It established its Gold Standard in 2009. The Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) meanwhile provides awards that not only recognise how well activities are run in terms of safety but also assess the quality of the provision.

The AHOEC Gold Standard inspects every aspect of the provision. Gold Standard does not duplicate the work of the other accreditation bodies so all providers holding Gold Standard will have the necessary Adventure Activities Licence and the instructional staff will all be fully competent for the activities they are conducting.

But Gold Standard takes a holistic view, checking the administration, accommodation, transport, catering etc. as well. The process of obtaining Gold Standard involves looking closely at how providers are operating, conducting a detailed self-assessment, often in conjunction with a mentor and with D-JAC Limited, who operate the

scheme for AHOEC. Gold Standard demands continual improvement and inspections take place at least every other year, ensuring holders will always offer a high quality experience in every area.

Any provider holding the AHOEC Gold Standard automatically qualifies for Adventuremark and the LOtC award. Many providers may hold only Adventuremark and/or LOtC and these are also an indication that the provider takes its role very seriously.

For more information take a look at these sites: The Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres www.ahoec.org/about/gold-standard/ Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge www.lotcqualitybadge.org.uk/ Adventuremark www.adventuremark.co.uk Health and Safety Executive, Adventure Activities Licensing www.hse.gov.uk/aala/index.htm

Invite a colleague to join today With a new term comes the inevitable movement of people. They may have changed roles, climbed up the career ladder, taken on more responsibility or added to their current commitments. With these changes comes an opportunity for you and your colleagues to share in the rewards of NAHT and NAHT Edge membership.

You already know the benefits of membership so why not strengthen your team by encouraging your colleagues to join NAHT or NAHT Edge too? As a thank you if someone you refer joins us, you’ll receive £20 in M&S or Amazon vouchers and they’ll receive vouchers to the same value too.

To help you to spread the word about the advantages of membership we’ve included a booklet with some vouchers in this magazine. The booklet explains how to refer to NAHT and NAHT Edge and who’s eligible for referral.

If you run out of vouchers simply visit naht.org.uk/voucher for NAHT recommendations or nahtedge.org.uk/referralvouchers for NAHT Edge.

If you would prefer to refer colleagues online visit naht.org.uk/refer to recommend senior leaders for NAHT membership or nahtedge.org.uk/refer to nominate middle leaders for NAHT Edge membership.

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Left: Lord Hague entertained the crowds at Inspiring Leadership 2016

NAHT PARTNERSHIP

Inspiring another year of

leadership

AHT has signed up with ASCL and the Education Development Trust to support Inspiring Leadership 2017. This will be the fourth Inspiring Leadership event sponsored by the three bodies. Taking place from Wednesday 7 June to Friday 9 June 2017 at the ICC in Birmingham the conference is expected to be even more inspirational and educational than previous years.

Nearly 1,500 education senior leaders attended the 2016 event with 94 per cent of those responding to the post event survey reporting that the conference met or exceeded their expectations.

Main stage speakers were rated excellent or good on average by 87 per cent of respondents with the top three impacts of attending the conference stated as being: providing inspiration and a re-energising experience; supporting CPD and developing leadership skills; and providing ideas to develop and make positive changes to practice.

Make sure you save the dates for 2017 and look out for more details later this term.

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NAHT has teamed up with two brand new partners to create some exciting offers for existing members.

Genesis Choice Ltd offers travel insurance that can be tailored to your specific needs. Members have a wide range of options for individuals, couples, families and even a policy which offers no age limit for older family members. eSchools provides web design, hosting and a brilliantly easy to use content management system. It can also combine your school website, email and text messaging system, and learning platform into one easy-to-use system, as well as providing additional features, such as a parents’ evening booking system and mobile phone app.

Visit www.naht.org.uk to find our more about NAHT’s partners.

#iwill gets Ofsted endorsement The positive impact of the #iwill campaign has been recognised by Ofsted. At the Teach First Impact Conference in July, Ofsted head Sir Michael Wilshaw joined NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby and #iwill campaign co-founder Dame Julia Cleverdon to highlight examples of good social practice in schools.

The campaign aims to make social action activities, such as fundraising and volunteering, part of life for 10–20 year-olds. Over 500 organisations have pledged their support for the campaign, including Ofsted and NAHT. Ofsted worked with #iwill earlier this year, visiting a sample of primary and secondary schools and colleges, conducting interviews, to understand how social action is interpreted and applied by pupils and teachers. The

inspectors found that when social action is interwoven within the curriculum it has a positive effect on both children and teachers. School leaders said that taking part in community projects gave children a better understanding of the diverse society they live in, and attendance and academic standards improved.

Giving pupils responsibility within school brought personal development, behaviour and welfare benefits too.

Commenting on Ofsted’s findings Sir Michael Wilshaw said: “We all know that learning and development doesn’t begin and end in the classroom. For many youngsters, getting involved in things outside the school gates, like volunteering, mentoring and fundraising, can help them to become well-rounded individuals. If we support

more of our children and young people in this way, we can all benefit from the positive and meaningful contributions they can make to society.”

Speaking at the Impact Conference Russell Hobby, NAHT general secretary said: “NAHT is proud to be supporting the #iwill campaign.

Youth social action provides the opportunity for young people to develop and demonstrate their character strengths while benefiting others. School leaders recognise the value of this for young people.”

The report of Ofsted’s research, “How social action is being applied to good effect in a selection of schools and colleges”, is available to download as a slide pack and pdf from the gov.uk website. You can find out more about the #iwill campaign at www.iwill.org.uk

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Education for All

PART

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In the May issue of Leadership Focus we promised you a review of the White Paper, ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, particularly its positions on funding, curriculum, assessment and the national academies programme. But with the withdrawal of universal academisation and the announcement of the Education for All Bill, where are we now? n 18 May, the Queen and Prince Philip, Lords, Ladies, members of parliament and multiple media, packed into the House of Lords to hear what the Queen’s government had planned for the coming year. Less than two months later the country had a new prime minister and lots of what was announced looked to be up in the air.

Although we’ve yet to see a draft ‘Education For All Bill’, at time of writing, Department of Education officials have told us work on the bill is continuing. And it’s this bill which will lay the foundations for implementation of the White Paper.

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Academisation

The purpose of the Bill remains to “spread educational excellence everywhere, so that all children and young people, regardless of location, prior attainment or background get an excellent education.” There is now a move towards a system where all schools are academies, rather than universal academisation, with a plan to “convert schools to academies in the worst performing local authorities, and those that can no longer viably support their remaining schools, so that a new system led by good and outstanding schools can take their place.” As this will still mean that some good and outstanding schools may be forced to become academies, the definition of local authorities that would fall under these criteria will be key to NAHT, and something we will be lobbying on both before and after publication of the Bill.

NAHT has made clear that the focus on structure is a major distraction when issues such as assessment, recruitment and funding need urgent attention. The association will continue to campaign against forced academisation and the right for schools to be able to choose academisation, if it is right for them. The government has stated that the bill will aim to “set the foundations for a system where all schools become academies by making the process of becoming an academy swifter and smoother for schools and local authorities.”

Funding

The White Paper confirmed the manifesto commitment to a new National Funding Formula for schools and high needs funding, and increased funding for early years providers. NAHT responded to the first stage consultation that set out the factors that would be taken into account, but the detail of how these would be weighted and the impact on schools was delayed by the EU referendum and change of ministers. The end of term saw an announcement that the new formula will be delayed until April 2018.

In the autumn term, the government will announce details of an interim solution for 2017/18 and will also consult on the detail of the full formula.

In the meantime, NAHT is continuing to make the case that the current funding settlement for schools represents a cut in real terms and, along with ASCL, ATL, NUT and Voice, released a statement on education funding saying that : “All of our organisations believe that school funding needs to be increased as a matter of urgency.

The government is instead freezing per pupil funding for maintained schools and academies, and at the same time loading additional costs onto them… Teachers and school leaders fear for the future of their pupils’ education.

“The evidence shows that school funding is inadequate. Any reform to school funding must be based on a recognition of the need for additional funding, must be evidence-based and must result in an equitable distribution that ensures every child and young person has what they need to succeed.

“Education funding is the nation’s down-payment for our future, essential to developing the skills of our children and young people. Our organisations, representing the overwhelming majority of teachers and school leaders, call upon the new Prime Minister and Secretary of State to change course and give our maintained schools and academies the resources they need.”

We’ll provide further updates on the Bill, funding and academisation as it becomes available. Look out for news stories in via our newsletters and the NAHT and NAHT Edge websites www.naht.org.uk and www.nahtedge.org.uk

NEWS IN BRIEF HELPING YOU MANAGE YOUR MEMBERSHIP We’re introducing changes to how you manage your membership of NAHT and NAHT Edge in the coming months. These changes will help you: ● manage your contact details; ● decide the communications you would like to receive from us; ● ensure your membership protection is always in place.

We’re making these changes to reflect improvements in technology, resolutions approved at the NAHT AGM 2016 and developments in the law governing data protection and digital services.

As a result of these revisions, NAHT members will be able to update their personal contact details, role and school information online, and advise us of any amends to their membership status. They’ll also be able to manage their communications online as we provide more choice about how we contact them and the type of information they receive.

NAHT Edge members will also enjoy these new communications options.

From November, as instructed by the AGM, we’ll begin collecting NAHT subscriptions earlier in the month than we do at the moment. We’ll send you information about these new approaches as they happen, and explain any action you need to take when we contact you. To find out more visit the membership FAQs in the Membership pages of www.naht.org.uk

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ACADEMISATION

Unpacking academisation What does academisation involve and what do school leaders need to know about the process and experience of converting? Over the next few pages Leadership Focus outlines the practical stages you need to go through and answers some of the key questions you are likely to want answered. hen back in May the then education secretary Nicky Morgan bowed to pressure from backbenchers and unions, not least the NAHT, to backtrack on the government’s programme of forced academisation for all schools, NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby expressed pleasure that the government had listened to the profession, calling her decision “constructive”.

Yet, while a welcome tactical retreat, in terms of the imposition of academies across the country, in reality Morgan’s decision changed very little. Indeed, she emphasised at the time: “Making every school an academy is the best way to ensure every child, regardless of birth or background, has access to a world-class education. I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools become academies.”

As many local authorities gradually lose the capacity to support schools as they once did, and as the practical and political momentum behind academisation gathers pace, it stands to reason more and more school leaders will be taking a long hard look at whether academisation can work for them.

And there’s an important point to be made here. NAHT has never been anti-academisation per se; its opposition has been and remains ‘against’ forced academisation – the idea that even Good or Outstanding schools with already excellent local authority-based structures, relationships and support in place should be compelled down this route, come what may.

For many NAHT members, however, the debate has already moved on.

They’re either already academies – and enjoying the fact – on the track to becoming academies, or proactively looking at the pros and cons of going down this route.

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How and why?

The first thing to recognise with academisation is that, yes, it is a process – it’s about new legal, financial, employment and governance structures and entities – and it’s all too easy to get hung up on all of that detail and data. But it’s also about much more than the “how”. Like any school decision you make, it’s as much about the “why” – the principle, the end goal of what you’re trying to achieve or improve, the aspiration.

As NAHT president Kim Johnson, (pictured right) puts it: “For me the overall driver has got to be choice; that it is a choice you make because you feel it is going be beneficial to your school and your learning community.”

His school, Bradfields Academy in Chatham, Kent, provides specialist SEND provision for students aged 4–19 and converted to be a standalone academy in April 2014, completing a process that began in September 2013.

“For us, we tried to make it a very democratic process, involving teachers, the leadership team, other staff and the wider community. There were concerns of course – what it meant for salaries, terms and conditions, job security, the curriculum, the quality of learning and so on – but because we involved everyone and made the process as democratic as we could we had a 99% vote in favour.

And the dissenting 1% was a teaching assistant who didn’t disagree with it in terms of the school, but simply disagreed with academies in principle,” Kim explains.

“One of the main drivers was that our local authority was, I felt, no longer fit for purpose; it could not give us the support we wanted. We already saw ourselves as

more of a regional and national resource than a resource of the local authority, so it was almost a logical step.

“The conversation to becoming a multi-academy trust (MAT) is something happening right now; we’re discussing the possibility with our main feeder primary school. We’re also looking at opening a free school on our campus for young people with autism, so it could be an amalgamation,” he adds.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

The questions

“The first question you need to be asking is: ‘Is this the right MAT for our school?; what are the advantages that going into partnership will bring to our school?’,” agrees NAHT head of policy Valentine Mulholland (pictured right).

“Certainly, economies of scale could be one benefit, for instance around joint procurement; sharing expertise across schools could be another. You might, for example, have a single PE expert working across three or four primary schools. Or

it could be an expert foreign languages teacher; you can share staff much more easily in these sorts of structures.

“One absolute benefit that the partnership must be offering is increased potential for school improvement. Establishing or joining a MAT can support school improvement by bringing together schools with particular areas of expertise.

“So it might be that your school is very strong in early years but there is a sense that you’re losing impetus in Years 1 and 2. You could go into a cluster where you bring the early years’ expertise but, by tapping into their expertise around Years 1 and 2, you can all improve attainment across the whole trust.”

One very important element to get clear early on is the Scheme of Delegation, Valentine advises. “This is a legal document that sets out where decision-making responsibility and accountability lie. For example, in an eight-school MAT there is likely to be a chief executive or an executive head. But what role does each school have in terms of governance and leadership? Does each school have its own head or is the structure going to be more based around heads of schools, or effectively deputy heads? Will each school still have a local governing body, and if so what powers if any will they have? In many MATs, the local governing body is now effectively a consultative rather than decision making body. It is important to be very clear about what level of governance there is going to be for each MAT and where the power and decision-making lies, and the

Scheme of Delegation should set this out.

“You also need to look at how you’re going to engage with parents. Within a MAT, there is now no requirement to have parental representatives on the trust board.

“But parents will, naturally, want to know where and how the decisionmaking is going to work. They will also want to be clear about how they are going to be engaged in the process. Will there, for example, be a parents’ forum?

“Another very important issue, understandably, is how the funding will work. Is funding just going to be passed through and allocated to each school directly, with an amount charged back for services delivered centrally, or will the MAT decide who gets what proportion of the funding?

“You can sometimes end up with quite a complicated formula.

So you need to understand what will happen to funding and what guarantees you have over future funding. What if your school is in special measures, should you get more funding than the others?

What is going to be a ‘reasonable’ share in this context? This is going to be an area where your school business manager (SBM) will need to be closely involved,” Valentine recommends.

The role of an SBM

The SBM will play a critical, a pivotal, role in the conversion process, agrees Bethan Cullen, commercial and business development director at the National Association of School Business Management (NASBM).

“Often it will be the SBM who will be expected to take on at least an element of that role, but often without fully considering the skills that are needed to deliver this, as it is quite a different role to the traditional SBM. There will be lots of different terminology that becomes very evident when a school becomes an academy,” she points out.

“Becoming an academy can be a huge piece of work that has to be undertaken alongside running the school during the whole transition period. The due diligence process is critical, as is the Scheme of Delegation. The academy will be fully accountable for spending public money – the responsibility will lie with the school itself – so it has to be beyond reproach,” she adds.

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ACADEMISATION

“There is a lot of work, a lot of contractual work that needs to be done around the transfer of staff, funding and governance, and a lot of that will fall on your SBM,” agrees Kim Johnson. “They will probably need to work really long hours for the initial three to four months, so you need to be sure you have the capacity to be able to do that, or that you can draw that capacity from somewhere else”.

Other things to consider include what will be the structure after staff have been transferred over under TUPE – Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, highlights NAHT specialist adviser Joanne Richardson. “Who will retain control of the budgets? What governors will retain roles and become trustees? What powers will be delegated to the governing body, or will you not have a governing body at all?” she points out.

Autonomy

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It is also important to recognise that, while one of the biggest selling points of academisation is gaining autonomy, in reality – and especially within a MAT – this might be more nuanced than you realise. “You need to consider what the benefits might really be. For example, you may think you’re getting increased autonomy but if that means the admin is taken over by the lead school, will this result in job losses among the admin team? And will you end up having to present a business case to the lead school for something as minor as painting a classroom?” Joanne cautions.

“On the other hand, it can work well.

The amount of support you can get from working together, and the savings you can make from being part of a collective group, can be significant.

The other big issue is to look at ethos. It may be self-evident, but you do not want to be with anybody who does not have the same ethos as you.

“But it is important to invest in a good legal team or provider. Also, speak to other academies or colleagues who have gone through the process, and who can explain the pitfalls as well as the positives. With a MAT there often seems to be the automatic view that it will be a secondary that will lead and run the trust, so think about whether that is the sort of model you want, or are you looking for a more delegated

model? It does often seem to be that the secondary leads and a group of primaries are around it, but in fact that is not the only model available,” Joanne advises.

Governance

The role and input of the governing body is also going to be critical, emphasises Emma Knights, chief executive of the National Governors’ Association, which back in April published a range of model governance models for MATs. “We are working with a lot of MATs; we are especially doing a lot of training around getting the governance, roles and responsibilities right. We’re trying to explain the importance of sorting these things out right at the beginning, not when you’re two years’ down the line,” she explains.

“You need to have a small group of governors and key senior leaders, including the SBM, because a lot of the changes are going to be about how you operate as a school rather than the teaching or pedagogy. You need to pull together a detailed proposition for your governing body, including outlining some key questions, such as do you want to work with other local schools and get into a group, or do you want to join a pre-existing group?

“The other big issue is to look at ethos. It may be self-evident, but you do not want to be with anybody who does not have the same ethos as you. You don’t want to lose your identity or what it is that makes you feel special as a school.

“The governing body will be quite peeved if it feels the senior leadership team is doing things and coming to decisions behind closed doors; or you find you cannot take the governing body with you.

Even the idea of presenting a focused proposal, if that does not explore the options with the governing body, then that could backfire. It is the governing body that decides whether you apply to convert”, Emma argues.

The small things

Along with the big-picture principles and the nitty gritty technical stuff, don’t forget the small things, recommends Kim Johnson.

“One thing you do need to recognise is that it is not just about changing the structure and finances of the school.

It will, probably, be the name, uniform, logos, headed paper and so on. So it is important not to get caught out by the fact that on, say, 31 March you will still be a state-maintained school and then on 1 April you will be an academy.

“Another important point is try not to do too much all in one go. This is a big change, so break it down into manageable steps. Also include a review process that will allow you to take a step back and look at what the impact has been on teaching and learning and school improvement; how it changed how your people do things. Ideally you want people to feel they now have more ‘ownership’ of the school,” he adds.

And this “ownership”, of course, needs to extend to the parents and wider community, emphasises Julie Simpson, head of St Barnabas Church of England MAT in Cornwall. The MAT extends across six primary schools (see the case study of the school’s SBM Karen

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

UNDERSTANDING ACADEMIES WHAT IS AN ACADEMY?

