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Welcome back to
the start of the new academic year, as we regroup and go again. I hope that you
have had an enjoyable summer break and are feeling refreshed and ready for all
that is to come. As usual, the purpose of this letter is provide some short updates
to set the scene for the term ahead.
In
contemplating what to write this time, I looked back on some of my previous
autumn term letters. One of the tougher letters to pen was that of autumn 2016
when I had to share that North Lincolnshire had fared badly in the (then new)
key stage 2 tests and was undoubtedly in the bottom quartile of all local
authorities. This was despite tremendous improvements in the standard of
primary age education (i.e. inspection judgements) and strong gains in the
preceding years under the previous testing linked to national curriculum
levels. What the 2016 tests exposed was that our children, particularly those
from less advantaged backgrounds, did not have the breadth and depth of
vocabulary for the new tests. At the time I wrote, “If we are serious about social justice and equalising life chances for
the more disadvantaged, then collectively we will search out ever more
effective means to support children from less advantaged backgrounds to enrich
their vocabularies and to enjoy a love of words and self- expression.” What
has happened since has been remarkable.
I am delighted to
report that in 2018 a greater proportion of children in North Lincolnshire
(65%) achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics than
the national average (64%). This provisional result is a 17percentage point
improvement since summer 2016 and builds further on the excellent progress
between 2016 and 2017 when North Lincolnshire primary age schools were
collectively the tenth most improved in England.
Today’s statistical first
release confirms that North Lincolnshire is now firmly in quartile B and will
again be in the ten most improved areas in England. School leaders, governors,
teaching and support staff should be rightly proud of this distance travelled
and the significant difference made in equipping children to become successful
life-long learners. The Council for its part continues to invest in initiatives
such as Imagination Library, Words Count, Power of Words and the North Lincolnshire
Children’s Literacy Trust.
Results across
the whole age range of statutory education remain highly provisional, but the
initial picture indicates that North Lincolnshire will be broadly in line with
national across early years and all other headline measures. The good outcomes
in the basics of English and mathematics at the end of key stage 4 have been
sustained this year at both grade 4 and grade 5, with progress measures across
the area likely to increase when compared to 2017.
The strong achievement at
secondary is against a backdrop of further qualification reforms that
colleagues have been wrestling with in readiness for this year’s examinations.
It is worth
reflecting on the conditions that we have created as a local education
community to improve learning and wellbeing outcomes for children and young
people. Our shared ambition for all children, strong school-to-school working
(increasingly cross-phase), embracing challenge, valuing both school
independence and interdependency between schools, driving shared resources at
local priorities, an emphasis on governance and leadership, and putting
vulnerable and disadvantaged children at the heart of all we do. All of these
have contributed to our shared success. Moreover, it is the drive, dedication
and professionalism of our individual teachers and support staff – a phenomenal
and ever-improving workforce across our schools going the extra mile for
children and young people every single day.
Notwithstanding
these successes, we still have significant priorities to address this year if
we are to keep making the most difference we can.
Published in
July, Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 determines revised
multi-agency arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of
children. New local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements led by police,
health and local authorities will eventually replace Local Safeguarding
Children Boards (LSCB). The DfE has chosen North Lincolnshire to be an early
adopter for implementing the new arrangements. Our establishing foci locally
are governance of safeguarding, embedding engagement with schools and other
education providers, and developing the area wide approach to working with
children and young people at risk of criminal exploitation. To enable a smooth
transition from the current LSCB, the board will continue to meet and it is
important that Chairs of Governors continue to ensure the completion and
approval of the latest version of the LSCB Annual Safeguarding Audit. Schools
have also received an updated Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy that
reflects Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 for personalising, adopting
and uploading to school websites.
More information
about the revised multi-agency safeguarding arrangements will be available to
schools as the term progresses.
The Dedicated
Schools Grant (DSG) is funding provided to North Lincolnshire for education.
The DSG is organised in three blocks: early years block, schools block and high
needs block. High needs funding is to meet the needs of children and young
people with additional needs, including special educational needs and
disabilities (SEND).
Recent years have seen good improvements in outcomes for
children with SEND and these young people remain central to our ambition.
However, the current demand on the high needs block is significant, such that
if we do nothing, the in-year pressure will be in the region of £1M.
Ultimately, pressures within the DSG have to be contained, which has the
potential to impact on the other funding blocks should reserves be exhausted.
