EDUCATION
EXECUTIVE
FEBRUARY 2022
Digital wrap edition
SUPPORTING BUSINESS AND F INANCIAL EXCELLENCE IN SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES
How does an SBL know when they’ve been successful? Stephen Peach ponders how SBLs can count their successes
P A R W L A T I G DI ALSO INSIDE THIS MONTH: HOW TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN CATERING
Andrew Blench on improving your catering provision
IMPROVING AIR QUALITY AND VENTILATION IN SCHOOLS
What is the solution to air safety?
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIRECTOR OF IT
Gary Henderson takes us through a day in his role
Editor’s comment Contributors
You only have to scroll on Twitter for five minutes to see those in schools despairing over receiving the ‘we’re coming’ call from Ofsted. It is fair to say the inspectorate isn’t experiencing a warm welcome back, and we open our February issue by discussing how the return of Ofsted has led to many heads leaving the profession due to the inspection’s ‘brutality’ and perceived disregard of the impact of COVID on schools. After discussing frustrations, we then shift our focus to inspirations. We chat to Vishalie Yadav about how the Bedfordshire Schools Trust is bringing equality, diversity and inclusion to the forefront of their agenda and how you can do the same in your school. Lorraine Langham, education charity CEO, shares how she was inspired by the younger generation to walk 500 miles from parliament to Glasgow. And Andrew Blench discusses the benefits of excellent catering provision and how you can deliver it well in your school. This month’s digital wrap also features guides to the eligibility for academic mentors, the Afghanistan resettlement education grant and expert advice on air safety and ventilation in classrooms. In our ICTMATTERS section we explore what you can expect from Bett 2022 and Gary Henderson talks us through a day in the life of an IT director. As always, we’d love to hear any suggestions you have for the magazine. If you’d like to get involved with EdExec, or if you’d like us to cover a certain topic, please do let us know. Contact eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk or tweet @edexec with ideas, opinions or success stories.
The education sector can be difficult to navigate at times, and those in school business management play a pivotal role in steering schools to success. Tasked with everything from finance and procurement, to HR and admin, you keep the education cogs turning. Education Executive addresses the most pressing matters faced by SBMs, offering meaningful insights and practical advice – essentially, all you need to run your school. Our contributors, drawn from the Education Executive team and sector innovators and experts, offer invaluable business insights from both the sidelines and front line.
ELEANOR POTTER Editor Education Executive
ANDREW BLENCH SBM consultant School Business Partner Limited
LORRAINE LANGHAM CEO Future First
ELEANOR POTTER WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
EDITOR
Is your school doing something wonderful? Do you have an opinion or experience you’d like to share? A story suggestion? Or some advice you’d like to share with your peers? Get in touch – email eleanor@ intelligentmedia.co.uk
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STEPHEN PEACH Assistant headteacher and business manager Dacorum Education Support Centre
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EDUCATION EXECUTIVE
NEWS & VIEWS
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NEWS Latest school business management news in brief
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WHY HEADS ARE QUITTING OVER ‘BRUTAL’ OFSTED INSPECTIONS Heads say inspectors are ignoring harsh reality of COVID impact
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DEAR NADHIM ZAHAWI, CHILDREN NEED TO EXPRESS THEIR GRIEF ABOUT COVID Michael Rosen give his thoughts LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
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PROMOTING EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN SCHOOLS Vishalie Yadav tells us how her trust has pushed these areas forward
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AND I WOULD WALK 500 MILES How adults can be inspired by the younger generation
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ELIGIBILITY FOR ACADEMIC MENTORS How to apply for subsidised tutoring
MANAGEMENT
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HOW TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN CATERING Andrew Blench on improving your catering provision
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HOW DOES AN SBL KNOW WHEN THEY’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL? Stephen Peach ponders how SBLs can count their successes
Education Executive is the first business management magazine written exclusively for school business managers and bursars, bringing you the latest issues affecting your role, from finance to premises, procurement to HR. EdExec delivers the lowdown on all the hottest topics in education management right here, every month.
@EdExec
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A GUIDE TO THE AFGHANISTAN RESETTLEMENT EDUCATION GRANT Local authority funding for refugees
Design
Graphic designer Amanda Lancaster alancasterdesign.com
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IMPROVING AIR QUALITY AND VENTILATION IN SCHOOLS What is the solution to air safety? ICT MATTERS
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WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM BETT 2022? Bett is back for its first in person event since 2020
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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A DIRECTOR OF IT Gary Henderson takes us through a day in his role
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LIVE IT Close your eyes. Inhale. Count to five… now exhale. Time to take a few moments out for some light and interesting reading – a wellearned break from numbers and statistics!
Editorial
Editor Ellie Potter eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk
Sales
info@intelligentmedia.co.uk
Publisher
Vicki Baloch vicki@intelligentmedia.co.uk
NEWS AND VIEWS
NEWS
NEWS
The latest news and views from the world of education
@MandyLeu: So, how’s this ‘ride it out’ thing working out for the rest of #sbltwitter??? Trying my best to be swan-like; think I’m more like a disease-riddled pigeon.
Schools in England say government not providing enough air purifiers
Row breaks out over school trust’s trans policy The Girls’ Day School Trust, which runs 25 schools in England and Wales, will only be admitting pupils based on their ‘legal sex’ rather than their gender identity. It said it was doing this to protect its schools’ single-sex status - but Labour MP Nadia Whittome, who has one of the schools in her constituency, has criticised the move. In relation to applicants who are ‘legally male but identify as trans or non-binary’, the trust’s policy says its schools ‘do not accept applications from students who are legally male’. The Nottingham East MP told ITV “The trust is hiding behind the Equality Act as a reason for this policy not to admit transgender girls, but the Equality Act itself is clear on this. There’s a provision in it that allows single-sex schools to maintain their single-sex exemption while also admitting pupils of the opposite sex in exceptional circumstances.”
@CarpenterGemma: I’ve tried to have a very quiet weekend in an attempt to be less stressed going into the working week. So tonight’s job has, of course, been arranging to get the school opened in the morning in time for the cleaners due to positive cases. #sbltwitter
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The government sent out 350,000 monitors to schools in England to check the quantity of CO2 in the air as measured in parts per million, mainly from exhaled breath. However, it is only providing 8,000 air purifiers for classrooms. A survey by the National Association of Head Teachers suggests that the Department for Education may have underestimated the demand for air purifiers. Of the nine-in-10 schools that received the monitors, more than a third – 34% – found classrooms with consistently poor levels of ventilation, the survey found; of those, more than half – 53% – said that even after taking action they continued to have rooms with a red reading, denoting consistently poor air quality. The survey also showed that only a tiny two per cent of schools are using air filters and cleaning devices provided by the government; a further eight per cent are using ones they bought themselves. Three-quarters of the 1,625 schools in the survey said they could not afford such devices. The government recommends two filters suitable for classrooms, priced at £425 or £1,170 a unit, plus the cost of filters.