First established by the Labour Government in 2002 to replace schools in challenging circumstances, academies have been described as “publicly-funded independent schools”.

Since 2010 the academies programme has been expanded to include highly performing schools.

The key feature of academies is that they do not fall under the control of local authorities and have more autonomy ‘so they can’ become their own admissions authority and have the autonomy to decide important issues such as the length of the school term and day, staff pay and conditions and the curriculum.

An academy must still comply with admissions and exclusions regulations and any/all conditions set out in their funding agreements. They are still inspected by Ofsted and in all but a few cases, TUPE applies to the conversion process.

HOW IS AN ACADEMY RUN?

Castelow on page 17) and has introduced termly magazines for parents to highlight things the schools have done together as a MAT that probably would not have happened otherwise.

“We were initially very keen for the MAT not to have a ‘corporate’ image, but we were so successful some of the parents were asking what had changed and why had we bothered to convert,” she explains.

“It is really just celebrating all the things that have happened that term across the schools. For example, in June we held a cross-MAT sports day at the HMS Raleigh training facility in Torpoint, which was a wonderful experience for the children; some of them found it really inspiring.

“We also run a mass literacy/writing group, where the children come from the different schools, as well as a crossschool choir. We’ve had cross-MAT staff health and wellbeing days. We have middle leaders who lead on subjects across the MAT and do CPD together.

“Especially for small schools, where you can otherwise be quite isolated, there can be huge benefits in terms of sharing, both knowledge sharing and economies of scale, through a MAT. I fully recognise a MAT is not going to be for everyone, and sometimes there are going to be things that are not positive or do not work, but the benefits for us in terms of wider participation and partnership have been significant.

“It’s not about building massive empires; it’s just about wanting to do the right thing for our children,” Julie adds.

All academies are run by an academy trust, a charitable company responsible for the running of the academy. This trust must have at least three members and has control over land and assets, acts as the employer and plays a strategic role in the running of the school delegating much of its authority to the governing body. The trust appoints the governing body and the academy principal.

The governing body is not restricted by size, but can include the head teacher. It may also include foundation governors and representatives from the local authority.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ACADEMY?

There are currently three types of academy: • Converter academy • Sponsored academy • “Forced” academy.

CONVERTER ACADEMY

Any school which is performing well may apply to the DfE to become an academy. To be able to convert as a single academy, a school must be either outstanding or good with outstanding features, pupil attainment and progress must be above the national average and school finances must be healthy. In addition to this any school converting as a single academy will be expected to support at least one other local school.

Converter academies do not require an external sponsor, nor do they require the permission of the local authority to convert.

However, voluntary aided or foundation schools do need the permission of their dioceses, foundation or trust to convert.

Funding is available for interested schools to help pay for the process of investigating and establishing a converter academy.

SPONSORED ACADEMY

Any school or group of schools can apply to be a sponsored academy. The role of the sponsor is to support school improvement and development. Schools can find their own sponsor, though their suitability would need to be agreed by the regional schools’ commissioner (RSC).

Sponsors are responsible for establishing the academy trust, the governing body and the appointment of the head teacher. The academy trust is the legal body responsible for running an academy. It ensures compliance with the statutory and contractual obligations (including acting as employer, and lease or freeholder of the land) placed on academies through legislation, and their funding agreements.

FORCED ACADEMY

A school that has been identified as underperforming and eligible for intervention under the 2006 Education and Inspection Act can be compelled by a warning notice and/or an academy order to become a sponsored academy, these are sometimes referred to as forced academies.

As well as single academies, there are academy chains, or groups of academies are working together. There are three main governance models:

MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST (MAT)

Within a MAT, all schools are governed by one trust and board of directors. Each school will continue to have an advisory body which the MAT can choose to constitute as a local governing body to which certain functions can be delegated. The MAT will ultimately be accountable and responsible for the performance of schools in the chain.

Funding to the schools within the MAT will be allocated to the MAT as they are one legal entity. Funding is governed through a master funding agreement between the Secretary of State and the MAT and a supplemental agreement between the Secretary of State and each school within the MAT. Having a single trust governing all schools results in there only being one employer for all staff, which allows the movement of resources through schools in the chain and can result in efficiencies in areas such as procurement and delivery of central services.

UMBRELLA TRUST

An umbrella trust model allows schools of different category to set up their own individual academy trusts, but to create and nominate representatives to sit on an umbrella trust which can provide shared governance and collaboration for the schools within the umbrella trust.

Schools that wish to convert as part of an umbrella trust convert as separate academy trusts, but will in turn agree to join or set up an umbrella trust to join a group of schools together.

This model may be useful if a group of schools of mixed categories (for example, community, voluntary aided and voluntary controlled schools) wish to collaborate. It allows the single academy trusts to continue to have representation from the church or other foundation bodies as was the case when they were maintained schools (but this can be difficult with a MAT, given there is only one governing board). It also allows a group of schools to set up a trust for structured collaboration. For example, the umbrella trust may appoint members or governors in all the schools in the chain, providing a clear governance link between the schools.

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIP

In this model, the schools convert as single academy trusts and there is no shared trust or formalised governance structure.

The schools can therefore determine the terms and formalities of any agreement to work together. This is the loosest model of collaboration and can be as light touch or as formalised as the academies prefer.

The schools involved will continue to exist as separate academy trusts without any joint governance structure.

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ACADEMISATION

YOUR ACADEMISATION ROUTE-MAP 2 1 BEFORE YOU APPLY • Register your interest, by submitting a registration of interest form with the government (which can be accessed through the gov.uk website). You will then be assigned a Department for Education project lead.

• Become familiar with the Academies Financial Handbook, which can, again, be found on gov.uk • Consider the different types of academy, in other words single academy or MAT.

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To be able to convert as a single academy your latest Ofsted rating must be Outstanding or Good and your pupils’ attainment and progress must be above the national average. You will need to be able to show your schools’ finances are healthy.

To convert as a MAT, each school needs to submit a separate application and each governing body must pass a resolution to convert to become an academy. This will need to show how the stronger school’s in your proposed chain will help the weaker schools to improve.

Any federated school that wishes to convert to academy status must have the support of at least 50 per cent of its “prescribed governors” before applying. Prescribed governors are: the headteacher, parent governors, staff governors or foundation governors.

You will need to gain consent from your governing body (for all schools), from the MAT, from your trust or foundation (for foundation or voluntary schools with a foundation), from your religious body (for church or faith schools).

AT THE POINT OF APPLICATION • Present evidence. Schools that want to convert to an academy will need to show exam results and progress pupils have been making over the last three years, your most recent Ofsted inspection, and your school’s finances.

You will be asked for the names and experience of the people that will be part of your governance structure.

• Hold informal discussions. It is important to bring staff members, parents and pupils with you. So inform them that your governing body is considering applying for your school to become an academy. You should also let your local authority know about your plans.

• Consider any PFI contracts. If your school has a PFI contract, you must let your project lead know before you apply to become an academy as there will be steps you’ll need to work through with the local authority and PFI provider. Recognise that if you have a PFI contract it is likely to take a minimum of six months to convert.

• Seek legal advice. You will need to hire a solicitor to guide you through the process, although this should not be done before DfE has approved your application.

• Get an actuarial assessment. This will help you to understand how much money your academy trust will have to spend on pension contributions for any staff members who are part of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

• Consider land registration. You will need to ask your school’s landowner to gather all land registration documents, as your solicitor will need these documents later in the conversion process. This will often be your local authority, but could be your diocese, trust or foundation.

• Look at contracts. You should compile a list of any contracts, assets, service-level agreements, licences, Sport England or Football Association grants that your school’s governing body and local authority hold. You will need to transfer or re-negotiate all these contracts and agreements later in the conversion process.

• Start thinking about transfer of staff. You will need to discuss the TUPE process with staff, initially probably informally but then formally. However, again, the formal TUPE process cannot begin until you have secured DfE approval.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

3 WHEN YOU APPLY • Complete the application form.

• Notify your local authority.

• Set up or join an academy trust. It will normally take between two to six weeks for the DfE to assess your application and, if successful, grant you your academy order.

5 UPON OPENING • Finish the statutory consultation.

• Finalise your funding agreement.

Remember, you will need to publish a copy of the signed funding agreement on your school’s website when you open as an academy.

• Open your academy’s bank account.

• Appoint your academy officers, auditors, accounting officer and chief finance officer.

• Appoint an external auditor to certify your accounts and a data protection officer.

• Put in place appropriate insurance.

Bear in mind that if you are part of a PFI scheme you will be legally required to take out commercial insurance as part of your PFI contract.

• Ensure all Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks are up to date and valid.

• Establish your complaints procedure.

• Notify Edubase. This will mean you can be issued with your academy’s new unique reference number.

• Notify exam boards. If you are a secondary academy, you can continue to use the same exam centre number, but you will need to let the National Centre Number Register know about your change of status.

4 ONCE YOU HAVE YOUR ACADEMY ORDER • Get your support grant. As soon as you have been granted your academy order, your project lead will arrange for you to receive a £25,000 support grant from DfE for you to spend on the conversion process.

• Get your funding allocation letter. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) will send you a funding allocation pack. This will include your indicative funding allocation letter, which confirms how much funding your academy is likely to get after conversion.

• Appoint your solicitor.

• Carry out a statutory consultation, via your governing body.

• Apply to open your academy’s bank account.

• Complete and return your land questionnaire.

• Complete and submit your draft memorandum and articles of association.

• Complete and submit your draft funding agreement.

• Assess whether you need to make changes to your admissions policy (this will be for grammar schools only).

If this is the case, you will need to ask your solicitor to complete the model document that relates to your type of grammar school.

• Register with Companies House.

• Appoint your academy trustees.

• Appoint your academy’s local governing body (for all schools in a multi-academy trust) and transfer responsibilities.

• Complete the TUPE process.

• Complete the pension registrations.

• Agree contracts with external providers, for example catering, cleaning, security, ICT products and services and software licences.

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6 ONCE OPEN • Make your first payment to the EFA. • Submit your support grant expenditure certificate. This should be filled in by your chair of governors and will confirm how much of the support grant you have spent on converting, and whether you are carrying a portion of the grant over into your academy’s budget.

• Publish your funding agreement on your academy’s website.

• Complete your academy’s land and buildings valuation. This needs to be done within six weeks of converting.

Source: DFE

ACADEMISATION 16

ACADEMISATION – SOME KEY QUESTIONS WHAT’S BETTER – A STAND-ALONE ACADEMY OR MAT? The decision of whether you convert to a stand-alone academy or to an academy chain will, naturally, be based upon consideration of the needs of your school, particularly in relation to which model will enable the school to create maximum capacity for school improvement as this is ultimately the aim of the academy process.

Schools that enter into a MAT arrangement need to be aware they are likely to be required to submit part of their budget towards school improvement, as well as other services that the MAT may opt to provide centrally.

As this ‘budget share’ can differ between 2 per cent to 15 per cent, it is vital a school is clear about how much money a trust will require from each school before deciding on joining a trust. It is also important to make sure there is a plan of support and input agreed between schools before the conversion process is complete. This is particularly important to ensure that the needs of all schools are addressed, particularly those which are fragile.

WHO SHOULD I CHOOSE TO SIT ON THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES? There are certain DfE requirements around the make-up of a trust board which will need to be complied with.

Outside of these, many schools converting choose to retain their current governing body structure or a slimmed down version of it.

Where schools intend to share governance through a MAT and are looking for suitable individuals to sit on the trust board, it is important to consider individuals not only from the school’s own governing body but also from the wider community which the MAT will serve.

There may be individuals in the wider community who can bring additional skills which the MAT can benefit from.

HOW DO I “CLOSE OFF” ANY PREEXISTING FINANCIAL LIABILITIES, FOR EXAMPLE ONGOING SCHOOL BUILDING WORK? It is vital before signing any funding agreement, for converter and sponsor schools to agree with the local authority that it is responsible for the

completion of any outstanding work and to ensure unfunded liabilities for ongoing building work do not pass to the academy trust after conversion.

Members have reported situations where the local authority has sought to transfer responsibility for ongoing debts to the school before it is academised. This should be dealt with during the conversion process as part of the negotiation of the Commercial Transfer Agreement between the relevant local authority, the school’s governing body and the academy trust (and their respective lawyers).

WHAT SHOULD BE THE FINANCIAL STRUCTURE? Just as with a local authority-maintained school, a lot of the day-to-day financial side of being an academy or within a MAT will fall on the shoulders of your SBM. Nevertheless, there are a few important points to recognise. While maintained schools have a financial year which follows that of local authorities, running from April to March, the financial year of academies is the same as the school year (September-August).

Academies are operated by an “academy trust” which is a charitable company limited by guarantee. Although academy trusts are not registered charities, they are required to comply with charity and company law in terms of financial management and accounting. This requires them to file records with Companies House and produce and file annual accounts. They also have to pay VAT. However, as charities they have the right to apply for grants from other charities.

WHAT ACCOUNTABILITY WILL I HAVE TO OTHER SCHOOLS WITHIN THE MAT OR CLUSTER? Schools converting to academy status will be expected to support weaker schools, whether these exist within the proposed academy chain or, in the case of a school making an individual application, supporting at least one other school in the locality.

Head teachers, naturally, need to ensure that any arrangement does not have a detrimental impact upon the continued success of their own school.

Members may wish to consider that in situations where they take on the role of executive head teacher with

responsibility for several schools they may be held accountable for those which are deemed to be failing under the Ofsted inspection framework.

WHAT ISSUES DO I NEED TO BE AWARE OF IN TERMS OF TRANSFERRING STAFF? One key issue under TUPE transfers is employees’ redundancy rights. As the academy trust is the employer (for which the member will be responsible if s/he holds financial responsibility), it is important members ensure that a reasonable sum is factored into an effective insurance plan to cover any future costs relating to potential redundancies.

HOW DO I ENSURE I HAVE APPROPRIATE LEGAL COVER IN THE EVENT OF TRIBUNAL CLAIMS? It is important to take into account the extent of an academy’s legal service provision. When under local authority control, things such as tribunal fees and awards will have been covered by the council.

The head teacher of an academy, and particularly a stand-alone academy, is in a far more vulnerable position where potential employment claims arise, such as being named personally as a respondent in a discrimination claim.

It is vital therefore a good legal provider is secured by an academy and potential academy converters need to shop around to ensure they secure the services of the best provider available.

Often another academy can recommend a particular legal services provider.

WHAT WILL BE THE SITUATION REGARDING PENSIONS? An academy’s funding agreement requires the academy to offer Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) membership to all support staff and Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) membership to teaching staff.

Staff who already have membership of one of these will be unaffected by the conversion and new staff will be able to join LGPS or TPS. Academies are not permitted to opt out of either arrangement and will be subject to the provisions of the respective schemes, including increased employer contributions.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

CASE STUDY

Karen Castelow is academy business manager at St Barnabas Church of England MAT, which comprises of six Church of England primary schools across south east Cornwall – St Barnabas, Braddock and Quethiock in Liskeard, and Antony, Millbrook and St Nicolas in Torpoint.

Our MAT formed in December 2013, initially with five schools, and then a sixth joining in January 2014. In total, across the MAT, there are just under 700 children and around 114 staff.

Four of the schools were sponsored and two were converters.

It started very simply, with us talking around the table with members from each school. A governing body with a board of directors was also formed by the diocese at that point. This process went on for around 18 months before the MAT was formed and there was a shared vision.

There was a long legal process to go through, including the conversion process and gaining DfE approval and the staff TUPE consultations leading to conversion. And then there was the whole process of transferring from the local authority. But there is now quite a good, standard process in place; and a lot more information is readily available now.

One of the things you need to recognise is there is no one-size-fits-all; it is crucial to get the governance and structures in place that are most appropriate for you. School leaders, naturally, must be part of that; you need to know what you are working towards. It is also very important to take people with you throughout the change; your strategy and lines of communication have to be very clear.

Governance is key. It is recommended to have a board of directors with a varied skill-set, so people with experience of finance, HR, business and, of course, education. Bear in mind these skills may already exist within certain staff and governors, so it is important to look at where people are going to be best placed before the conversion process.

Do not underestimate the enormous amount of administrative work and setting up of new systems required to enable the transition to be seamless for all stakeholders.

There needs to be a strong team in place to take on the substantial work load. In our case the names of the schools have not changed, the uniforms have not changed and so on – what’s changed is how the leadership is structured and how the finances are administered. One of the most significant changes on conversion are the funding arrangements. The General Annual Grant is devolved to each school within the trust on a monthly basis so it is crucial to monitor cash flow.

Questions you need to ask include: how is your trust to be managed? How are finances and the administration going to be managed? What are these teams going to look like? Money that used to go to the local authority will now be coming to the schools, so how is that going to be distributed? How are resources going to be shared? Will each school still have its own budget?

How is recruitment going to work? In our case this did not happen overnight, it has evolved over the last three years, and there is constant change to manage.

For us, being part of a MAT has been an opportunity in terms of recruitment and procurement. We’ve been able to redeploy staff across the MAT and work as teams to share best practice and cascade training. We have attracted some excellent teachers and continue to raise standards. As staff have left and moved on we have worked strategically towards a staffing structure best suited for each individual school. We’ve also become more effective at sharing resources across the six schools, something that has had a positive impact for the pupils.

Having said that, there can be an element of autonomy diminished as many things are now administered centrally.

The rationale being, to get more consistency across the whole trust, people may need to recognise that the ‘old days’ cannot continue, so there is a huge education and communications side to it. On the flip side of this though, it does create time for the heads of school to concentrate on the teaching and learning and the burden of managing the business/premises etc is taken away from being their direct responsibility.

The role of the SBM is critical. You do need to be fully informed and a good communicator and be able to juggle and keep all the balls in the air, with a smile! But there is so much information now and you should not feel isolated. There is a plethora of courses, seminars, conferences, webinars and information out there, from the government, from NASBM, NAHT and so on. Regular external audits are also beneficial as any recommendations made can be implemented to constantly improve and adhere to expected standards, and the best option is always networking and talking to others who have been through or who are going through the conversion process.

Ultimately, what is important is to have a very clear structure and a clear understanding of what your role and responsibilities are going to be. It is also vital to have the strong support of your principal and your board of directors to work alongside and manage the people through the change for the best outcome for the pupils.

Do not underestimate the enormous amount of administrative work and setting up of new systems required to enable the transition to be seamless for all stakeholders

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ACADEMISATION 18

CASE STUDY

Jack Hatch is head of St Bede’s Church of England Primary Academy in Bolton, Lancashire.

We were one of the first group of schools to opt to be an academy, back in 2010/11.

