Education Executive March 2022

EDUCATION

EXECUTIVE

MARCH 2022

Digital wrap edition

SUPPORTING BUSINESS AND F INANCIAL EXCELLENCE IN SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES

Hiring a head Conny Brandt takes us through the process

P A R W L A T I G DI ALSO INSIDE THIS MONTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-AWARENESS

IMPROVING BIODIVERSITY ON SCHOOL GROUNDS

LISTENING – WHY IT MATTERS AND HOW TO DO IT

David Carne on being a self-aware school leader

The first article from Helen Burge in a sustainability series

How your school can become a better listener

March is a month of many important dates. Whether you have been flipping (and, hopefully, catching) pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, growing your daffodils for St David’s Day, drinking Guinness in preparation for St Patrick’s Day, or organising a special event for Mother’s Day, there are many days of celebration this month!

Someone else with much to celebrate, after being nominated for SBL of the year at the Tes Awards, is Kevin Parker. Kevin spoke to us about how he went from new SBL only five years ago to becoming award-nominated, and the impressive achievements he has accomplished at his school during his time there.

After recently going through the process herself, Conny Brandt talks us through the steps of hiring a new headteacher and the lessons she learned. David Carne explains the importance of being a self-aware leader in education and how you can improve your self-awareness. One of the aspects David discusses is the importance of listening to others and, following on from this theme, Simon Hepburn explores how schools can become better listeners through a variety of proven methods and, in the first of a series of articles which will focus on how to address each area of the Eco Schools Award, Helen Burge gives her advice on how can you can make your school more biodiverse.

Moving on to all things ICT, Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith gives her top tips on how to make informed choices when it comes to procuring edtech, and Nigel Milligan explains how you can implement a strategic plan in your IT department to achieve successful outcomes.

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.

Contributors

Editor’s comment

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

GET YOUR DAILY DOSE OF SBM NEWS, ADVICE AND GUIDANCE AT

WWW.EDEXEC.CO.UK

ELEANOR POTTER Editor Education Executive

CONNY BRANDT School business leader Peterhouse School

SIMON HEPBURN

Founder Marketing Advice for Schools

HELEN BURGE

Deputy COO The Priory Learning Trust

DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH Director One Life Learning

NIGEL MILLIGAN

IT technician manager St Herbert’s RC Primary School

DAVID CARNE

School business professional and executive coach Cardinal Griffin Catholic College

Education Executive is published by Intelligent Media Solutions

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EDUCATION EXECUTIVE

NEWS & VIEWS

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NEWS Latest school business management news in brief

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ENGLAND’S CATCH-UP TUITION 90% BELOW ENROLMENT TARGET Randstad under mounting pressure over tutoring

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HOW GRAMMAR SCHOOLS ARE EXPANDING Critics say disadvantaged children are losing out LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

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BRAND NEW, BUT PUSHING THROUGH: FROM NOW SBL TO TESNOMINATED IN FOUR YEARS We speak to Kevin Parker about being shortlisted for SBL of the year

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THE HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES AND FOOD PROGRAMME 2022 The conditions and funding for HAP

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HIRING A HEAD Conny Brandt takes us through the process

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SELFAWARENESS IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP Are you a self-aware leader? David Carne discusses

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MANAGEMENT

@EdExec

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LISTENING – WHY IT MATTERS AND HOW TO DO IT Simon Hepburn on how your school can become a better listener

Design

Graphic designer Amanda Lancaster alancasterdesign.com

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IMPROVING BIODIVERSITY ON SCHOOL GROUNDS The first article from Helen Burge in a sustainability series ICT MATTERS

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USING EVIDENCE TO MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT EDTECH PURCHASES Top tips courtesy of Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith

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TECHNO GEEK Nigel Milligan discusses implementing IT strategic plans

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.

32 LIVE IT

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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

Food agency to check that school lunches in England meet standards Inspectors from the Food Standards Agency are to check on school lunches in England to make sure they meet national standards as part of government plans to tackle obesity. The measures also include a new push to teach students about healthy eating and food preparation, with all students expected to leave school knowing how to prepare and cook at least six basic recipes, as well as adopting measures championed by the celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. The move comes amid fears that schools in some parts of the country are struggling to meet the national school food standards, which have been in place since 2015, such as including no more than two portions of deep-fried food in school lunches each week. There is also evidence that childhood obesity increased markedly during the COVID pandemic, which saw physical education, school sports and other activities for children cancelled or restricted.

@SbmWannabe: I’ve been offered a job today that is the perfect next step in my ambition to be a SBM. I am so happy and excited. It seems like a fantastic school and I cannot wait to get stuck in. #SBM #NewStart #Excited #SchoolLife #AlwaysLearning

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March 2022

@EldonPrincipal: 7-week half terms: ‘It’s a marathon not a sprint’.

Everyone in schools - it’s a marathon made up of 35 sprints.

Children’s mental health: record number referred for specialist care More children than ever have been referred to the NHS for the most serious mental health problems, the latest figures show.

Some 409,347 under-18s were referred for specialist care for issues such as self-harm and eating disorders between April and October 2021; this is 77% higher than the same period in 2019. The government plans to have 400 mental health teams in place to support schools by 2023. The referrals data, analysed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for BBC News, includes the most serious and urgent cases where the child faces an immediate risk from an eating disorder, self-harm or suicidal thoughts. There were 349,449 under-18s in touch with NHS child and adolescent psychiatric teams at the end of October 2021 - which is the highest number on record. The children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, and the union, National Association of Head Teachers, sent a survey to schools to which more than 1,000 teaching and support staff responded. Almost all described seeing an increase in emotional and mental health issues among pupils since the pandemic, including anxiety and low self-esteem.

NEWS

NEWS AND VIEWS

News in brief

Streets around schools close to traffic in Milton Keynes Streets around schools will be closed at drop-off and pick-up times in a bid to improve safety and air quality as part of a pilot scheme taking place around two schools in Milton Keynes for the next six months. Roads around Chestnuts Primary School in Bletchley, and Cold Harbour Church of England Primary School, will be closed to vehicles at certain times. Milton Keynes Council said it hoped the scheme would discourage car journeys and encourage walking or cycling.

Staff and pupils nearing ‘point of burnout’ Staff and pupils are ‘getting to the point of burnout’ due to the additional pressures brought by the coronavirus pandemic according to the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, the largest teachers’ union in Ireland. Its committee chair in Northern Ireland, Marie O’Shea, said the hard work of schools should not be overlooked.