Working within
our resources while continuing to provide high quality provision for children
with additional needs is therefore a priority for us all this term. Secondary
Heads will be meeting monthly in the autumn term with senior officers to
discuss integrating resources for keeping
children in families and keeping children in schools – recognising that
stability is essential to building resilience and emotional wellbeing in
children and reducing the need for more disruptive intervention. In summer, a
small group of Primary Heads initiated a similar discussion with Darren Chaplin
(Head of Access & Inclusion) to challenge how we best meet the needs of
vulnerable groups of children. This work will be continued in the autumn term
and opened up to all interested primary heads. Given the priority of these
discussions, we will not be holding the usual Primary Matters and Secondary
Matters in the autumn term. We have a strong record of finding innovative and
ethical solutions to the challenges we face and your support for these
discussions is valued.
In wider
developments, there are a number of changes to leadership roles across schools
and within the local authority.
For the autumn
term, Caroline Breslin (Goxhill & East Halton Federation) is the Executive
Head at New Holland CE & Methodist Primary School and Sarah Groves (Belton
CE Primary) is Executive Head to Wroot Travis Charity Primary School.
In substantive
appointments, we welcome Darren Smith as Principal of Outwood Academy Foxhills,
with Angela Hull moving across to Outwood Academy Brumby. With the 1 September
conversion of Brumby Juniors to an academy sponsored by the Outwood Grange
Academies Trust, we formally welcome Matthew Vickers as Principal.
Congratulations also to Zoe Birchall for her promotion to Executive Principal
of St Hybald’s Academy (Scawby and Hibaldstow).
Within the local
authority, we are delighted to welcome Anthony Hull to the Senior School
Improvement Officer team. We will be joined mid-September by Jemima Flintoff as
Head of Standards & Effectiveness once she has worked her notice to Suffolk
County Council. Last, but not least, we have appointed an experienced Governor
Services Manager for an October start – name to be confirmed once the
appointment process concludes.
I hope that this provides
you with some context for the start of term – as usual much to celebrate and to
build on, plus some high-level priorities that require our shared endeavour. On
behalf of the local authority, I wish you every continued success for the year
ahead and I look forward to working with you for the benefit of ‘all our children’.
Yours faithfully,
Pete Thorpe
Director of
Learning, Skills and Culture
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The NLAGB Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday 7
November 2018 from 7pm to 9pm at Melior Community
College, Chandos Road,
Scunthorpe, DN17 1HA.
As always, the aim is
to give governors and headteachers a chance to work together, share views,
listen and, if necessary, raise concerns and ask questions.
Everyone is welcome.
Due to the
ever-changing educational landscape, the exact focus for the evening will not
be decided until later this month. Further details will be circulated then but this
advance notice is to allow everyone to put the date in their diaries.
Please
note: For all schools/academies affiliated to the Association there is no
charge for attending this event as it is funded by your governing board
subscription to NLAGB.
Back to the top.
Garden report
 As a school, we were in a position where we had focused on raising standards in English and maths for quite some time. Whilst we waited for some of our strategies to embed, we decided to concentrate on our broader curriculum, particularly the outdoor learning aspect.
We had attempted to improve outdoor previously but with mixed success. We had learnt that in order to sustain outdoor learning, we had to commit substantial resources to the project. We were very fortunate that our Board of Governors were supportive and allocated funds as well as agreeing to recruit a member of staff who would have an overview of the grounds maintenance aspect of the project. This was to prove vital to the successful completion of the project.
As the funds required to create the outdoor environment we needed were substantial, we decided to apply for an SSE grant via North Lincolnshire Council. We submitted the bid after gaining a great deal of support from councillors and other community groups who gave us such things as letters of support. We were also helped out with some physical resources such as logs and tree stumps.
We were thrilled to be informed that our bid had been successful and this allowed us to begin the project in earnest. Last summer, an outdoor learning classroom was installed by a local company – Buttonswood of Winterton – this cabin was built to our precise specification. At the same time, we used the funds from the SSE grant to employ a consultant from a company called Eco Services (Graham Johnson) who was recommended to us by local schools. Graham worked with our pupils alongside our new groundsman, Gareth Preston to build a garden environment from scratch on what was previously a section of the school field.
As this element of the outdoor learning priority took shape, we also enrolled four of our staff members on Forest School training (again, using the funds from the SSE bid). This allowed the staff to begin forest school sessions in our ‘wild area’ which is adjacent to the new school garden.