We are a three-form entry school, with 500 children and 25 staff, and the school (St Bedes Morris Green Church of England Primary School) is a single converter academy, or an academy by ourselves. However, we are looking to convert to a MAT; we are just waiting for the right partner to come forward.

It took us quite a long time to convert because it was all so new and we were an aided church school and the diocese took a slightly different view. We were well down the track in talking to the Manchester Diocese and it probably took us six months before we had mastered the process.

My advice is very simple: read the documentation and read the draft documentation, and put some proper time aside to do this carefully and slowly. It is an obvious point to make but it is important.

If you are doing it [academisation] because you simply think it’s going to save you money, then forget it.

Certainly in the early days, when there was more money in the system, that might have been a possibility, but not now. You have the freedom to choose how you want to spend that budget.

Having said that, because there is no money coming through the local authority you will have to buy services similar to those you were previously getting from the authority. But it is the freedom to make your own decisions.

If you can get that spirit of ownership going through the whole school – parents, pupils, staff, everybody – that’s going to be helpful. It makes it easier to put something forward,

to make something happen, together. It is important to see this as an opportunity, as a way of getting excellence for your pupils.

Academisation gives you the freedom to make innovations and change things, changes that can have real impact on children’s learning. For example, we have introduced a two-week summer school during the summer holidays. It obviously had to be negotiated with the teachers, but it has had a big impact on the children, especially those who would otherwise find it hard to retain learning over the long holiday period.

We also now employ tutors who we are able to pay by the hour to work with small groups and feed into our learning targets. There is an ongoing cycle of improvement that addresses the needs of every child.

We’ve established a role of head of strategy, who is like a chief executive for the school and leads on the governing body along with the chair of governors and leads with parents and pupils. There is a really big job in terms of tying everything together and getting everyone to come up with solutions rather than problems; it is about empowering people to do things and encouraging their enthusiasm.

You’ve got to want to do it, to move forward with it, for you; because you feel it is the best for the children. It can cut the handcuffs that can hold you back. Don’t get me wrong, there are some good local authorities out there, but they’re not going to have the same care, enthusiasm and commitment that we have.

But what is important is to really tailor it to your own community; tailor it to what you want and what is going to be the best for your children.

If you are doing it [academisation] because you simply think it’s going to save you money, then forget it. Certainly in the early days, when there was more money in the system, that might have been a possibility, but not now

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

CASE STUDY

Gary Wilkie is chief executive of Learning in Harmony MAT in Newham, east London, which was formed in 2014. It currently comprises four schools – Sheringham Primary School, JFK Special School, Upton Cross Primary School and Hartley Primary School. Two schools in Southend, Blenheim Primary School and the Federation of Thorpe Greenways Junior and Infant Schools, are due to join the MAT from this month [September].

One of the drivers for us in terms of academisation was the fact that, as Sheringham was a national support school, we felt passionately that, if we wanted always to make a difference to our children, why wouldn’t we want other people to share that same success?

The very, very key thing when starting this whole journey, for us, has been to have a very clear vision and set of values; to know what we believe. To be a successful person or organisation, it is about doing what you believe in, what you believe makes a difference to the kids, rather than simply doing Gary Wilkie had a clear vision before embarking on academisation

what you are being told to do. We want to empower people and we want to broaden our philosophy to other schools.

Everyone is different and you can, of course, learn from those differences. But having your values clearly established from the beginning has been really integral to us. The first question therefore we ask people is ‘what do you believe in, and why do you believe it?’. If you are going into a MAT with someone who thinks completely differently to you, then it’s not going to work. Don’t do it just because you are friends with them, or they’re next door – although geography does matter – or just because you have a good working relationship with them.

How our MAT came about was that I had a chance conversation with the head of JFK, Diane Rochford, at a conference where we discussed whether we should at least explore the options. At that point neither of us had even thought academisation was the way to go, but it very quickly became clear we had very, very similar values and ambitions of what we wanted to do.

The first conversations took place in January 2014 and the process was complete by September of that year. We brought in a consultant quite early in the process, which is another thing I would definitely advise a head to do. You need someone who is experienced with and understands the process, how it works, how the governance works.

It’s also important they know what they don’t know so they can put you in touch with people who do, solicitors and so forth.

As well as consulting with staff, make sure you have a facilitated senior leadership group to work on the joint vision and to create a joint set of values early on so that, when you do meet as a group of heads, this is clear.

The person who feels it the most in terms of workload is the SBM, there is no doubt about that.

But working with the consultant helped because he was able to bring clarity to the task and what we needed to do. We have a very good SBM, but you do need to free some capacity for them.

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ACADEMISATION

REGIONAL SCHOOLS COMMISSIONERS

My advice would definitely be to get the vision right first and then get your management to support you to create that 20

Academisation allows you to have a mindset change. There is a different psychology to being part of the same organisation with another school versus simply being in partnership with them.

You have to be incredibly honest with each other – you cannot afford to be polite because you are mutually responsible for everyone’s outcomes. So you have to say, ‘are you really, really sure the answer is not y rather than x?

Being within a MAT forces you to be honest because that is the way you are going to be more effective.

Bringing hearts and minds with you is also vital. You have to be very clear about what it is you are hoping to achieve. Bringing people kicking and screaming into a MAT is not a good idea. Secretly, I feel most people don’t mind being led, but the key is where they are being led, and why, has to be articulated clearly.

For us it is still early days. If you ask the children whether they are part of Harmony Multi-Academy Trust, some may not even know, and I am not bothered by that. It

does not really mattterr whethe er people know wha at is makin ng a difference; what matte ers is tha at itt makes that differe ence.

We now run a join nt NQT programme acrosss the e MAT, which has already y been valu uable e.

People have got to know each h other and their difffere ent ways of working and, argu uably y, I would d say are better tea acherrs for tha at.

We also run a join nt le eadership p development pro ogramme for middle leaders. Again, itt iss sim mply y about developing g join nt valu ues.

You can add tha at exttra 0.5 per cent from being a MAT, but it iss not just about becomin ng more effic cien nt.

You are talking the e same la anguage e of school improve ementt, whic ch makes meetings more efficientt and the whole converssatio on much bettter.

My advice wou uld d definittely y be to get the vision righ ht first and th hen get your manage ementt to supp port you to create tha at. And an outsid de facilitator can oftten he elp p you dra aw together what yo ou need; they may be able to describ be your word ds in n a better way than n you can.

Regional Schools Commissioners are expected to play an increasing role in the academisation process, but where do they fit now?

When schools are converting to academy status as part of a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) or joining an existing MAT, it is the Regional Schools Commissioner’s (RSC) role to decide, on behalf of the Secretary of State, whether to approve or decline the application.

When schools are converting to academy status as part of a MAT or joining an existing MAT, the RSC will want to be assured that the governance and leadership of the MAT is clear and robust and that the MAT has the capacity to drive improvement across all schools within it. Consideration will include, amongst other things, Ofsted judgements and published performance measures in relation to progress and attainment of academies already within the MAT, how these relate to the floor standard, and national and local averages, as well as improvement over time. The RSC will also consider the performance of the academy applying to join the MAT. The White Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ committed to increasing accountability by publishing data to show how MATs are performing. The government started published MAT performance measures for 2014-15, in July 2016. This information can be found on gov.uk. The Education for All Bill, the detail of which is yet to be published as we go to print, is expected to confirm the increased involvement of RSCs in the creation of academies.

Source: www.parliament.uk

RESOURCES

The Department for Education Convert to an academy: guide for schools available on www.gov.uk

NAHT ADVICE

NAHT has a number of advice papers for members on academisation. All are available on www.naht.org.uk Academies toolkit Considering Academy Status?

Developing a School Partnership Exploring Multi-School Solutions Exploring Multi-School solutions – case studies Forced academies and Warning Notices – a brief guide to frequently asked questions

You may also be interested in guidance on: The Education and Adoption Bill Regional Schools Commissioners – their role

NATIONAL GOVERNORS’ ASSOCIATION

NGA has a range of online resources that can be found at www.nga.org.uk

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POLICY AND LEGISLATION

Introducing

Justine Greening

It’s been all change since Brexit; a new Prime Minister, a new Cabinet and a new Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, all arrived within days of the vote. Leaving Downing Street after her appointment Ms Greening reportedly told onlookers it was her “perfect job”. So who is Justine Greening and what will she bring to education?

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uch has been made in the press of Greening’s unique position among education secretaries. She’s the first education secretary to have attended a state run comprehensive secondary school, Oakwood Comprehensive in Rotherham. While this may give her insight that others haven’t had, will this make a difference to how she approaches education policy?

In her first public appearance in her new post, on the BBC Andrew Marr Show, Greening spoke passionately about her time at school with, “amazing teachers who could excite me about learning”. In an older interview with the Independent on Sunday she said that she would have “got nowhere” without education, and is often quoted as praising the teachers who taught her at school.

During the School Funding Debate in the House of Commons in July, just a few days into her new role, she said she was “proud” to have gone “through the state school system … that enabled me to have the education that gave me a platform to try to reach some of the goals that I set myself.”

Speaking in an interview soon

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after her appointment she said “The most important people who helped me to get educated were my teachers, to whom I will be eternally grateful. It is important that that is recognised.”

As international development secretary, her previous role, she was an advocate for girls’ education; one of her last acts in that post was to stage a Girls’ Education Forum to bring global attention to the issue of girls’ education. But while she has consistently supported greater autonomy for schools during debates and votes in the House of Commons, she has also supported ending financial support for some 16-19 year olds in training and further education, university tuition fees and raising England’s undergraduate tuition fee cap to £9,000 per year.

Generally regarded as enthusiastic, energetic and personable, she studied economics at Southampton University and earned an MBA at London Business School. Before entering parliament, she was an accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and also worked at GlaxoSmithKline and Centrica.

JUSTINE GREENING’S POLITICAL CV

2001

Contested the constituency of Ealing, Acton & Shepherd's Bush, finishing second

2005

Elected Conservative MP for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields with 4.8% majority

2005

Member of the Work and Pensions Committee

2005

Vice-chair (with responsibility for youth) of the Conservative Party

2007

Junior Shadow Minister for The Treasury

Elected in 2005, she was the youngest female conservative MP in the House of Commons, until Chloe Smith was elected in 2009.

In 2013 she was listed as one of the UK’s most powerful women by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and the Adam Smith Institute ranked her the 9th best value for money MP in the wake of the 2009 expenses scandal.

During her interview with Marr she deftly avoided his questions about the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicted 8 per cent cut in school funding by 2020. But she couldn’t avoid being drawn on the issue of funding for very long. Within a week she was answering questions in the School Funding Debate in the House of Commons, where she said: “I am firmly committed to introducing fairer funding for schools, high needs and early years. This is an important reform, to fairly and transparently allocate funding on the basis of schools’ and children’s actual needs. Fairer funding will provide a crucial underpinning for the education system to act as a motor for social mobility and social justice.” She also announced the delay to the introduction of a new national funding formula in that debate,

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

which disappointed many in the poorer-funded local authorities.

She has great ambitions for the Department for Education and takes a generational approach to education policy, because of its place in social cohesion.

She told the Commons, “I want my department to be a central engine for social mobility more broadly. We need to challenge ourselves across government, and the Department for Education has a key role to play on this in saying that not only do we want children to be coming out of our schools better educated, but we want to make sure that the jobs and careers are there for them to be able to make the most of their potential.” She told Andrew Marr, “fundamentally we need to look at what is happening in the classroom, having children there who are ready and able to learn, having fantastic teachers. That’s what’s going to be most important and that’s what I’ll focus on”.

While her approach to education

policy appears to be nuanced, she has made clear her initial approach to teaching unions. “One of the first things that I did upon coming into this role was to pick up the phone and call the teaching unions to introduce myself and to set up initial meetings,” she said. “I hope that I can have a constructive, productive relationship.”

Russell Hobby, general secretary, agrees, setting out the association’s position back in July in a letter and meeting to welcome her to her new role.

“From our point of view,” he wrote, “the main challenges are ones of capacity, not more autonomy or accountability.

We need to create hundreds of thousands of new places, we need more great teachers and we need to fund schools properly. We already have the most autonomous and accountable system in the world – more of the same will not solve these challenges and will not raise standards.

“The proposals on universal

2009

Shadow Minister for London, within the Communities and Local Government Team, with responsibility for Local Government Finance

2010

Economic Secretary to the Treasury

2011

Secretary of State for Transport

2012

Secretary of State for International Development and a member of the National Security Council

2016

Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities

academisation were…a distraction at best. Funding and recruitment are the top concerns affecting all schools… After this, assessment is the main flashpoint in relationships between the profession and government,” he continued.

“I won’t mince my words when I say that assessment at the primary level has been an unmitigated disaster this year… We need a fresh start and a clear vision borne out of dialogue.”

Hobby met with Greening as schools headed off into the summer holidays and is hopeful the new secretary will follow through on her comments. “We had a constructive first meeting.

We spent a lot of time talking about primary assessment and the EBacc. We then focused on recruitment and funding – including the 30 hours free childcare offer, as well as the delayed funding formula.

“If we can crack these issues, then there is much that can be achieved.”

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WORK/LIFE BALANCE

The Balancing act Revealing the full extent of the workload vice principals, deputies and assistant head teachers have to juggle, and how the government’s accountability framework is reducing aspirations.

eputy, assistant head or vice principal – an important stepping stone to greater things or an invidious half-way house of impossible toil, burnout and little or no credit? Or, increasingly, both?

Such was the critical question at the heart of July’s seminal investigation by NAHT into the working lives of deputy and assistant head teachers and vice principals.

The report, aptly named The Balancing Act, is a distillation of views from nearly 900 deputy and assistant heads and vice principals across England. It explores their workload, how they feel about the balance of their teaching and management responsibilities, the support they get (or lack of), and how, or whether, the demands they are under are likely to temper their willingness to step up into headship roles.

In the context of a profession looking to create a healthy, vibrant pipeline of future heads and leaders, the headline finding was deeply worrying.

Just a third (36%) of respondents said they aspired to a headship in the future, the survey concluded, with the rest ambivalent or, even more concerning, definitely not interested.

When asked what would make them feel more confident to move into a headship role, the most important point was to have no inspection in their first year, closely followed by not being held accountable for the past performance of the school.

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Reward v punishment

As NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby put it at the launch of the report,

“school leadership is a hugely rewarding job that allows teachers the chance to effect real change in their communities, raising standards and improving children’s life chances. But as things stand, just a third of the people surveyed had any aspiration to become head teachers.

“That is just not going to give us the number of head teachers we will need in the future. The workload, the risk and the culture of blame that surrounds school leadership make for a toxic fog that must be dispelled. The fault lies in the government’s obsession with high stakes accountability.”

The growing shortage of head teachers and the inability of schools to recruit into headship roles, especially in England, in a climate of spiralling workload and aggressive inspection – Russell’s “toxic fog” – has, of course, been well-documented over the years, not least by NAHT. Last December’s NAHT School Recruitment Survey, for example, highlighted that 72% of schools in England and Wales were struggling to recruit head teachers and principals, with nearly two thirds saying the same things about deputy head and vice principal roles (64%) and assistant head roles (63%) respectively.

The other side

What this latest research has done therefore is look at this situation from the other direction: what is it that is stopping effective, otherwise ambitious middle leaders from making the transition to a headship?

The report very clearly raises questions about the corrosive effect of the government’s punishing accountability

framework on those with aspirations to headship. But it also, and perhaps more uncomfortably, poses the question of whether, and how, heads themselves can be doing more to support, develop, mentor and bring on the next generation of school leaders.

Just as important as the survey findings are the personal perspectives of respondents. NAHT spoke to three deputy and assistant heads to get their individual views. (see opposite).

In a nutshell, The Balancing Act showed that: ● Four out of ten deputies and assistants surveyed work more than 60 hours a week; ● The vast majority (88%) of respondents teach in the classroom as part of their role, with six out of ten primary deputies and assistants teaching for more than half their time; ● However, nearly half (47%) of respondents say they are called away from the classroom once a week or more to cover for the head in unforeseen circumstances; ● For one in ten, this happened once a day. This was partly because deputies and assistants often had too much timetabled teaching time, and partly because of the growing pressure on heads to be out of school; ● More than half (57%) said the amount of time they had to spend away from their day-to-day teaching had risen, meaning children were left with higher level teaching assistants, supply teachers and teacher colleagues; ● More than eight out of ten of those who said they had to abandon their classes to deal with leadership duties reported that it had “a negative impact on learning”.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

James Bowen, director of NAHT Edge, feels the government needs to accept the role it’s playing in deterring moves up the education career ladder. “School leadership is a privilege; an opportunity to do good on a scale and to a depth that few other professions offer, “ said James. “No school leader should feel that, as one respondent said: ‘The government is setting us up to fail with ridiculous targets for performance as part of a wider agenda on academies’.”

But, as NAHT president Kim Johnson conceded, there was also a gauntlet being thrown down here for head teachers. “What’s clear from the survey is that the problem is a combination of workload and being called away from their teaching all the time, which many deputies and assistants find really difficult,” he said.

“The challenge for head teachers is to look at that and work with their deputy and assistant heads to say ‘what are the best practice models we need to put in place that will enable you to do the various parts of your job better?’.

“It is also about trying to create the right culture, a culture that enables where there is time for pastoral leadership – for you as a leader to work with your middle leaders and deputy and assistant heads – but also where they are given time for reflection. I think that is really important.

“I try to give my assistant and vice principals and SBM two half days off each term where they are not expected to be in school. This provides an opportunity for them to take stock, reflect and catch up.

“It’s not rocket science, but we also have regular keep-in-touch meetings to review the work they’re doing and to offer support and guidance. As a head you’ll normally be doing that informally anyway but to have a structure to it can be helpful as it means both the leadership and the

deputy and assistant heads are aware of what each other is doing, and what is important.

“Another dimension is about really celebrating the opportunity that there is in becoming a head teacher; the opportunity you have to make a difference and change things. But at the same time recognising that, for some assistant and deputy heads, that’s not a transition they wish to make but they still need support and guidance to effectively progress,” Kim added.

Personal perspectives As well as The Balancing Act report, NAHT wanted to dig beneath the surface of what’s pressing in on deputy and assistant heads and vice principals; what it is most that is making their lives challenging and, ultimately, what sort of factors might be deterring them from making the transition to a headship role.

To that end, it brought together three senior leaders for a roundtable debate: Bev Sheppard, deputy head of The Deans Primary School in Swinton, Salford, and chair of the NAHT’s deputy and assistant heads sector; Adam Robbins, assistant head teacher at Richard Alibon Primary School in Dagenham; and Nigel Bailey, deputy head at Birdwell Primary School in Barnsley.

They sat down with NAHT head of policy Valentine Mulholland to discuss,

essentially, “whither the senior leader?”, or their views on how to go about balancing the conflicting demands of teaching and senior leadership.

