Education Executive April 2012

APRIL 2012 / ISSUE 79

APRIL 2012 / ISSUE 79

EDUCATION EXECUTIVE

EDUCATION EXECUTIVE supporting business and financial excellence in schools and colleges

PAY AND CONDITIONS n PLACES SHORTAGE n PROCUREMENT

FAIR GAME?

An exposé of the wide variation of pay and conditions for school business managers

COMING UP SHORT

What to do in a primary places crisis WWW.EDEXEC.CO.UK

SPEND AND DELIVER

Besa’s Ray Barker explains why schools can now spend

EdExec partners

editor’s letter

EDUCATION EXECUTIVE

APRIL 2012

www.edexec.co.uk

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

EDITOR julia dennison julia.dennison@intelligentmedia.co.uk ASSISTANT EDITOR carrie service carrie.service@intelligentmedia.co.uk REPORTER george carey george.carey@intelligentmedia.co.uk PUBLISHER vicki baloch vicki.baloch@intelligentmedia.co.uk SENIOR SALES EXECUTIVE neil pauksztello neil.pauksztello@intelligentmedia.co.uk SALES EXECUTIVE jonathan love jonathan.love@intelligentmedia.co.uk DESIGNER sarah chivers sarah.chivers@intelligentmedia.co.uk PRODUCTION AND DESIGN peter hope-parry peter.hope-parry@intelligentmedia.co.uk CIRCULATIONS natalia johnston natalia.johnston@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Education Executive is published by intelligent media solutions suite 223, business design centre 52 upper street, london, N1 0QH tel 020 7288 6833 fax 020 7288 6834 email info@intelligentmedia.co.uk web www.intelligentmedia.co.uk Follow Education Executive on Twitter at Twitter.com/edexec Printed in the UK by Buxton Press www.buxtonpress.co.uk

Academies – where are we now?

W

e’re now approaching two years into the current government and its academy scheme has surged ahead with guns blazing. In this issue, we take a moment to sit back and look at academies, as they are today, and their impact on school business managers.

On page 28, EdExec’s assistant editor, Carrie Service, surveyed readers to find out what kind of impact conversion had on newly turned academies – whether they felt positive about the decision, couldn’t imagine life any other way, or had any regrets. Hoping the latter is not the case with many schools, she had quite the interesting feedback.

Furthermore, on page 24, I interview Karam Bhogel, the finance director of Stockley Academy in Greater London, who strongly believes that academy business managers should have accountancy qualifications. This is quite controversial, considering the government has made the recommendation, but been adamant that it is not a requirement. But should it be? Bhogel thinks so. Then again, he would since he’s an accountant. I’m sure many school business managers with years of experience would have something to say on the matter.

Related to this topic (and I’m working back to front in the magazine), we have another interesting feature on page 12 examining the wide variety of pay scales for school business managers, which was suggested by a reader who felt it was unfair that SBMs get paid more in different areas, and deserve fairer treatment. I welcome your thoughts on the subject. Please do get in touch on editor@edexec. co.uk with your thoughts. I hope you enjoy what we have on offer this issue. I think it’s a good one. Until next time, here’s wishing you a prosperous financial year full of healthy budgets.

EDITOR

Contents 18

rocure

lan

make your school’s budget go further

30 COMMENT

Spend and deliver Besa’s Ray Barker explains why schools no longer need to pinch pennies and should spend their way forward

32 NEWS FEATURE

Buying it in A look at the DfE’s new procurement framework and its impact on school’s buying habits

management

tune up your management skills

sector

36 INTERVIEW

the lowdown on the business management world

06 SECTOR NEWS

Should schools be run for a profit?

Going for goals The principal of Oxford & Cherwell Valley College on team-building and goal setting

08 EVENT PREVIEW

40 LEGAL

10 DIARY

44 WORK/LIFE

EdExec Live 2012 The countdown to the biggest school business management event to date Get together, right now Watford Grammar School for Girls’s business director talks collaboration and Big Society

12 SECTOR ANALYSIS

Fair game?

An exposé of the wide variation of pay and conditions available to school business managers

One term and you’re out?

A guide to dismissing underperforming teachers Break time One business manager brings The Apprentice to his school

ICT matters

the latest technological innovations in schools today

46 ICT NEWS

schools in focus

A Microsoft GCSE and how schools can improve data security

48 CASE STUDY

what’s happening at a primary or secondary school near you

16 PRIMARY UPDATE

52 CASE STUDY

Problems with maths linked to premature birth

18 NEWS ANALYSIS

Coming up short What to do in this crisis of primary school places

22 SECONDARY UPDATE

FE colleges break free from government control

Taking stock Why accountancy qualifications count, with the finance director of Stockley Academy, Uxbridge

26 INDEPENDENT UPDATE

Academy chains surge in popularity

28 READER SURVEY

Global gathering An Essex primary school takes video conferencing up a level

56 NEWS ANALYSIS

24 INTERVIEW

Capture the magic

ICT tips from the award-winning Costello Technology College

Bully for you?

A manager’s guide to e-safety and cyber bullying

58 ADVICE

Safer leasing With the media’s scare stories, how to approach equipment leasing safely

62 HELP DESK

Techno Geek

Where to turn for ICT advice

Academy conversion – is it worth it?

We question converted academies to find out if they are benefiting from their new-found status

Look out for news, products and competitions from our sponsors

06

sector Sector news is brought to you by

Free banking for schools supported by local specialist relationship managers Lloyds TSB Commercial - well educated banking

SEN WATCH HEALTH AND EDUCATION URGED TO WORK TOGETHER FOR SLCN A report has been released outlining the need for health and education services to combine powers to help children with speech language and communication needs (SLCN).

The Communication Champion for children and the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists have released a publication that stresses the need for health and education services to work more closely together to ensure the needs of children with communication difficulties are met in the best possible way.

The report, entitled ‘Better Communication: shaping speech, language and communication services for children and young people’, provides practical help on how health and local authority commissioners can work together and share resources to tackle speech and language difficulties, which affect seven to 10% of all children.

In the report’s foreword, Sarah Teather MP, minister of state for children and families, said: “I hope that local authorities, schools and NHS commissioners will work together to commission services jointly. For too long parents have been left unclear about who has responsibility for provision for their children – health or education. We cannot let this continue, which is why I have proposed a single education, health and social care plan for children and young people with the greatest needs, across the age range.

“These plans require a backdrop of joint work by commissioners, working in partnership with parents, to map the needs in their area and design a continuum of services to match those needs.”

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STORY OF THE MONTH THINK-TANK CALLS FOR ‘JOHN LEWIS’ SCHOOLS FOR PROFIT Schools should be run as profitable organisations in a similar way to John Lewis, according to a report by the Policy Exchange.

The document, ‘Social Enterprise Schools’, says turning schools into social enterprises could alleviate challenges schools are facing, like place shortages, underperformance and budget deficits.

The idea is to get educators to take a stake in their school and run it as a social enterprise for a profit, like John Lewis.

Policy Exchange believes this model would allow schools to tap into the expertise and variety of services on offer within the private sector and give them the capacity to create new school places to counteract shortages.

Although this may sound similar to the academy school model, the report insists there is a difference, as there is a limit to how much autonomy a school has using the academy/free school system: ‘While on paper academies and free schools have freedoms to vary from national pay and staffing policies, their ability to fully use these freedoms in practice may be limited until they reach critical mass,’ it reads. ‘Union opposition to variation from national pay bargaining is entrenched, and there may be “safety in numbers”. The expansion of independently-run schools might be quicker if private sector involvement was allowed.”

A spokesman from the DfE said there are no plans to allow organisations to run schools for profit, but that the success of many academies in raising standards is built on philanthropic organisations using their expertise to turn around underperforming schools.”

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) says it has “grave concerns” about the proposals claiming they will jeopardise fair access to education and compromise schools’ impartiality.

General secretary Russell Hobby said: “Teachers need to make difficult and unpopular choices, such as excluding a student.

How will parents react if they suspect teachers of benefiting from it?”

They said...

We currently have a flawed system that fails to provide suitable education and proper accountability for some of the most vulnerable children in the country. If we fail to give them a first-class education then, as the events of this summer showed, we will all pay a heavy price Charlie Taylor, the Government’s adviser on behaviour, in his latest report on why PRUs and the alternative education provision system need an overhaul

sector NEWS

PICTURE STORY

INBRIEF PUPILS TOLD TO TEXT NURSE FOR APPOINTMENT The Government is launching a scheme that will allow pupils to book an appointment with the school nurse by text or email. It is hoped the initiative will give children better access to health advice as many are too embarrassed to approach their school nurse face to face or book appointments via a teacher. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: “We want young people to be able to speak to their school nurses more often so they get sound health advice”.