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 The wild area had previously been a whole school project but due to a lack of resources/staffing had become unusable. Mr Preston, our new groundsman, transformed this area into a ‘wild’ but functional space in which Forest School sessions could take place – including activities such as fire making, outdoor cookery, shelter building etc.
As the cabin, the wild area and the school garden began to take shape, this area of school began to have an impact on teaching and learning. Our staff started to develop units of work and activities that could make full use of the facilities. For example, one year group made teepee shelters and lit fires and also created large totem poles as part of a theme involving Native American Indians.
Sadly, our beloved Chair of Governors (David Thomson) passed away during the early stages of the project – David was a great advocate of outdoor learning and had been a governor at our school for 25 years. As a tribute to David, the new garden area was named ‘The Thomson Garden’.
We recently held a memorial service in the garden to reflect on the journey that Bottesford Juniors had been on under David’s leadership and his contribution to our school.
Our challenge as a school now is to sustain this aspect of the school. Thanks to the SSE grant we were able to begin the project. This allowed the existing resources of the school to be channelled into employing our groundsman who has proved to be vital to the success so far.
We are extremely grateful to North Lincs council for their support in helping us to get this project off the ground.
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The vast
majority of schools in North Lincolnshire are members of the Association and a
major part of your subscription is used to affiliate to the National Governance
Association (NGA). They provide a wealth of information and support which we
are then able to share with our members (see websites for both associations).
As part of
our membership we receive free places at the regional and national conferences
NGA hold regularly, which are informative with a range of high profile speakers
and the executive of the NLAGB tries to ensure that local governors are
represented at as many of these as possible. Two governors from St Luke’s special school offered to attend
the July conference in Birmingham focussing entirely on SEND. Please see their
report below.
We would
like to sincerely thank Petula and Shelley for their time in representing us
all in this way.
Angela
Dunkerley
NLAGB Chair
Birmingham, 7 July 2018
Speakers:
Emma Knight
- Welcome
Philippa
Stobbs - The importance of being inclusive
Gillian
Allcroft - High needs funding
Christopher
Rossiter - Send Governance review guide
Claire
Collins - Workshop - The Effective Governance of SEND
Q&A
The importance of being inclusive
Philippa
gave an inspiring presentation with regard to:
- Aspirations and
outcomes, principles, views, wishes and feelings of our children.
- Listening to
parents/carers children and young people, and information from EHC plan to
program towards the child/young person’s future.
The learning progress gap
Children
are being excluded from lessons and schools as young as 3-5 years old
If
the right provision is not in place by 3-5 years old the problem moves on to
the next year group (5-7 years old).
Early
intervention and EHC plans in place, enables the right provision to be provided
to support the children.
Quote
from Damien Hinds 5 July 2018
We
know there has been a steady movement of
children with special educational needs out of mainstream schools and into
specialist provision, alternative provision and home education. At the same
time, rates of exclusion have begun to rise after a period of having calmed
down. And I hear too many stories about off-rolling. I want to be clear right
now: this is not okay. SEND pupils are not someone else’s problem.
Every school is a school for pupils with
special SEND; and every teacher is a teacher of SEND pupils.
Further
input regarding personalised absence figures.
Wider Issues
- Persistent
absence figures
- Attainment
- Participation in
activities beyond the school day
- School trips
- PE
- Exclusions
- Bullying
- Not in employment education or
employment (NEET)
High Needs Funding
Further debate
is required on the following:
The NGA’s
position - funding the future - fairer funding - High needs funding and how it
has moved up the agenda.
Discussions on
how this is often a postcode lottery and not focused around the child’s
personal needs.
What Next?
- NGA
will continue to campaign for additional funding – both mainstream and high
needs
- Reform
to high-needs system so that children with broadly similar needs receive the
same levels of funding
- What
can you do?
- tell us your stories in relation to high
needs pupils
WORKSHOP
In
networking discussions it was felt that special needs schools receive banding
that is sometimes unfair.
Special
needs schools are experts in health care and educational provision
Attended by
Shelley Thomas vice chair St Luke’s SN school and Petula Whittaker Chair St
Luke’s SN school and PGR for North Lincolnshire.
The
conference was an interesting event and provided us with a great networking opportunity
to meet with our colleagues across the country.