Opening the proceedings, Valentine asked what then, were the core challenges all three faced, both personally and generally, as deputy and assistant heads?

And had these challenges grown significantly in recent years?

“I think there are many challenges because there are so many changes, rapid changes that are expected so quickly that head teachers have to be out of school a lot more than I would say they had to be a few years ago.

And deputies then have to fill the void for when they’re not around,” said Bev Sheppard. “And, yes, these have grown.”

“I think it is a balancing act. But I think it’s linked to recruitment and retention as well, because it’s more and more difficult recently to find and recruit good teachers, school leaders can’t get those teachers,” argued Adam Robbins.

“So it increasingly falls on assistant and deputy heads to take those classes, and take those groups, which in turn then impacts on your ability to lead the school in a strategic way. I think the two are linked and I’ve certainly noted more recently that, where we’ve struggled to find good quality teachers, my teaching commitment has increased to go into Year 6 or other assistants or deputies into Year 2, those critical year groups. Or people are having to take booster groups, and that has really impacted on me and my role has changed to deliver that.

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WORK/LIFE BALANCE 26

“But also, the flipside of that is that around succession planning. There is my role in developing those teachers no capacity or facility for my head to has changed. None of us would develop me as a head, you just sort of blow our own trumpet and say we’re fall into and just have to do it and get phenomenal teachers, but we are on with it. I don’t know whether he’s in these roles for a reason. And one trying to create something that would aspect of that is being able to develop help me to be a better deputy and put and help those other teachers grow, something in place that would give some which again is a huge investment sort of structures, but I don’t know where of our time, whether they are NQTs the capacity would come from for a or just new teachers to a school. school my size to do that,” he added.

So, all of those things, while they Was part of this pressure the fact are still part of our leadership role, that, as senior leaders, they were often they take away from our strategic taking responsibility for the highest leadership of the school,” he added. accountability years? asked Valentine.

“I would agree completely,” Nigel, first, pointed out that he said Bev. “Our school has been did not actually have a class but did Outstanding since 2007 and we’ve teach reception, covered planning, always had good quality teachers preparation and assessment (PPA), recruited in, and we’re and Years 1 and 2. He also had finding it more and more a level of responsibility for difficult to be able to fill safeguarding, training of those roles. And then students, and induction.

I’ve had to go into Adam highlighted that those classrooms for he took Year 6, adding: significant periods “They are not only Year of time until we’ve 6, they are the Pupil Adam been able to find a Premium children; they are Robbins replacement. And part our vulnerable groups. All of my role – and part of of those I teach are the lower the role of many deputies that attaining children; a big group I know – is as a mentor for new to of SENs. Not only are they critical year the school but experienced teachers, groups, they are the most vulnerable newly qualified teachers and also children in the school. So you have got teachers who are in their second year.” to tick all those boxes.” He was also the “I have to agree with what you’re school SENCo and had responsibility for saying in terms of the commitment,” inclusion, child protection, attendance, echoed Nigel Bailey, “and the and progress for all vulnerable groups. expectation of supporting when “Until recently, I have always been the head’s out of school, which a full-time class teacher, with two is happening more and more.” afternoons for being deputy,” said Bev. “I find I struggle doing the strategic “And eight of those years have been in side of managing the school because I’m just fire-fighting, fixing things, dealing with issues and problems.

I’m not getting into ‘head mode’; I’m not managing people – I’m just dealing with things as they come up and happen. And then I don’t feel like I’m doing my job properly.

“There’s an expectation, I think, that we have to be experts, and we have to be fantastic at absolutely everything – immediately – and know the answer, and also the issue

Year 2, two were in Year 6. So they are the most accountable ages. Whereas now, I am out of class but I have had to stop and go in for a significant period of time – one was for two terms – into other classes where we haven’t been able to fill the roles. But when I’m not doing that, I’m with the Pupil Premium and SEN, mainly Year 6.” She, too, was the SENCo, literacy co-ordinator, safeguarding officer, trips co-ordinator, NQT mentor and responsible for the tracking of Pupil Premium.

Given these heavy “day jobs”, how often on top of all this were they expected to step in and take charge when the head was away from the school?

“Our head is out regularly because she’s working as a regional secretary, so she’s out doing a lot of that.

Whatever happens on whatever day when she’s not there, I’ve just got to deal with it,” conceded Nigel.

“I think that’s the difficulty, it varies,” agreed Adam. “This week our head is on the school residential, so that requires every day. Other times it could be two or three days.

“But the difficulty of it is that there is no set amount to it. You can turn up and your day has been completely changed because the head has been called away to something else. There’s just no pattern to it, which makes it very difficult for us then to plan, have structure and routine,” he added.

“The problem also comes for me in the fact that you’re not the head of the school,” highlighted Nigel. “So you’re actually running it as a head, through the head’s head, with their eyes on, but it’s not your final, ultimate decision that you make. It’s going to fall back on the head.

So you’ve got to be doing it through the head’s head, from their perspective.”

“Our school will be expanding due to pupil numbers in the area. There’s obviously a shortage of places. So next

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

year, for example, our head teacher will be out quite a lot of the time because of the school building,” explained Bev. “Then there’s obviously all the issues around academisation. So the head teacher has been going to meetings – even if they’ve not been meetings about academisation as such, he’s been going to speak to other head teachers in the area to get the feel in terms of that. It is becoming more and more. It might not be for a whole week, it could be one morning and the following afternoon; or it could be most of the week that he’s not available or that he’s got people coming into school for meetings in school, so that he wasn’t away from school, but then he’s still not available.”

Finally, Valentine turned to the critical issue of aspirations for leadership.

Given the finding in The Balancing Act that just a third of respondents said they aspired to a headship position in the future, what did our panellists feel was putting people off making this transition, and what would help?

“I’d just say fear, for me,” said Nigel Bailey. “Fear of letting anybody down, and doing it wrong. Just making mistakes, and not knowing that the powers that be won’t accept that you need time to make those mistakes and do it right. That’s the feeling I get – you’re not good enough and you’re gone.”

“I think the football manager analogy is probably the best one, although I know it’s used a lot,” said Adam Robbins. “If we were new heads and went into a challenging school, essentially you’d probably just be given nine months until your next set of data. And if you don’t succeed, do well or turn the school around there would be no guarantee that you’d be able to stay on.

“But realistically, to turn a school round or even just to improve a school, it takes a long time, it’s not an overnight fix.

Coming from a personal point of view, with a young family and a mortgage and things like that, that’s a big risk to take.”

That sort of experience could leave people scarred and, even, end up driving them out of the profession for good, warned Adam. “And that’s a real shame. And again that contributes to the recruitment and retention issues at the moment. Because if you have a bad experience, you potentially lose very

good people because they’ll just go and ply their trade elsewhere, rather than come back to the teaching profession at whatever stage. And that’s quite scary.

“We all come into it, ultimately, because we want to improve outcomes for our children, preparing them for the future and making them good citizens. But that’s not what we’re held accountable for; that’s not captured on paper.

And that makes our ultimate goal much more challenging,” he added.

“I think what I could see as possible barriers to becoming a head is the amount of work that deputies and assistant heads do is massive and then to think, if you’re going to go up that ladder a little bit further, is the workload going to increase? And then are you going to be able to cope with all that at the same time?” suggested Bev Sheppard.

“Thinking about support networks, and the fact that there’s no local authority support anymore whereas that used to be in place, so you are kind of on your own, unless you’ve got some friends that you know the numbers of. You feel, ‘can I become a head if they were going to throw ten changes at me in a year?’. I don’t feel that I’d possibly Nigel Bailey be able to do that.

“And then there are areas in school that many deputies and assistants have not had any dealings with at all, such as governance, health and safety, finance, and a lot of people don’t feel skilled in those areas and have not got the time to then go and

learn those things. Because, ultimately, deputy and assistant heads their main role, their main priority – normally – is about teaching and learning and about what impacts our children.

That’s what we went into the job for and that’s what we’re all passionate about, and that becomes our priority.

So we don’t always have time maybe for our own CPD to be able to really Bev evaluate what it is we Sheppard need in order to move forward and have that confidence,” she added.

“I had the experience of teaching as a head three days a week for a month, and they were 10-hour days,” said Nigel Bailey, in conclusion.

“And in that time I was so stressed, so exhausted, I was learning things I never even knew existed every day and then had to act on them and deal with them. It was a really, really good, very, very steep learning curve.

But I was in school mode constantly; I couldn’t sleep. I was in meetings with governors until midnight.

“Now I don’t know how realistic that is. But I was head for three days a week and it was a Requires Improvement, ‘you’ve got Ofsted coming in’. I did get through all of that and we got Requires Improvement to Good, but the amount of myself that I gave to that. I’ve got a 15-yearold son; I didn’t see him, really.

“He was just ringing me up and saying ‘when are you coming back?’.

He was going to bed, basically, and I would get home two hours later. So I don’t know whether that made me think ‘yeah I can do it’, or ‘oh my god’.”

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INTERVIEW

A life in education As Kathryn James prepares to retire from her role as deputy general secretary, journalist Richard Garner caught up with her to reflect on her time working for NAHT. t was coming out of 10 Downing Street for the first time that brought home to Kathryn James, known as Kathy, the significance of the job she was doing for NAHT. “I feel very privileged to be doing the job I’m doing – coming from a humble background,” said Kathy, who will be retiring as deputy general secretary at the end of the year. “The first time I was walking out of 10 Downing Street, I thought ‘I wish my mum and dad could see this’.”

Most of Kathy’s working life has been spent in London during the past few years – attending meetings with civil servants, ministers and/ or other teaching organisations.

She sees the job as trying to explain to civil servants what the ministerial initiative they may be peddling will mean to teachers on the ground.

“Their job is to make what may be the twinkle of policy in a minister’s eye become a reality. In doing that they don’t necessarily think ‘what will it mean on the ground?’ – the effect it will have on teaching a class of 30 pupils or on a Wednesday afternoon with Year Nine boys.”

She believes she and NAHT have had some success in their discussions over government reforms – the NAHT under the general secretary Russell Hobby, is widely credited with having had the most influence in government even if there are a whole host of issues where it would like to have seen more changes.

“The trick is not to threaten

I

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them,” she said. “You have to maintain a relationship so that people don’t feel you’re going to scream and shout at them.

“Remember, nobody goes into teaching to do a bad job. What we’ve got is a group of really professional people who want to do the best for the children they’ve got.”

Kathy began working with the NAHT in 1998 as a professional adviser – dealing with a range of problems including staffing issues, admissions and funding among others. “I’d been an education officer (working with church schools) for nine years,” she said.

“It was absolutely fascinating. I got very interested in education and education management generally.”

Kathy would have liked to have taught in a school.“I envy teachers because of that glorious sense of engagement they get from their children,” she said.

Despite having moderated some of the government’s policies, however, she believes she will be leaving a profession that is feeling “cross” about the impact of the government’s reforms.

“I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such anger as there is now,” she said.“There has always been a sense of people at the top wanting change and we do complain a lot about what is going on.

“People are cross now and they’re cross because of what is happening to the pupils. They care so much about the pupils. At least I can go in and see ministers and we do effect some changes. We can make some changes that we

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

KATHY JAMES CV May 1990 – Dec 1997

Education officer, Southwark Diocesan Board of Education

Jan 1998 – May 2008 Senior Policy Advisor, NAHT

May 2006 – May 2010 Director of Policy, NAHT

May 2010 – Dec 2014 Director of Policy and Campaigns, NAHT

Jan 2015 – September 2016 Deputy General Secretary

Kathy James has worked for NAHT for 15 years.

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INTERVIEW 30

“Ther are times when it feels like Kathy knows more “There about what is going on inside the Department for Education than the department itself. She has been Educa a con constant presence, negotiating calmly but firmly on be behalf of school leaders on topics as diverse as funding, pay, safeguarding and assessment. We owe fundi her more than we realise.” RUSSELL HOBBY, GENERAL SECRETARY m

Kathy hopes to devote more time to singing during her retirement

VIVIENNE PORRITT, DIRECTOR FOR SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS UCL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION AND THE FOUNDER OF WOMENSED

In what can, occasionally, feel like the masculine world of professional associations, Kathy James has supported head teachers tirelessly and with strength and compassion.

She contributed strongly to the DfE consultation on work load and has pushed for debate on the key issues of curriculum, assessment and accountability. In particular, Kathy has championed coaching for leadership development especially through her support for mentoring for new heads.

Her legacy will be this focus on ‘growing the next cadre of leaders’ (The Teaching Leaders Quarterly Summer 2016) and school leaders everywhere thank her for this.

DR MARY BOUSTED, GENERAL SECRETARY OF ATL

In addition to being a wonderful colleague, Kathy is a wonderful person. She brightens any room by being in it; always interested in how you are, always ready to ask questions and, even more remarkably, to listen to your answers.

Kathy has served NAHT magnificently.

Her detailed knowledge of the issues faced

can necessarily tell people about. can’t may not be perfect but it’s a lot It m better than it was in some cases.” bet The anger is over the welter T of changes to assessment, SATs, GCSEs, AS-level and A-levels.

GC Sometimes they are not thought So through, she argues, and do not thr present pupils with a seamless and pre coh cohesive education experience through their school life. thr Asked which secretaries of A state she believes made the best sta impact on the education service, imp she singles out Kenneth Baker, Estelle Morris and David Blunkett.

Est ““Kenneth Baker was very clear about what he wanted,” she said. abo “Estelle Morris genuinely cared “Es about education and teachers. abo She was almost too nice to be Sh Secretary of State. David Blunkett Sec always told it as it was.” Then alw she adds a surprising fourth name to the list – Michael Gove. nam

by school leaders earned her wide respect within the department and across the education sector. She could auction her contact list and earn herself a small windfall for her retirement. That so many people are so willing to meet Kathy shows just how invaluable her knowledge and expertise is.

She will be much missed.

So, keep in touch, Kathy.

PROFESSOR DAME ALISON PEACOCK EDUCATIONALIST AND AUTHOR

Kathy James is a wonderfully insightful and funny colleague. Her consistent good humour and level headedness has enabled her to approach the most trying of ministerial statements with a calm and reasoned response.

I have worked alongside Kathy on several committees and have always enjoyed her thoughtful contributions and open mindedness.

She is a deeply caring person and a joy to spend time with. Her love of family life and rich enjoyment of everything associated with children, young people and education is always evident. Whenever I arrive at a meeting and see Kathy at the table, my spirits are lifted. Her insightful and twinkling contribution to the world of education has been immense and will not be forgotten.

“He was good and bad,” she said.

“I would say he’s two sides of the coin - bad because he alienated the whole of the profession but you absolutely knew where you were with Michael Gove. I also think he believed in what he was doing and wanted to improve things but he just alienated people.”

David Miliband, who rose no further than Schools Minister in education, she cites as an example of the best Education Secretary and Prime Minister that we never had.

Kathy insists “I don’t want to stop” when she retires in December. She has been classically trained as a singer and sings in her spare time with a group called “Fever Pitch”, performing gigs with, among other styles of music, jazz-style arrangements of songs. She hopes to devote more time to singing in the New Year. I get the feeling, though, she will not be lost to the education world for long.

DAME JULIA CLEVERDON VICE PATRON TEACH FIRST AND CHAIR OF READ ON. GET ON.

I can’t believe that Kathy James is retiring – she has been such a life force of common sense and campaigning clarity about the importance of improving education standards for all children.

Kathy and I go back a long way.

I remember so well as Chief Executive of Business in the Community relying so heavily on NAHT and Kathy’s wise advice in the early days of Teach First.

Now thirteen years later as the first Teach First head teachers are being appointed Kathy should look back and remember the impact and influence that she has had.

More recently whether with the Fair Education Alliance or in the literacy coalition Read on. Get On., Kathy’s involvement illustrates her passionate desire to do the very best for children – particularly if the odds of life are stacked against them from the beginning.

“Demography should not be destiny” seems to me to be her watchword – and when she retires from NAHT she will leave very big campaigning shoes to fill. I am so grateful for all that she has done and the help and advice she has given.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

OPINION

RUSSELL HOBBY: general secretary

What next?

Last term brought many changes, not all of them easy to deal with. The ramifications of the Brexit vote in particular will be felt for years to come. What does it all mean for schools? n the short term, there are worries about whether students and teachers may be forced to leave the country. And a rise in hate crime. In the medium term, we may face a downturn in the economy. This will concern everyone struggling with a shrinking budget. It may however, prompt the government to abandon austerity and pump prime the economy with additional investment. We will need to argue that investment in the 21st century is not all about building new roads and bridges - it must include investing in the skills and abilities of young people.

A shrinking economy traditionally eases recruitment difficulties in education. We can hope that this might be true this time, but, if we are ending freedom of movement with Europe, many industries will lose graduate staff and we will all be competing for a smaller pool.

In the longer term, we need to reflect on the quality of political debate and the rise of intolerance.

Across the world, we see a flight to the extremes and a degraded level of debate relying on fear and negative emotion. What can we as schools leaders do to prevent this? We need to equip young people with the knowledge and critical skills to challenge the ‘facts’ presented to them and to debate ideas with basic civility and mutual respect.

The focus on negotiating our exit from Europe also risks distraction from domestic priorities. Civil servants are being switched out of education and policies delayed.

A bit less change wouldn’t inanely

I

be welcome, but there are vital reforms in the pipeline that are needed - a fair funding formula in particular. This was the first casualty of Brexit, delayed for a further year.

In many schools, the funding situation is now desperate, with reserves running out and redundancies looming. The government insists on making it more expensive to employ teachers, without passing any of the benefits on to teachers themselves. It has also cut the funding for support services and expected schools to pick up the tab without transferring the money.

The front line in education has most definitely not been protected.

Brexit also triggered a change in leadership at the department, with Justine Greening replacing Nicky Morgan. You can read more about Justine elsewhere in this magazine. This change gives the potential for a fresh start, addressing the mistakes of the past.

We have met the new Secretary of State and the discussion was constructive. Although we had difficult messages to give on

Above: Russell Hobby

assessment for both primary and secondary. Unfortunately, since then, the machinery of the department appears to be working hard to embed last year’s mistakes into next year’s policy. We have already seen the interim framework for writing repeated with all its errors. And the department has published its proposed performance measures without any recognition of the assessment chaos underpinning them.

This is why we must begin the term by mobilising for action on assessment in primary and in year seven.

I hope we will be able to negotiate a successful resolution but the government struggles to hear, to understand and to alter course. We must send a very serious signal of our intent and, if this goes unrecognised, we will take action. If we do not, not only will the current poor practice be sustained, but the government will take it further with more poorly designed tests. Keep an eye out for more information from us on the development of this campaign.