NEWS
NEWS AND VIEWS
News in brief Hi-vis vests given to Suffolk pupils to improve road safety Hi-visibility vests are being given to about 2,000 primary-aged pupils in an effort to improve safety on their journeys to and from school. Children attending six schools in the Kesgrave area of Suffolk are being offered the fluorescent vests. Funding for the £3,000 scheme was agreed among community groups and local councils. Stuart Lawson, county and district councillor for Kesgrave, described it as, “a lot of money doing so much good”. Bealings, Cedarwood, Birchwood, Gorseland, Heath and Martlesham primary schools all expressed interest in the scheme and are set to benefit from the jackets, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The vests will be given to pupils at the beginning of term and collected at the end of the year, enabling them to be re-used for future years.
Chaperones help keep pupils safe walking to school Children are being helped by adult chaperones on their way to and from school in high-crime inner city areas. The £1.2m project is being piloted in the West Midlands with support from the Home Office and the police and crime commissioner. Participating schools were selected based on police intelligence about criminal activity in their neighbourhoods and the project is modelled on a successful scheme which helped reduce crime in the US city of Chicago. Among the schools taking part in the scheme – called Step Together – is The Ark Boulton Academy, a secondary school in the innercity Sparkhill area of Birmingham. At the beginning and end of the day a small group of adults gather at the school gates to act as chaperones for the children as they walk between home and school. Others are stationed in nearby parks. The school was chosen, along with more than a dozen others in the West Midlands police force area, because there have been problems with anti-social behaviour and gang crime nearby.
Three plead guilty to running illegal school Two people and a charitable trust have pleaded guilty to running an illegal school, following an investigation by Ofsted. In a hearing at Sheffield Magistrate’s Court, Shahjan Yasmin Hussain, chair of trustees, Dr Shathea Zamzam, manager and the Yorkshire Tuition Centre admitted to running an unregistered school. The case was heard on 5 January 2022 and is the latest successful prosecution of those running unregistered schools. Deputy senior district judge, Tanweer Ikram, made a clear judgement that the defendants in charge “wanted to carry on under the radar without the requirement of regulation.” The illegal school, Aysha Tuition Centre (ATC) was located at premises previously used by a registered private school, Oak Tree High (OTH), which had closed because it was failing to provide pupils with a good education. Ofsted inspectors found ATC was operating on the same site, and employing many of the same staff, as OTH to teach former pupils of the failed private school.
@CherylSBM: It’s been one of those days - a G&T type of day #SBLTwitter #SBM
February 2022
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NEWS AND VIEWS
Headteachers say inspectors are ignoring or dismissing the harsh realities of COVID in schools
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ITNI TSLPEE C PT LE IO AN SE S
Why heads are quitting over ‘brutal’ Ofsted inspections
fter more than two decades at inner-city secondary schools, Helen Roberts, a headteacher, resigned from the job she loves earlier this month. It was not the intense pressure of the pandemic that tipped her over the edge – though that has been tough – but an Ofsted inspection. “Our inspector was intimidating, raising his voice and making accusations. There was not one apology each time I proved his accusation unfounded. He just swiftly switched to another accusation, then another,” she says. The inspection also unnerved some students. “They felt they were being interrogated and pressured to give negative feedback.” Helen says her deputy went home after being given “a pounding” by the inspector – and has yet to return. Another “outstanding” teacher, who was “loved and respected by
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colleagues and pupils”, resigned last week, saying she never wanted to experience an Ofsted inspection again. Helen feels the same way. Since the pandemic attendance at her school has been poor, and there has been a 40% increase in referrals to social care. Helen says criminal child exploitation, mental health problems, children going missing and substance misuse problems have all “exploded”. Staff absences have rocketed because of COVID and few supply teachers are available. Some staff are on long-term leave and those who are still working say they are exhausted. Helen insists she welcomes scrutiny, but says the Ofsted inspectors showed no desire to understand what her school is still living through. “If only that time could have been used supporting me, being another pair of eyes and ears,
INSPECTIONS
NEWS AND VIEWS
offering ideas to deal with what we’re “because they were so terrified of letting experiencing,” she says. “I love my job, the school down”. Amanda Spielman... and I never thought my career would Ruth says one of the most brilliant end like this. Recruiting teachers in inner heads she has ever worked with has told has said she expects cities is tough, which adds to my guilt; but her that she will not be in the job next year the number of I just can’t go through this again.” because “she just can’t go through another While many schools are dealing inspection”. Ruth feels Ofsted is driving the “outstanding” with more pupil and staff COVID cases sector into a deep crisis. “A lot of people schools to be halved than ever, the government has given are barely holding it together in what has Ofsted an additional £24m to accelerate been the most challenging of times to be a inspections. All schools and FE colleges headteacher.” in England are to be inspected in the next four years, and John Hicks, the head of a primary school in the north of Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, has said she England currently rated ‘outstanding’, resigned last week and expects the number of “outstanding” schools to be halved says it is because of what Ofsted is doing. “Since I was 15 all I’ve from one-in-five to one-in-10. wanted to do was teach. Now I’m leaving because I really feel the kids aren’t being put first, and staff are being pushed to breaking ‘BRUTAL’ INSPECTIONS point – and I don’t want to be part of it.” Heads are sharing stories of ‘brutal’ inspections on social media. Many admit they aren’t coping with the dread of PUPIL AND STAFF WELLBEING Ofsted arriving when their school is in crisis mode. Some, Throughout the pandemic John has been telling his like Helen, have resigned; experts say many more will follow. staff to focus on pupil wellbeing and getting children “I’ve been told inspectors are using phrases like ‘COVID is no back into school, reassuring them that small gaps in the longer an excuse’,” says Ruth Swailes, an adviser to primary curriculum would not matter. Now he knows heads of schools. “In one instance, where a member of the school ‘outstanding’ schools who have been inspected and dropped community had died of COVID, the headteacher was told ‘I two levels to ‘requires improvement’ and he thinks this may don’t want to hear the word COVID’.” be used against the school. “Inspectors are coming in with A primary school she works with was downgraded to an agenda,” he says. ‘requires improvement’ because inspectors felt the curriculum Since the pandemic started there has not been a had not moved on enough in the two years since the last day when every member of his staff has been in, and inspection. Ruth says Ofsted, apparently, “completely ignored the he says it is “not even worth trying” to find replacements. fact that there had been a pandemic in that time”. Four staff are having counselling; two have been told by Another primary head she works with had 10 staff off with doctors they should not be working, but are coming in COVID when she got the call to say the inspectors were coming. anyway. “I’ve got amazing staff and they are doing so much They came anyway, and announced a ‘deep dive’ detailed more than I could possibly expect of them,” John says. assessment of a subject whose lead teacher was off sick with “There is a huge issue here and it feels like no-one is COVID. The teacher did an interview with the inspector in bed listening. It feels like no-one cares.” CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/27/ofsted-inspections-headteachers-quit
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NEWS AND VIEWS
COMMENT
Dear Nadhim Zahawi, children need to express their grief about COVID as well as to ‘catch up’ MICHAEL ROSEN gives his thoughts on how the arts could offer a chance for pupils to express their feelings, post-pandemic
I
had a conversation with a teacher the other day. She asked me what she and other teachers could do to help children with the trauma of the pandemic. This pulled me up sharp. She explained that the children in her class had been deeply affected by what has happened over the last 18 months. She thought some of them were troubled, at times distressed, and that this was showing up in the way they were behaving towards each other. She wasn’t talking about whether the children were ‘behind’ at school; this was about that very unfashionable idea, ‘the whole child’ – not the tested and measured child, evaluated purely on the basis of their performance in tasks set by people in offices far away. When we see children in a school playground or in a park, it’s easy to imagine that the past year and a half has washed over them. They run about, whooping and laughing. This teacher made me think about what might be going on under the surface. Let’s ask ourselves some hard questions; how many school-age children have had direct experience of losing a sibling, a parent, a grandparent, a close relative or carer? How many children are close friends with a child who has had that experience? How many school children have had direct experience of people suffering the long-term effects of COVID? A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? More? I ask myself, and you, do we think that the effect of this can be ignored? We are, after all, talking about the psychological impact of widespread bereavement.