DIARY 24 April Further education reform: Investing in a world-class skills sector Central London insidegovernment.co.uk

9-10 May Building Future Education (BFE) UK Business Design Centre, London buildingschools.co.uk

22 June EdExec Live Business Design Centre, London edexeclive.co.uk

Teachers and pupils from Bradford’s Tong High School at the Equator between Entebbe and Masaka in Uganda on a visit to a local secondary school as part of the Connecting Classrooms scheme

FUNDING WATCH INTEREST-FREE ENERGY LOANS FOR SCHOOLS

STATS & FACTS

£130m The amount that could be saved annually across England’s schools in utility bills if more environmentally-friendly choices were made (Source: Sustain)

Organisations across the public sector can apply for loans to fund energy efficient schemes that pay for themselves within five years through lower energy bills. Projects include insulation, lighting and heating upgrades, IT improvements, swimming pool covers, voltage management or better boilers. Until now, only maintained schools were eligible to apply for the interest-free loans through their local authority, but Education Secretary Michael Gove, has now given his consent to academies to join the scheme.

www.lloydstsb.com/schoolsbanking | 0800 681 6078 www.edexec.co.uk

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sector EVENT PREVIEW

D E K O O B IT

GENTE 2012 22 JU

If you’ve been reading Education Executive for the last few months, it’s likely you are one of the many school business managers, headteachers, executive principals and finance directors to have booked your place at EdExec Live on 22 June 2012 at London’s Business Design Centre. If you haven’t already, don’t delay – places are booking up. Already proving popular, this is an event not to be missed. It is presented much like a live version of this here magazine. So if you like what you read, you’ll like what you see.

A REFRESHING NEW FORMAT

Get those diaries out, now is the time to secure your place at EdExec Live – the first of our annual show and exhibition for school business managers

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EdExec Live is like no other show around. It will be a one-day event focusing on delivering tangible, practical advice to school managers and their teams in the shape of single-subject clinics and seminars to inspire big-picture thinking. Much like a mini-MBA, you will leave feeling informed, invigorated and educated about the business of running a school and, best of all, you will have experts in their fields to ask specific questions about specific issues you have at your school – so if you have that burning question, whether it be legal, financial or practical in nature, now is the time to ask it.

sector EVENT PREVIEW

The clinics promise to be short, half-hour slots with a 20-minute presentation by a leader in each respective field – namely legal; HR and training; ICT and finances. They will discuss trends, innovations and topical challenges in each area, followed by a 10 minute question and answer session.

Seminars will be much more of a discussion than a lecture. Here attendees will sit around tables and interact with the presenter for an hour-long period. Topics for this will include the ins and outs of joining a federation; upgrading school facilities; grant bidding; becoming more green; negotiating pay scales and the changing face of business management (see below) – to name a few.

IN FOCUS

There are a few clinics and seminars that are not to be missed, which we would like to highlight.

Navigating the leasing minefield One clinic that promises to be useful will be in the ICT area and led by Stuart Hughes, head of education for LDF, of the Investec group of companies. His team will present a guide to safe equipment leasing. In it he will respond to the leasing horror stories in the media in recent months and give schools advice to ensure that they don’t fall into the same predicament. “We are aware of instances where schools have been mis-sold to, which is a real shame,” he tells Education Executive. “What is important to convey is that this is the exception to the rule and that if procured in the right way, then leasing equipment has many benefits to a school.” He will speak about why and when to lease, as well as the logistics of what type of lease a school can sign up for. He will also address things schools should look out for, like building in servicing or maintenance into the lease or leasing over the wrong term. “At the end of the clinic we hope to have convinced the schools that attended that leasing is not a bad service and that if procured properly...can be used to help schools at a time when funding and money is hard to find,” he adds.

Going cashless School banking and finance expert Ian Buss, head of education for Lloyds TSB Commercial, will bring a team to present a not-to-be missed series of clinics on financial issues in schools, including the risks and benefits of going cashless. He will discuss Department for Education guidance on banking and how you can transform your school’s finance functions to bring it into the 21st century – including how to make the most of electronic banking. “There are a lot of people who love the idea of becoming cashless, but are concerned about the impact on parents, especially those without internet access, bank accounts or credit cards,” he tells us. “I want to address all of those but also give people the chance to challenge it. If nothing else, I want them to walk out of the clinic thinking there is another way.” He will also be on hand to answer any kind of finance question, for

example schools considering converting or recently converted to academies that may have concerns about how their banking and finances will change. If you have any questions before the day, he can be contacted on Twitter at www. twitter.com/IanBuss.

Know your rights Expert education lawyers from Veale Wasbrough Vizards (VWV) will be on hand throughout the day to offer advice and guidance on current legal issues facing school business managers. They will also be running a series of short clinics on various topics offering practical tips and advice in plain English.

Planned topics include conversion to academy status; how to maximise your income legally; an employment law update. The first clinic will deliver VWV’s top 10 tips to schools on converting to an academy, including specific guidance on issues that school business managers may encounter with things like land transfer, TUPE or transfer of contracts. The second session will focus on how schools can generate income from trading activity such as lettings and how to make the most of tax breaks available on charitable donations. The update on employment law will focus on issues directly affecting schools.

The changing face of the SBM manager The Association of School and College Leaders’s business management specialist, Val Andrew will be presenting an interactive seminar on the changing face of the school business manager. She will first present a series of topics relevant to the role and will then divide the audience into smaller discussion groups so they can talk among themselves. One exercise she has planned for the day is a table game focused on procurement in a bid to stimulate discussion of what makes good and bad practice.

She will also address the changing shape of school administration, the different role models out there for business management and how the profession can remain fit for purpose in a changing educational landscape.

A CHANCE TO MEET THE TEAM

At Education Executive magazine, nothing is more important to us than our readers and we are very much looking forward to EdExec Live as an opportunity to meet and speak to all of you, hear your thoughts and concerns and any feedback on how we can make your magazine better. Our editorial team, including our editor Julia Dennison, will be on hand to take your queries.

A GOOD DEAL

All this can be yours for the affordable price of £86.99 (discounts available for group bookings).

Check out edexeclive.co.uk for daily deals and promotions, including a package with overnight accommodation at the Hilton London Islington for anyone who wants to make a weekend of it.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, get in touch on editor@edexec.co.uk. We look forward to seeing you there! n

CLINIC TOPICS  LEGAL • Becoming independent – academies and free schools • Property • TUPE.  HR and training • Upskilling yourself • Upskilling your staff • Accountancy qualifications – are they worth it?  ICT • Moving to the cloud • Capital funding and leasing • Upgrades – when to do it?

• Trends and innovations.  ACCOUNTANCY AND FUNDING • How to raise money • Going for grants • The changing funding formula • School banking.

SEMINAR TOPICS  Strength in numbers – the pros and cons of joining a federation or group of schools  Changes to the funding formula – with autonomy comes accountability  Learning from the independents – what the state sector can learn from fee-paying private schools and universities (from fundraising to alumni relations)  Running a 21st century school – what every modern school should have and know.

The conference programme is subject to change. Visit edexeclive.co.uk for updates.

CONTACT US TODAY TO REGISTER YOUR INTEREST Julia Dennison, editor Education Executive magazine 020 7288 6833 editor@edexec.co.uk edexeclive.eventbrite.co.uk

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sector COMMUNITY RELATIONS

DIARY

Big outreach WITH BIG SOCIETY A MAJOR INITIATIVE FOR THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT, STEPHEN MORALES, BUSINESS DIRECTOR AT WATFORD GRAMMAR SCHOOL FOR GIRLS, A NEW-STYLE ACADEMY, LOOKS AT WHY THE SIMPLE IDEA OF WORKING TOGETHER HAS SUDDENLY BECOME VERY FASHIONABLE

L

ike it or not, the aim of the Big Society agenda is to create a culture that provides communities (education or otherwise) with the autonomy and confidence to take power away from government agencies.

As the role of business manager/director continues to evolve and become more fundamental to the operational and strategic direction of schools, it is important to ensure we collaborate with multiple stakeholders and agencies.

I work very closely with the SLT, governors and trustees and act as the company secretary for the Watford Grammar School for Girls Academy Trust. As a school we are heavily engaged in school collaboration and local partnerships and I have taken a lead role in a local academy procurement and group buying initiative.

There is an increasing realisation among academies that in order to optimise resources, knowledge and experience, it is necessary to work closely with others in the sector.

A thinking orientation that moves away from a narrow focus on an individual institution to the wider community is daunting to some education leaders. Many schools would like to view developments from the side and observe, while a few brave pioneers test the water. We have spent the last eight months working with both primary and secondary schools, trying to broker the development of a school collaboration model where schools can share expertise, exercise group buying power and procure services across the group. I am closely engaged, and indeed chair, of an on-going multiagency initiative to encourage and promote school collaboration in South West Hertfordshire. We have brought together secondary and primary school leaders with members of local organisations and are working closely with the educational consultants to facilitate the process.

There are a number of key elements in developing an effective collaboration model, including: • identifying local partners with common needs and objectives • auditing existing contracts and service provision • reviewing current procurement approach • identifying synergies across the group • looking at how procurement can be delivered from within the group • identifying areas where group buying is appropriate and provides significant economies of scale • and removing duplication of effort.