“Whilst there were closures of buildings in a lot of cases, there was not a closure of schools,” she said. “I think it’s really important that people remember that schools and teachers continue to contribute to their young people through periods of lockdown and through this pandemic.”

Homophobic abuse ‘normalised’ in primary schools Primary school children are targeting each other with homophobic and antitrans abuse, a professor has warned.

Cardiff University’s EJ Renold said they had noticed an increase in young children reporting homophobic and sexist comments. Maisie Awen said she was “terrified anyone would find out” she was gay after experiencing homophobia in school from the age of six. The Welsh government said any bullying was ‘unacceptable’.

Last year an Estyn report found that homophobic bullying was the most common kind in secondary schools and happened ‘all the time’. Prof Renold, who advised on that report, told BBC Wales it was “not unusual” to find anti-gay comments “normalised” in primary schools. “It might be more underground, but it’s going on,” they said. “You will have children who are may be gender non-conforming who can become targets of homophobic abuse and, I would say, increasingly, transphobic abuse as well.”

@PookyH: Lyra interviewed me about her baby days for her English homework. One question was “How did I change your life?” I’m not sure what answer her teacher was hoping for here. What would you have said?

I answered honestly: “I learnt what unconditional love is.”

March 2022

05

NEWS AND VIEWS

T IATTLCE HP- LUEPA S E C

England’s catch-up tuition 90% below enrolment target Randstad, the Dutch multinational company responsible for delivering the government’s flagship National Tutoring Programme, is under mounting pressure after claims that pupil enrolment for subsidised tuition is more than 90% below target

M

Ps on the cross-party education committee were told that the recruitment business, which was controversially awarded the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) contact in June, has enrolled just five per cent of the target number of pupils for the 2021-22 academic year.

Talks are being held to set up a new, not-for-profit, consortium of education charities which could take over the running of the NTP from September 2022. A meeting is due to take place with the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, to discuss options.

A committee was told that 28,000 pupils - out of an end-of-year target of 524,000 - had so far been enrolled, even though schools were almost a third of the way through the year. The Department for Education (DfE) said that the figure was out of date, and has since increased, while the TES reported that just eight per cent of the target had started tuition.

Randstad was awarded the contract to run the programme in June after it submitted a £25m bid - which was considerably lower than rival bids, and far below the £62m maximum suggested by government. Asked if it was proving value for money Nick Bent, the chief executive of the Tutor Trust - one of the partners providing tutoring in schools - told the committee, “I’m afraid all the evidence we’ve seen so far about Randstad’s performance in delivering this contract suggests this is a massive false economy, and that the previous secretary of state [Gavin Williamson] made a mistake in awarding this contract to Randstad.

“The question is whether the new secretary of state will do anything about that. It seems very clear to us, the frontline delivery organisations with the NTP, that Randstad just simply has not got the capacity, or the competence, to deliver this programme effectively.

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March 2022

C AT C H - U P

“They are now trying desperately to rectify that, and we are collaborating closely with them…but there’s a huge question mark about whether it’s right for Randstad to continue running this programme for the full three years.”

Asked what evidence there was that Randstad lacked the competence to deliver the programme, Bent said, “Our day-to-day experience of working with them is they simply do not have enough staff, or the right expertise.”

NEWS AND VIEWS

There’s a huge question mark about whether it’s right for Randstad to continue running this programme

ALTERNATIVE ORGANISATION? The committee was told there was a break clause in the three-year contract at the end of the first year – and the second – which could allow the DfE to bring in an alternative organisation to run the NTP. A meeting was planned with the education secretary on 19 January, “but there’s serious talk going on at the moment about co-creating a new organisation – a not-for-profit entity – that could, potentially, take over the running of the NTP from 1 September 2022”, Bent said.

Information about low take-up comes as new research recently published found that more than 50,000 disabled pupils went without social services and healthcare support for more than 12 months during the pandemic, resulting in huge developmental losses for the children and young people concerned. Researchers from ASK Research, UCL and the National Foundation for Educational Research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that more than a third were still not receiving the health or care support to which they are legally entitled by the end of the summer term, and learning losses were greater than in mainstream education settings.

When the NTP first launched it was run by the Education Endowment Foundation; under the scheme schools choose from a list of approved tuition partners and pay 25% of the cost while the government picks up the rest of the bill - although the level of subsidy will reduce over the next three years.

The DfE maintains the programme is on target, and that the 28,000 figure does not take into account the school-led tutoring arm of the programme, which is the largest component.

Data will be published next year to update progress.

ON TRACK? “The NTP is on track to reach hundreds of thousands more pupils this year, as part of a significant expansion to give schools more flexibility to deliver tutoring that works for them and families, ensuring no child is left behind. We have set high standards for the programme, and feedback from schools shows the positive impact it is having in helping pupils to catch up,” a DfE spokesperson said.

Randstad said, “We are working closely with tuition partners to deliver an ambitious and highquality programme, at pace, to help pupils whose education has been most impacted. We absolutely recognise the importance of the programme, and take the responsibility of managing it extremely seriously. We are working very closely with all of our stakeholders to provide further information and support across the programme.

“We have received positive feedback from a large number of tuition partners on the support we have provided. Schools have also given positive feedback on the quality and impact that the programme is already having. We are working hard to build on this success, and move forward collaboratively, to ensure high-quality, targeted tuition support reaches pupils most in need.”

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Guardian

March 2022 07

NEWS AND VIEWS

GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

How grammar schools are expanding

I

Critics say disadvantaged children are losing out in England as selective schools find creative ways to poach students

t’s a glorious day at Herne Bay High School in Kent, and boys and girls in red tops are playing sport on neat artificial pitches.

However, the principal, Jon Boyes, is looking into the distance, pointing out a piece of land on the other side of the road. If the local authority could be persuaded to buy it, he says, maybe he could squeeze in a much-needed new sixth-form centre.

The school, a secondary modern – a non-selective school in a selective authority – is heavily oversubscribed, and a huge housing development next to the school is about to bring yet more pupils to the door. While local grammar schools have had permission to expand in recent years, however, there isn’t ready cash for necessary building works at Herne Bay High School.

The irony of the situation is not lost on Boyes. Several of the local grammar schools can’t fill their places with pupils who’ve passed the Kent entrance test and are, instead, taking large numbers on appeal. Meanwhile, Herne Bay High is turning away significant numbers; it’s meant to take 258 11-year-olds each year but actually takes 280. Nationally, grammars have been allowed to expand; a handful of authorities, including Kent, remain fully selective, while several others are partially so.