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COMMENT
NEWS AND VIEWS
I’ll be honest, I hadn’t thought of this before. Mea culpa, I guess I’ve What do five, been a bit obsessed with using poetry for myself as a way of dealing six, seven or with COVID and indeed with how your government has – or has not – dealt with it. I felt guilty that I hadn’t thought about children. It threw eight-year-olds me back to thinking about the school-age child I have. What effect did make of the it have on him that, for several weeks, day after day, he didn’t know whether he would wake up in the morning to hear that his dad had idea of a virus? died? I can tell you, to have a conversation about such things with your own teenage son is not easy. One reason why we’re not talking about this stems, perhaps, from the media burble about COVID being a mostly mild illness for children; somehow this has led us to imagine that what’s going on in children’s minds must be mild, too - and the landscape of loss and grief is obscured by happy talk about vaccinations, along with people in parts of the media constantly referring to ‘getting back to normality’ – one sign of which is, after all, being in school. Are we in normality now? Popping up on my Twitter feed are accounts of many children being off school. A SOCIAL TRAUMA What I’m talking about here is something that is both personal and social. It’s very easy to shunt personal problems off into the private sphere as if they are a matter for the individual or a matter of ‘personal choice’. With a pandemic, it becomes very clear – albeit hardly talked about – that there is social trauma going on. So, loss might be felt personally and privately but the experience is translated and mediated again and again through the talk in families, between friends, and in the mass media chat. It can be translated by silence when that talk doesn’t even take place, in which case children are left on their own to try to process what has happened. What do five, six, seven or eight-year-olds make of the idea of a virus? We’ve been asking young children to understand that someone can have the virus but then not show any outward signs of it - and yet people you know and, perhaps love, die of it. Trying to explain it can make it sound like evil magic; it can get into your cells, it can spread and multiply but it’s not actually alive. It can hang about in the air. You can breathe it in but you can’t see, hear, taste, smell or touch it. We’re expecting children to understand all this. Or, to put it another way, we’re expecting children to deal with it, handle it and carry on in life and school while they’re being asked to ‘catch up’.
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NEWS AND VIEWS
COMMENT
The reason why this subject cropped up in my conversation with the teacher is because we had been talking about poetry. She knew I had written poems for children about the death of my son and the persecution and murder of my relatives in the Holocaust, so it was fair enough that she should ask me about what teachers could do about the trauma of the pandemic. Might poetry help? A SAFE FORUM Reflecting on what the teacher had said, I imagined some kind, neutral, safe forum in which children and young people could share what they thought about what had happened to them and their They could relatives. More than that, they could talk about their general fears, panics and imagined scenarios about what might happen next or in talk about five years’ time, and so on. I conjured up a situation in which children their general wrote down words or phrases on bits of paper, handed them in to be fears, panics jumbled up so that anonymity could be preserved. Then the teacher (or convenor) could read some out and children could talk about what and imagined they had just heard in pairs or in groups or in circle-time. There’s a scenarios problem with this, though, which the teacher pointed out to me; is there time in the curriculum? about what This brought something into sharp focus. Your predecessor, might happen Michael Gove, altered education in England so that it now pursues what he and others called the ‘knowledge-rich curriculum’. One casualty of this has been the arts. The arts have been squeezed in two ways; knowledge about the arts has been favoured over practising the arts, while the number of school hours actually spent on the arts as a whole has shrunk. But the arts are precisely the kind of arena that gives us the space to explore and reflect on matters like personal and social trauma. The arts point to possibilities of finding ways of coping with, or overcoming, difficulty and distress. So, let me put the question to you; if the curriculum is too busy to notice what’s happened to children, what are we going to do about it? Yours,
Michael Rosen CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/06/dear-nadhimzahawi-children-need-to-express-their-grief-about-covid-as-well-as-to-catch-up
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GET YOUR DIARIES OUT!
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LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
INTERVIEW
Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in schools We speak to VISHALIE YADAV, of the Bedfordshire Schools Trust, lead teacher for equality and diversity, about how they have promoted equality, diversity and inclusion in their trust - and how you can do the same in your school Start by telling us a little bit about your trust. The Bedfordshire Schools Trust (BEST) comprises 10 schools - four lower schools, two primary schools, a middle school, two extended secondary schools, and one upper school. We also have five nurseries. Our trust strives to deliver great outcomes and opportunities for our students by offering them extensive curricular and extracurricular opportunities, because we aim to grow the ‘BEST’ in everybody. What is your role in the trust? I have recently been appointed as the lead teacher for equality, diversity, and inclusion across the trust - but I’m also the lead teacher at Samuel Whitbread, which is my base-school, for equality and diversity as well.
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What do equality, diversity and inclusion mean to you? Ultimately, equality, diversity, inclusion mean acceptance. Acceptance of the idea that you can be whoever you want to be. My role provides me with the opportunity to work with schools across the trust to ensure we are celebrating and embracing our differences, and show that we are proud of who we are as individuals. So, ultimately, it’s the idea of acceptance and celebration. Why is it so important for the trust to be concentrating on these areas? Our trust aims to grow the ‘BEST’ in everyone. Equality, diversity and inclusion plays a significant factor in this because it helps to develop our students spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. We strive to provide an education that enables our students to grasp
INTERVIEW
the opportunity to explore their own values, and also to recognise that, throughout life, they are going to encounter people who have opposing or differing views, and that’s absolutely fine.