The initial procurement review provides an analysis of the procurement opportunities available to each participating school. The approach essentially consists of three core activities: • high level spend analysis and key supplier contract review • shortlist development of opportunities • and a completion of a procurement roadmap.

The general consensus among the participating schools appears to be that ‘collaborative buying’ (while maintaining quality and high levels of service) seems the obvious way to build a ‘true’ opportunity for collaboration.

We are at the very embryonic stages of this collaboration initiative but we are confident that once we start to demonstrate tangible cost and efficiency saving, other local schools will be keen to join

Moving away from the individual institution to the wider community is daunting

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sector ANALYSIS

Who do you think you are?

The role of school business manager can be translated to anything from ‘financial director’ to ‘administration manager’ or ‘bursar’. But which is it? And how can there possibly be a fair and representative salary framework if we don’t even know what the role entails? CARRIE SERVICE investigates

J

ust what exactly do we mean when we say “school business manager”? It’s a fairly ambiguous term. I suppose it all rather depends on what elements of running a school you would consider to be ‘business’ related. The Training Development Agency for schools (TDA) says that the role of an SBM “will vary depending on a school’s specific needs”. So in other words, how you see a business management role could be very different to how someone else sees it. The TDA outlines only one “core function” for SBMs: “strategic leadership and management”, but then subsequently lists a further five functions that it considers variable according to whether or not the school requires them. They are: Finance and managing resources; human resources; estate management; whole school administration and marketing and liaison. So an SBM could actually be anything from a senior administrator to a marketing executive, depending on the school. Confused? You’re not the only one.

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sector ANALYSIS

There are genuine discrepancies about the way the roles are rewarded WHAT’S IN A NAME? This lack of a fixed job description is a source of immense frustration for many school business managers, particularly when it comes to payscales and work load. Is it fair that a school business manager who is solely responsible for finance is paid the exact same salary as an SBM who takes on all of the “variable” responsibilities listed above? I spoke to one SBM – who wishes to remain anonymous – who believes there needs to be a much clearer definition of the role, and recognition for the amount of responsibility and skill set it requires.

“My remit is very wide and also includes clerking to the governing body” she says. “I feel there are genuine discrepancies about the way the roles are rewarded. Having just completed the National College’s certificate in SBM, I became aware of the vastly differing pay structure across different counties.” So why isn’t there a salary framework in place for school administration and management staff as there is for teaching staff? This is something that she feels would be a simple and effective way of levelling out pay across county borders: “The government squashed the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, which was tasked with identifying a national framework for support staff (similar to that for teachers). I think this was a real tragedy as it would have given some consistency. Similarly for teaching assistants, there isn’t a national framework and their role has expanded and now contains significant aspects that could be deemed as straying into teaching responsibility. Whilst the Workforce Agreement might have helped teachers, I think there is now an issue with support staff.”

MONEY MADNESS Searching online for school business manager jobs brought up a real mixed bag of salaries, ranging from £22,221-£25,472 in Newcastle upon Tyne; £35,055£37,851 in London; £27,052-£28,636 in Leeds; £40,716-£43,368 in the London Borough of Waltham Forest and £49,130-£54,305 in Gloucestershire. That’s a difference of £26,909 for the same job in two different counties – and surprisingly the highest wasn’t in London. You would expect two job vacancies with such differing salaries to have job specifications that reflect this, but the highest paid post had a fairly vague description, simply listing the following: “efficient management of the school’s financial resources; leadership of all aspects of human resources and premises management; management of all administrative functions; leadership of support staff and sourcing and generating additional income and funds”. One of the lower paid posts, however, had a two page description separated into finance, HR and estate management, demonstrating just how indiscriminate and unsystematic the payscale for SBMs is.

CHANGING STATUS According to the TDA’s website, most schools acquire their SBM by developing the skills of an existing member of staff and promoting them to the role. I can’t help wondering if this is perhaps a contributing factor to the wide variation in job specifications. If someone has been working at a school for a number of years as an administrator for example, it can be difficult for other staff to recognise that their role has changed when they are promoted to school business manager. Whereas if a new member of staff starts at a school people will obviously acknowledge what their role is. Those who already work within a school and then move into an SBM position can very often find themselves effectively doing two (or more) jobs. The problem is that if SBMs continue to accept this method of working as the norm, things will never improve as there will be no incentive for the system to change.

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schools in focus

PRIMARY UPDATE

HOGHTON LEICESTERSHIRE WALES

All that is going on in the world of primary school and nursery management

BIRMINGHAM BRISTOL LONDON CANTERBURY KENT

FUNDING WATCH

Problems with maths linked with premature birth

FREE BOOKS IN WALES Reception classes in Wales are to receive free books and resources as part of a programme to boost literacy.

Minister for education and skills, Leighton Andrews has promised Booktrust Cymru’s foundation phase programme £200,000 for three years.

This will help pay for a book bag containing two storybooks – one in English and one in Welsh; resources for each school; a support officer to work with schools beforehand; and an evaluation of the scheme.

In addition to funding for the new programme, the Welsh Government will provide a further £586,000 for the Booktrust Cymru’s Bookstart and Letterbox Club programmes, which provide very young children and looked after and vulnerable children with free books and resources.

Andrews said: “Nothing is more important than ensuring all of our young people reach the reading level that is suitable for their age.”

SEND IN YOUR STORIES We are always looking for local school news. If you have a story to share, email editor@edexec.co.uk

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Around 160 schoolchildren from London and Leicestershire are taking part in a pioneering study, funded by Action Medical Research, to try to understand the links between being born very prematurely and struggling with mathematics.

Each year over 10,000 babies in the UK are born very prematurely (more than eight weeks early) and many of these children go on to develop learning difficulties, in particular problems with maths, which cannot be accounted for simply by a lower IQ. The Premature Infants’ Skills in Mathematics (PRISM) Study will investigate the nature and causes of premature children’s difficulties with maths with the longer term aim of finding ways to boost their performance.

Project leader, Dr Samantha Johnson from the University of Leicester, said: “We are carrying out this important study to help us understand what aspects of maths premature children find particularly difficult and what the underlying causes might be. Our work could eventually mean parents and teachers have better information about each child’s particular needs and what sort of special

educational support might suit them best.

“Longer term, we hope to use the knowledge we gain to find ways to improve the children’s skills in maths. This is likely to have knock-on effects in other subjects,” she added.

Half of the children involved in this project were born more than eight weeks early and they are each being assessed by a psychologist along with a classmate who was born at full term. The children are all aged between eight and ten.

Action Medical Research has funded the PRISM study with a grant of £159,464 over two years, as part of its drive to fund vital research to help babies and children.

The researchers are assessing the children’s level of attainment in maths to clarify exactly what sort of problems they may have. They will do this by identifying strengths and specific areas of weakness; their understanding of numbers and of strategies used when adding and dividing, for example, and identifying differences in the children’s general abilities, such as attention and memory skills, which could underlie maths disabilities.

schools in focus PRIMARY NEWS

Childcare provider achieves food award

Bubblz the Clown makes maths fun for Canterbury pre-prep children ST EDMUND’S SCHOOL Canterbury

Busy Bees, the UK’s largest childcare provider, has been awarded the bronze Food for Life Catering Mark from the Soil Association for serving fresh and healthy meals in 129 nurseries across England and Wales.

The award guarantees that all their meals are freshly prepared from seasonal ingredients, better for animal welfare, and free from trans fats and GM. They are also without additives, such as MSG, aspartame and tartrazine, which have been shown to affect children’s behaviour.

Busy Bees employ a dedicated catering team at each of their nurseries, all of which are required to complete an exclusively developed Early Years Nutrition course.

Rob Sexton, chief executive of Soil Association Certification, said: “One in four children are overweight when they start primary school so developing healthy eating habits at nursery is vital to get them on the right path for the future.”

Young pupils at St Edmund’s School, Canterbury had the fun put into their maths lessons last month with Bubblz the Clown.

The children’s entertainer, who uses soap bubbles and balloons to make maths interesting to youngsters, held a series of workshops during Maths Week for the pre-prep children.

Caroline Ainslie, who plays Bubblz, used balloons to demonstrate measure, counting and shape, while the children investigated, collaborated and solved mathematical problems with her help.

Headteacher Janet Frampton-Fell said: “Maths is used in every area of the modern world.

We wanted to show that numbers can be fun and learnt in alternative ways to just the normal numeracy lesson.

“We adopt a cross-curricular approach to learning that enriches all our academic activities.

All the children enjoyed using maths throughout

the school day during cookery, stories and poems, measuring challenges and even by counting the peas on their plate at lunchtime.”

Other recent activities at the school included a visit from University of Kent lecturer, Janet Carter who, along with two of her students, explained to children how computers sort information.