So, are more children in those areas reaching the required

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March 2022

standard? Or is it getting easier to go to a selective school?

The Guardian questioned all 162 remaining grammar schools in England about their recent admissions numbers through a freedom of information request, which also went to relevant local authorities, and received figures for 143 for the past five years.

The results show an interesting pattern; those 143 schools grew by 5.4% – about 1,200 pupils in total – but the numbers taking the 11-plus test didn’t keep pace; they grew by just 2.4%, in a period when the numbers of 11-year-olds were also rising.

HOW DID THE GRAMMARS MANAGE TO EXPAND WHILE STILL, APPARENTLY, REQUIRING CHILDREN TO PASS THE SAME TESTS? The Kent example can shed light on the issue. Of seven east Kent grammars that take pupils from Herne Bay, three have expanded since 2016. Yet not all are full – and all but one are taking significant numbers of pupils who didn’t pass the 11-plus test.

The range of ways in which Kent grammars find pupils who didn’t pass the controversial test is impressive. About 20% pass the test first time. A further four per cent – about 600 each year – are offered grammar school places on the basis of

GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

NEWS AND VIEWS

appeals by their primary headteachers schools and academies can increase to panels chaired by grammar heads. their own intake without consulting the What I am Another tranche win places following local authority, which only controls three parental appeals – a further 425 this year. selective and one non-selective secondary. against is the In addition, children living in Dover or Kent does not favour the introduction of uneven playing Folkestone can sit a second, local, 11-plus extra tests in Dover and Folkestone, but test; in 2017-19, six-out-of-10 children these have been deemed legitimate by the field we’re on taking that test passed.

Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

Six out of the seven grammars that “There is no difference in the process serve Herne Bay took pupils this year who had failed the for expanding grammar and non-selective schools, and it is 11-plus after parental appeals – 10% of their intake. Across clear that the two sectors need to expand at approximately Kent, 14 grammar schools that have expanded are taking pupils the same rate in order to maintain the current balance,” the in this way, and 35% of 11-plus applicants in the county now go spokesman said. “Our grammar school selection process has to grammar schools – that’s at least 10% more than are meant to. two stages; the setting of a threshold based on test scores, Meanwhile, dozens of local Herne Bay children have which selects approximately 20% of the cohort, followed by to go elsewhere, to non-selective schools. Boyes says this is the meeting of four headteacher panels to which schools can discriminatory; his is the only school in this coastal town and submit a wider range of data and examples of work from most pupils who can’t get in have to go to Canterbury, seven candidates who – for a variety of reasons – are thought to miles away. “A high proportion will be from disadvantaged have unrepresentative scores.” families, just because that’s the way it works,” he says. “Most Boyes says he is not opposed to selection. “What I am against students who go to grammar schools come from the kind of is the uneven playing field we’re on. If we’re in a system where family where they make an active choice to travel, and have 20% are meant to go to grammar school, then they should the means to do so. That isn’t the case for students who can’t make it 20%. We need open, transparent choices, where all get into their local high school.” schools are supported to do the best for their kids.

While Kent grammars fill spaces with pupils who haven’t “I just want to be able to provide the best education for passed the test, different means have been adopted elsewhere.

Herne Bay residents. I’m not after some sort of massive A spokesperson for Kent county council says it has little control takeover, but just let’s have a level playing field, and let’s make over school expansion – changes made in 2012 mean that sure everyone’s treated fairly.”

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Guardian

March 2022 09

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

SBL INTERVIEW

Brand new, but pushing through: from new SBL to Tes-nominated in four years We speak to KEVIN PARKER, school business manager at Ann Edwards C of E Primary School, about being shortlisted for SBL of the year at the Tes Awards and why he loves his job so much Tell us a bit about yourself, and the pathway to your current role.

I’m 30 years-old, living in Cheltenham and working in Cirencester in a one-and-a-half form entry primary school.

At university I did a business management degree with a HR pathway. I originally started on Lidl’s graduate management programme, and did that for a year; I then went into education recruitment and then became a school governor.

Eventually, when the opportunity presented itself at the right school, I went for a school business manager interview and, four years later, I’m still here. So, yes, I must be doing something right!

Did you have a preference about what sort of school you’d like to start your SBM journey at?

I wanted to go into a school that was not rated ‘outstanding’

by Ofsted; the reason for that is I think when you are judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted the only place to go is backwards, effectively. So, I didn’t want to go into a place where I immediately felt pressure. The school I now work at is situated in huge grounds; I thought, from a building or marketing perspective, there was something there. Then when I found out the school was in financial deficit, I thought, ‘Okay. This is one way I can really try and make an impact. Let’s get the school out of deficit and let’s provide opportunities for children.’

Explain your input into the development, strategic planning and communication of your school’s vision.

I’m responsible for everything that is non-teaching in the school, whether that’s health and safety, human resources, IT, catering etc. Our school development plan is split into

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March 2022

teaching and non-teaching elements, and the non-teaching objectives are effectively set by me alongside the headteacher.

Current plans include reducing the deficit and increasing grants and revenue opportunities by working closely with the local community.

When it comes to the communication, there was a huge opportunity in how we marketed the school. When I joined, the school had a very, very basic website, didn’t use any social media and didn’t have any parental engagement apps. The school still relied heavily on paper communication and I felt, in 2018, we shouldn’t be doing things like this - so, quite quickly, I was implementing new systems.

Because they are quite an experienced team, I think initially they thought ‘Who’s this inexperienced 25-year-old coming in, wanting to make X, Y and Z changes?!’ But I got them onside quite quickly, which proved fortunate as, during the pandemic, communication was absolutely key.

Communication is a real focus point for us all the time, whether it’s to parents, staff, pupils, etc.

You spoke there about transforming the way you communicated with parents, which was obviously a massive project for you. Which other projects or ideas are you most proud of overseeing in the school?