We decided to put this working group together to look at how we can collaboratively develop
Through research I saw that BEST has set up an Equality and Diversity Group. What does this group do? The Equality and Diversity Group is a group of leaders across the trust from all of our schools. It comprises senior leaders, headteachers, middle managers - all different types of staff working in our schools. We decided to put this working group together to look at how we can collaboratively develop those areas across our trust, and in our individual school settings. We are at the beginning of our journey, and we still have a long way to go, but we’ve made a lot of progress in the areas we are focussing on. The group started by reviewing our policy, so that we are statutory compliant in relation to equality and diversity, and so we can build consistency across all our schools, making sure that we’re all effectively using the same guidance. Linked to this, we’ve introduced equality and diversity charters for each of our individual schools in order to promote a trust overview of how we are developing across the trust with the understanding that each school context will add to this. We’ve begun to look at our recruitment process as we want to make sure that this reflects the diverse communities which we’re serving. Across the trust, we analyse our recruitment processes, the data of which is then shared with the principals so that they can see different trends. On the educational front we have started to develop the curriculum, train staff and offer CPD opportunities so that staff feel confident to deliver on equality, diversity and inclusion to
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
their students and their communities. The CPD involves networking and being able to find professionals who are able to come in and deliver on certain areas of the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda. The trust has also offered programmes to promote women in leadership and ethnic minority leaders.
How did you decide which staff were going to be a part of the group? We initially sent out correspondence to all the schools to see who would be interested. I originally discussed it with my headteacher, who was keen to share it across the trust with other principals. We didn’t want to just keep it at a senior level; we wanted to have all stakeholders involved should they wish to be. Two of the schools in your trust have recently received an accreditation for inclusion. Tell us a bit more about that. Both Gothic Mede and Samuel Whitbread Academies received the Inclusion Quality Mark award. At my baseschool, Samuel Whitbread, it was predominantly based on the provision that we put in place for our SEN students. The feedback we were given is that what we are providing for our students is brilliant, and that we should be looking at becoming a centre of excellence. The Inclusion Quality Mark was another opportunity for all the schools in the trust to collaborate and work together. It was great to have our SENCO and our inclusion lead work with the other schools to really bring together a provision that is open, fair and valued by our students.
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LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
INTERVIEW
How would you say that focusing more on snowballed from there. Further work has led us to recently equality and diversity has impacted the trust? holding an international debate with different schools across the Although it’s a new process that we’ve introduced to the world, including Zimbabwe and Nigeria. I think it’s key for us to trust, we’re already seeing the benefits of being able to be developing this work because we’re allowing our students the work together. Over the last year we have managed to build opportunity to be able to work with other, like-minded, students consistency in equality and diversity across the trust. We have from different contexts and offering them an opportunity to already established the equality and diversity policy, which collaborate on some important equality issues internationally. all our schools used. We’ve also got the charter in place that allows for all schools to be consistent in their approach. Did you face any challenges when trying to bring By working on equality and diversity we’re reviewing our inclusion to the forefront of the trust’s agenda? curriculums and looking at the education we provide. We’re I think the main factor for us, in terms of any challenges, is constantly looking to develop this so that it meets the needs time. It’s being able to find the time to meet and work together of our students and our community, so that when students as a group to develop an action plan. COVID has probably are leaving school, and they’re out in the wider world, they’re been the biggest challenge we have faced, because we’re having equipped with the necessary education and knowledge. to meet at very short notice, and adapt and completely change Another beneficial factor for the trust is that our students our plans on a week-by-week, month-by-month basis. have been able to work with other schools, both locally and We are also a huge trust; we have 10 schools, all nationally along with other schools in our trust, for example, different stages of education - we’ve got nurseries and, at we have recently been involved in an international debate. At the same time, we’ve got an upper school with a sixth Samuel Whitbread, when we started our work on equality and form - so consistency was something that was difficult, diversity, the initial research involved us initially, and that’s why we’ve started looking at the history of our school and a lot of work on having a generic where our school name originates from; policy for each school with their own Further work it so happened that when we advertised individual context and guidance linked this on our website we had a group in to that. We’ve tried to make sure has led us to Scotland, the FJSS Group, who were that everybody has the Equality and recently holding looking into our history also. Diversity Charter, an international We networked with them, and so that they’ve all got an action plan other trust schools (Robert Bloomfield for their individual settings. debate Academy, Pix Brook Academy and Consistency is something that we Etonbury Academy) and it’s just really wanted to build.
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INTERVIEW
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
What advice would you give to schools who may of staff who are willing to help, form your Equality and be reading this and are wondering what the first Diversity Group, review your school in all aspects, and steps could be on their equality, diversity and then listen to your students to learn their viewpoints so inclusion journeys? that you can actually put together an action plan. I would say the most important aspect is being passionate. This isn’t a ‘tick-box’ exercise - it’s not about being tokenistic. What are the next steps on your equality, To promote this, you’ve got to have that passion and drive. I diversity and inclusion journey? would initially suggest to have a conversation in your school, Across the trust we’re still looking to ensure that, as an whether that be with your principal or another member of employer, we reach out to all sectors of our community. staff, but initially have the conversation and find out who else We’re going to focus on the recruitment process, making may be interested and who would be willing to give up some sure that we appeal to all the different representations we time to form an Equality and Diversity Group. see in our community. Once a group has been formed, it’s about mapping out the I’m currently working towards an equality, diversity, areas of equality, diversity and inclusion inclusion quality mark, and I can you want to really start developing. It’s use the information gained from this such a broad area, so it may be that process to share with all the other trust To promote this, you need to conduct a self-review of schools in order to help them to develop your school, your curriculum, your to a stage where we want them to be. you’ve got to recruitment processes and your policies in Finally, I want to continue to have that passion order to establish if there are any gaps in develop the staff’s understanding of any of these processes that you would like equality, diversity and inclusion. We’ve and drive to you focus on. already made a start by delivering an The third most important step, from anti-racism session across the schools, my experience - and how I’ve led things to give staff the confidence to deliver at Samuel Whitbread - is to seek your pupils’ opinions. You relevant information to students in the classroom, but need to encourage your pupils to share what their views on also to provide staff with the confidence to deal with those equality, diversity and inclusion are because, ultimately, you challenging situations that they may face. I would like to want to develop a curriculum that’s going to allow them continue offering staff CPD sessions, and look at curriculum to be accepted, to feel valued, to feel welcomed and, most and see what else we can do, school-based, across the trust. importantly, to learn. There is a lot to do - but we’re making steady progress and So, to set the ball rolling, see if there are other members taking slow steps towards that ultimate goal.