We need to equip young people with the knowledge and critical skills to challenge the ‘facts’ presented to them and to debate ideas with basic civility and mutual respect

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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Getting creative At a time of ever-decreasing budgets we look at how schools are managing to deliver under challenging circumstances

ack in the summer (July) NAHT warned that schools and academies across the country are likely to face extra pressure on their budgets next year as the government will require them to put aside 0.5 per cent towards its new apprenticeship levy from April 2017.

For hard-pressed school leaders this unwelcome news is yet another challenge to be faced in a climate of spiralling pressure and workload as they strive to square the circle of ever-diminishing budgets and ever-increasing demands and expectations.

Given the government’s emphasis on academisation recently and that much of the responsibility and legwork for the transition to, and management of, academy status falls on an SBM, perhaps it is unsurprising that many SBMs feel as if they are on an accelerating hamster wheel where they are having to run faster and faster just to stand still.

As Nicky Gillhespy, chair of the NAHT SBM Council and SBM at Cheam Fields Primary School in Sutton, Surrey, neatly encapsulates it: “The sheer amount of work is probably the single biggest pressure but it is also combined with the gradually diminishing lack of support from local authorities and other departments, such as the health service. More and more things, and more and more responsibilities, are being taken on by schools, meaning the finances are being stretched ever further.

“For example, we now pay for a full-time family support worker out of our own budget to work with children who have

B

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serious behavioural issues, and who does really valuable work.

But a few years ago that role did not even exist. We also now run parenting classes; that would not be something you would think would necessarily need to be within a school budget, but it is something we have decided needs to come from our budget and is a worthwhile thing to do,” she points out.

So what, then, can school leaders do? At a time of ever-decreasing budgets, how can they continue to deliver under challenging circumstances? What are the innovative things leaders are doing to achieve efficiencies and maximise funds, to do more with less? And how can others help?

The drive to academisation is certainly one major day-to-day pressure facing school leaders but it also brings with it the pressure that, as an academy, you are operating within a whole different

Below: Nicky Gillhespy (pictured above and right) sees school finances being stretched further.

financial and regulatory landscape, as Bethan Cullen, commercial and business development director at the National Association of School Business Management (NASBM) highlights.

“As an academy, the school cannot run a deficit or an overdraft. You will have to run the school on the funding that you receive each year, and it is your responsibility to make sure you stick to that,” she says.

This has meant ensuring you have the capital to live within your means has become a much more pressing priority particularly for SBMs, explains Matthew ClementsWheeler, SBM at Bordesley Green Girls’ School in Birmingham, even though, in his school’s case, it is looking at federation with its local feeder primary school rather than full-blown academisation.

Collaboration and partnership at a less macro level, especially around procurement, is something pretty much all SBMs are becoming more focused on, he suggests.

“We are moving towards collaborative catering arrangements where the same caterers provide both us and the primary school, and we are

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP

looking at developing a similar arrangement for cleaning. We also have single stationery forms and a single order form and standardised policies,” Matthew says.

“We know that there are lots of deals out there; we use online comparison sites for buying equipment, especially things such as IT. There are a lot of free sites where you can put in your details and 24-hours later you’ve got 40 quotes for iPads. That approach has saved us a lot of money over the years,” agrees Nicky Gillhespy.

“A local school near us, for example, was using the same paper supplier for years and was being charged £1.99 per ream of paper.

We advised them to go with our supplier and the price came down to £1.65; and all schools of course use a lot of paper. The main thing is about not just placing an order but phoning up suppliers and building a relationship with someone. Then you can start to ask whether there are any deals they can offer you; it is about the personal touch and being prepared to negotiate on prices.

“Also don’t be afraid to ask about special offers or whether they’re doing a ‘deal of the month’. Every little penny adds

Managing financial pressures is not just about looking after the pennies to make the pounds look after themselves, although that clearly helps.

As Grahame Colclough, business and operations leader at Burnwood Community Primary School in Stoke-on-Trent, emphasises, it is about engendering and embedding a change across the school, getting staff at all levels simply to sit up and recognise that this is about them and something they need to be taking ownership of.

“I have been working closely with the senior leadership team (SLT) on the efficiencies we can make. There’s a lot of basic things – stock, stationery, photocopying – that any SBM would look at. But it’s also a case of getting more clarity around what you are spending, what is available to spend,” he explains.

“For example, I have involved the SLT in how we can make savings in procurement.

I’ve also involved the middle leadership team and subject leaders and assistant heads in thinking more about their budgets Children from and how they can help to control and Cheam Fields monitor spending across the school.

Primary, Surrey, “Everyone submits action plans and I with Nicky. work with the middle leaders so there is a financial link to these, so that everything links together and you are not suddenly, say, spending £4,000 on Religious Education up. Forward planning can help, resources or whatever it might be.

“It is really about collective ownership too – for example, if you order and everyone being involved rather than homework diaries early you can me all the time saying to people ‘you often get a third off. It is often a cannot have that’. So, if the ICT leader lot of small things building up, wants to have 15 laptops, there needs to be a justification for that spend built into their a combination of lots of small plan,” Grahame advises. things, that can make a big “You need to make sure everyone, but difference,” she recommends. especially the SLT, understands the position “Another big win for us has been you are in. Being an SBM can, if you’re changing our gas and electricity not careful, be a very lonely position, because you are the only one doing that supplier. We used to have to go job in the school. But if you have a strong with the one provided for team around you, who understand the us by the local authority challenges, you can share the load. but were able to move “You can, of course, get the best deal on photocopying or hand dryers or whatever away from that about it may be, but you should be doing that five years’ ago and use anyway. Being really open with everyone, a broker that we did including the governors, can help you all to not need to pay for. work together and make that difference.

“We’ve been able “What you don’t want, of course, is for these pressures to affect the to shop around for children’s outcomes, or the parents, insurance, too, and or the wider community. You don’t our prices in both want to have a service that is less areas have come effective because you have not down significantly. got the money or resources.

“I don’t want to be all doom As importantly, and gloom but we do have to we now have recognise things are going more regular to be tough; we have to be invoices for thinking about these things now, not waiting for when our energy we’re facing a deficit. We have usage. When to be making the savings and we were Nicky is also involving everyone from the chair of NAHT maintained, get-go. Unless it is planned, SBM Council. the bills we you cannot do it,” he says.

got via

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FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT 34

the local authority were just estimates. I heard stories of one school that then received a £40,000 bill for 18 months’ usage.

Now we get an invoice every single month that has been checked and verified, so you really know where you stand,” Nicky adds.

There is a fine line between constant deal chasing and renewing contracts in order to get the best deal and building up relationships with existing suppliers to get much the same thing, agrees Lesley Osborne, SBM at Bradfields Academy in Chatham, Kent, where NAHT president Kim Johnson is head.

“We do find that with some contractors we get, in effect, a loyalty discount. If you’re constantly asking people to requote that both takes up your time and can be irritating for suppliers too, especially if they never get the job,” she says.

“For example, we have an electrician who knows the school and the system inside out. We had a power cut recently and had no idea what the problem was and he came out within 20 minutes. If I’d been constantly asking him to give me a price to get the job, I doubt he would have dropped everything to be there for us,” she adds.

Printing and photocopying costs which can seem relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things, can add up and therefore, conversely, if you can control them, there are potentially significant savings to be made, she advises.

“We’re trying to encourage staff where possible to use electronic media. We put as much as we can on the website, and we send letters electronically to parents when we can, too. We also try to encourage people, if they’re making multiple copies of something, to use the photocopier rather than constantly printing things out,” says Lesley.

“Another useful tip is we use the ‘secure print’ function on the copier. This means you have to put in a password when you want to use it. When you send a document you have to physically go over and enter the code before it prints it. That has saved quite a lot because it stops people sending a document, forgetting they’ve

done it and then printing it out again. It also makes people pause and think if they really need to print something out,” she adds.

Another key area of focus is staff costs, perhaps unsurprisingly as this tends to be one of the biggest “fixed” items of expenditure in any school. “We’ve pursued a policy of natural wastage – although I hate ever to use the term ‘wastage’ in relation to people – around our support staff, explains Matthew Clements-Wheeler. So we are recruiting fewer Teaching Assistants (TAs) and administrative posts and have a ‘no replacement’ policy. Inevitably this will impact on the service provided though.”

“We have included efficiency and sustainability initiatives into everyone’s performance management targets for the year.

We’re taking an additional five students into each year group, which will give us some important

Above: SBM Matthew Clements-Wheeler and children from Bordesley Green Girls’ School, Birmingham.

Below: Matthew knows how important it is to live within your means at any school.

extra funding. We have also increased the size of the Sixth Form by going up to 332, and we may go up again,” he adds.

“We’ve developed some of our TAs into higher level teaching assistants, who are able to cover for sickness, which has saved us money on supply agency fees,” agrees Nicky Gillhespy. “We recognise it can be controversial, as teachers do often say a child needs a teacher to teach them, but when we have a recruitment crisis, we do recognise we need to have to be training people ourselves.”

“Staff costs are an ongoing pressure,” echoes Lesley Osborne.

“Staff still, understandably, want their incremental rises, so that is something we have to look carefully at. When staff resign, you have to look carefully at whether you replace them, especially when it is support staff.

“Another mounting cost is staff absence. We do, of course, have insurance but then there is the cost associated with having to find cover, either getting other staff to cover, or buying in agency or supply cover. So it is important to have a robust absence procedure and policy in place, including return-to-work interviews, regular discussions with staff about absence and being clear what the trigger points are for such discussions or having a meeting with HR. We make a point, too, of building relationships and working with the supply agencies we use.

“We use volunteers to come in for support staff, and we rely

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

TOP TIPS Be savvy about procurement. Think about collaborative arrangements between other schools in your area for things such as cleaning, catering, facilities management or paper. This is likely to happen anyway if you are in a MAT but can be achieved under a looser partnership or federation model too.

Crack down on stationery and printing costs. Look at single stationery or order forms, standardised policies, printing and photocopying policies and limits.

Also look at whether you can adjust the settings on your equipment to make them more efficient or just deter wasted usage.

Interrogate staff costs and absence. Look at natural wastage, especially for support roles or whether you can make more use of volunteer staff or partnerships with local organisations, such as colleges. Work to develop your relationships, and your deals, with supply agencies. Also make sure absence and return-to-work policies and procedures are robust, wellcommunicated and understood.

Chase deals. Don’t just automatically renew year-on-year, especially for energy, insurance or facilities management. But at the same time don’t discount the benefit of gaining a “loyalty discount”, potentially both in cost and service, of staying with a valued supplier.

Think innovatively. Are there school assets you can use or “sweat” more effectively? Can you make better use of your school buildings or facilities out of school hours? What about the “value” of intangible assets such as the skill or knowledge of your team? Carve out the time to approach charities or private organisations in your area. Consider tapping into EU funding streams, such as Erasmus+, although this may have to be a question of “while you still can”, given Britain’s decision in June to vote to leave the EU. You’ll find information on how to apply for EU funds in the May 2016 issue of Leadership Focus.

Make it not just about you. Make sure the whole school buys into and takes ownership of the need for, and value of, making efficiencies and not spending unnecessarily. This needs especially to be the SLT, of course, but should ideally permeate at all levels. Link success in efficiency savings to performance. Get into a culture of ensuring all spending is always planned and budgeted for.

quite heavily on them. We also have a partnership with our local nursing college and get students from it on work experience. We also use students from the local police college,” she adds.

So, what are others doing that is perhaps especially innovative or inventive that all school leaders can learn from?

At Bordesley Green, Matthew Clements-Wheeler has increasingly been what you might call “sweating” the school assets, including himself, somewhat intriguingly.

As he explains: “We’ve increased our income from lettings. A French primary school, the Ecole Farandole Birmingham, uses part of the school on a Saturday morning to teach the French national primary curriculum to children of French speakers in the UK, which provides a stable, guaranteed letting income. This, in turn, means we are able to let the rest of the building out on more reasonable terms to smaller community groups. We have Zumba, Weight Watchers and Chinese language schools all using the school and we rent out car parking space to the local football club.

“We also offer Spanish via online tuition. It is very flexible, and only delivered on the basis of when it’s needed. The fee for the person who delivers it only generates payroll costs for the specific hours taught with no wasted or unused time.

“More widely, we’re an Outstanding school. Therefore, there is the potential to sell more of our resources, for example to charge speaker fees for CPD. There is no CPD provision in our budget for me. But I do outreach work, on a traded basis, and what I earn from speaker fees or writing articles for the trade press I put back into the budget for my CPD or other support staff.

“The net result is that the money I make from these

Above: Matthew’s school has reaped the benefits of using school assets to bring in revenue.

fees goes back into the school in a very positive, meaningful way.

For example, the money I recently earned from speaking at two conferences, I’ve invested back into accredited train-the-trainer first aid training for our pastoral care manager and she now charges other schools to train their staff,” he says.

While it can feel time-consuming when, you’ve already got a million other things pressing on your day, at Bradfields Academy, Lesley has found carving out the time to apply for money from charities or private organisations can often pay off.

“It is definitely worth applying for money from charities or other organisations. There are lots of organisations that will look favourably on schools and we have been quite successful on a number of occasions,” she says.

“It is, of course, finding the time to do the applications, but the payback can be quite substantial – for example we got a new minibus off the Lord’s Taverners in January and we’ve secured £24,000 for new sensory playground equipment and Kellogg’s sponsors our breakfast club,” she adds.

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

REDUNDANCY

SIMON THOMAS, NAHT senior solicitor, takes a look at the issue of redundancy

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ith academisation of schools in England we are receiving an increasing number of requests for support arising from change of employer and its impact in the event of redundancy.

An employee who has been continuously employed for at least two years and who is dismissed on the grounds of redundancy is (subject to rules about re-employment and offers of re-employment) entitled to a

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redundancy payment. Redundancy payments are calculated by reference to the number of years of ‘continuous employment’.

Normally continuous employment means with one employer and without a break in employment, but there are several modifications to this which apply in the education sector.

For redundancy purposes (both in relation to the qualifying period and the amount of the redundancy payment) an employee can move

We have been contacted by several members recently who have been made redundant by academies who have refused or failed to recognise employment with previous employers as part of continuous service

REDUNDANCY

For redundancy purposes an employee can move between employment by various employers without breaking continuity. This is not confined by local government Simon Thomas

38

between employment by various employers without breaking continuity. The list of over 280 employers is in Schedule 1 of the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government etc) (Modification) Order 1999.

Notwithstanding its title the Order is not confined to local government.

It includes local authorities, governing bodies of maintained schools, grant aided schools, FE institutions and academies and some universities. It does not include independent schools.

We have been contacted by several members recently who have been made redundant by academies who have refused or failed to recognise employment with previous employers as part of continuous service. Usually when the employer’s attention is drawn to the provisions of the Order the matter is resolved. If agreement cannot be reached the case can be referred to an employment tribunal. Such claims must be started within six months

of the date of the redundancy.

Some employers, though perhaps fewer than in the past, pay ‘enhanced’ redundancy payments. For example an enhanced redundancy payment may be based on the employee’s actual salary prior to the redundancy rather than the statutory maximum (currently £479.00 per week). This can make a substantial difference to a payment. For an employee made redundant age 55 on a salary of £52,000 pa with 20 years’ continuous service, the statutory redundancy payment would be £13,172.50 but an enhanced redundancy payment based on actual salary would be £27,500.

Where an employee’s employment has been transferred to an academy because his or her school has been converted to an academy, then there will generally have been a transfer for the purposes of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 [TUPE]. This means that if the employee had a contractual right to an enhanced redundancy

payment before the transfer, this right is likely to have transferred when the academy became the employer. This is the case even if the academy does not operate an enhanced redundancy policy.

However, where the employee has left school A (a local authority maintained school) and immediately taken up employment at a different school B (an academy) then although continuous employment will have been preserved for the purposes of the Order, there will be no transfer under TUPE so any right to an enhanced redundancy payment will not have transferred.

FIND OUT MORE… NAHT support is available to members facing voluntary or compulsory redundancy. If you need professional legal advice you can call 0300 30 30 333

RETIREMENT

A

listening ear

Many NAHT life members have found engaging with NAHT beyond retirement an important and fulfilling way to spend some of their time.

Steve Iredale, new chair of the Life Members’ Committee, explains why their involvement in education and the association remains important.

or NAHT past president, Steve Iredale, the message is a relatively simple one; it’s all about having a ‘listening ear’.

Steve is the new chair of NAHT Life Members’ Committee and as such is focused on highlighting to members the breadth of ways they can stay engaged with NAHT, and hence schools, beyond retirement.

“When you make the decision to leave school as I did in October 2014, you look at what you are going to do. You are aware of life membership and the legal protections it can give you as a senior leader down the line – that’s always been a strong selling point of life membership – but we (the committee) are arguing that there should be much more to it than that.”

involved with local authorities and support colleagues that way. Having NAHT members inside a local authority can be helpful to protect and support school leaders and their schools, while also helping to bridge the gap between the two.”

But Steve also accepts that some retire and want nothing more to do with the education sector: “They want a complete break – this is of course their right – and we fully support that.”

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Options

Steve explains that the key is to ensure that everyone knows about the options – those active in school, those facing retirement, and those who have retired – so they can still be involved post-job if that is what they want and those in school know who to call upon.

He says: “I have colleagues that are still involved within each NAHT branch or region, supporting members particularly as a ‘listening ear’. Some have official posts and work actively within the branches and regions.

We’d like to see more life members in support roles such as this.

“Colleagues who have been in the job for a number of years can really help a new school leader who wants

Encouraging not leading

someone to talk to and be reassured. It’s not about telling them whether they are right or wrong, but just offering someone your time to let off steam. At the end of the conversation they know they have done the right thing because they have tapped into that member’s experience.”

Many former NAHT and NAHT edge members are also able to play a part in schools and NAHT in other roles, as Steve explains.

“Some have become self-employed, some have become Ofsted inspectors, bringing their wide knowledge to the system, while others have set up their own companies and offer school leaders support that way or through training. Many just want to give back by volunteering in a variety of ways.

“A number of colleagues are also

Reflecting on what has happened in the past 18 months since he retired, Steve acknowledges that life members can’t fulfil every role. “The whole landscape has changed” he says, “it’s unbelievable. For example there is stuff going on around assessment that I read about and can’t make head or tail of and that is because I’m not directly involved and doing it each day. That said I suspect it’s equally confusing for those fully involved!”

While the support role for members in school is very important, the support role life members can play in the association is also crucial in today’s ever changing climate.

“One of the challenges we face as an association is encouraging branches and regions to be led by serving school leaders. They are on the frontline, doing the job and they are up to speed with current practices.

“That is why I feel that we as life members need to be there supporting and encouraging but not leading. While in some cases serving school leaders

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

would welcome us to lead their branches, as they have enough to do already, I see the life member role as working alongside and nurturing them at local level. I do fully recognise that in some areas without life member involvement branches might cease to exist, but there are already some good examples around the country of branch models made up of serving school leaders with life members working alongside them. After a couple of years the life member is able to step back.