There are two that I’m really passionate about. The first one was our library bus. When I joined the school in 2018 our reading data was below average, especially in Key Stage 2, where it was significantly below. I felt quite passionate about it because I didn’t really like to read when I was in school and, when I saw what our library was like, it just reminded me of how my school was 20 years ago. I thought, ‘This is not going

SBL INTERVIEW

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

to inspire and motivate our children! No had the biggest personal impact for me. wonder our data is below average.’ So, About 20% of our pupils receive free I asked our pupils, ‘How would you like school meals so, when the pandemic hit, One suggestion your library to look, and how can we we were really concerned about how are included getting make reading fun?’ these pupils were going to access education an aeroplane One suggestion included getting an online. In addition, because we were still aeroplane as our library. Unfortunately, in a bit of a deficit, we couldn’t go out and as our library I thought that was a bit of a logistical just buy 200 laptops for everybody. nightmare! But it did spark an idea in my Someone put me in touch with a head…Every morning the children come company called DXC Technology on a double-decker bus, so I said, ‘Okay, well why don’t we get which meant nothing to me at the time. It’s a huge technology a double decker bus for you? We can have the downstairs as company, headquartered in the US, and they actually individual reading zones, and upstairs stripped out and have it donated 50 brand new laptops to us. I think the street value as a group room.’ of those laptops is about £21,500. We managed to get every Because we were in deficit, we couldn’t afford any money vulnerable pupil a laptop and then, pretty much anyone who to spend on it so I contacted a few companies and got a bus asked, we could support with a laptop. donated. We’re situated near two industrial estates in our village and I went, literally, knocking on their doors, saying, ‘This is What has been your biggest professional what we’d like to do. This is why we’re doing it. Would you like challenge whilst you’ve been in the role? to be a part of it? And, if you give us £250, this is what you’ll I came into the job as a confident 25-year-old with no experience get; a logo on the bus and an invite to the official opening.’ in the sector that I was about to work in - yet on the senior A lot of these businesses said things like ‘Yeah, we’d love leadership team. There were staff who had been at the school for to do it. We always want to give money to schools, or help 10, 15, 20 years; I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers - I’m a very schools, but we don’t know how,’ and I guess businesses collaborative person - but I think people are often stuck in their are unwilling to just write a blank cheque and say, ‘Here ways so, when someone tries to change these ways, it is often met you go. Spend it however you want.’ So, we managed to with some resistance. raise £11,500 through local, national, and international And as I said previously, within the first six months there were companies. Now, two-and-a-half years later, our reading a few different processes that I implemented - such as taking the data across the whole school, especially Key Stage 2, is above register electronically, rather than on a paper format, signing in average. So, in terms of impact, I think that’s had the best via an electronic touchscreen and revamping our fire evacuation school impact for me. process. I was by far the youngest member of staff in our school, The second project I’m proud of overseeing in the school and one of only three males at that time. The challenge was

March 2022 11

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

SBL INTERVIEW

To date we’ve donated around £4,500 worth of food to these families

gaining the respect of, and partnership working with, all my staff. I did this by showing them what I wanted to do, and trying to bring them along with me, rather than forcing things upon them.

How do you evaluate success?

Within the role of the business manager I often go to our pupils because, ultimately, everything we’re doing is for them. It might directly impact our staff. and benefit them but, if it’s improving staff wellbeing, members of staff are happier, which means they’ll be coming into work with a better frame of mind, and the pupils will benefit. So, I’m always asking the pupils what they want or, if a decision has been made, how do they feel about it? I think if they feel happy, secure and enjoying school, then I that’s a really good starting point. Secondary successes would be if there a financial benefit, whether we are streamlining processes, if we are bringing in new innovations to the school. For me, if the pupils are happy - and they can see the benefit of something - then that’s the most important thing.

And what about motivating your team?

Communication is key, so I’m always asking their opinion and keeping in contact with them. I’m definitely not a ‘cut throat’ manager and, although it is cliché, my door is always open.

I try and lead by example - though not by doing things like arriving first and leaving last; if I’ve got an appointment at the doctor’s, or I want to drop my son at nursery, I do that and I let my team know that I’m going to do that, because they all have families as well and that’s really important for them.

What would you say are the most important qualities for school business leaders to have?

Be flexible, especially at the moment. My headteacher is back tomorrow, but has been off for the last nine days with

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COVID. Our deputy headteacher is classroom-based, and the only other member of the SLT - the SENCO - has COVID as well. I could have a plan at the end of each day ready for the next day, or in the morning for that day, but a ‘phone call can certainly change how your first hour or two looks.

You also need to communicate effectively, so you don’t leave people hanging; if you’ve said you’re going to get back to them by Thursday, get back by to them by Thursday. Failing to do so might well annoy them and they might not have the confidence, or desire, to want to chase you. I think it’s really important, if you said you’re going to get something done at a certain time, even if it’s not done, give them an early update. ‘Okay, this isn’t looking realistic. Can we adjust? Can we say by end of play Friday?’ Or, if it’s done, get it to them by that time.

We are spinning a lot of plates at the moment with sickness, especially - so the SBM needs to be ready to get their hands dirty. This could involve going into the kitchen to help serve the meals, it could be unblocking the toilet, it could be doing gate duty to make sure that the children come in safely. These things are not part of my job role in terms of what’s written down, but all these things make the school work.

Apart from unblocking toilets…why do you think you were shortlisted for SBL of the year in the Tes Awards 2021?

I think financially I’ve made a huge impact on the school.

When I joined the school was in deficit but, within threeand-a-half years, I’ve either generated additional revenue or saved the school money amounting to £180,000.

SBL INTERVIEW

You could say that, in this time, I’ve paid for my salary and significantly more, so I haven’t actually cost the school anything. We’ve also managed to aid the pupil’s learning through the library bus, whole school trips that have been fully-funded by external companies and the laptop donation.

The local community is also quite diverse; you’ve got some really well-off families, but you’ve also got pupils who’s only hot meal is the meal that they get in school. I approached a local supermarket, and built up a partnership with them. They now donate a hamper of food to a family each week; to date we’ve donated around £4,500 worth of food to these families.

I was also headhunted for a local authority secondment. A school that was regarded by Ofsted as inadequate, and had to convert to an academy, needed someone to go in and set up the budget for them. I’d only been in our school 18 months and the local authority came to me and said, ‘We think you do a really good job.’ To be headhunted, and have that reputation within the local authority, was good.

I’ve helped our school get around £50,000 worth of grants, £30,000 of additional revenue – for example, where I brought in a sports holiday club company into our school and they paid to use the site. All these different things come to about £30,000, and then the saving in the school is about £100,000 as well.

School business leaders across the country are amazing but, when you put it on paper, I think what we have achieved is possibly why I got shortlisted. I like to think I’ve made a difference for the pupils, the local community, and the parents.

I had a parent cry once when I was delivering the hampers.