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C L I M AT E C H A N G E
And I would walk 500 miles LORRAINE LANGHAM, chief executive of education charity Future First, tells us that despite her charity being about adults inspiring pupils, she was inspired to walk from parliament to Glasgow by someone who is school-aged
O
ne thing I’ve learnt from running a charity focused on connecting role models with state school pupils is that those who connect with us come in many and varied forms. When we think of role models it’s easy to assume we mean those who inspire, motivate or guide a younger generation to follow in their footsteps - the whole idea of ‘looking up to someone’ tends to paint this sort of picture – and, of course, Future First does exactly that – creating and nurturing alumni networks for state school students so that, whatever their start in life, there need be no limits on their futures. But the benefit of role models shouldn’t end when we ‘grow up’ – whatever that means! While role models can motivate younger people to strive for a better future, and guide them through the daunting labyrinth of life, young
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February 2022
people can also be role models for older generations too. It was the inspiration of just such a young role model that led me to take a break as chief executive of Future First and march 500 miles from parliament to Glasgow ahead of the meeting of world leaders at COP26. Just as legions of young people have been inspired by the magnificent Greta Thunberg to take action against climate change, so was I. Here was a young person who, in 2018 aged just 15, started her now famous protest outside the Swedish parliament. Alone, she held a sign saying ‘School Strike for Climate’ in an effort to pressurise her government to meet carbon emissions targets. I’m sure many people on their way to work must have passed her lonely protest and dismissed it with the ‘cynicism of experience’. Yet by the end of that year more than 20,000 students from as far
afield as the UK to Japan had joined her by skipping school to protest. Her influence has continued to grow – and, some argue, it might have been greater still if momentum had not been interrupted by the pandemic. We will never know. WONDERFUL ROLE MODEL Of course, as the CEO of an education charity, I’m not saying young people should skip school - but I am highlighting just how much difference one person can make when the rest of us may feel powerless. Greta is also a wonderful role model for neuro diversity, describing the fact that she has Asperger syndrome as ‘a gift’. For her, being different is a ‘superpower’ and she has used this to good effect. There are many parallels between the work of Future First and climate
C L I M AT E C H A N G E
It was my belief that climate justice is social justice activism. The charity is all about social justice, as we recognise that Britain has a deep social mobility problem, and we are working to change that. Far too many young people do not have access to the relatable role models they need to help them understand what they can become or do, nor the networks, knowledge and tools to help them to get there. The cause of climate justice is the same. While the developed world prospers, other countries are sinking into the sea, or going up in flames. It is social justice on a global scale - and I believe we have a moral duty to act, both here in the UK and for our neighbours in the global South. It was my belief that climate justice is social justice, and the inspiration of Greta as a young role model, that led me to undertake the ‘Camino to COP26’ walk to Glasgow. Organised by XRUK Faith Bridge, the walk brought together people of all faiths and none on a pilgrimage to COP, starting from Bristol, Liverpool, the South East and London. The purpose was to build alliances
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
and engage communities along the route and to spread the word about the urgent need to act against climate change. It was an opportunity for peaceful connection and outreach which expressly spurned any physical disruption or civil disobedience. GROWING AS A PERSON The whole experience has undoubtedly helped me grow as a person. I met people I would never otherwise have met - community and faith leaders, young and old - and glimpsed into their lives, from hamlets and rural communities to the cities of London, Birmingham, and Manchester. I was lucky enough to see Greta speak when we arrived in Glasgow. She was holding a press conference in the woods surrounded by hundreds of people many, of course, from the media. There she was, standing on a suitcase and speaking through a bullhorn, continuing to captivate and inspire a world that has taken her to its heart. If anyone needs proof of the impact a role model can have, Greta certainly provides it. At a time when the challenges we face feel ever more daunting, and it is easy to feel we can’t bring about the change needed – both for ourselves and the world around us – we need as many Gretas as possible to show us that positive change is always within our grasp.
February 2022 17
LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE
TUTORING
Eligibility for academic mentors How can schools and academy trusts apply for subsidised tutoring as part of the national tutoring programme to help pupils catch up on missed learning?
ELIGIBILITY To ensure the DfE are reaching as many pupils as possible, they have reviewed their eligibility criteria for academic mentor support. Statefunded schools and academy trusts in one of the qualifying local authority districts prioritised for raising school standards can apply for an academic mentor and receive funding to subsidise the cost. Schools or academy trusts that are not based in a qualifying area, but have 30% or more of their pupils eligible for free school meals, are also eligible for support. Contact the DfE via email at academicmentors@ nationaltutoring.org.uk for further information.
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February 2022
FUNDING
The subsidy rate for the 202122 academic year will be 95%. The remaining costs will be funded by using, for example, the recovery premium or pupil premium.
HOW TO APPLY Register with the national tutoring programme to apply for an academic mentor.
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MANAGEMENT
C AT E R I N G
How to acheive excellence in catering ANDREW BLENCH, SBM consultant at School Business Partner Limited, explains why he believes excellent catering provision is so important, and how you can look to improve yours
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February 2022
T
he days of the school dining hall serving measly portions of rice pudding are, thankfully, behind us. However, the nutrition of students remains fundamental to their learning and physical development; how can catering services seek to feed hungry stomachs, deliver gourmet meals, and skim pennies off an SBM budget? I believe that the school catering service fulfils three main functions nutritional, social and financial.
1
NUTRITIONAL It is nutritional in that it, quite literally, provides young people with ‘brain food’. I know that I sometimes forget that the brain is part of our bodies; it doesn’t help that the media talks about ‘mental health’ and ‘physical health’ as if the two are unconnected. In my view there is no distinction; our mental health doesn’t float out there, somewhere in the ether.
How we think is influenced by what we eat - take being ‘hangry’ for example when we are angry and irritable because we are hungry. We need good nutrition to help us think well and maintain a good emotional state. This is even more important for our young people whose brains and bodies are growing and developing at a rapid pace. The development of cognitive ability in young people is a complex science which involves the establishment of connections in the brain and development of ways of thinking which we, as adults, take for granted sometimes. For some of our young people the food they access through school will be the only consistent and healthy food they will see. One of the good things which has come from the pandemic, thanks to Marcus Rashford and others, is an acknowledgment that child food poverty is real and still exists during the school holidays - but then, all of us who work in schools knew that already, didn’t we?
C AT E R I N G
MANAGEMENT
The way to drive excellence is to have a managed service which has the same values as you do
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SOCIAL The school catering service is social in that it gives us an opportunity to facilitate unstructured social contact between children and adults. Some of us are old enough to recall when school dinners were taken in family or house groups, a mixture of adults and children eating together, sitting at the same table. Now, particularly in secondary settings, this is more of a ‘grab and go’ arrangement. However we do this, we shouldn’t underestimate the educational value of practising the art of conversation and just being together.
3
FINANCIAL It is financial in that it presents an opportunity for older children (who are more in charge of their food choices) to learn about budgeting and the cost of things. When run well it can also generate a surplus which can be invested back into the school. SO HOW CAN SBMS DRIVE THIS EXCELLENCE IN CATERING? Focus on the footfall
We are not nutritional experts, and most of us have not operated catering at high volumes - that’s why we employ catering contractors - but the bit we can influence, which is within our domain, is the communication with parents and children. The higher proportion of young people accessing the service, the more we can do with it. So, do you know what percentage
of your young people access the service in a typical week? How can you influence this percentage? For those who never use it, what are the barriers and how might you address these? How do you capture parent and student voice about your catering service, and how does this filter through into changes and developments around the service? Manage your contract
SBMs are encouraged to manage our non-staffing contracts, checking that they are delivering to KPIs and value for money, not allowing contracts to expire and simply roll over on unfavourable terms. The reality is that, within our busy roles, we can’t give all contracts the same level of attention that we would like to. In my last role my two biggest contracts (in terms of monetary value) were the catering and cleaning contracts. I had regular termly/half-termly meetings with the account manager where we reviewed data (uptake/income) and planned for the next term. This had the benefit of driving up the income into the service and, because of the nature of the contract, this also brought back investment into school when targets were met. It also made the contractor realise that they were not going to get away with poor standards. In my consultancy role I am staggered to see some of the catering contracts that schools are locked into - a lot of which are heavily weighted to the
benefit of the supplier of local authority catering services. With the exception of special and AP provision, it should be possible to make a catering contract financially attractive for the supplier and also to generate some investment from a surplus generated by the service back into school. A modern contract is often referred to as a ‘no-cost contract’; technically, this isn’t correct but, in practical terms, the only charges you should see is for free school meals. So, is it time to review your contract and maybe go out to tender to get a better deal? Choose your catering partners carefully
It can take time to get there, but the way to drive excellence is to have a manged service which has the same values as you do. Yes, it’s about making money (for a commercial contractor), but it can and should also be about giving back. The best catering partners I have worked with have been people who care about children and who want to give something extra such as cooking classes for parents, or sixth form students about to head off to university, supporting the holiday clubs and attending open days/evenings. Driving excellence is about seeing the catering service as a thread which runs through the school and supports the whole enterprise. After all, we all like to connect over a cuppa and a slice of traybake! Or is that just me?!