“Two or three years is about right, as what you do on the ground begins to reduce quite dramatically, but what isn’t reducing is the support members can receive when they are in trouble,” Steve adds.

All change

There are plans to reshape the national Life Members Committee following a resolution passed at Annual Conference 2016. The key to this is the creation of a life members’ charter, explaining what is out there for members when they retire, as well as the benefits of life membership.

“Over the years the committee has done a fine job but we think it’s time to change the focus and become much more proactive encouraging the participation of a new breed of committee member as part of the succession planning model,” adds Steve.

“It goes back to that ‘listening ear’

that I talked about. Life members have seen and done it. We’ve seen success and challenge and have survived! Many of the things that school leaders face today are not that different to what we have faced. There may be different government pressures but in terms of the awkward parent, the difficult governor, the member of staff that has a problem with a child, we can offer an awful lot that way and I do hope more colleagues will consider doing this when they retire, even if it is only for a small period of time.”

It’s also a way of easing yourself in gradually to the next phase of your life, says Steve, “of letting yourself down gradually – slowly stepping back without losing touch and this makes it more gentle if that is what you want.”

Seeing the bigger picture is also important to Steve, and how hard it can be to make that decision to leave a job of 20 to 30 years.

“When you retire you can feel like you are stepping over a cliff edge and there is nothing there for you. The hardest part for a lot of people is the actual letter of resignation; it’s the acknowledgement that they are going.”

Steve believes that taking a step back can be a good way to help move things

MAINTAINING ENGAGEMENT GL Assessment is the UK’s leading provider of formative assessments for schools. More than 3 million pupils in UK primary and secondary schools take our tests every year and we have delivered over 7 million online tests to date.

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So who are these experts? They are people just like you. The people who have spent time in schools understanding the challenges that teachers and education practitioners face on a daily basis.

If you are taking a step back from your full-time teaching career, or moving into retirement, then why not consider joining our team of experts?

For those who enjoy being around people, up in front of the class, there are opportunities to continue sharing your knowledge and expertise through delivering training or consulting into schools or MATs. We also want to hear your inspiring warts and all success stories, what worked well and lessons learned. This could be either speaking at an event in front of peers, or it could be creative writing in the form of a blog – there are plenty of options available.

These opportunities are flexible in terms of the number of days you can commit, allowing this to fit around your schedule and ensuring you maintain engagement with the sector.

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forward and might be good advice for those still working as school leaders.

“It sounds like a cliché but when you retire it’s the end of a chapter and the start of a new one, and that new chapter can be the chapter that you choose to write. Giving something back for a while, if it fits with your thinking, is really, really valuable.

“It can be as simple as someone having your telephone number. You might never meet the person but it’s the offer of help and support as opposed to taking over which is the key area where life members can play their part.”

To find out more about how you can stay involved, contact d&g@naht.org.uk

41

PENSIONS

We need to talk about

pensions

Whenever the subject of pensions crops up it’s fair to say most people stop listening. And yet, with all the recent changes everyone – at every age and career stage – needs to start getting interested in them.

common gripe in the savings world is that it’s impossible to get people excited about pensions. Perhaps because they lack the glamour of a lucky premium bond, or they’re not as easy to understand – or access – as an ISA. Maybe it’s because they seem such a long way off and, like planning a will, thinking of them can make us feel uncomfortable.

But as well as being the most important investment most of us are likely to make in our lifetime, there have been so many upheavals to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS), Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and the State Pension that we really do need to talk about our pensions.

A

42

The fifty-fivers

There was a frisson of excitement last year when savers reaching the age of 55 were given the right to access some, or all, of their pension before retirement. It’s fair to say that the pensions industry was briefly overwhelmed by the volume of applications and the media gave us dire warnings of scams and predictions that feckless middle-agers SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGERS

faced pension poverty further down the line. When the initial clamour calmed down, it left an awareness of the early bounty contained in our pension pots, and the temptation to dip into them.

About a quarter of all the enquries the NAHT advice team receives every year are about pensions, and one of the most common topics is claiming pension benefits from the age of 55. While it is possible to claim early benefits from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, it’s not the same process as drawing down from a private or personal pension policy. And how you go about it will depend on which of the three schemes you belong to.

This isn’t a decision that has to wait until you’re nearly 55 either. Because of the nature of the different pension schemes, you’ll get the best out of them if you start thinking ahead in your 40s or even earlier.

What scheme are you in?

There are currently three Teachers’ Pension Schemes – the Pre-2007 Teachers’ Pension Scheme; the 2007 Teachers’ Pension Scheme; and the 2015 Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Depending on when you started teaching and how

The other public sector pension scheme that NAHT members could belong to is the Local Government Pension Scheme which, like the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, has undergone significant changes in recent years.

School and academy support staff, such as school business managers, will be members of this scheme. Just like everyone else, the option to start taking early benefits from the age of 55 applies, but the rules and processes are different.

If you’re a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme and want to explore claiming early benefits, contact the NAHT advice team and visit www.lgpsmember.org

near you were to your normal pension age on 1 April 2012, most education leaders will belong to more than one of these schemes – possibly all three.

Before you decide what to do it’s important to know which of the schemes you belong to and to speak to NAHT’s advice team and NAHT Personal Financial Services. As well as the obvious delights of being able to access your savings early, there could be risks further down the line that you’ll need to consider. But there could be other benefits that you might not be aware of too, that you can achieve with canny planning.

The Pre-2007 Teachers’ Pension Scheme

The original Teachers’ Pension is a ‘final salary’ scheme with a normal pension age of 60. This means, if you’re part of this scheme, the value of the annual pension you’ll receive is calculated based on the best of either what you earn in the last 365 days before you retire, or the best-paid consecutive 1,095 days (three years) in your final ten years of service. That’s why it’s so important to think ahead, because any breaks in service, or reduction in salary, will affect your final pension.

This scheme differs from the other two schemes because it provides both an annual pension together with a guaranteed tax-free lump sum, and you can claim a proportion of these when you reach 55. We’ll explain what happens if you decide to dip into your pension pot before retiring on page 43.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Taking early benefit from age 55 from the pre-2007 Teachers’ Pension Scheme Prepare for phased retirement by reducing your working hours by

20%

by going part time or job sharing, for example

Decide what proportion of your pension benefit you will claim – up to

75% of its current value

43

CLAIM YOUR

● LUMP SUM – TAX-FREE ● AND MONTHLY PENSION – IN ADDITION TO SALARY ● YOU CAN CONVERT SOME OF THIS PENSION INTO A FURTHER TAX-FREE LUMP SUM FOR MORE CASH IF YOU WANT TO

The 2007 Teachers’ Pension Scheme

When the financial markets crashed in the mid-2000s, and the true long-term costs and risks of final pension schemes were fully realised, the government and financial services providers looked for ways to protect future pensions. The 2007 Teachers’ Pension Scheme was developed by teachers’ unions and the government to protect pension benefits and provide security for savers by being sustainable and affordable.

Like the pre-2007 pension, it’s a final salary scheme and the same ‘best of’ final 365 days or three consecutive years rule applies. However, the big differences are that the normal pension age is 65, not 60; and there is no automatic

CONTINUE PAYING CONTRIBUTIONS INTO YOUR PENSION FROM YOUR SALARY – AND IT WILL CARRY ON ACCRUING BENEFITS

Before you decide what to do it’s important to know which of the schemes you belong to and to speak to NAHT’s advice team and NAHT Personal Financial Services

When you reach

60

you can claim your remaining pension benefit – and retire if you want to

OR YOU CAN CARRY ON WORKING UNTIL YOU REACH THE NATIONAL STATE PENSION AGE – AND CONTINUE TO RECEIVE YOUR MONTHLY TEACHERS’ PENSION

PENSIONS 44

tax-free lump sum. Although it is possible to convert some of your pension pot into a lump sum at 55, that would reduce the value of your pension and, of course, the monthly payments you’d receive in the future. But depending on your personal circumstances, this might not be as bad as it first looks.

From the age of 55, it is possible to receive part of your pension benefits while you continue to work (and continue to pay into your pension scheme too). But to do so, you would need to take ‘phased retirement’ which involves reducing your salary.

If you’re a member of one or both of the pre-2007 and 2007 schemes, the salary you earn in the last ten years of your career has a direct impact on the value of the final pension you’ll receive when you retire. For example, if you choose to wind-down as you reach retirement by stepping down a grade or taking a job share, it might reduce your final pension.

That’s why it’s so important to start exploring your options a few years’ ahead with NAHT’s advice team and NAHT Personal Financial Services.

The 2015 Teachers’ Pension Scheme

This scheme is completely different to the previous two final salary schemes. It was introduced based on recommendations made by the Hutton Enquiry after the former Chancellor, George Osborne, initiated a review of all Public Sector pensions in 2010.

In a nutshell, it’s a ‘career average revaluation earning scheme’ (CARE).

Which means the value of your final pension is based on a proportion of your income each year that you belong to the scheme, which is revalued on an annual basis – not on your final salary like the other two schemes. And it does not provide a tax-free lump sum, although like the 2007 Scheme, you could convert some of your pension into one.

Another significant difference is that the normal pension age for the 2015 scheme has been brought into line with the national state pension age which is, itself, going through significant changes.

The national pension age for women is being brought in line with men, from 60 to 65, and gradually the retirement age is being increased to 68 by 2046.

EXAMPLE OF PHASED RETIREMENT (pre-2007 final salary scheme) AT AGE

AT AGE

56

60

Based on a salary of £40,000

Based on full-time equivalent salary of £45,000

32 YEARS’ SERVICE COLLECT 25% OF BENEFITS (equivalent 8 years) CARRY FORWARD 75% (equivalent 24 years) Continue teaching at 80% time

POTENTIAL BENEFITS LUMP SUM ANNUAL PENSION

£9,840 £3,280

BRING FORWARD THE REMAINING 24 YEARS’ SERVICE Accrued a further 3 years GIVING A TOTAL OF 27 YEARS Collect benefits based on 27 years and full-time equivalent salary of £45,000

POTENTIAL BENEFITS LUMP SUM ANNUAL PENSION

£45,562 £15,187

TOTAL BENEFITS UNDER PHASED RETIREMENT LUMP SUM ANNUAL PENSION

Early benefits with phased retirement

No matter which of the three Teachers’ Pension Schemes you’re a member of, once you’re over 55 you can choose to receive part of your pension benefits while you continue to work.

But to do so, you’ll need to take phased retirement from the scheme or schemes that you want to claim benefits from. A condition of phased retirement is that you have to make a reduction of 20 per cent of your pensionable earnings. The most common ways to do that would be to reduce your hours, perhaps by going part time, or to job-share. Although there would be a drop in salary, phased retirement does bring a better work-life balance and your income will be topped up by the monthly pension payments you receive. You will still continue to contribute to your pension while working and accrue future pension benefits too.

Many NAHT members who are currently eligible to start taking their

£55,402 £18,467

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

RETIREMENT OR WORKING LONGER?

pension benefits from the age of 55 will be in the pre-2007 final salary scheme, which has as its benefit both a guaranteed tax-free lump sum and a pension. From the age of 55 anyone in this scheme can take phased retirement and claim up to 75% of the combined benefit (lump sum and pension).

So for example, someone in the pre2007 scheme could choose to take the lump sum as cash and a monthly pension payment; or convert some of the pension payments into another lump sum to withdraw even more cash. At the same time, because they’re still working, their remaining pension would continue to grow and accrue benefit. The illustration on page 44 shows how this might work.

NAHT members in the 2007 and 2015 Schemes are eligible to access phased retirement benefits once they reach the age of 55. Although the conditions of phased retirement are the same across all three Teachers’ Pension Schemes, the way benefits can be claimed from each is different. The post-2007 final salary scheme and the 2015 CARE scheme don’t include a guaranteed tax-free lump sum, for example. Benefits would need to be taken as a pension, some (or all) of which could be converted into cash – and 75% of that lump sum would be subject to tax.

NAHT is committed to helping you consider your choices leading up to retirement.

Retirement or working longer: the present and future options is a course facilitated by NAHT Personal Financial Services and NAHT which explores work/life balance, options for full or partial retirement, practical information and direction on where to obtain credible support, and an understanding of what it would take financially for you to be able to fully enjoy retirement. Bookings are being taken now for courses in Manchester 10 November and London 1 December. Visit the events pages of www.naht.org.uk for more details.

The advantages of claiming some pension benefits from the age of 55, by taking phased retirement, are easy to appreciate – extra cash to pay off debts, reduced hours and a better work-life balance, plus regular pension payments to top-up salary. There are consequences too, though, as your final pension could be reduced to take account of the early redemption of some benefits. Whichever scheme you’re in, it’s worth thinking ahead and getting expert advice from the NAHT advice team and NAHT Personal Financial Services as you approach your fifties.

Make the first move

Whatever you want to do with your pension, nothing will happen automatically. It’s always up to you to take the first step. Another significant change to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in England and Wales has been the move to automate some features online, although not yet in Northern Ireland. If you’re based in England and Wales you can manage your pension account at www.teacherspensions.co.uk and it’s good practice to check it regularly to ensure the records held are accurate. In Northern Ireland,whilethe TPS is not yet online, you can get more details at www.deni.gov.uk Although it might seem complicated, there is flexibility within all the schemes and plentiful expert advice available to you from both NAHT’s in-house advice team and NAHT Personal Financial Services, provided by Skipton Financial Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Skipton Building Society. Every member of NAHT and NAHT Edge is entitled to a free consultation with Skipton’s financial services advisers, who understand the workings of each of the Teachers’ Pension Schemes and can explain all the options available to you.

NAHT and NAHT Edge members can also download detailed, up-todate pensions advice and information from www.naht.org.uk and www.nahtedge.org.uk respectively.

NAHT PERSONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES Personalised pensions advice provided by Skipton Financial Services Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Skipton Building Society 0800 012 1248 (ref HT2) www.naht@skipton.co.uk NAHT ADVICE TEAM NAHT’s specialist advisers have in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme 0300 30 30 333 (Option 1) specialistadvice@naht.org.uk NAHT EDGE Online pensions advice for NAHT members is available at www.nahtedge.org.uk TEACHERS’ PENSION SCHEME In England and Wales, register and check your details online on the TPS website www.teacherspensions.co.uk In Northern Ireland, TPS is not online but you can get information from www.deni.gov.uk LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME School business managers can learn more about the Local Government Pension Scheme at www.lgps2014.org STATE PENSION AGE Your state pension age will depend on your date of birth.

Check it at www.gov.uk/ state-pension-age PENSION WISE Free and impartial government advice on all things pension related from www.pensionwise.gov.uk

45

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS

Sex Education n you have to start where e children are

UNDERSTANDING WHY GOOD QUALITY SEX EDUCATION IS SO O IMPORTANT IS NOT DIFFICULT, BUT TEACHING SRE CAN BE. NIC PATON EXPLORES WHY IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY Y.

“

46

I remember in my late-20s taking a personal, social and health education (PSHE) lesson and being confronted by a class of 16-year-old boys and girls and having to teach them about sex education and being absolutely mortified. When it was over I just felt ‘thank God that’s done’. Was I very good at it? Probably not.”

This recollection by NAHT president Kim Johnson, head of Bradfields Academy in Chatham, Kent, will undoubtedly resonate with many heads, middle leaders and, in fact, teachers of all levels. Good quality sex and relationship education (SRE) is widely regarded as being essential to preparing young people in our schools to become happy, safe and responsible adults.

Yet, too often, it is delivered in the classroom by teachers who, through no fault of their own, are lacking in confidence or feel ill-equipped in terms of the tools and resources they have at their disposal.

You don’t have to dig especially deep to understand why goodquality SRE is so important. In fact, during June and July alone we saw a raft of reports being published into the state of SRE within the UK. All of them came to the conclusion that children are too often being let down in the classroom.

For example, the Terrence Higgins Trust in July argued that

three-quarters of young people are not taught about sexual consent, while one in seven said they did not receive any SRE at all, and 95 per cent said they were not taught about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) relationships.

Also in July, leading Labour MP Yvette Cooper emphasised the need for “compulsory and inclusive” SRE in schools at a conference run by the charity Stonewall, as well as highlighting the link between SRE and online bullying and abuse.

During July as well, a survey of children in the West Midlands aged between 13-15 by Birmingham City University and the University of Warwick concluded that 70 per cent did not know that “sexting” under the age of 18 is a criminal offence.

Equally worrying many commonly saw it as a replacement for physical sexual relationships. Three quarters, 75 per cent, admitted to being unsure of who to turn to should things go wrong online.

In July, meanwhile, NAHT backed a call by the charity Barnado’s for a national strategy on harmful sexual behaviour in children. The charity, in its Now I Know It Was Wrong: Report of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Support and Sanctions for Children who Display Harmful Sexual Behaviour, emphasised the need for, and the importance of, children having access to high-quality,

Above: 70% of 13-15 year olds did not know ‘sexting’ under the age of 18 is a criminal offence.

age-appropriate information and advice about health relationships.

As NAHT policy adviser Sarah Hannafin pointed out at the time, such education is currently only statutory in maintained secondary schools and, moreover, “the DfE guidance has not been reviewed since 2000, leaving it hopelessly outdated, particularly in dealing with changes in how young people communicate online.”

James Bowen, director of NAHT Edge, made the equally important point: “high quality, funded training must be made available to teachers to develop their knowledge,

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Age-appropriate SRE provides a safe space for the discussion of issues aff ffe ecting pupils, including online safety, positive relationships, consent, sexting and pornography 47

understanding and confidence in teaching pupils about these issues. Child protection training for all school staff needs to be developed to include recognising, and dealing with, concerning and harmful sexual behaviours.”

This position was also emphasised by NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby in June in response to a survey commissioned by the NSPCC and the Children’s Commissioner for England showing the damaging effect exposure to pornography has on young teens’ understanding of personal and sexual relationships.

As Russell put it: “Ageappropriate SRE provides a safe space for the discussion of issues affecting pupils, including online safety, positive relationships, consent, sexting and pornography.

“Currently however, discussing these difficult topics with children – especially when they are young – can take courage and this shouldn’t have to be the case; the government should back teachers by making PSHE a statutory part of the curriculum.”

THE DO CAMPAIGN The DO campaign (dosreforschools.com) was developed by condom brand Durex and launched in January 2016.

It offers a range of free resources for teachers to help them deliver quality SRE, developed in partnership with a range of bodies, including NAHT. This campaign builds upon a previous NAHT, National Governors Association and the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations project, sponsored by Durex, exploring perceptions of sex and relationships education. The outcomes, published in 2011, were influential in shaping the subsequent and ongoing debate about SRE and PSHE in schools.