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

When she opened the door she saw how much food I was delivering to her for free and she just broke down. She said “We’re now going to be able to eat a hot meal every night for a whole week.” I was blown away. I really realised how much of a powerful thing it was that we’re doing.

I may get home an hour later on a Monday evening, but that time that I give up to volunteer to make someone else’s week, is much more important.

March 2022 13

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DFE GUIDANCE

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

The holiday activities and food programme 2022 On 27 October 2021 the government announced a further investment of over £200m per year over the next three financial years for the holiday activities and food programme

WHO IS THE HOLIDAY AND FOOD PROGRAMME (HAF) FOR? This holiday provision is for school aged children from reception to year 11 (inclusive) who receive benefits-related free school meals. Benefits-related free school meals (FSM) are available to pupils if their parents are in receipt of one of the qualifying benefits, and have a claim verified by their school or local authority. Further information on eligibility for free school meals is available here.

THE CORE OFFER Overall, local authorities are expected to offer the equivalent of six weeks’ holiday provision to eligible children.

OVER EASTER: ● t he DfE expect that all participating children should benefit from at least week of face-to-face provision at Easter, which should be for a minimum of four days ● f or most children, each day at Easter should consist of at least four hours of provision, but the local authority should ensure that provision is tailored to need OVER SUMMER: ● f or local authorities that have a summer holiday that spans six full calendar the weeks, participating children should be offered at least four the weeks of face-to-face provision, which cover a minimum of 16 days ● f or local authorities that have a summer holiday that is less

than six full calendar weeks, participating children should be offered at least three weeks of face-to-face provision, which should cover a minimum of 12 days ● i f only three weeks are offered in summer, then these local authorities are expected to offer an additional week during a half-term holiday period (see below), so that their overall provision reaches six weeks across the year ● f or most children, each day during summer should consist of at least four hours of provision, but the local authority should ensure that provision is tailored to need OVER CHRISTMAS: ● t he DfE expect that all participating children should benefit from a week of support which covers a minimum of four days ● a s in 2021, the DfE’s preference is at least four days of face-to-face provision, however where this is not possible, it should consist of at least two days of face-to-face provision complemented by at least two days of HAF support which can be provided in the form of high-quality food hampers and activity packs ● f or most children, each day of face-to-face provision at Christmas should consist of at least four hours of provision but the local authority should ensure that provision is tailored to need The DfE know that many areas will continue to provide a HAF programme that runs for more hours, days and weeks than our minimum expectation, and the DfE encourage them to continue to do this.

March 2022 15

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

DFE GUIDANCE

FOOD PROVISION Providers must provide at least one meal a day (breakfast, lunch or tea) and all food provided at the holiday club (including snacks) must meet school food standards.

The DfE’s expectation is that the majority of food served by providers should be hot.

However, it acknowledges that there will be occasions when this is not possible and cold f ood should be used where it is appropriate.

The DfE know that this aspect of the programme, which overlaps with nutritional education and food education, can be challenging, and it encourages local authorities to adequately plan and prepare for this, including engaging with experts and partners as appropriate.

All food provided as part of the programme must: ● c omply with regulations on food preparation ● t ake into account allergies and dietary requirements (see the allergy guidance for schools) ● take into account any religious or cultural requirements for food

Holiday clubs must provide fun and enriching activities

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ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES Holiday clubs must provide fun and enriching activities that provide children with opportunities to: ● d evelop new skills or knowledge ● c onsolidate existing skills and knowledge ● try

out new experiences ● h ave fun and socialise This could include but is not limited to: ● p hysical activities, for example football, swimming, table tennis or cricket ● c reative activities, for example putting on a play, junk modelling or drumming workshops ● e xperiences, for example a nature walk or visiting a city farm ● f ree play, for example fun and freedom to relax and enjoy themselves PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES Holiday clubs must provide activities that meet the physical activity guidelines on a daily basis. In line with those guidelines the DfE expects: ● a ll children and young people participating in the HAF programme should engage in moderate-tovigorous physical activity for an average of at least 60 minutes per day - this does not have to be in the form of a structured activity session, but can include active travel, free play and sports ● children and young people participating in the HAF programme should engage in a variety of types and intensities of physical activity to develop movement skills, muscular fitness and bone strength ● c hildren and young people should aim to minimise the amount of time spent being sedentary, and when physically possible should break up long periods of not moving with at least light physical activity

DFE GUIDANCE

NUTRITIONAL EDUCATION Providers must include an element of nutritional education each day aimed at improving the knowledge and awareness of healthy eating for children. These do not need to be formal learning activities and could for example include activities such as: ● getting

children involved in food preparation and cooking ● growing

fruit and vegetables taste tests ● discussing

food and nutrition ● including

food and nutrition in other activities

Providers must include an element of nutritional education FOOD EDUCATION FOR FAMILIES AND CARERS The DfE expect HAF providers to make available weekly training and advice sessions for parents, carers or other family members. These should provide advice on how to source, prepare and cook nutritious and low-cost food.

This could be combined with the nutritional education aspect of the programme, for example, by inviting children and their families to prepare and eat a meal together.

SIGNPOSTING AND REFERRALS HAF providers should be able to provide information, signposting or referrals to other services and support that would benefit the children who attend their provision and their families. This could include sessions provided by: ● Citizen’s

Advice ● school

nurses, dentists or other healthcare practitioners ● family

support services or children’s services ● housing

support officers ● Jobcentre

Plus ● organisations

providing financial education ● early

years and childcare, including help to pay for childcare (such as Tax-Free Childcare)

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES There are a wide variety of organisations and individuals involved in the delivery of the holiday activities and food programme including but not limited to: ● schools

● colleges

● nurseries

● private providers ● charities

● youth

clubs ● community

groups All of these groups must be able to demonstrate that they have in place relevant and appropriate policies and procedures for: ● safeguarding, including the recruitment of staff and volunteers ● health

and safety ● relevant insurance policies ● accessibility

and inclusiveness To read the full guidance including holiday clubs in school settings, tailored provision and local co-ordination by authorities click here.

March 2022 17

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

RECRUITMENT

Hiring a new head CONNY BRANDT, SBL at Peterhouse School, takes us through the steps her school took to recruit a new headteacher

M

y school is fortunate to have an amazing headteacher so when she announced her intention to retire in 2022 we realised that we couldn’t just post a vacancy on our website and hope for the best. Here are the steps we took to find and appoint our new headteacher, which might just help you to do the same in the future.