STATS & FACTS Top four areas for ‘forced’ primary academies The BBC tracked down 173 of the 200 primary schools that are being converted into academies as a result of underperformance. The areas of highest prevalence were:

1. Bristol

13 schools

2. Birmingham

12 schools

3. Lancashire

eight schools

4. Kent

seven schools

PICTURE STORY

Coupe Green Primary School, in Hoghton, has come top of the class in a local ICT competition, winning 15 netbooks and a storage and charging unit. From left to right – Gary Sargent of Cleverboxes, the local IT company that run the competition; pupils and Marvin Douglas, from supplier Monarch Education Furniture

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schools in focus SCHOOL SHORTAGES

primary

concern CARRIE SERVICE discusses the shortage of primary school places in urban areas and how it could be addressed

A

ccording to national pupil projection figures released by the DfE last month, the shortage in primary school places is getting worse and the country could be short of 450,000 places by 2015 if nothing is done to tackle the issue. By 2020 it is set to reach levels that have not been seen since the 1970s. So, what’s the solution?

THIS MEANS BUSINESS One idea that has been put forward is the concept of running schools as profit making companies using a similar model to department store, John Lewis. This would comprise of a business model involving teachers buying shares in the school and being rewarded for good performance in dividends.

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schools in focus SCHOOL SHORTAGES

The model was suggested by think-tank Policy Exchange last month and used the example of Swedish schools, which use a similar (though more extreme) model. It suggested that running a school as a profitable business could create additional capital, giving it the means to increase its number of school spaces.

This idea has received a mixed response, with the National Association of Head Teachers claiming it would “jeopardise fair access to education for all and compromise the essential impartiality of schools”. Others were more positive, suggesting that having an incentive would drive up standards and increase competition between schools, although some argued that teachers do not – or should not – need an incentive to improve. Wherever you stand on the matter, it has to be acknowledged that there is a shortage of primary school places, and it is only going to worsen if the government doesn’t act quickly. So, if the Policy Exchange model isn’t the answer, what is?

The Government has acknowledged the problem, saying that ‘no parent would want their child taught in a huge class’ THE MORE THE MERRIER Niall Bolger, chief executive of the London Borough of Sutton, decided to take matters into his own hands when primary places in the area reached an all-time low. He wrote to every London borough asking for support in urging the Government to increase primary school class sizes from 30 pupils, to 32, causing quite an uproar among councils. Bolger’s letter, addressed to the boroughs’ chief executives, stated: “The purpose of this letter is to request central government to consider raising the ceiling of infant class sizes to 32 pupils per class in order to enable councils to meet their statutory obligations to educate all their young citizens within their financial envelope… We do not wish to eliminate all parameters for class size, but we consider 32 to be a pragmatic compromise between educational viability and financial prudency.” Despite Bolger’s insistence that parameters should remain, critics of the idea feared this could set a precedent for class sizes gradually creeping up. Peter Walker, London Borough of Merton’s cabinet member for education, said: “Increasing class sizes in our schools at this time is short sighted, will threaten school standards, is unfair to our children and will endanger our economic prospects.” Two pupils per class doesn’t sound like much, but Bolger claimed that implementing this class size at every primary school in Sutton would create 130 additional places, eliminating the need to build extra classrooms. Needless to say, the class size has not been increased to 32, but Bolger’s actions did bring the issue into the spotlight, if nothing else.

Looking at online forums, parents are not keen on the idea of increasing class sizes in existing schools due to fears that this would reduce the quality of teaching and the amount of individual attention their child receives. The general consensus is that parents want the government to provide funding to open new schools in the areas that need it most. A survey by Netmums of over 1,000 parents revealed that some primary schools had as many as 700 pupils and that children felt “overwhelmed” by the crowded environment. Netmums’ Siobhan Freegard said of the findings: “We have a perfect storm where more kids will be crammed into ‘bulge classes’ in schools designed for far fewer pupils. Both parents and teachers have raised fears it will affect pupils learning – so the government needs to take action and invest funds now.”

A further symptom of oversubscription is that many parents with two or more children are having to send siblings to separate primary schools. One

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woman from the Dagenham area commented on a BBC forum: “I have been to three school appeals to have my children all put in schools closer together. As it sits at the moment I am walking nine miles per day to keep my children educated.”

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE Mike Baker, former education correspondent for the BBC, described the Government’s efforts to tackle the shortage in primary school places as: “like a slow-motion car crash”. In his column for the Guardian he said: “It has thrown some extra money at it recently, but it is too late to prevent casualties.” The government has acknowledged the problem, saying that “no parent would want their child taught in a huge class” and has suggested free schools could play a part in alleviating the strain on primary places. But, as Baker points out; many free schools are secondaries and those that are primary schools are not being opened in areas that need additional spaces.

Some argue that schools with large numbers of pupils will have state of the art facilities as they will be given more funding than smaller schools. Others propose that being in a larger primary school better prepares children for the challenges of the real world, and may in fact improve confidence. Whatever the solution may be, the government has got to make drastic changes – and fast. It has promised to invest £4bn over the next four years to increase primary school capacity; let’s hope it works.

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schools in focus

SECONDARY UPDATE

CAMBRIDGE

All that is going on in the world of secondary schools and further education

LONDON

FE colleges break free from government control The Office for National Statistics has boosted the Government’s initiative to allow further education colleges greater autonomy.

The ONS’s announcement, which said FE colleges should no longer be classified as part of central government, gives further support to plans to reduce red tape and allow colleges more financial freedom.

The announcement has been welcomed by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), which believes the decision will benefit adult learners. Director of policy and impact, Mark Ravenhall said: “NIACE believes adult learners will benefit from this change, alongside the greater freedoms being introduced for colleges and other providers. We welcome the announcement and the challenge made to the sector to deliver more innovative and diverse adult learning that is truly accountable to local communities. The decision also proves that just because colleges deliver good public services they don’t have to be part of the public sector.”

Commenting on the decision, Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “It’s all very well giving further education colleges greater autonomy, but autonomy to do what? Budgets have been slashed and the withdrawal of the EMA means that many students will no longer be able to afford to go to college, potentially impacting on budgets further.

“With the majority of colleges already struggling – the key is not whether they are in the public or private sector but whether they can afford to devote resources to their educational activities. Until they have sufficient funding to carry out their educational objectives, any decision they take will be difficult.”

Skills Minister John Hayes was “delighted” with the news, which he and his colleagues had been working hard to accomplish over the past year. He said: “The Government is committed to cutting red tape so that further education colleges have the freedom they need to make their own judgements on how to manage their affairs for the benefit of learners, employers and wider communities.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges said: “We are extremely pleased that the Government has succeeded in getting this decision reversed and has delivered on its promise to afford further education colleges greater autonomy.”

Lynne Sedgmore CBE, executive director of the 157 Group, said: “The 157 Group is delighted that ONS have made the constructive decision to reclassify colleges into the private sector.

“This decision aligns with the freedoms and flexibilities given by John Hayes and his department and enables colleges to deliver governmental priorities and initiatives.

“Clearly the voice of colleges and our business communities have been listened to, and responded to, on this critical matter to good effect.”

They said...

It is shocking that almost a third of young people with a statement of special educational needs at the age of 16 are not in any form of education, employment or training two years later. The Government spent £640m on special education for 16- to 25-year-olds in 2009/10, yet too many of these young people are falling through the gaps after they leave compulsory education, damaging their life chances and leaving a legacy of costs to the taxpayer The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, chair of Parliament’s Committee of Public Accounts, condemning the Government’s handling of SEN as “damaging” to children’s life chances

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schools in focus SECONDARY NEWS

Universities paying below living wage to be named and shamed Unison and the NUS launched a campaign last month calling on all colleges, universities and students’ unions to pay at least a living wage to all their workers (£8.30 per hour for London, £7.20 nationwide).

The campaign, being launched at UNISON’s Higher Education Conference in Brighton, will see the two organisations creating a ‘league table’ of the worst offenders – those with the biggest gap between the lowest and highest paid staff. The unions will also award those that agree to pay the living wage by giving them a ‘kite mark’.

According to the latest figures, the average yearly income of a university vice-chancellor in 2009/10 was £218,813 and £115,872 for a college principal - though some earn more. This compares to just £12,334 for the lowest paid workers – the minimum wage for a 40-hour week in 2009/10.

At Cambridge University and its colleges – where local union officials estimate that more than 1,000 employees are paid less than the living wage – unions report that the vice-chancellor earns £249,000, which they say is 20-times the salary of the lowest paid worker, who earns £6.70 per hour.

Unison’s head of education, Jon Richards commented: “It is time for universities to get their houses in order. Whilst top pay has skyrocketed – with some vice-chancellors now earning more than £300,000 – the lowest paid are on poverty wages.

As educational institutions, they should know better. Low pay and inequality are at the heart of the huge problems that we face as a society.”

Unison says it is determined to close the pay gap.

“The living wage has been agreed as the bottom rate for further education workers with the national employers’ body – the Association of Colleges,” Richards continued. “I congratulate the AoC for their stance on this issue, and am today sending a strong message to college principals that we are watching them – we expect them to honour this national rate.

“We will shine a light on those that do the right thing – but will name and shame the colleges that shirk their responsibilities to their staff and pay poverty wages. It is also now time for university leaders to endorse the living wage as the minimum rate of pay.”