As well as being supported by NAHT, President Kim Johnson and specialist advisor Sion Humphreys were part of the steering group and consultant advisors to the campaign.

In June DO received accreditation from the PSHE Association.

There are, for example, self-reflection exercises that can be used by teachers before going into the classroom to explore their own values, attitudes and views on sex and relationships.

There is also practical guidance, covering topics such as confidentiality, creating group ground rules, promoting tolerance and respect.

Finally, there are a range of different teaching methods and tools, as well as model lesson plans and activities teachers can use to bring

SRE to life within the classroom. The campaign will also run interactive training roadshows for teachers and schools starting in Autumn 2016.

There have been PSHE and health and wellbeing leads for large groups of schools using the resources and also a lot of interest from child protection and police child safety, says Mhari Coxon, UK professional relations manager for medical marketing at Reckitt Benckiser, which owns the Durex brand.

“There were a lot of SRE resources out there but you had to really go and look for them, and some of them were outdated. So Durex brought together a group of experts into a steering group to work out what ‘good’ SRE needed to look like and what it was that teachers really needed,” she explains.

“It took about a year to build the resources.

The good news is it is free and it is much more accessible than a lot of what has gone before.

Durex continues to support access to good SRE for the youth of the UK. DO…is a key part of this.

“The programme is primarily aimed at age 14 and above because there are sexual elements within it, and so it is appropriate for that age group. But there are elements of the programme that primary PSHE leads have told us could be appropriate for lower key stage groups, Key Stage 1 and 2,” Mhari adds.

SEX AND RELATIONSHIPS 48

So, where does all this get us?

As well as its campaigning stance on PSHE within the curriculum – which has been a long-standing NAHT position – NAHT has been heavily involved in steering and supporting the DO campaign run by Durex, which works to provide schools with information, tools and resources to help them teach SRE more effectively (see panel on page 47).

It is also currently doing audit work around perceptions towards, and misconceptions about, PSHE, especially the assumption that any teacher can stand up in front of a classroom and just teach it, as NAHT specialist advisor Sion Humphreys highlights.

“That is tantamount to saying if you are a history graduate, you’re OK to go off and teach physics,” he points out, adding that curriculum pressures have led to an estimated 25 per cent drop in citizenship education within secondary education and a 6 per cent drop in religious education.

“Often you’ll find teachers lacking in confidence about how to do it or simply not feeling they understand how to teach it effectively. And then sometimes the pupils or students seize on the fact the teacher appears not to be at ease or confident, and then the class can lose its integrity.

“IIt is about helping young people develop from the total dependence of childhood into relatively autonomous young ad dullthood d, so good d SRE need ds to be partt off a broad der welllbeiing g ag genda. Schools are,, naturally y, offten more concerned d ab boutt thing gs that have the greatest impact on their accountability, but potentially this is to the detriment of broader concepts of educating the whole child,” Siôn adds.

And while, as we have already highlighted, SRE is only a statutory requirement at secondary level, it is something more and more heads and middle leaders at primary level are now recognising they need to engage with, he argues.

“W We get cases of members ringing up for advice about

sexualised behaviour of four-to-five year-olds. There is still a bit of a view that teaching SRE encourages young people to ‘experiment’.

But I would argue that you have to start from where children are, however unpalatable that is.

“Many primary schools are choosing now to do SRE anyway, even though there is no obligation to do so. One of the things that is really important to get across is how it links to wider issues, such as female genital mutilation, safeguarding and online safety and bullying.

“If SRE is taught badly it can have uniinttend ded d consequences. So this need ds to be partt off ong goiing g teacher training g and professional devellop pmentt. Because priimary y school teachers are looking g at the whole child, and because they are teaching the whole curriculum, they are in some ways better equipped to be teaching SRE than secondary.

The relationships they have with the children, and the knowledge they have about them, may also be that little bit deeper,” Siôn adds.

“U Ultimately, if staff have the right quality resources, CPD and training then they will be able to deliver SRE so that it will help children who are becoming young adults

Above: NAHT specialist advisor Sion Humphreys.

have respect for themselves and for others,” agrees Kim Johnson.

Bradfields Academy provides specialist SEND provision for students aged 4–19 and SEND is an important dimension to consider with SRE, Kim emphasises.

“SRE is, if anything, especially important within the SEND environment, particularly in the context of learning disability and autism. There needs to be consideration given to the messages that are being put across, so that the children don’t get confused, and to the resources and materials being used. These need to be accessible and engaging and easily understandable,” he contends.

“This can be a difficult issue to deal with for young people with SEND, and sometimes with parents, especially when their child has a disability and perhaps it’s something they don’t want to consider. But, in fact, a child with SEND is often either at greater risk of being offended against or, even, of becoming an offender themselves because they just do not understand the whole relationships side of things.

“So many kids gett compllettelly beffud ddled d by rellattionsh hips and end up p making g mistakes.

Good d SRE is ab boutt hellping g the children to find themselves as young adults,”” Kim adds.

For more information about the the DO campaign or to access any of the resources visit www.dosreforschools.com The Barnardo’s report can be found at www.barnardos.org.uk Further information on sex and LGBT issues can be accessed on the Terrence Higgins Trust website.

Visit www.tht.org.uk

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SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS 50

Getting SENCos right Leading special educational needs expert and honorary life member Dr Rona Tutt OBE looks at the role of SENCos in mainstream schools and how their role can be made more manageable.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

SENCOs in mainstream schools: making the role more manageable The role of the SENCo has developed substantially since first being created in 1994, and the SEND Reforms have given it another major boost. While this enhanced status is to be warmly welcomed, it comes at a time when other changes are going on in education and both time and money are in short supply. To ensure SENCo’s have the status the post deserves, it is as well to remember that there are only two statutory roles in the context of a school: the head teacher or principal and the SENCo. Only one of these posts has to be filled by a qualified teacher, and it’s not the head!

Mainly because the term includes those for whom this will be one of their many roles, to those who are full-time and in charge of a large department, the expectations are much the same. So, what should the role encompass and how can it be made more manageable?

Defining the SENCo’s role

For a start, is the SENCo part of the senior leadership team, and, if not, who is the person on the senior leadership team who will provide a direct link to it? As the SEND Code of Practice (2015) emphasises that all teachers, whether they are class or subject-based, are responsible for the education and progress of all the pupils they teach, this needs to be embedded in the ethos of the school. While this is unlikely to be much of a change for class teachers, it may be a shift for some subject teachers, who are having to deal with a moving population of pupils each week.

A main part of the SENCo’s role is to support and advise colleagues, including keeping under review who should be on

Dr Rona Tutt OBE

SEN Support, but essentially their role is a strategic one which is concerned with the implementation of the school’s SEN Policy and the improvement of the provision for pupils who have special needs.

The parameters of the role

In a smaller school, the SENCo may be expected to cover all vulnerable groups, while larger schools might opt for having an Inclusion Manager as well as a SENCo. As this is the first time there has been a Code of Practice for SEND rather than just SEN, children and young people with a disability are included in the SENCo’s role.

The change in the Code from behavioural, emotional and social development (BESD) to social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) is designed to encourage people to look beyond the behaviour to what may be causing it. While few teachers, including SENCos, may be trained to recognise mental health needs, the DfE’s guidance, Mental health and behaviour in schools – Departmental advice for schools, (last updated in March this year), has some practical advice and guidance. A child sitting quietly in silent despair may be as much a cause for concern as the pupil whose disturbed and disturbing behaviour is unlikely to go unnoticed.

As pupils rarely fit neatly into the categories we devise for them, the difficulty with other groups of vulnerable pupils, is that they may or may not have SEND as well. This includes among other groups, those with medical conditions, children in care or who are themselves young carers. Each school needs to determine, for instance, whether the role of the designated teacher for looked after children (LAC) is a separate one, or part of the SENCo’s brief. Some find it useful to maintain a register of the vulnerable groups that exist in the school, so that children who fall into more than one group can be clearly identified, along with the person responsible for their welfare and progress.

51

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

Covering all aspects of the role

The Code is quite clear that SENCos need time to carry out their role, so the amount allotted should be agreed and kept under review, along with a review of their job description. Working with any groups of pupils is likely to be exhausting, but working with pupils who have SEND and their families can bring additional stresses.

Working with families

52

At the centre of the SEND Reforms is a change of culture that places the wishes, views and aspirations of young people and their families at the heart of the decisionmaking process. This applies whether the child is on SEN Support or has an Education, Health and Care plan. Some parents or carers may be reluctant to be involved, particularly if they have unhappy memories of their own schooldays or they dread hearing about the problems their child is having. However, every effort should be made to make them feel this is a genuine partnership and the SENCo can assist in avoiding a downward spiral of negativity, when all anyone talks about is a child’s problems rather than how they are working together to resolve them.

Working with TAs / LSAs

The role of teaching assistants (TAs) or learning support assistants (LSAs) has developed enormously over time and some schools will have higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs), specialist teaching assistants or specific intervention TAs, trained, for example, to be ‘Thrive practitioners’ (Thrive being an approach to developing children’s social and emotional well-being). Although the skill of some of these staff cannot be spoken of too

highly, it is part of the SENCo’s role to ensure that pupils who need the most help with their learning are the responsibility of their teachers, who must remain actively involved in their education and monitoring of their progress.

Working with others inside and beyond the school

As the SEN continuum covers many conditions, SENCos will benefit from liaising with other professionals in the field in as far as they are available, including educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and counsellors, as well as being familiar with what else exists, such as: • Specialist and advisory teachers and support teams for different needs • Special schools, resourced mainstream schools and those with units • Pupil referral units (PRUs) and other forms of alternative provision (AP) • Outreach and consultancy services.

Further information about the support that is available should be contained in the local authority Local Offer and the link to it should be part of the school’s SEN Information Report, which should be completed with the SEN governor, as well as involving pupils and their parents.

The report itself can be enlivened by containing quotes from parents and pupils, or video clips of how they have benefited from the support they have received.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

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Rona Tutt is a past president of NAHT. She has taught pupils of all ages in state and independent, day and residential, mainstream and special schools. She has been a winner of the e Leadership in Teaching Award, received an Outstanding Reviewer Award for her work on the International Journal of Educational Management and received an OBE for her services to special needs education.

She represents the association on a number of commiitteess, including the National SEND Forum (NSENDF), the Joint Unions Meetings on SEN Issues, the e Special Education Consortium (SEC) and the Autiism Education Trust (AET). In 2011, she joined with Professor Barry Carpenter and Professor Francesca Happé to establish the National Forum for Neuroscience and Special Education. Rona a has written or co-authored several books. Her second co-authored book with Paul Williams was published in June 2015, entitled ‘The SEND Code of Practice 0-25 years: Policy, Provision and Practice.’

NAHT offers a number of courses and events tailored to SENCos. Girls on the autism spectrum – the ‘big shout’ conference takes place on 27 January 2017 in London and the Special schools, specialist and alternative provision conference – creating stability in changing times is being held on 10 March 2017. To find out more about these conferences and the courses on offer visit www.naht.org.uk/events NAHT Edge provides tailored support and advice for SENCos. Visit www.nahtedge.org.uk for further details.

Keeping on top of the job SENCos need to be resilient and resourceful, as the role involves problem-solving, including having a number of strategies to draw on – and what a range there is, from the more traditional ones to Lego therapy, drum therapy and mindfulness – and finding the right approach and strategy for a given situation. Knowing a pupil has a particular diagnosis is a useful starting point, as long as it is remembered that each will have their own personality, interests and attitudes to learning and that this will affect the way they respond to the difficulties they encounter.

It is no good pretending it is easy, but the difference a SENCo can make to young learners who might otherwise have an unsatisfactory and unhappy educational experience is immense. With a more complex population in every type of school, the SENCo’s role has become even more crucial and more demanding, but also more rewarding.

POLICY AND LEGISLATION

Categorising Wales

NAHT passed a motion at its Annual Conference in April to abolish school categorisation or at least ensure that the metrics used include pupil progress data and focus on allocated ‘support’ and not simply increased ‘challenge’. Rob Williams, policy director NAHT Cymru, looks at the reality of school categorisation in Wales.

ne of the longstanding features of the education system in Wales has been the variability that exists in teaching, learning and provision within and between schools.

Pupils in Wales, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, do not appear to experience parity of opportunity. All agree this must change.

In 2014–15, school categorisation was brought in by the then Welsh Minister of Education, Huw Lewis – a system promoted as the best way to ensure resource and support were focused within the right areas.

The Welsh Government website still celebrates this as the principal aim: ‘The system’s main purpose is to identify which schools are in most need of support.’

There was an explicit message that this was about ensuring pupils had greater equity in high quality educational experiences irrespective of where they went to school.

At the time of the launch, NAHT Cymru expressed concerns over the narrow scope of the information for assessing standards and also how overall judgements were to be used. As this was an evolving process we asked that the judgements, from at least the initial years of the process, were not published in the media but used directly with schools to allocate support.

The Welsh Government still states: ‘…The system is about providing support and encouraging collaborative improvement by putting schools into a position that enables them to identify the factors that contribute to their progress and achievement, or what areas to focus on to achieve further development.

It is not about labelling or creating league tables’. Remember this phrase, it is important.

Admirable aims. What sensible person could argue against such a rationale?

So let us explore the reality of school categorisation.

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The Welsh Government explains:

A three step model

‘The system is a three step model that is not purely data-driven but also takes into account the quality of leadership and teaching and learning in our schools.

Step one is a data-driven judgement using an agreed set of performance measures provided by the Welsh Government.

Step two begins with the school’s own self-evaluation of their capacity to improve in relation to leadership, teaching and learning.

Rob Williams

Step three is the combination of the two judgements that will lead to a colour-coded support category for the school which will trigger a tailored programme of support, challenge and intervention.

This is agreed between the local authority and regional consortium.’

Schools are therefore judged in two broad areas, against four levels of performance: • Standards – on a scale of 1 to 4; • Improvement capacity – on a scale of A to D. When the two separate sections of information are combined, the school is placed on a grid (see p55) which indicates the colour code for each school – red, amber, yellow or green – no prizes for guessing which is worst and which is best!

The colour category then triggers a level of intervention via the Regional Consortia – expressed in the guidance as an agreed number of days for Challenge Advisers to work with the school.

Judgements

The standards of a school, primary or secondary, are judged upon the outcome levels of specific pupil cohorts in specific core areas only.

The judgement on the leadership of a school is based upon a range of evidence.

This includes the clarity of vision from school leadership (including governors), the accuracy and efficiency of self evaluation and the ability of the school to implement strategies and approaches that impact positively on standards.

This area also scrutinises the quality of teaching, the accuracy of assessment and the collaborative work the school undertakes to continue development and improvement more widely.

Once all the schools in Wales have been categorised, the results are revealed to the world via the website and news outlets – a bit like a league-table.

Pupil progress

We sincerely believe that accountability can be a very positive process, effective school leaders welcome such an empowering use of external measures, as long as they measure the right thing and identify those elements over which the profession has a direct influence.

As a teacher and a parent, because I understand the effect it could have on their futures, I want my children to attend the best school. First and foremost, I want them to be happy, attend a school where the staff care about them, know them well,

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Consequences

The consequences for schools judged to be in the amber or red categories are significant.

It appears that regional consortia have often taken the opportunity to exert huge levels of additional pressure upon schools in the lower two categories. Head teachers and wider school leadership are challenged to prove they have a grip on self-evaluation, school improvement and most importantly teaching standards.

In many cases a ‘review’ of the school is undertaken by groups of challenge advisers, which amounts to a miniinspection – book scrutiny, data analysis, classroom observation, staff interviews over a number of days – class-based teaching and support staff having to justify why they do what they do.

School leaders and wider staff tell us that, having gone though this punitive process, they feel devalued,

LEFT: Where a school is placed on this grid determines its support category

1 School F

Standards group

understand their specific needs, support them to maximise their progress in all areas and ensure they love learning. Academic attainment is important, but ensuring children are well educated and measuring their true achievement is far more complex.

The best school is a place that helps to shape the whole child – their values, their attitudes and their relationships – and I want to know that, irrespective of their starting point, my children are making the most progress they can during their time in school and are well prepared to face an unknown future.

Can this truly be expressed in a judgement system that distils the quality of a school down to a single colour?

When schools are supposedly being held to account for standards but pupil progress is ignored, the fundamental point of education is lost. When a school is able to focus upon maximising pupil progress, better outcomes are the ultimate product.

If categorisation is to continue it needs to measure what should be valued rather than valuing what has currently been measured.

The current categorisation process does not truly assess the success of the school by ignoring pupil progress and noting only narrow attainment of particular cohorts of pupils. It ignores the individuality of the learners and the efforts and progress they have made as a result of excellent teaching and learning. A school could evidence that their pupils have made massive progress from very low baselines… but, sadly, if some pupils still fail to reach the expected standard or above, that incredible progress and effort doesn’t count.

2 School E

3

4 D

C

B

A

Improvement capacity demoralised and demotivated. Given the staff recruitment and retention issues we have in Wales’ schools, this is unhelpful, counter-productive and very bad for the children and young people.

The host local authorities sometimes add to this pressure by requiring head teachers and other school staff to attend scrutiny committees to explain why the school is categorised in the lower two colours and what they are doing about it. It is often referred to by school leaders as, ‘the walk of shame’.

It is worth noting that a significant proportion of members sitting on such scrutiny committees have no background in education at all.

The four regional consortia, (organisations commissioned to undertake school improvement on behalf of agreed groups of local authorities) have a role to challenge and support their schools.

School leaders welcome and recognise the need for effective challenge and support.

For the most part, all regional consortia clearly understand and strongly implement the challenge role. Support, however, often appears to be conspicuous by its absence in a number of the consortia.

Inspection

Ironically, the line of travel with school categorisation currently appears in the opposite direction to Estyn. The Welsh inspectorate now talks far more openly about its need to be proactive in facilitating school improvement within the new inspection framework, due to start in September 2017. We seem to have drifted into a scenario in Wales whereby our school support services now undertake a

more punitive challenge approach and our inspectorate wants to be more supportive.

One of the major issues, however, is when the two accountability systems do not align.

There have been examples of schools given low category colour judgements but positive inspection results. In some ways more worryingly, are the instances when categorisation places a school in the green category and an inspection, sometimes a matter of weeks later, places the school in a follow up category – this puts school leaders at huge risk.

In certain extreme examples those same schools have subsequently been issued with warning notices from the local authority – the very same local authority who weeks before had confidently assessed the school in the highest category.

This alone, calls into question the cost, worth and legitimacy of the whole process.

So this is the current state of play in Wales’ school categorisation system.

We have a system that ignores pupil progress, is used by the media as a league-table, is used by some regional consortia to exert unreasonable challenge upon schools, even though there is little evidence that such an approach actually raises standards, and a system that does not always align with inspection findings.