JOB DESCRIPTION As with any post, we started off by considering what we actually needed at this point in time. In order to support development both at school level, and in the wider education services offered by the charity that manages our school, we decided to appoint an executive headteacher.

There is no legal definition of this role, so we needed to be very clear about what the it would entail in the context section of our documentation.

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March 2022

PERSON SPECIFICATION I explored research by the DfE, NCSL, NGA and Education Development Trust into what makes an effective school leader. The skills and qualities repeatedly identified were: ● having strong values; ● being able to use layered strategies, according to the school context; ● using data effectively; ● empowering and developing staff.

We decided to incorporate these during our recruitment process, and ensured that they were included in our Person specification.

We also spent time reflecting on current and past headteachers we had known, discussing what skills and qualities they had that made them effective, and also what issues had arisen with different heads, and why. From this, we drew up a list of essential criteria, as well as identifying approaches we wanted to avoid.

ADVERT A quick Google search for ‘headteacher adverts’ results in a lengthy list of schools looking for ‘inspiring headteachers’; we wanted our advert to stand out, emphasise the qualities we value most, and attract the right candidates so we decided to emphasise ‘caring’ as our core quality. We included things that would make our school attractive to candidates – for example, our location, wellbeing support and development opportunities. I consulted with other schools about their experiences and also with headteachers to gather candidates’ views of the process and what they considered had worked well (or not!)

There are several free options for advertising, including our website, social media, school and professional networks, VocateEd and Indeed. The DfE’s teacher recruitment service is free to most schools but, unfortunately,

RECRUITMENT

There is just one thing I would change; my expectations of the outcome not available to us as a non-maintained special school. In addition to the free options, we spent approximately £500 on paid advertising. The adverts generated a lot of enquiries, but all the applications we received came in response to our social media channels.

In the advert we offered the option to ‘phone the school for an honest conversation with the current head about the potential challenges and opportunities of this role which helped candidates decide whether or not we were the right school for them.

Our application information pack included a letter of welcome, basic school data, quotes from staff, parents, pupils and external bodies, as well as some information about our local area.

INTERVIEWS There are numerous example interview questions for headteachers available online; we were conscious of the risk of candidates performing well in an interview situation, but not necessarily in post.

Some example questions could easily be prepared for, allowing candidates to give a rehearsed answer while not actually exploring their attitudes or understanding.

We decided to ask questions that were quite open – for example, ‘What is your approach to supporting behaviour?’ - and then followed up with further questions and examples such as ‘Give us an example when you applied this successfully’. We consulted our list of essential qualities, asked ourselves ‘What do we want?’ and then considered ‘How to we find out?’

We used some practical tasks - a data

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

exercise and prioritisation task - again, focusing on the skills and qualities we had chosen as priorities. We had one solid day of interviews and tasks and then short, follow-up, interviews two days later, which gave both us and the candidates the opportunity to reflect on the interview day and ask further questions on points we wanted to explore in more depth.

OUTCOME We were pleased with the level of response, as well as the quality of candidates we received. We had invested a lot of time in planning our interview process and felt confident that it would help us identify the most suitable candidate. Feedback we received from candidates was positive; they felt the process had been professional, that communication was effective and the interviews thorough. We appointed a very strong candidate who we feel will be a real asset to the school.

WHAT WOULD I HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? There is just one thing I would change; my expectations of the outcome. We had an internal candidate and started the process fully expecting to appoint internally.

Over the course of our interviews it became apparent that we had an external candidate who would bring knowledge and experience to the school that we just did not have in-house, and we ended up appointing externally. This was a tough decision to make – the right one for the school, but not one we had initially wanted to make. Fortunately, our internal candidate had a very professional outlook, and was understanding and supportive of our decision.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank all the SBLs and headteachers who responded to my call for information, and who took time out of their busy schedules to email, ‘phone or meet on Teams - your advice was invaluable!

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LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

CPD

The importance of self-awareness in educational leadership DAVID CARNE, school business professional and executive coach, explores how to improve self-awareness

I

n 1977 a researcher at the University of California, Berkley, asked around 600 college professors to rate the quality of their teaching. One would assume that college professors, being well-educated and, presumably, wellaware of the components of good teaching, would be well-qualified to assess where they sat within the performance hierarchy; however, the results told a different story. A staggering 94% of them believed their teaching was better than that of their colleagues, and almost 70% believed their skills and abilities were in the top quartile. College professors are bright people, but they were astonishingly poor at objectively assessing their own abilities. Indeed, research shows that, when asked, on average, people tend to over-estimate their intelligence, leadership skills, fairness and even funniness compared to others.

Conversely, in my experience of coaching executives and leaders, I am struck by how many leaders and managers doubt their abilities and question their leadership skills. We call this ‘imposter syndrome’ and 70% of us will experience it at some point in our lives.

Neither the delusional arrogance of the college professors or the crippling grip of imposter syndrome are desirable

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traits in leaders. Believing we know better than everyone else leads to us making disastrous leadership decisions; equally disastrous is the hesitancy of the leader suffering from imposter syndrome who fails to act when the situation demands.

Being willing to admit areas in which we could do better, and to let go of unjustified self-doubt, are hallmarks of self-aware and emotionally intelligent leaders. So, how do we improve our self-awareness as leaders? I propose five activities that may support this.

1

BENCHMARKS As school business professionals we are extremely lucky to have frameworks such as the ISBL professional standards against which we, and others, can measure ourselves. We may be not as bad - or as good - as we think we are, and professional standards provide objective benchmarks which help us determine our current position and set goals for professional self-improvement.

2

FEEDBACK We can gain insights into how our attitudes, behaviours and styles of communication are affecting our work by getting feedback from others, both formally and informally. Often others do

CPD

Involving others reduces the chances of making a poor decision not perceive us in the ways we think they do. Two questions which are invaluable when asked of one or two trusted colleagues are, ‘What do you value most about working with me?’ and ‘What is one thing I could change for my own benefit?’

3

NETWORKING As a leader of a local school business professionals network group, I am acutely aware how useful people find it to meet with other professionals in similar roles to observe how they operate and what skills and knowledge they are cultivating in order to direct their own professional development. Professional networking helps us identify both our areas of expertise and the gaps in our professional capacities.

4

ASKING OTHERS There are significant advantages to running a decision past another leadership colleague for a fresh perspective, or asking your own team for

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

their ideas. While there is a temptation to assume, as a leader, that we have to have all the answers, the best decisions usually come from collaboration. Involving others reduces the chances of making a poor decision based on our own biases; it does not serve us well to be too arrogant or too insecure to ask someone else.