The unions say employers at colleges and universities have six-months to sort out pay discrepancies before names will be revealed.

SEND IN YOUR STORIES We are always looking for local school news. If you have a story to share, email editor@edexec.co.uk

FUNDING WATCH £50M AVAILABLE FOR SUMMER SCHOOLS A £50m government summer schools fund to help disadvantaged pupils opened last month. It will be used to help up to 100,000 pupils making the transition from primary to secondary school, a time when Ofsted research shows performance can take a significant dip. Secondary schools can now sign up for £500 for every disadvantaged pupil taking part in a two-week summer school. The money applies to all pupils transferring in to Year 7 who are on free school meals or have been in care for six months or more. Headteachers will be able to design and run summer schools, targeting pupils who will benefit the most.

Transformation for Waltham Forest College WALTHAM FOREST COLLEGE London

PICTURE STORY

Dance students rehearse for the Tree of Light project, which will help put together a series of performances to take place in June and July along the River Thames to celebrate the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. The project is seeking dance students aged 16-plus to work with the community dancers and polish their performance. For more information, visit thetreeoflight.org

A refurbishment of Waltham Forest College in north-east London has been completed with Skills Funding Agency (SFA) support.

A £3m project opened up the college’s 1930s building to create a series of formal and informal education and meeting areas. Waltham Forest College’s main spaces were transformed, creating a welcoming, inclusive and contemporary environment for students, staff and other building users. A subsequent bid for £4.8m in SFA funding for a second phase has also been approved.

Vice-principal Peter Glasgow said: “The project demonstrates what a good team of designers can do with limited funds to raise aspirations in difficult times.”

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schools in focus CASE STUDY

Holding to account When the issue of whether school business managers should hold accountancy qualifications was raised, the DfE was quick to quell it. Yet the governing body of Stockley Academy in west London hired KARAM BHOGAL as finance director because he was an accountant. JULIA DENNISON speaks to principal IAN STOREY to find out whether would-be managers of academies need a wake-up call

FACT BOX SCHOOL Stockley Academy LOCATION Hillingdon, Middlesex TYPE 11-19 mixed academy SPECIALISMS Science and technology PUPILS 1100 STAFF 180

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ith the introduction of the Academies Bill in 2010, one of the first concerns voiced by those in the business of school management was whether bursars or business managers would be required to have an accountancy qualification to work in an academy. This worry came after the Academies Finance Handbook recommended that finance directors of academies be qualified accountants because of the additional demands on them surrounding preparation of accounts.

Education Secretary Michael Gove was quick to counter this niggle by reassuring schools that it was only a recommendation. However, with existing schools converting to academies in waves, this recommendation could put experienced, yet unqualified school business managers’ jobs at risk. It was with this in mind that organisations like the Association of School and College Leaders came to their defence, arguing that effective business management can be put down to experience and not any particular title or qualification.

Gove agreed, pointing out that if need be, expertise could be brought in where necessary. But with ever-constricted

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schools in focus CASE STUDY

budgets and mounting demands on academy finance directors, schools, like Stockley Academy in Hillingdon, Middlesex, found outsourcing to be impractical. So when its governing body needed to hire a director of finance to help improve standards at the sponsored academy, they decided to look for an accountant with experience in the private sector. They found Karam Bhogal and haven’t looked back.

THE ONLY WAY IS UP Stockley Academy used to be Evelyns Community School until 2004, when, after being put into special measures, it was converted into one of the first 12 academies under the Labour scheme to improve underperforming schools. With transformation came a £26m new building in September 2005.

While on the outside the school looked vastly improved, on the inside it was still struggling.

When he was brought in to improve standards in 2007, principal Ian Storey had a daunting task on his hands and set out restructuring the staff to help advance behaviour and attainment in this school with 42% of its pupils with special educational needs and 34% on free school meals. His decision to bring in Bhogal in 2008 stemmed from a need to improve the running of the academy’s operations. “Nothing in the academy was working well,” says Storey. “Every time you scratched something – from contracts to positions and responsibilities – you opened up a great wound.” The result was a review of all operational functions and then sweeping changes.

This restructure, including bringing in a director of finance, did the trick and the school was soon on the path to improvement. The academy received a satisfactory rating in May 2010 by Ofsted, as well as a very positive write-up by the watchdog after a no-notice inspection this December. Results have vastly improved over the last three years – five A* to Cs, including English and maths, has gone from 18% to 42% and pupil numbers rose from 650 to over 1,000 in the same time.

Storey’s goal is to achieve an outstanding rating in his next Ofsted inspection and to increase five A* to Cs to 50%. He wants this to give him the freedom to lead in the world of academies, perhaps even sharing Stockley’s secrets of success with a trust or partnership of schools.

A BUSINESS MAN Part of the reason Storey is such an advocate of academy status is because he appreciates the freedom it gives Stockley. “If I want to prepare a staffing structure, have more ASTs, put resources into certain areas, I can with the approval of the governing body,” he says. “We don’t have someone saying: ‘No, you can’t do that because other schools in the area don’t have it.’” Academy status also puts Stockley in a good position to tender for contracts and get the best deals it can, without the limitation of existing local authority agreements. “It’s more like a business,” adds Storey. When I ask him his top advice for schools converting to academy status, he recommends they recruit a director of business and finance with an accounting qualification – or at the very least one that had done a lot of training. “When they’re public accounts, they have to be audited and in the public domain, filed at Companies House,” explains Storey.

Bhogal leads the school’s operations and manages the business-end with a suitably qualified team of employees that includes heads of comms and enterprise; as well as financial services; ICT services; admin services; facilities and building services managers, all of whom have teams working under them.

“As Ian’s got his SLT, I have my own,” says Bhogal. As I speak to the finance director, he’s preparing to present a range of reports to the governing body, all of which look the picture of professionalism, thanks in part to the school’s sophisticated in-house reprographics department, but also to Bhogal’s experience working for such high-end firms as

An ordinary bursar would not be able to manage the day to day operations of an academy. This is quite evident in the type of questions being asked at seminars held at the YPLA GlaxoSmithKline, PGA European Tour, and BAA, where he was responsible for the management of capital expenditure before he moved to the education sector.

He took the role at Stockley to give him more overarching operational responsibilities, in short, so he could work across a number of different areas. “My job is to make sure this academy is open for Mr Storey to ensure he can deliver the teaching and learning,” he explains, pointing out that he has up to 80 projects planned for the next three years, ranging from £50 to £50,000. “An ordinary bursar would not be able to manage the day to day operations of an academy,” he says, controversially.

“This is quite evident in the type of questions being asked at the seminars held by the YPLA, where you could tell the maintained schools that had turned into academies.”

Of course, having a qualified accountant may not be for every school and Bhogal agrees that outstanding converter academies may not wish to change a thing about how they are run. Furthermore, as Gove said, schools can always outsource some financial duties to an accountant. However, Bhogal and Storey are adamant that in a challenging academy like Stockley, with its high demand for inclusion and behavioural support, extensive premises and accountability, it must be run like a business, and like any good business, it needs an experienced, if not qualified, financial officer.

Do you agree with the Stockley Academy’s approach to school business management? We want to hear your reaction. Email your thoughts to editor@edexec.co.uk with the subject line “accountants at academies”.

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schools in focus INDEPENDENT NEWS

INDEPENDENT UPDATE

BIRMINGHAM SUFFOLK

What’s going on in the world of independent schools

Academy chains on the up Chains of academies are becoming more popular and a significant feature of the education landscape in England, according to a new study published by the National College for School Leadership.

The chains – groups of academies run by the same sponsor or trust as part of an overarching governance arrangement – are already educating hundreds of thousands of pupils. Around three per cent of all schools and academies, rising to almost 10% of secondary schools, will soon be part of one.

The research team, led by policy analyst Robert Hill, charts the rise of 48 sponsored chains of three or more academies – including some much larger ones – as well as 122 “converter chains” and examines the implications for school leaders and policy makers.

Almost 350 of the 570 sponsored academies are or soon will be in a chain of three or more, and around a quarter of the 1,775 schools applying to convert to academy status are doing so as part of a chain.

Researchers found that this expansion is being driven by schools – or other educational establishments such as further education institutions – sponsoring other schools, demonstrating how the

PICTURE STORY

sector is increasingly taking a lead in supporting its own improvement.

The main driver in the growth of chains since the first one in 2004 is the desire and ethos of the sponsors and academies to extend their school improvement model and expertise to more schools.

Schools are also coming together to use their economies of scale to drive efficiency and organise central support functions, enabling heads to focus on delivering consistently good or outstanding lessons.

The most effective chains are adept at nurturing the best talent within their organisations and have a shared vision and ethos across their schools, backed by robust governance that helps them to focus on improving performance. The study also found early indications that sponsored academy chains are improving at a faster rate than academies that are standalone or working in pairs. However the very rapid growth in the size of chains is posing some challenges and the report recommends some strategies for managing these so chains can sustain improvement during growth and avoid becoming isolated from each other.