February 2022 21
MANAGEMENT
E VA L U AT I N G S U C C E S S
How does an SBL know when they’ve been successful? STEPHEN PEACH, assistant headteacher and business manager at the Dacorum Education Support Centre, ponders how an SBL can count their successes
I
’m sure you’ve all seen the climax of court cases on TV ‘How do you find the defendant?’ asks the judge. ‘Guilty’ or ‘Not guilty’ replies the chair of the jury. Cue high fives by the winning team, while the losers could not be more distraught, their faces distorted to reflect their feelings of turmoil and disbelief. Lawyers know when they’ve been successful – it couldn’t be more obvious – and so do many other professions, come to that. Builders construct monuments that celebrate their skills, doctors heal people and accountants make (lots of) money. Teachers can teach a good lesson and walk out at the end knowing that learners have moved forward because of their efforts. Good grief, even traffic wardens get to meet targets
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and achieve a sense of (sociopathic, psychopathic and totally warped) satisfaction, inflicting misery, poverty and anger on unsuspecting motorists. (This is a magazine for school business professionals, right? I’m sure there won’t be any traffic wardens reading this and, even if there were, my car is always parked entirely legally and with all appropriate tickets purchased on time.) But how do SBLs (whatever we’re called this week) know when they’ve been successful? How do they even know what success looks like? How do they celebrate when they know they have succeeded and, more pertinently, when did you, as an SBL last feel a sense of achievement? Or is it so long ago that now success has been reduced to an empty
E VA L U AT I N G S U C C E S S
MANAGEMENT
bottle on a Friday night? SUCCESS ON A HORIZONTAL LINE The difference between professions is that for some it is Aside from an occasional audit, Ofsted don’t come to check the easy to see the difference between success and failure, while quality of the back-office processes in a school; they come to look for others it is more nuanced. Some professionals recognise at front-of-house activities – lessons and learning that represent success by the peaks and troughs of achievement and despair - the pinnacle of a very long process. Teaching can’t take place for example, lawyers probably experience a range of emotions without a single central record. No learning would happen if staff from being overwhelmed at the scale of the task ahead, to didn’t get paid. Everyone would leave very quickly if the building the joy of (sometimes) winning cases. Doctors are able to was always cold and the fire brigade would shut you down heal some people but, despite their instantly if the processes and site were unsafe best efforts, not everyone. And traffic for people to enter. If the back-office activities wardens? For them, isn’t success and weren’t meticulously implemented, no learners failure exactly the same thing? would be allowed anywhere near the site. Send a message But peaks and troughs for SBLs are Rather, success for business managers rare. Let’s face it, there aren’t many is represented not so much by peaks, but to another peaks; the opening of a new building by a horizontal line, where nothing is really business manager we’ve project-managed, maybe? noticeable, or stands out, because everything and dance and Keeping costs sufficiently in check to in the school just happens, without fuss or end the year in a better position than drama. Have you had any disasters recently? sing together expected? After that, I’m struggling… Was that ‘No’ you said? Well done – success! Troughs, on the other hand, Is the school financially secure where it could are much easier to spot because have been needing intervention if you hadn’t they indicate that we’ve missed something, or messed up managed a situation carefully? Result! High fives all around. somewhere, due to broken equipment, broken promises, or Have the staff been paid on time? Awesome! (Especially as many broken relationships. payroll companies seem to find it so difficult just to do their jobs.) I’ve come to see the role of a business manager in a similar What about the key success metric for a school – have way to a synchronised swimmer – it may be calm above the teachers taught and learners learnt and was no-one waterline, but no-one else can see your legs moving furiously harmed in the process? That’s a situation that requires some to keep it that way! As a result, the job of business manager is serious celebration! somewhat invisible. No-one sees when you do something well Next time you walk out of school on a Friday afternoon, because that forms part of the invisible 80% of the work of following a week in which nothing much happened, give the school. When was the last time anyone complimented you yourself a pat on the back for a job well done. High-five a on the quality of a spreadsheet you’d spent hours working on few random people you pass on the way to your car. Send so that you could communicate an important message? (Come a message to another business manager and dance and sing to that, why are quality spreadsheets such a niche interest?!) together, because there aren’t many other people who will understand that success can feel so flat.
February 2022 23
MANAGEMENT
FINANCE AND FUNDING
A guide to the Afghanistan resettlement education grant Information on local authority funding to provide education services for children arriving from Afghanistan living in temporary accommodation
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PURPOSE
CONDITIONS
This funding is for local authorities to provide education services for children from families arriving from Afghanistan, currently in bridging accommodation. Some examples of what local authorities can spend the funding on include: ● t he provision of a school place; ● p roviding a place for two, three and four-year-olds accessing the two-year-old, universal or 30 hours entitlements; ● funding the placement of larger clusters of children into schools and early years settings, including the hiring of additional and specialist teaching and nonteaching staff; ● p roviding transport to and from education settings; ● t he provision of specialist and bespoke services, such as support for children with additional needs; ● f ree school meals; ● s chool uniforms.
Local authorities must spend the funding in the 202122 financial year, and cannot carry it forward into the following financial year. Children may be offered a school place in a local authority outside the one in which the child’s family is housed in temporary accommodation. In these cases, the local authority that receives the grant funding should send an appropriate amount to the counterpart authority providing the school place.
February 2022
ALLOCATION The DfE have allocated funding to local authorities that are housing families arriving from Afghanistan in temporary accommodation; this accommodation is currently in bridging hotels funded by the Home Office. The allocations cover the costs incurred in the period 1 September 2021 to 30 November 2021 and are derived from £12m funding announced as part of Operation Warm
£
The DfE have allocated funding on a per pupil basis for the three phases of education at the following annual rates: ● e arly years (ages two-to-four) £3,000; ● p rimary - £6,580; ● s econdary - £8,755. The DfE will make a further allocation in spring 2022 to cover costs incurred in the period 1 December 2021 to 31 March 2022.