The fundamental question is one that all effective schools ask: Does what we are doing actually impact positively upon our children and young people?

If school categorisation fails to provide genuine evidence that our pupils benefit, NAHT Cymru believes that it must either be abolished or radically overhauled in order to make it fit for purpose.

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REGIONAL REVIEW

Getting Organised

in London

Matthew Waterfall, NAHT organising and support officer south, looks at how London Region is shaping up to the regional review challenge

AHT London region is made up of a whopping 33 branches, representing each of the local authority areas in the capital. With nearly 3 million pupils within Greater London, and over 41 per cent of these speaking English as their second language, it’s heartening to know that over 86 per cent of schools in the region are achieving Good or Outstanding ratings from Ofsted – 4 per cent above the national average for England.

The capital city’s executive committee is headed up by Kevin Baskill, a consultant head teacher, national executive member and branch secretary, who took up the post of London regional secretary in June. Kevin was a head teacher in Redbridge for 25 years before taking up his current consultant role and will lead the delivery of the region’s Strategic Organising Plan. The plan, which was drafted in May, is due for consideration at the regional executive meeting in September.

“It’s been great getting involved in the work of the region and in particular implementing the regional review with colleagues and staff,” said Kevin. “Working with NAHT organisers and regional officers, we’ve been successful in strengthening the network of lay representatives across the city, with 13 new officials taking office in the past three months.”

Meetings were held in Enfield, Ealing, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston and Redbridge, during the first part of the year, attracting over 380 members. They’ve demonstrated not only a shared

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commitment to the continued improvement of outcomes for children, but also a collective desire to campaign on major issues, such as assessment and forced academisation. Membership in the region is increasing and elections of new officials are expected to continue in Islington, Croydon and Bromley during the autumn.

“This term meetings will take place in Islington, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Merton and Sutton, all aimed at building our activities in these important areas,” says Kevin. “Plans are also in place to reach members in every London branch by this time next year.”

London region is also working with local councils and fellow unions to establish how school and council leaders can join forces to ensure the best local offer for children across the capital. Most recently Redbridge NAHT worked with the NUT and Redbridge Council, resulting in the council passing a motion unanimously, mandating support for the campaign against forced academisation. Plans are in place to encourage similar motions from other sympathetic councils across the city.

The London executive has also joined forces with colleagues from the south east region to fill delegate seats in the Trades Union Congress (TUC) South East Region. This marked the beginning of NAHT’s regional engagement with the Congress, opening the door to greater levels of collaboration with colleagues from across the wider trade union movement. London

With nearly 3 million pupils within Greater London, and over 41 per cent of these speaking English as their second language, it’s heartening to know that over 86 per cent of schools in the region are achieving Good or Outstanding ratings from Ofsted

delegates attended their first TUC meeting in July; Congress is very keen to work with NAHT on issues such as education policy and training of officials.

“While the picture from London is a good one there is more to be done to strengthen NAHT in the region,” Kevin continues. “While we already represent an average of 75 per cent plus of primary and special sector head teachers, we can all do our bit to build on this by encouraging other colleagues to join. The more members we have, the louder our voice!

“NAHT is a democratic organisation, and as such it’s the members who set the agenda.

Please do get involved in the running of your local branch and make sure you come along to the meetings and briefings in your area, when you see them publicised. They provide a great opportunity to meet and share views with other school leaders. They’re designed to provide you with a professional community in which to work together, to further your aims and objectives in the region, and on the national stage.”

You can find out more about the work of your branch by visiting the regions and branches page of the website www.naht.org.uk/mybranch If you’re interested in finding out more about events in your region contact your regional secretary. You’ll find details on the NAHT website.

If you’re interested in supporting organising in your area contact Matthew Waterfall (South) email matthew.waterfall@naht.org.uk or Jason Ferraby (North) jason.ferraby@naht.org.uk

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

Number of Pupils (DfE, 2015)

Workforce data (DfE, 2014)

2,993,503

Total number of teachers:

total pupils in Greater London

39,835 SPECIAL STUDENTS 7,130 NURSERY PUPILS 2,892 PRU STUDENTS

1,111,550 SECONDARY PUPILS

1,525,542 PRIMARY PUPILS

PRIMARY

ENGLAND 69,135 teachers in the leadership group

Predicted pupil increase from 2013/14 to 2018/19

SECONDARY

DfE, 2015

+17.4%

+11.0%

+16.4%

+7.9%

GREATER LONDON

ENGLAND

GREATER LONDON

ENGLAND

GREATER LONDON

10,758 teachers in the leadership group Percentage of total teacher workforce from Ethnic Minority Groups:

GREATER LONDON

ENGLAND

34.6%

13%

Total teacher workforce: Gender 26%

74% GREATER LONDON

Funding (DfE, 2014 & DfE, 2015)

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26%

Median per pupil funding in Greater London

by LA and Academy*

74% ENGLAND

■ MALE ■ FEMALE

Total teacher workforce: Age

£1100

£6,684

higher than national average

ACADEMY

18%

£852

£5,106 LOCAL AUTHORITY

higher than national average

82% GREATER LONDON

19%

81% ENGLAND

*Academies data excluding special schools

■ OVER 50 ■ UNDER 50

Types of school in Greater London 13% of these are academies (national average = 15%) 53% of these are academies (national average = 56%)

1,800

state-funded primaries

555

independent schools

479

state-funded secondaries

139

statefunded special

80

nursery schools

60

PRUs

6

non maintained special

CHARITY PARTNER

How can schools engage with parents?

Schools know that valuing and working with parents improves outcomes for children. One of the key goals of NAHT’s partnership with the Family and Childcare Trust (FCT) is to encourage and support more schools to revisit and improve their working relationships with parents.

The FCT’s Parent Champions programme can help schools do just that. he Parent Champions programme is a parent-led network that helps schools engage with parents and the wider community. Parent Champions are parent volunteers who spend a few hours a week linking with other parents.

They meet informally at school events, parents’ evenings, in the playground and out and about in their local communities. Speaking from a parents’ perspective, they share their positive experiences of being involved with the school,

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using local services, and discuss a range of issues.

Emma Ackerman, Head of Programmes, who oversees the programme at FCT, explains: “Parent Champions has been particularly successful in supporting families who have special educational needs and disabilities, black and minority ethnic (BME) families, and those families who are known as ‘hard to reach’.

“The programme was pioneered by us in 2007 as a response to the Department for Education’s aim to

The model is now being used to inform, advise and signpost on a range of issues, from dental health and obesity to parenting classes and the services offered by children’s centres.

Above right: Emma Ackerman, head of programmes.

Left: Parent Champions meeting at a Sheffield school.

promote free early education for eligible two year olds. It was based on evidence that word-of-mouth was parents’ most important source of information on childcare.

The model is now being used to inform, advise and signpost on a range of issues, from dental health and obesity to parenting classes and the services offered by children’s centres.”

Parent Champions provides an essential bridge between professionals and parents who can be hard to reach.

FCT can help school leaders develop a Parent Champions programme in their schools to engage parents and improve outcomes for children. It can provide training for volunteers, equip teachers and school leaders with adaptable, time-tested resources and tools, and deliver on-going support and access to the Parent Champions national network.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

CASE STUDY

Sheffield – working with schools to reach BME families Sheffield’s local authority’s Parent Engagement Team needed to reach different BME communities and families with SEND that were not using the services available to them.

Sheffield’s Parent Engagement Team recruited Parent Champions to deliver outreach from two schools in the city, with a particular focus on engaging with Roma and Slovak communities. The aim was to make sure parents were signposted to vital support, such as English lessons and other adult learning.

Over six months, the Parent Champions reached at least 1000 families.

They encouraged parents to sign up to the Parents’ Assembly network which, through its weekly newsletter, provides information on family activities, community services and consultations.

Importantly, the Parent Champions helped parents from the two schools engage in the development of Sheffield’s strategy on child and household poverty, by facilitating consultation sessions with non-English speaking parents. These parents may not otherwise have had the opportunity to contribute to such consultations.

CASE STUDY

Wandsworth – supporting parents of children with disabilities In the London Borough of Wandsworth a large proportion of residents were born outside the UK – 26 per cent compared to the national average of 10 per cent – and a larger than average number of families are affected by disability. The local authority needed to reach families who were unfamiliar with the local services and SEND support available for their children.

Nine Parent Champion volunteers were recruited to increase awareness of the Disabled Children’s Register and the WAND card, a handy

Above: Parent Champions Wandsworth won the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Parent Champions National Network at the 2016 Parent Champions Conference.

Left: Parent Champions Sophia Topey and Faustina Asare speaking with Rosena Allin-Khan MP for Tooting and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan at the Fircroft summer school fayre about Wandsworth’s Disabled Children’s Register and WAND card.

form of ID which helps parents of children with disabilities get around and make the most of local facilities when out and about.

Since the programme began, Parent Champions volunteers have helped to triple membership of Wandsworth’s Disabled Children’s Register.

They encouraged local businesses to sign up to the WAND card programme, making it a widely recognised form of ID in Wandsworth, and making Wandsworth much more SEND friendly. Wandsworth’s Parent Champions continue to add real value to the local authority and the area with their expertise in several languages, including Polish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Twi, Edo, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu.

FIND OUT MORE… FCT campaigns for affordable, accessible childcare and better support for parents.

It lobbies government, conducts research and provides information, advice and support.

Visit www.familyandchildcaretrust.org for more information.

To learn more about how you can set up a Parent Champions programme in your school, visit www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/parent-champions or get in touch with Lizzie Hodgkins, Programmes Manager, at Lizzie@familyandchildcaretrust.org or call 020 7940 7513.

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CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Featured courses

WE KNOW that a new school year can bring with it a new set of challenges. Our professional development offer has grown to meet that challenge, with a set of new training courses designed and launched this term to give you more of the We have a range of courses available. skills you need to undertake your role.

Full details and booking forms are available on our website. www.naht.org.uk/ trainingcourses

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NEW COURSES Leading behaviour change Learn how to share and embed your vision for behaviour through simplifying policy and focusing on adult behaviour. Paul Dix will take you through the Pivotal approach and how it enables pure consistency in behaviour across all staff. You will learn why managing staff behaviour is your first priority and explore the impact that adults have on learner behaviour.

Excellence in teaching and learning is underpinned by exceptional behaviour policy and practice.

This course is suitable for: all senior school leaders with responsibility for behaviour in Independent and mainstream primary, special and secondary schools, FE and pupil referral units.

Leading school safeguarding This course ensures you are up to date with all the latest information

you need in relation to safeguarding pupils and staff so you can effectively lead safeguarding, and health and safety in your school.

This course is suitable for: governors, principals, head teacher, designated safeguarding lead, school business managers, senior and middle leaders; in all education phases.

Moving towards forming or joining a multiacademy trust (MAT) This course is for school leaders who are assessing the benefits and risks to their own school forming or joining a multi-academy trust (MAT). You will receive expert advice on the changing landscape and the options available to your school leadership team.

You will investigate the processes involved in preparing for MAT status and be given tools to assess the benefits and risks of MAT status in order to ensure that your school makes the right decision for you.

This course is suitable for: governors, principals, head teachers, school business managers; in primary, secondary, maintained schools, academies, special schools, alternative provision and sixth form.

Safeguarding children and young people from radicalisation: a positive school ethos These free half-day courses have been specifically designed by NAHT, Ofsted, DfE, and the National Counter Terrorism Policing HQ to help school leaders understand extremism and consider how Prevent helps safeguard and protect children. School leaders will hear about the expectations of them, and learn the responsibilities they have to lead Prevent in schools, within their wider safeguarding responsibilities. This course does not replicate WRAP (Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent) training or the information available online.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | SEPTEMBER 2016

‘The way in which (the course leader) delivered the course and the pace at which she led the day was perfect. This was one of the best courses I have been on for a long time!

Thank you.’ Lana-Lea O’Keefe, Head teacher Key Stage 3 in a coherent system of education and looks at how schools can establish a robust curriculum and assessment framework linking Key Stage 2 to the requirements of GCSE. Key Stage 3 has been characterised by Ofsted as the ‘wasted years’ in a recent report. With the feeling that these ‘wasted years’ are failing to serve as a good foundation for secondary education, what can be done to ensure Key Stage 3 is providing the bestpossible experience for pupils?

This course is suitable for: school leaders and middle managers in Key Stage 3 with responsibility for developing the school curriculum and assessment arrangements. It is also suitable for colleagues aspiring to these key roles.

School’s Financial Health & Efficiency This specially commissioned course will help you identify the critical factors and key components of your school’s financial health and efficiency. It will examine the Schools Efficiency Metric tool, the information it provides and the potential impact on your school so you can explore a strategic process for linking school development plan priorities to budget planning allocations and efficiencies, consider effective challenges to secure cost efficiencies, and be able to identify in advance when pupil numbers become a financial threat. You will return to school able to evaluate and challenge your school’s benchmarking scorecard and assess its adequacy as a valid benchmarking document.

This course is suitable for: head teachers, curriculum leaders, governors, deputy head teachers, assistant head teachers, school business managers and middle leaders in nursery, primary, special and secondary sectors.

Ensuring curriculum and assessment coherence: the pivotal role of key stage 3 This new course examines the place of

Assessing Pupil Progress for those working below national standard: Life beyond the Rochford Review This course provides an overview of the changes to the new assessment procedures, recording and reporting within the new National Curriculum framework, especially for children and young people with SEND currently working below national standard. It will share the outcomes of the Rochford Review and support schools to embed the recommendations. It will look at how to measure progress without levels and the implications for the Ofsted inspection.

This course is suitable for: all school leaders, assessment co-ordinators and SENCOs in all education phases.

NAHT COURSE LIST • Appraisal and difficult conversations • Appraisal training for new appraisers • Assessing Pupil Progress for those working below national standard: Life beyond the Rochford Review • Benchmarking - an important starting point for school efficiency • Budget setting in difficult times • Building leadership capacity for new deputy and assistant head teachers • Decoding mental health; promoting emotional wellbeing • New courses - Ensuring curriculum and assessment coherence: the pivotal role of key stage 3 • Exploring academy status • Improving progress; avoiding coasting • Improving quality and standards in the Early Years • NAHT’s assessment framework: good practice in a world without levels - emerging practice and implementation • Ofsted and the SENCo: the new framework and expectations • Pupil Premium: making and costing the case • Recruitment and retention within the teaching profession • Retirement or working longer: present and future options • Schools financial value standards (SFVS) • The New Inspection Framework: understanding, preparing and managing • The SENCo as a strategic leader

EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2016: BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM AROUND THE CHILD NAHT’s president Kim Johnson selected this year’s conference theme: building a successful team around the child. And there are two dates and locations to choose from: Friday, 14 October in Manchester and Friday, 18 November in London. NAHT has specially commissioned high profile and inspiring keynote speakers including (depending which day you attend) – Natasha Devon, MBE, Dave Keeling, Paul Dix and Russell Hobby. Delegates can also choose to attend two workshops from a selection that supports the conference. The annual education conference is one of NAHT’s key events and consistently gets very positive feedback. Last year, 95% of delegates said they would recommend the conference to a colleague.

The conferences are suitable for: head teachers, principals, deputy head teachers, assistant head teachers, school business managers and children’s centre leaders in all education phases.

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THE FINAL WORD

SUSAN YOUNG: Education columnist

The right message “

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It was a bit of a wacky idea, but the way it’s turned out, the scale of it – it’s just epic,” says executive head teacher Steve Baker of his special school’s latest project.

It’s hard to disagree. The “wacky idea” is a book of almost 50 messages to the 55 boys with behavioural, emotional and social disorders at The Kilgarth School on Merseyside, urging them to aspire “to achieve great things”. The good wishes come from a starry list of achievers in all fields.

“I am where I am because I believe in great possibilities,” says Whoopi Goldberg. X-men star Hugh Jackman advises: “stay cool, bub.” Johnny Depp, Russell Brand and George Osborne are among many who scrawled good luck messages. “Dare to dream the impossible, for only then will it become possible,” writes the Kilgarth boys’ favourite author, Paul Moxham, while David Walliams contributes: “keep reading”.

Footballer Max Power says: “Life is about overcoming hurdles... just do it with a smile on your face.” Michael Atiyah, prize-winning mathematician, says: “Always hope for the best.”

Hoping – and working – for the best is what Steve and his staff do every day, which was how the project started.

“We’re always trying to get the boys to understand they can do great things if they want to. We thought they might not want to listen to us or their family or friends, but might want to listen to some of the people we got in touch with,” he says.

After a staff meeting came up with the idea and 500 names, researching

addresses took four months, and then requests for help including Kilgarth’s mission statement “Always Growing, Always Learning” were posted, with SAEs. For a couple of weeks, nothing happened. “Then they started coming back in dribs and drabs,” says Baker. “It would go silent, then we’d get someone like Whoopi Goldberg or Jack Nicholson, they’d just appear in my tray. We thought five or six was good. Then ten or twenty. Then thirty and more. They came until the summer.”

The project grew, with unexpected help from the Lions club after meeting Baker at a www.srebrenica.org.uk charity event related to one of his previous roles, as a UN war crimes investigator in Bosnia.

Baker’s experiences are key: he came to education late after a varied working life and constantly seeks better ways to do things. Kilgarth is pioneering sanctionfree discipline with academics, celebrated four years without NEETS, and has won

It was a bit of a wacky idea, but the way it’s turned out, the scale of it – it’s just epic Steve Baker

Above: Susan Young.

prestigious teaching awards. Staff are encouraged with succession planning, opportunities to develop, and funded qualifications from PhD to GCSEs. “‘Always growing, always learning’ applies to everyone. We’re a community, and if you look after people you get so much back. It’s a challenging job, but a rewarding job,” says Baker, who is “blown away” by the effort busy people made for unknown teenagers.

“Dame Jane Goodall, the gorilla expert, has been supportive throughout. She told the boys to follow their dreams – that’s what this project is about. If you dream and believe you can achieve great things.”

The books were handed out by Olympic boxer Natasha Jonas as Baker crossed his fingers for a positive reaction. “The boys were all absolutely fascinated by the people who had responded, all delighted and comparing notes.

“One of the Year 9s said ‘This book is great’. That is high praise indeed. If the project made a difference to just one boy it has been worth all of the effort, and that comment made my day.”

Job done? Not at Kilgarth. “I am really chuffed with it all. Hopefully the boys will realise people care, and we’ll take it from there.”

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Find out more: www.nfer.ac.uk/ba6 National Foundation for Educational Research The Mere, Upton Park, Slough, Berks SL1 2DQ

T: 01753 637007 F: 01753 790114 E: products@nfer.ac.uk @TheNFER www.nfer.ac.uk

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