Q3 Academy turns the tide on unemployment in young people Q3 Academy in Birmingham is on a mission to ensure that no student leaving the academy becomes part of the ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training) generation.

Armed with a £500 start-up fund, students who complete their post-16 studies at the academy and succeed in a Dragons’ Den-style interview have an opportunity to set up an enterprise on the academy’s site.

The idea was launched at the school’s annual sponsors dinner last year where Dalton Philips, CEO of Morrisons praised Q3 for its “remarkable work”.

The Academy has also recently developed an apprenticeship scheme, which provides targeted one-year placements in key areas, including a weekly training slot off-site. The first student enrolled onto the scheme has developed a wide range of skills and now, almost at the end of his first year, has secured local employment.

STATS & FACTS

77%

The percentage of schools that seek information from other schools when converting or considering converting to an academy (Source: Capita)

SEND IN YOUR STORIES Rhys Evans (front) and Errol Drummond (behind) of Suffolk’s Royal Hospital School Paddlers on the River Thames

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We are always looking for local school news. If you have a story to share, email editor@edexec.co.uk

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schools in focus ACADEMIES

Academy conversion

– worth it?

Is academy conversion worth it?

CARRIE SERVICE asks converted academies whether they are feeling the benefit yet and what they would have done differently with hindsight With 1,300 academies now up and running in England it will be interesting to see how they fare over the next few years and if the promises made by the Government of greater autonomy, higher standards and less bureaucracy really will materialise. With this in mind, we surveyed a few academies that had converted in the past 12 months to see how they were getting on so far.

THE BUSINESS OF MANAGEMENT

Interestingly, many of the schools that responded to the survey said they didn’t feel they were fully prepared for the impact conversion would have on their finance and business management staff. One school said: “For the majority of staff, it is a seamless transfer and their jobs do not fundamentally change, however the change for the business manager is enormous.” Another said they would have put more thought into the financial aspects of being an academy if they could do it again. This holds an important message for schools that are considering conversion, and one that may often be overlooked. What is probably running through most headteachers’ minds when they are given their LACSEG cheque (Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant) is: “Great, more funding equals more freedom for us”. However, if you happen to be the person who handles the finance in your school, more funding also equates to more work. Not having the local authorities manage areas such as IT and other services will, on the upside, mean you can look for the best deal yourself, but on the downside means you will have to find the time to do this.

NOT SO PLAIN SAILING

Most schools felt that the upheaval was worth it to receive the funding boost. For some schools that

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had already been using services outside of the local authority, it made financial sense for them to convert, rather than effectively pay twice for the services they use. The majority of schools also seemed to have a fairly smooth conversion process, taking between five and nine months in total. For one Church of England foundation primary school however, the conversion was – in its own words – “not a happy one”. Having started the process in March 2011, the school is still no closer to completion today than it was on day one. The headteacher believes that the fact they already had a certain level of autonomy when they applied is what caused the problems: “I think our situation has been complicated by our status as a foundation school.

From conversations with other headteachers it is more complicated for a church school to convert because of control and ownership of land. Some dioceses take a particular stance, others seem to have an ad hoc approach but it appears easier for voluntary aided schools than voluntary controlled and as I have said, as a foundation school it is nigh on impossible.”

PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED

When I asked what advice she might have for other schools she replied: “Be very clear from the outset who is to be in control of the academy,” and the only ‘benefits’ she could think of from the experience were “raised blood pressure and insomnia”. It seems, ironically, that the schools that are already autonomous to an extent and are keen to proceed with Gove’s plans, have actually found conversion to be far more problematic. The headteacher blamed her bad experience on the numerous bodies that are involved in running a church school and the lack of flexibility in their requirements. There are three sets of ‘model articles’, one of which the school

schools in focus ACADEMIES

For the majority of staff, it is a seamless transfer and their jobs do not fundamentally change, however the change for the business manager is enormous

must fit into in order to meet the Diocese’s conditions. These articles refer to establishing and registering the academy trust at Companies House and are designed to meet the needs of different categories of schools. The headteacher of the school in question does not believe that any of these articles tookinto account the status of the school. She has also had very little help from the DfE as she feels no one from the department is willing to challenge the Diocese, hence the school is stuck in an impasse: “The DfE advisor cannot challenge the Diocese, the National Society [the overarching body for all Church of England schools] have been impossible to contact and in desperation I have enlisted the support of our MP who is now raising our case with Michael Gove direct.”

After going through all this, and still not being able to complete conversion the DBE are now trying to time-limit the consent they originally granted the school to one year, so their consent is about to expire (meaning they will have to reapply). And that’s not the end of it: “I have just found out that my devolved capital is being withheld from next year’s budget because I have begun the conversion process” the head teacher tells me. So not only has the school been denied conversion, it has also lost any benefits it had from being a semi-autonomous school in the first place and is now financially worse off than when they began the process.

Of course this is only one school out of many, but it’s highly probable that there are others that will, or have had, the same problem. Planning seems to be the key lesson to learn in all of this. In every response to the survey, planning for, or “considering the impact of” financial issues was the one thing schools wished they had done. So for those of you who are still to convert; take heed and get planning.

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d n e p s A in the n o i t c e r i d t righ On-going sector research by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) has revealed that the current image of ‘cash strapped’ schools is far from a reality. Director RAY BARKER explains the current financial situation and suggests why schools appear to have cut their spending april 2012

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SCHOOL BUDGETS

Schools still have significant funds to spend. So why are we seeing schools cutting back?

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ince the days of Tony Blair’s notorious ‘education, education, education’ statement 15 years ago, so stressing his commitment to the sector, schools have experienced a budget increase of, on average, 3.5 per cent per annum. By 2010 schools’ bursars were sitting in a very comfortable position. So, while BESA’s recent ‘Resources in English Maintained Schools’ research shows that 2011/12 has seen budget cuts of 1.8 per cent in primary education to £676,000 per annum, and that secondary schools have experienced a 2.7 per cent drop to £4,068,000, schools still have significant funds to spend particularly when compared with budgets 10, five or even two years ago. So why are we seeing schools cutting back on spending?

One reason is the fact that for the first time in 15 years, schools are being hit with a cut rather than a budget increase and consequently a level of panic set in.

Combined with this, many schools have started to opt out of local authority control. For the first time in history, school leaders who were trained as teachers were having to be managers of a ‘business’ comparable in size to a large company and don’t want to mismanage their school’s budget leaving nothing for unexpected costs later in the year.

Another reason for spending cuts in schools is the delay in the Government’s National Curriculum Review until 2014. The cost of kitting out a school of, for example, 1,000 students with new textbooks and learning support material in-line with a new curriculum across several subjects is a significant investment. It is understandable that schools feel they should hold back some funds for the new curriculum in 2014, but what schools should remember is that to date, every announcement made by Rt Hon Michael Gove has been based on the foundations of ‘freedom’ for schools to do what they see is best for their individual students. It is therefore highly unlikely that the curriculum review will introduce any highly prescriptive changes.

In terms of investment in technology, schools were faced with a perception that the Government did not approve of investment in technology. Because Gove has not ring-fenced funding for technology and spoke about his ‘back to basics’ attitude to education, schools presumed that technology spend was off the agenda.

This lead to a potentially damaging ‘digital divide’ with some schools continuing to invest in the technology that drives learning while others cut their investment.

However, in his announcement at BETT 2012, Gove stressed that what he was actually saying, was that schools now had the freedom to make their own decisions on how to spend their budgets. My colleague Dominic Savage, director general at BESA raised what Gove agreed was a “very, very important point”, when he asked: “The market

in the UK for technology products over the past year has been fairly poor…my perception is that schools have been waiting to be told what to do because that is what they have expected in the past. You are very clear about the freedoms that you now want to give them, the need for their individual visions but can you add to that in terms of what you expect to do in the investment in technology from their own budgets?”

Gove’s response was very definitive. He stressed that he “didn’t believe it was for the Government to prescribe or dictate investment in hardware”. He continued to explain: “What I do believe, we all know that you can’t make progress technologically unless your school is equipped in a way to take advantage of the digital literacy that your school will have and the huge potential of evolving technology.” A very strong and clear message to schools to continue to invest in products to support learning in the way they see fit for their specific student’s needs!

While there are certainly cuts in school’s budgets, they are aware that funding is available and therefore their outlook is positive. Another finding from our research was that each year schools anticipate that their budgets will be cut by less the following year. Taking budgets for technology in particular, in 2010 schools forecast that the following year’s primary school budgets would drop 7.8 per cent when they actually only dropped 4.6 per cent.

Similarly in secondary education, in 2010 schools anticipated a budget drop of 8.2 per cent, while the reality was nearer 7.2 per cent.

What we are seeing at BESA is that schools are starting to become astute investors. Taking classroom furniture as an example, our recent research into furniture and storage investment in schools has revealed an estimated £78m investment across 2012/13 and an increasing recognition of ‘hidden’ costs such as maintenance, repair and long-term physical impact. Back in 2008, the same survey revealed that schools were making the mistake of buying cheap without considering the total cost of ownership which includes the new BSEN 1729 standard. I am heartened that this understanding has grown over the years as a result of the promotion of our BESA member’s furniture group, all of whom manufacture to this standard.