5

REFLECTION Finally, we can actively engage in reflection. Taking time to evaluate how a meeting or conversation went, what we could have done differently, asking ourselves why one colleague really pushes our buttons, or allowing ourselves to really hear that praise we were given can help us to become more self-aware especially when this becomes a pattern of behaviour over time. Some people find keeping a journal helps, but the key is making reflection a habit.

However we cultivate it, objective self-awareness is a crucial leadership trait which requires continual practice. One of the casualties of the global pandemic has undoubtedly been time to reflect. However, when we are self-aware, and act on the insights we have, we do things better both individually and collaboratively.

While, clearly, unlike the college professors, we can’t all be above average, we can all be continually improving, growing and learning if we are prepared to become a little more self-aware.

March 2022 21

MANAGEMENT

S C H O O L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

Listening - why it matters and how to do it SIMON HEPBURN, of Marketing Advice for Schools, explains how your school can become a better listener

S

chools can be difficult places to listen in - there’s a lot going on, people are busy and often in what you might call a ‘problemsolving mode’. It often feels far easier to make swift decisions and focus on making sure they are put into place but this can be a big mistake.

The stakeholders in schools, of whom there are many, have diverse needs - and often strong opinions about these needs; in the society we live in today they expect to be given a chance to share these. Schools that don’t listen can find it difficult to make changes stick – or they can suffer real reputational damage as parents and other stakeholders speak their minds on social media, with friends and family or, in more and more cases, by calling in local media.

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WHAT DOES LISTENING INVOLVE? The introduction of Ofsted’s ‘Parent View’, and similar inspection tools, has had an impact on schools which can see that stakeholder views do matter - but the narrow nature of these tools means that, in some places, they are seen as something to prepare or even train parents for rather than an opportunity to develop a listening culture.

Other schools talk about using ‘open door’ policies as a way of listening but, in practice, this is also problematic. Many people are conditioned by their previous experience of schools and may, for example, feel extremely nervous about going to the ‘head’s office’ to talk about something they aren’t happy with; others, such as working parents, may never visit school during working hours. The result can be that a small group of confident parents or staff make most use of this time and the views of others are missed.

Real listening means giving all stakeholders equal chance to share their views – it doesn’t mean that you need to do everything you are asked to do by everyone, but it does mean that you know what they want! And, of course, listening is not just about anticipating or avoiding problems – listening is also all about getting amazing new ideas from the huge number of imaginative people in your wider community and creating productive links between different groups of people.

S C H O O L C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

MANAGEMENT

HOW SHOULD SCHOOLS BE LISTENING? Here are four ideas that could make a real difference.

1 It’s not enough just to listen – you need to tell people what you’ve heard

Online forums – The McAuley Catholic High School, in Doncaster, runs regular online meetings that allow parents to suggest and discuss ideas. James Tucker, the school’s associate head of school for communications, says that between 60-90 families are usually represented on the call. A further innovation is that videos of the events are posted on YouTube, and the site automatically generates subtitles which can be translated, meaning that those who struggle with English can engage with the process

2

Pulse polling – rather than target a whole stakeholder group with a big annual survey (often based on Ofsted’s Parent View), schools can use free tools such as Microsoft or Google Forms to question small groups at more frequent intervals. As well as allowing you to get early notice of any issues, you can also use this to test tactical things you are doing in the short term – for example, at the moment, many schools I know are trying to work out the best balance between remote and in-person parent evenings and events.

3

Focus groups – according to a survey last year, only six per cent of schools had used focus groups recently. This may have been because of COVID lockdowns - although I’ve found they can be far easier to organise and run online. Focus groups, especially those run by an independent facilitator, can identify area where schools can make minor changes with significant impact. For example, I worked with one school which was responding to a poor inspection with some great innovations in teaching and learning, but a focus group found they were communicating them in a highly technical way that parents did not understand.

4

Exit interviews – only 20% of schools said they had conducted teacher exit interviews in a 2019 TeacherTapp survey, while there are also opportunities to extend the idea to students and parents who choose to leave schools early. This article in the Harvard Business Review points out the benefits of the process, including finding ideas for improvement and creating positive advocates for the school who know they are being listened to.

WHAT DO YOU DO ONCE YOU’VE LISTENED? It’s not enough just to listen – you need to tell people what you’ve heard and what will happen as a result. There are three stages to this process: ● Feedback what you’ve heard. ● G ive time for further responses – this is a real opportunity for stakeholders to add further ideas and innovations. ● S ay when and how you will keep listening. 

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MANAGEMENT

ECO SCHOOLS AWARD

o v r i n p gb m I i

S

In the first article of a series which will focus on how to address each area of the Eco Schools Award, HELEN BURGE, deputy COO at The Priory Learning Trust, gives her advice on how can you can make your school more biodiverse

ustainability is not just the SBM’s responsibility; as you read this, consider who you could delegate the actions to, or work with.

What does biodiversity in schools mean? It’s not what I’m sure we’ve all found at the bottom of the lost property pile - a long forgotten lunch box complete with its own fungi or micro-organisms bad luck if you discovered one with its own insects in the form of maggots! It won’t surprise you, but this is the wrong type of biodiversity to be encouraged in your school and grounds.

It’s a tricky thing to develop a school’s biodiversity - there are so many demands on the outdoor learning environment for

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roun d s ol g ho

t i y s r o e ns v i c d o

sports, science lessons, play areas, ponds, forest schools, quiet reflective areas, parking for cars, bikes and scooters, bin storage, hard standing play areas etc., the list goes on. Plus, there are people’s opinions to consider - after all one person’s weed is another person’s wildflower - and we must ensure the grounds are always fit-for-purpose, looking fantastic and that they don’t become a burden on the budget, site team or volunteers.

You can see why biodiversity might not be high up the list of things to tackle within a school, and yet the threats to biodiversity in our world - and sometimes within our school grounds - are very real, whether caused by

changes in habitat, pollution, climate change, species over-exploitation or invasive species and disease.

I’m not sure many schools have caused species over-exploitation within their school grounds, but you could purchase fish from sustainable sources to put on school lunch menus in a bid to prevent over-fishing. Invasive species and diseases sound grim but, hopefully, your expert grounds maintenance team are able to spot Japanese knotweed at 20 paces, and know how to successfully treat it so it doesn’t spread across the rest of the grounds, into neighbouring property or destroy your building’s foundations or hardstanding areas.