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Sponsored by Know Media
Do you know a governor who demostrates dedication to a school, who has contributed over and above what is required of them to make a positive impact on the school and it's wider community? Why not nominate them now for the Services to School Governance Award at this year's Community Champion Awards!
The Communication Champion Awards recognise those in our society who go the extra mile to make North Lincolnshire a fantastic place to live.
You may know an unsung hero who deserves an award in one of our other categories - perhaps the Outstanding Contribution to a Learning Community Award - so why not view the full list of categories and nominate your champion now on our website.
Back to the top.
When a telephone call comes from Ofsted it is usually
expected and often welcomed but on the occasion it came to Enderby Road Infant
School it came as a complete surprise since our school had only undergone a full
inspection in May 2016.
We had been chosen by Ofsted’s Survey and Evaluation
Team to take part in a survey on “Obesity, Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
in the Primary School” and this would involve a full day visit by an inspector.
We were given a few days notice and the inspector duly arrived on Monday 9 October.
The main focus of this thematic survey was
preventative, looking at how schools influence pupils’ attitudes to healthy
eating and physical activities so that they make informed choices and adopt
healthy lifestyles. They were also looking at what the barriers are to this and
wanted to identify examples of successful practice to share with others.
Headteacher Mrs Elliott was sent a list of information
to prepare beforehand mainly around school meals and was asked to prepare a
timetable for the day. She built in observational walks, discussions with
children and staff, PHSE subject lead, Mental Health Champion, Parent Support, governors,
the cook and other relevant agencies alongside PE observations including our
tap dancing class. The inspector also wanted to examine documentation on the
school’s approach to handling pupils identified as having obesity issues, our
healthy eating culture and the physical activities on offer as part of the
curriculum and out of school.
As this exact focus was identified in our 2016-17 SDP and
was selected by the Headteacher as part of her Appraisal we didn’t need to look
for evidence it was already prepared even down to individual pupils case
studies. For us this wasn’t a threatening experience…. dare I say it was
enjoyable?
There is no formal grading of this type of visit, not
even a written report, but the feedback confirmed our outstanding grade in
Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare and governors were given a special
mention for their involvement in the school. The inspector praised how we
threaded our PHSE curriculum throughout everything we do and her parting words
were” What richness there is in this school-you do so much for these children-you
should be very proud”.
So watch this space for a future initiative to be sent
out to all schools and you never know Enderby Road might get a special mention
for successful practice…
Denise West
Chair of the Board of Governors
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1. Keeping Children safe in Education (updated September 2018)
2. Working together
to safeguard children (updated July 2018)
3. Information
that must be displayed on school websites (updated July 2018)
4. Information
that must be displayed on academy websites (updated July 2018)
5. Data
protection: privacy notice model documents
6. Understanding your data: a guide for
school governors and academy trustees (updated June 2018)
7. Toolkit to
assist schools with non-staffing costs (31 August 2018)
8. Academies
Financial handbook (updated September 2018)
Consultations (to view all live consultations please see the DfE website)
The DfE is seeking views on the draft regulations, statutory
guidance, and regulatory impact assessment relating to Relationships Education,
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education.
https://consult.education.gov.uk/pshe/relationships-education-rse-health-education/
This consultation closes on 7 November 2018
Back to the top.
September
25 September, 3pm to 5pm - Governance matters
October
2 October, 6pm to 8pm - What does outstanding governance look like?
10 October, 6pm to 8pm - Head teacher appraisal
16 October, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Scunthorpe South
17 October, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Scunthorpe North
30 October, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Isle of Axholme
November
6 November, 6pm to 8pm - Safeguarding audit toolkit
8 November, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Brigg and Kirton
10 November, 9.15am to 3.30pm - How to be an effective governor, modules 1, 2 and 3
12 November, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Barton
13 November, 6pm to 8pm - Child protection and safeguarding for governors
27 November, 6pm to 8pm - Strategic finance for governors
28 November, 9.30am to 12pm - Governors advisory group
January
9 January, 6pm to 8pm - Governors' leadership briefing
10 January, 10am to 12pm - Governors' leadership briefing
17 January, 6pm to 8pm - Pupil exclusions
28 January, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Barton
29 January, 6pm to 8pm - Locality Network, Scunthorpe North
30 January, 3pm to 5pm - Governance matters
30 January, 6pm to 8pm - Understanding data and asking the right questions - session 1 of 2
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