At BETT this year, where visitor numbers were the highest since the start of the show in 1984, a huge number of impassioned exhibitors enthused that not once did they hear a teacher complain of a lack of funds; product and service orders were being placed at a pace seldom seen before.

So the future certainly looks bright. Both the Government and BESA stress the importance of schools continuing to invest in learning support, but spending wisely, and this is certainly what we are once again starting to see.

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PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK

Information overload

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PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK

Procurement is a tricky process, with so many companies offering services to schools and guidelines changing.

CARRIE SERVICE gives an overview of what help is out there for SBMs

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ometimes, too much information can actually be a hindrance rather than a help.

Type “procurement for schools” into a search engine and you’ll get thousands of results, with only a few actually providing what you are looking for. To make things a little easier for you, we’ve filtered it all down to what we think are the most important snippets of information, giving you a steer in the right direction.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER It’s vital that you stay up to date with any new regulations or requirements around procurement and training is the best way to do this. You should also consider whether any of the staff you manage could benefit from extra training too, as this could help ease your own workload. Consider

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PROCUREMENT FRAMEWORK

Schools are usually looking for pretty similar services, so forming a consortium with other schools in your area could provide you with increased negotiating and purchasing power organising a procurement training day where all staff can brush up on their knowledge together, ensuring that you are all working on the same page. If you’re fairly new to procurement, or have been responsible for procurement at your school for a while but feel you could do with a re-cap, try BuyWays – it provides completely free online training for those in procurement roles and is specially developed by the Department for Education. The training covers everything from legal requirements to tips on how to approach a procurement exercise and is specifically designed for bursars, business managers, administrators, governors and headteachers, or anyone else involved in purchasing. Other organisations that offer additional training include: The National College, the National Association of School Business Management; the Association of School and College Leaders (they hold regional school briefings for school business managers); the Training and Development Agency and the National Governors’ Association.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Pro5 provides help and support to schools in order to achieve better value for money through combined buying power and procurement expertise for the goods and services most often required by schools. They provide framework contracts that have been acquired professionally and are specifically for educational purposes. The role of the Government Procurement Service is to maximise the value for money obtained by government departments and other public bodies through the procurement and supply of goods and services.

Having these established procurement arrangements in place allows public sector organisations such as schools to save time and money.

PEOPLE POWER As more and more schools are becoming autonomous with the increase in academies and free schools many are feeling the need to team up and form consortiums in order to have more buying power when procuring services.

Schools are usually looking for pretty similar services, so forming a consortium with other schools in your area could provide you with the increased negotiating and purchasing power that larger organisations generally have. Bulk buying of products or ordering services on a larger scale will allow suppliers to give better discounts and payment options. Also, sharing information and expertise with other schools can allow you to take advantage of a wealth of knowledge you might not have had access to. There may be a member of staff at another school who is particularly knowledgeable about one area of procurement where you may be lacking (for example; ICT). Using this additional knowledge could save you money on using consultants or hiring temporary staff.

One good habit to get into is comparing your school’s expenditure with other similar schools. The Schools Financial Benchmarking website enables you to create charts comparing your school’s income and outgoings with schools similar to your own. Any school can use the site and select its own group of similar schools, using a variety of criteria including size, type or percentage of SEN pupils. You will be required to log in using a username and password – click the “contact us” tab on the website for information on how to obtain these.

WHAT ARE BUYING ORGANISATIONS?

CLEAR YOUR CONSCIENCE

Buying organisations are procurement frameworks in place to save you the time and effort of shopping around for the best deal. These buying organisations search for the cheapest option, check it is compliant and then make the services available to schools.

There is increasing pressure on schools to “go green” and become more sustainable which can pose a challenge when procuring products. The “Green Buying” website provides information about how schools can become more sustainable and also sells eco-friendly stationery supplies, outdoor equipment, recycling bins, and energy saving lighting solutions. Another useful website is The Big Green Book; an environmental network which provides information on new “green” services (both of these sources are recommended by the DfE).

WHO ARE THEY? Pro 5 includes the five largest PSBOs (public sector buying organisations): Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation; West Mercia Supplies; Central Buying Consortium; Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation and North Eastern Purchasing Organisation.

The Government Procurement Service is the national procurement partner for all UK public services and is part of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office.

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ADDITIONAL INFO The DfE’s website provides guidance on procurement for most services and products, including: ICT, temporary staff, photocopiers, energy, food, creative media and publishing, non-ICT based learning resources, supply teacher insurance, administrative supplies and facilities management.

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Goals you Oxford and Cherwell Valley College is full to bursting with eager students, but it was its staff that needed a motivational boost. JULIA DENNISON speaks to principal SALLY DICKETTS about how setting practical goals and communicating them well helped get her employees out of a rut

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CASE STUDY

can bank on O

xford and Cherwell Valley College is the largest provider of further education training in Oxfordshire, with campuses in Banbury, Bicester, Oxford and Blackbird Leys. Last academic year alone, the college had 3,250 students aged 16 to 18 enrolled on courses, 4,286 adults participating on college programmes, and 259 learners engaged in higher education and was the highest provider of apprenticeships in the Thames Valley region, with 1,826 people also registered on Train to Gain.

With over 1,000 staff members to service its thousands of students, it was important for principal Sally Dicketts, who is also chief executive of the OCVC’s parent group, to keep her employees as engaged as possible with the college’s plans for its future. While it was easy to put strategy into goals, she had a desire to ensure the college’s five-year strategy was achievable, and for this to happen, the goals had to be achievable too. With this in mind, the college’s leadership team enlisted the support of a performance management firm to help align these ambitions, which included everything from boosting respect among staff to encouraging teachers to stay in touch with innovations in their industry, into strategy by mapping out actions in a goal bank.

A NEED FOR CHANGE A desire to invigorate the staff came about when Dicketts started to notice some behaviour among staff that could be improved. She uses the example of when a student complained about the manner in which a receptionist had spoken to him. “It’s that that we’re trying to get at,” she explains. “If we really are going to be an organisation that is outstanding, where students and staff feel that they’re treated with respect, then [we] need to tackle behaviours as much as the goals. So the goal bank is not just looking at the ‘what’, it’s also looking at the ‘how’.” Of course, when your student body consists of thousands of 16-to-19-yearolds, it’s impossible to say that the customer can always be right. “So it’s that: ‘You can’t behave like this, however, you are a customer,’” she says. When the students were asked about areas staff could improve, consistency and fairness was a common topic raised. “They like consistency, fairness and they like clear boundaries,” adds Dicketts.

The principal got in touch with the performance management company a year ago, when the head of HR and head of staff development went on a course it ran that they thought could help the college with the CPD work it had in mind. For although a CPD course of

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CASE STUDY

action was in place among staff, continuity of quality was a challenge. “If you had a very good manager – surprise, surprise – you tended to get very good outcomes when it came to CPD,” she explains. “If you didn’t, it was variable.” She therefore wanted to find a way to help the managers focus on what it was the college wanted them to focus on through tangible goals – “instead of, your teaching isn’t good enough, make it better”.

A LITTLE RESPECT OCVC holds three values at its core: respect, innovate and inspire. The first of those became a challenge for the college, as it can mean different things to different people. Dicketts uses this example: “If I’m a teacher, I need respect from the students to conduct my teaching, however, if you’re going to get respect you have to earn it and you must respect the students. It’s equally important.” As a result, her and her team wanted OCVC’s staff members to apply the goal of developing mutual respectful relationships between all members of staff to their day-to-day working life. “We should all be treated with the same courtesy and respect whoever you are in the organisation,” says the principal.

To do this, the college had in-depth discussions about what exactly ‘respect’ meant to the different people in the organisation and how it could be put into practice. To put the conclusions in place, the staff worked together to identify actions, including adapting their behaviour to empathise more effectively with each other and started a staff/student forum to understand what students would see as increasing respect. One outcome was that Dicketts wanted to broaden the remit of what it meant to ‘teach’ to encompass all the interactions staff have with pupils. In short this project was about listening to the feedback from the college’s stakeholders and putting it into practice across the board, enabling them to move forward on their plan to improve working relations at the school.

A DAY OUT Once groups of staff and students came together to agree actions, the college sent middle and senior managers on an away-day at the end of the summer term last year to solidify some of the points made in the discussions. Here, they were put into groups by role and responsibility and tasked with ironing out the proposals to ensure that nothing was missing from them before a final strategy was put in place.

Although all good intentions were there, the timing meant that the proposals have not been fully implemented yet. “Unfortunately, because of the timing, by the time we got a lot of it completed, we had to wait for next year, as all of our CPD is done at the beginning of the academic year,” admits Dicketts. “The final training day was October, which meant the full implementation of the goal

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banks can only take place in the next round.” This hasn’t been to say that some pathfinder managers haven’t already rolled out the suggested changes, and these have had a positive effect. A refresher course will be undertaken before the new academic year anyway.