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MANAGEMENT
AIR QUALITY
The government has sent out 350,000 air monitors to schools in England to check the quantity of CO2 in the air, measured in parts per million, mainly from exhaled breath - but it is only providing 8,000 air purifiers for classrooms 26
February 2022
schools
v o r i n p ga Im ir
n in tio
d n a v e y t n i l tila a u q
A
survey by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) suggests that the Department for Education may have underestimated the demand for air filters. Paul Whiteman, the NAHT’s general secretary, says the survey suggests 8,000 air filters are unlikely to satisfy demand from the more than a quarter of a million classrooms in England. “We will encourage government to monitor demand and make more available, as required, to ensure all schools that need one, get one. Adequate ventilation in classrooms should not be limited to first-come, first-served,” he said. However, Nadhim Zahawi, the
education secretary, told the commons that “The majority of schools didn’t report any issues with the atmosphere in the classroom.” The government had ordered 8,000 purifiers because feedback suggested this was all that was needed. To provide them for all schools would be a waste of taxpayers’ money, he said. Munira Wilson, the Liberal Democrat education spokesperson, disagrees and says schools are missing out because the DfE has set the bar too high; only those with rooms consistently above 1500 ppm of CO2 could get free filters - nearly twice 800 parts per million (ppm), the widely agreed safe level.
AIR QUALITY
“The government has completely failed teachers, pupils and parents alike with their botched air purifier scheme,” she said. “Not only do their own criteria fail to keep most classrooms safe, the earliest a school can access equipment is next month. This snail’s pace is frankly unacceptable.” EXPERT ADVICE Whilst the debate over government provision of air filters continues, we spoke to two industry experts about how to improve air quality and ventilation in schools. Elisabete Wells, regional marketing director, ACCO UK Ltd, said, “Air quality and ventilation in schools have become major causes for concern since the onset of the pandemic – and this winter promises to be especially challenging as the normal winter time surge of airborne illnesses couples up with new COVID-19 variants, such as omicron. “Current government advice suggests that teachers open a window to circulate fresh air in their classrooms but, for many schools, this is impractical due to the cold temperatures, noise, or air pollution in their locations. If students get sick, they risk missing lessons and falling behind; if teachers fall ill, schools can end up short staffed with no choice but to cancel classes. Therefore, introducing an air purifier to help trap and destroy harmful airborne viruses and bacteria in the classroom is critical for keeping everyone healthy and ensuring learning stays on track. “Education secretary Nadhim
MANAGEMENT
Zahawi has pledged 8,000 air cleaning units for schools and colleges, but this is nowhere near enough and some educators are taking on the challenge of sourcing their own. To help support schools with improving their air quality, for a limited time, anyone who purchases the Leitz TruSens Z-3000 air purifier for the classroom can claim a Z-1000 for the office absolutely free. We understand the importance of having a safe and healthy place to learn, and really want to do our part to support that.”
Air quality and ventilation in schools have become a major cause for concern Tim Browning, head of business development at Fellowes air purifiers, added, “It is becoming more evident that stringent hygiene procedures alone do not effectively remove the threat of COVID-19 from the classroom. While these control measures are necessary, numerous scientific studies demonstrate beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses such as COVID-19 are transmitted from person-to-person by aerosolised droplets, rather than by cross-contamination via surfaces. This is leading to a shift in focus towards air cleanliness when mitigating the risks of
February 2022 27
MANAGEMENT
AIR QUALITY
using shared spaces to pupils and staff. “By choosing the right technology, adequate ventilation and air purification systems can remove over 99.99% of germs and viruses – including COVID-19/SARSCoV-2, the H1N1 ‘flu virus and other airborne contaminants. An effective system will also reduce the spread of bacteria, allergens, volatile organic compounds and unpleasant odours - resulting in a healthier environment that prevents disruption to our education system. “As specialists in indoor air quality, Fellowes advise those responsible for ensuring student and staff welfare to consider three key areas when introducing an air purification system. Firstly, whether the system has been proven to remove COVID-19. Secondly, ensuring the chosen solution features H13 HEPA filters and, finally, whether you can see that the air is being cleaned when the system is in operation.” Jonathon Hunter Hill, sector manager – education, SAV systems, said, “The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp relief the impact that government policy has thus far had on indoor air quality in schools. Whilst guidance has long existed that aims to address ventilation, thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools (BB101 2018), the soft approach of supporting natural ventilation has required students to dress for outside whilst sitting inside. The impact of this
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February 2022
Adequate ventilation and air purification systems can remove over 99.99% of germs and viruses – including COVID-19 uncomfortable learning environment on their futures is yet to be seen. “If we are to deliver our net zero greenhouse gas emission goal of 2050, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) will be essential. A secondary benefit of MVHR is that it can guarantee comfortable and consistent operation regardless of external conditions, which means no more freezing children! “We were, however, pleased to see that the government delivered on their promise of supplying 300,000 CO2 sensors to schools. There have been few benefits to the global pandemic, but in the world of indoor air quality, we are seeing an acceleration of public interest, which will only be of benefit to children in education. “SAV Systems welcomes more stringent government regulations on ventilation in schools. We are here to help if schools need advice on their ventilation systems.”
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I C T M AT T E R S
BETT PREVIEW
What can you expect from Bett 2022? Bett is back for its first in person event since 2020! So, what can you expect if you’re planning on going?
BACK IN PERSON Following the rapid escalation of omicron cases across the UK and around the world, Bett 2022 is postponed to 23-25 March and will continue to take place at the ExCeL London. This year Bett has moved to three days, and has also introduced Bett After Hours. This is the perfect opportunity for visitors
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February 2022
who cannot attend during class or work hours to explore the show and experience more product discovery, more CPD, and great networking moments with their peers. REGISTER NOW What’s new for 2022? To help you make the most of your time when visiting, here are the latest updates you’ll see at Bett 2022.
BETT PREVIEW
HOSTED LEADERS PROGRAMME Brought to you by Bett and Learnit, connecting global educator leaders with relevant education solution providers through carefully curated, one-to-one, meetings. LEADERS @ BETT THEATRE The new theatre is the place to come for policy, digital strategy, whole school management, K12, HE transformation and more. ESPORTS @ BETT A showcase of how schools and universities can harness this growing industry to engage students, support teaching and learning objectives and identify future skills.
Bett has moved to three days, and has also introduced Bett After Hours BETT AFTER HOURS Bett will be running until eight pm so that visitors who cannot attend Bett during the day can still experience everything that it has to offer. BETT 2022 AGENDA To see the agenda for the full three days, click here.
I C T M AT T E R S
SAFE AND SECURE In line with the latest government approved All Secure Standard, Bett and ExCeL London have taken the decision to verify attendee COVID-19 status on arrival; this will include visitors, exhibitors, contractors, venue and organiser staff. This means that all attendees will need to demonstrate proof of COVID-19 status for entry to the event. One of the following will be needed: ● P roof of completion of a full course of vaccination two weeks prior to arrival. ● P roof of a negative lateral flow test result, taken within 48 hours of arrival. ● P roof of a negative PCR Test result, taken within 48 hours of arrival. ● P roof of natural immunity shown by a positive PCR test result for COVID-19, lasting for 180 days from the date of the positive test, and following completion of the self-isolation period. Please note, UK-based visitors can use their NHS COVID Pass, and international visitors, the equivalent from their country of origin. For further details on how to prove your COVID-19 status and FAQs please click here.