If we really are going to be an organisation that is outstanding, where students and staff feel that they’re treated with respect, then we need to tackle behaviours as much as the goals. The goal bank is not just looking at the ‘what’, it’s also looking at the ‘how’ BOLD CONCLUSIONS Although Dicketts is wary to jump to any quick conclusions, less than a year into the project, the college has already become a more enjoyable place to work, with less personal stress among staff members, which, in time, will help to improve the college’s reputation over all. “It’s a very different way of operating for the staff and managers,” says Dicketts. “With the very best managers, it probably isn’t a huge [change], although it gives the institution a common dialogue, whereas before good managers would talk about the ‘what’ and ‘how’ and review it in terms of impact, you didn’t get that universally.

But they would also be doing it in their own language. If you were in a different curriculum area, you wouldn’t necessarily understand, whereas now it’s a common language, so [now] if you don’t have such an effective manager, you’ll understand the process and know what’s happening to put pressure on your manager to have a more meaningful dialogue.” In other words, all managers and staff can sing from the same hymn sheet when it comes to interacting with their fellow employees.

By putting a strategy of goals in place, the college was able to move forward a tangible plan to become a better workplace. It continues to champion strategies like peer group support and management coaching and, because of the tangible goals in place, there is now less personal stress all round and an improvement in the college’s reputation has been inevitable. In short, the already well-respected college will become an even more respected institution, helping to attract more students to the already full-tobursting roster. With staff on board for the journey, there is little that can stand in this venerable college’s way.

EVERYTHING YOU LOVE ABOUT EDEXEC MAGAZINE AS A LIVE EVENT

22ND JUNE 2012 www.edexeclive.co.uk

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HR

One term and you’re out?

Government is seeking to give headteachers the power to dismiss poorly-performing teachers after just one term rather than having to wait a full school year. Without clear guidelines, a decision around performance could be highly subjective. Will we be seeing a new wave of dismissed teachers heading for employment tribunals?

Lawyer GEMMA BROWN, looks at the matter

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ew teacher appraisal and capability procedures are to be introduced with effect from September. The current regulations are to be revoked and replaced by the much leaner Education (School Teachers’ Appraisal) (England) Regulations 2012. The regulations apply to teachers who are employed for one term or more and not undergoing an induction period nor subject to capability procedures. These regulations do not govern teachers in academies, free schools or other independent schools.

Schools may introduce an optional model policy from 1 September, which will replace the current capability procedure issued in July 2000 and previous guidance on performance management. Governing bodies and local authorities will be free to introduce their own policies so long as they comply with the new regulations.

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HR

Headteachers must set objectives for each teacher and inform them of the standards against which their performance is to be assessed WHY? The whitepaper ‘The Importance of Teaching’ set out plans to shorten and simplify current teacher performance management regulations, and remove the duplication between performance and capability procedures. The current arrangements are extremely detailed and prescriptive and allow schools very little scope for agreeing policies that meet their own particular needs.

The new regulations are more consistent with the general position based on case law and the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.

Generally speaking a capability procedure must be reasonable in all the circumstances and focus on improving performance in order for any subsequent dismissal to be considered fair. Before dismissing an employee on the grounds of poor performance or capability, an employer should carry out a proper investigation or appraisal and seek to identify the problem. The employee should be given warning of the consequences of failing to improve. Where there is found to be a lack of necessary skills, the employer should provide appropriate advice, training and close supervision to enable the employee to reach the required standard before a decision is taken to dismiss. The employee should be invited to a formal capability hearing before any warning is issued or dismissal considered. Failing to go through such a procedure is likely to result in any subsequent dismissal being deemed unfair.

WHAT’S NEW Teachers’ performance will be assessed against relevant standards set out in ‘Teachers’ Standards’ published in July 2011. The Department for Education has issued a new model policy on teacher appraisal and capability outlining model procedures. There are two sections to the policy: Part A covers teachers’ appraisals and Part B sets out the model capability procedure.

Most of the provisions in the current regulations will be removed including the three hour limit on classroom observation per year. Governing bodies and local authorities will be free to make their own decision about the amount of observation required.

The informal stage in the model capability procedures has been removed. The suggested length of the monitoring and review period following the first written warning has been reduced from 20 weeks to between four and 10 weeks for straightforward cases. Importantly, the policy does confirm that the timetable will depend on the circumstances of the individual case.

WHAT’S NOT The regulations maintain the requirement for governing bodies and local authorities to introduce a written appraisal policy for their teachers. An external adviser must be appointed to appraise the performance of the head teacher. The appraisal period is 12 months, or where the teacher is employed on a fixed term contract of less than 12 months, that period. Where teachers first commence employment the initial appraisal period may be shorter or longer as determined by the governing body or local authority.

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Headteachers and local authorities, or in the case of headteachers, governing bodies, must set objectives for each teacher and inform each teacher of the standards against which that teacher’s performance is to be assessed.

The objectives must contribute to improving the education of pupils at that school and the implementation of any plan of the governing body designed to improve that school’s educational provision and performance.

The external adviser must be consulted when setting the objectives of the head teacher.

Lastly, teachers must be given a written report recording the appraisal and setting out an assessment of their performance, their training and development needs and where relevant a recommendation on pay progression.

ON THE CARDS The Government considered a proposal requiring schools to pass on copies of teachers’ annual appraisal reports to prospective employers to provide for a more comprehensive reference and prevent the recycling of under performing teachers. This proposal did not go ahead but a consultation on a separate proposal, changes to school staffing regulations, has recently closed and we await the outcome. This consultation considered proposals to pass to prospective employers upon request of information about whether a teacher is or has been subject to capability procedures.

CHECKLIST FOR GOVERNING BODIES AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES  

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 

Establish an annual appraisal policy Appoint an external adviser to advise and support the appraisal of the headteacher Set objectives for each teacher at the school Ensure that the performance of each teacher is appraised annually Prepare a written report of each appraisal Ensure a fair procedure is followed in the event of capability concerns.

IN SUMMARY The new regulations provide headteachers and governing bodies with much more flexibility in implementing appraisal and capability procedures. This brings them in line with the general procedure outside maintained schools.

Schools must still ensure they are following a fair process when implementing a capability procedure as the normal rules of unfair dismissal will continue to apply.

While the new regulations may be seen as a disadvantage for teachers, the benefit will be that they should have the effect of preventing protracted capability procedures which can lead to stress and lack of motivation in staff.

Regular appraisals should stimulate staff engagement and consequently improve the overall working environment for teachers. Nevertheless there is still much debate over the pros and cons of the new regulations depending upon which side of the fence you may be seated.

Gemma Brown is an employment lawyer at public services law firm TPP Law

WORK/LIFE

Break Time Secret life of a business manager

?

Pupils in Staffordshire have been striving to improve their business skills with a new Apprentice-style classroom at New Ford

Primary School. The school was inspired by the popular BBC show when it decided to transform an old cloak room into a state-of-the-art IT centre, The Sentinel reports.

School business manager Paul Dale explained: “Last year the children in Year 6 took part in an Apprentice-style campaign where they

NUMBER CRUNCHING Everyone deserves five minutes break, and business managers are no exception. So pour yourself a coffee, get a

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biscuit from the tin and have a go at this little puzzle. It is sure to keep your little grey cells ticking over and help while away your break time.

had to design and brand their own cereal. They produced the packaging and even delivered a sales pitch in front of the rest of the class. It was

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brilliant and the children were really interested in it so we looked at ways to build on this success and make it more of a permanent feature.”

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With a shortage of IT resources in the school, Dale believes an extra 20 desktop computers could help contribute to learning across the curriculum. To secure funding, the school has entered Class Act, a competition run

AROUND THE CLASSES

by The Sentinel and sponsored by Barclays Money Skills.

If New Ford wins one of the three £5,000 prizes, it would cover the initial cost to have the

With all those classes going on around you every day, we think you should be well placed to answer these little teasers

cloakroom pegs and benches removed and a door installed. It would also go towards buying desktop computers, a printer and projector to allow the children to deliver their business ideas.

Dale added: “It would have a tremendous effect on the school and with us having a shortage of IT resources at the moment.”

Do you have an interesting hobby or activity? Are you involved with any clubs at your school? We would love to hear from you. Write to editor@edexec. co.uk with the subject line “secret life” and 200 words on your hobby, why you enjoy it and why you would recommend it to other business managers. If you have a photo of yourself, that would be even better.

Every entry written by an SBM and featured wins a £10 M&S voucher, so why not share your secret life with us?

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HISTORY Mahatma Gandhi qualified in England for which profession before practising in South Africa?

GEOGRAPHY How many countries are still members of the British Commonwealth?

SCIENCE What colour does acid turn Litmus paper?

MUSIC The Stratocaster is a model of which guitar maker?

PE Who holds the record as being Britain’s youngest ever Formula 1 Driver?

ENGLISH Which 1851 novel was first published in Britain under the title The Whale?

ANSWERS History – law; Science – red; PE – Jensen Button; Geography – 53; Music – Fender; English – Moby Dick

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