February 2022 31
I C T M AT T E R S
TECHNO GEEK
Techno Geek
A day in the life of a director of IT
D
GARY HENDERSON, ANME ambassador and director of IT at Millfield School, takes us through a day in his life
ifferent schools use different job titles for the work that I do, and, in addition, the specific tasks and requirements differ from schoolto-school based on size, context, budgetary constraints and a variety of other factors. As such, I thought I would share a brief outline of a day in my life. So, it’s a Thursday, and the day kicks off for me around 8:15am when I arrive at the office and get set up for the day. My first port of call is to get emails on screen plus my collection of daily web pages, including my to-do list, our help desk and any other apps I need on a daily basis. One of the first things I look at is any alerts in relation to suspicious user account activity to see if there is anything that might merit my involvement and I also make sure that anything which requires
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February 2022
logging is noted ready to be reported to SLT. My next activity is a quick chat with our network manager in relation to some wi-fi usage data I have been looking at. We started gathering the data and analysing it in response to some general student complaints regarding wi-fi connectivity; however, the data doesn’t quite support the existence of a general issue, albeit individual students may have specific problems in relation to their devices, connectivity, or services which they are trying to access. It’s now 9:00 and I have my first meeting of the day with our director of finance. There are several projects which make up the agenda for our discussion, plus a discussion of cyber security issues and some recent infrastructure challenges we have been facing.
TECHNO GEEK
I C T M AT T E R S
The clock hits 10:30 and I am working on our annual includes SLT members and a number of teaching staff. IT services perception survey. This consist of The end of the day is now fast approaching so I three surveys that go out to staff, senior school students spend a bit of time continuing to work on my end and prep school students to gauge their experience of term report. I try to provide a termly report which and perception of IT services and of our devices, contains useful data in relation to our infrastructure, infrastructure, etc. We have been gathering this systems, user support, etc. The purpose of this data is information now for around five years and it is this type very much about transparency and making sure that of longitudinal data which is most useful in highlighting the SLT is always aware of all the work going on in IT trends over time. services even when everything is working fine. It also My departmental weekly briefing is my final task before serves to identify trends, opportunities, and concerns. lunch. This is a weekly document, rather than a face-toface meeting, and serves to share thoughts, notices, etc REFLECTIONS with the IT services team - hopefully also serving as a Looking back, it was a reasonably busy day with a record of activities, etc., and as a repository of useful info. number of reports being written. Cyber security was Following lunch I have meetings with the head of certainly high on my order of thinking; however, this is IT at our prep school and our director of edtech for increasingly the case. Our technology strategy, which our senior school. I work closely with both; their focus we recently updated, was also high on the priority list. is very much on what happens in I suspect that, although directors the classroom and the pedagogy, of IT, or those in similar roles at whereas my focus is more on the other schools, are all travelling in technology, infrastructure, support roughly similar directions in terms of Together we are services and cyber security. The key technology use within their schools able to provide a thing is that, together, we are able to or trusts, the routes taken can differ provide a guiding direction in terms significantly. As such, my day may guiding direction of technology use within the school, look totally different from your day, in terms of each able to bring our different but that’s not a problem. experiences and skillsets to bear in The key is that we each know which technology use discussions. As a result, we make direction we wish to go in, and are within the school up a central element of the school’s taking the necessary IT management group, which also steps to get there.
February 2022 33
LIVE IT
TEABREAK
LIVE IT
Time to take a few moments out for some light and interesting reading – a wellearned break from numbers and statistics!
LIFE HACK Caption competition Let us know your funny caption ideas by tweeting us @edexec
Want a dazzling bathroom mirror? First, make a cup of tea (really). Allow a mug of black tea to cool before transferring it into a spray bottle. Spray the tea onto your bathroom mirrors and clean them with a cloth. The tannic acids found in tea cut through grease and dirt easily. Use a clean cloth to dry and buff the mirror until it shines.
Pub quiz A new habitat has been created for one of the UK’s rarest reptiles, the sand lizard, after a five-year conservation effort to restore heathland, BBC News has reported. A total of 41 sites in the South Downs National Park in Hampshire and Sussex have been restored as part of the Heathlands Reunited initiative. The national park said the need was ‘profound’ as less than one percent of heathland remained; endangered species, like the natterjack toad, have also been able to return. A spokesperson for the national park said heathlands were man-made and “only exist because our ancestors used them to dig peat for fuel, harvest heather and graze animals, unwittingly creating a unique mosaic of habitats which many plants and animals now can’t survive without”. They said what heathland had remained was “very fragmented, leaving animals and plants vulnerable to extinction.” 34
February 2022
1. W hich country is Brie cheese
originally from? 2. I n what film franchise would you find
the character Katniss Everdeen? 3. W hat year was the company
Heinz established? 4. W hat is the capital of Iceland? 5. W ho came second in the
FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019?
Answers: 1. France 2. The Hunger Games 3. 1869 4. Reykjavík 5 . Netherlands
RETURNING RARE REPTILES
TEABREAK
THUMBS UP!
A helping hand
An anonymous donor has saved a family from eviction after they fell behind in rent arrears, BBC News has reported. Charlotte and Anthony Smith spoke to the BBC in November when they owed more than £600 in rent arrears, and were under threat of losing their home. Someone who saw the story offered to clear the debt, saying they had been helped in the past and wanted to pay it forward. Mrs Smith, from Wolverhampton, said, “In this day and age, for somebody to pay off even just half, or a little bit, it is just so nice. Thank you is not really enough.” Thanks to the kindness of the stranger they are now in the position of being able to move to a more suitable home and know they have a roof over their heads, they said.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step Lao Tzu
DID YOU KNOW?
The world’s oldest wooden wheel has been around for more than 5,000 years. It was found in 2002, approximately 12 miles south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and is now housed in the city’s museum. Radiocarbon dating was used to determine the wheel’s age, which is somewhere between 5,100 and 5,350 years old.
LIVE IT
Well, knock me down with a feather!
STRANGE REQUESTS As reported by Sky News, Travelodge has revealed its strangest requests from guests at some of its hotels this year including asking where the Welsh Rarebit lives and arranging afternoon tea with pandas. Another asked what time they can see the snake on the Snake Pass in Derbyshire, the UK hospitality company said, and one guest in York asked a member of staff to sing in the next room to check he had a quiet room. In St Austell’s Travelodge, a guest requested a room with a south-facing window because he required sunlight to charge his aura first thing in the morning and, proving Britons love their pets, staff at Newcastle Quayside Travelodge were left shocked when a customer asked for a children’s paddling pool so their pet fish could have a spacious bed for the night.
February 2022 34
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