ECO SCHOOLS AWARD

BUILDING PROJECTS Term seven building projects can create changes in habitat either permanently with a new build or temporarily. Be careful where you create your building works storage compound, as items stored there, and heavy access, will cause damage to the grounds by restricting light and water. Such works could also be a source of pollution – chemicals used in the project could be spilt, or concrete mixers can spray across green areas. The next building project you have, however small, consider what extra measures you could ask the contractors to take to protect the ground and surrounding plants or help create new habitats.

VEHICLE POLLUTION If you’re concerned with vehicle pollution take a look at Clearairforkids. org.uk for support and ideas - one of these to implement could be putting up a green screen of ivy to prevent pollution coming into the school grounds. You could also have a look at the Woodland Trust, which will soon be opening their next round for free trees for schools. Later in the year you could take part in The Queen’s Green Canopy to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, and also consider the Learning through Landscapes website which often offers grants or free resources such as bug hotels.

MANAGEMENT

Take incremental steps in increasing the biodiversity of your school grounds NEGLECTED GREEN SPACES Do you know roughly how many m2 of green space is in your school grounds and how it is being used? Is there a neglected area which could be repurposed to help deliver an area of the curriculum, or could it be used to create a specific habitat to attract pollinators? We know 90% of flowering plants use a range of insect, bird or bat pollinators to achieve pollination; creating an area of plants which attract pollinators will help combat the decline in bees. For inspiration, you could take a look at the Wildlife Trust website for suggestions of plants.

You don’t have to install a whole new vegetable patch; just start with a pot of herbs. Take incremental steps in increasing the biodiversity of your school grounds - like a potted lavender plant by the front door (quick win) or allowing some grass areas to grow longer or seed to become a meadow (long term project).

Install some bird boxes, bird baths or feeders, bat boxes and bug hotels and plant trees or hedges and, hopefully, you’ll get to sit outside one lunchtime and spot a bird or insect which you’ve helped attract into your school’s habitat. 

March 2022 25

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PROCUREMENT

Using evidence to make decisions about edtech purchases: a practical guide

A

s school leaders we are undoubtedly becoming better at using research evidence to inform our decision-making, both individually and collectively; however, 42% of buying decisions are still made based on the ‘word of mouth’ informal recommendations of other schools (NFER, 2018) which suggests we still have a long way to go.

However, there are an increasing number of sources of evidence to draw upon when making buying decisions about edtech. Whilst historically many suppliers have produced case studies from advocate schools, and soundbites from enthusiasts,

many now recognise the need for more robust evidence of impact. School leaders deserve to know what value using the edtech product adds to existing teaching and learning experiences.

Edtech suppliers are increasingly working in partnership with academic researchers to undertake objective analysis – identifying precisely how their products make a direct impact on improving teaching and learning. Furthermore, edtech suppliers are also following the trend for online retail to provide customer ratings. Ventures such as EdTech Impact have been set up where suppliers list their products and existing customers

I C T M AT T E R S

DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH, director of One Life Learning, gives her top tips on how you can make informed choices when it comes to procuring edtech

provide validated reviews based on predetermined criteria; furthermore, sources of support such as Educate provide schools with comprehensive guidance about what to consider.

It is absolutely vital that school leaders interpret the evidence presented to us – challenging bias within it and being absolutely clear on what it might mean for our school, our teachers and, most importantly, for our students.

Every school has its own unique flavour – a combination of size, catchment, strategic priorities, characteristics of teaching and learning, improvement or innovation priorities,

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I C T M AT T E R S

PROCUREMENT

Did you know that there are at least 23 different types of bias that we all bring to our decisionmaking?

policies, experience and expertise of staff, and a great many other variables; even within the same school, a department, phase, year group or class can have a very different personality to its neighbour. We must remember that these kinds of variables affect the relationship of a particular product with a particular school and, moreover, the relationship between a particular product, the teachers and children using it, and the specific context that they are using it within (Aubrey-Smith, 2021).

ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS When receiving recommendations from other schools, comparison websites or through supplier marketing materials, you are encouraged to ask: ● W hat proportion of staff and students are using the product – and why are those staff and those students the ones using it? This will help to bring to the surface the other influences affecting its successful use. ● W hat prompted the decision to use this particular product, and which others were considered? This will help to identify whether it’s the general concept of the product that is perceived as successful – such as automated core subject quizzes – or whether it is the specific product itself. ● H ow long the product has been in use

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March 2022

for – and if it has been renewed what informed that decision? This will help reveal how embedded the product is. ● S ince this product has been introduced to the school, what other improvement strategies have been implemented – either whole-school or within this particular subject/phase/department?

This will help you to ascertain whether any improvements seen relate to the product, other teaching and learning strategies, or a combination of the two. ● O nce students are used to using this product, what evidence is there to show that their learning translates into the same levels of mastery in other contexts (e.g. if they score ‘x’ or do ‘y’ when using this product, can you be confident that they would later score ‘x’ or do ‘y’ when applying the same skill in an unrelated context?) Are the attainment increases about the child’s knowledge, or the child’s familiarity with the product? ● W hat evidence is there of students’ long-term knowledge or skill retention – over a week, term, year and beyond? Note - this is not the same as progression through units of work, but about retaining knowledge over time. Is the product securing long term knowledge, or targeting short term test preparation or skill validation?

Part of a school becoming an

effective professional environment for all staff is about everyone engaging meaningfully with available evidence, and embedding specific types of strategic thinking and evaluative focus into practice (Twining and Henry, 2014). In other words, all of us need to be using robust evidence to inform our thinking, and to be clear on how we use that evidence, meaningfully, to make future decisions. There are three key lines of enquiry which will help you to challenge evidence meaningfully:

1

CORRELATION IS NOT THE SAME AS CAUSATION In other words, just because a school using a product saw improved attainment outcomes, increased engagement, reduction in workload or improved accountability measures, it doesn’t mean that it was the product that led to this.

Most schools implementing a new product do so as part of a broader strategy focused on improving specific priorities. One would, therefore, expect improvements to be seen regardless of which products were chosen because of the underlying strategic prioritisation given to the issue. Instead, focus on how the product brings about changes to behaviours – for example, increased precision within teaching and learning dialogue; this is where meaningful impact will be found.

PROCUREMENT

I C T M AT T E R S

It is absolutely vital that school leaders interpret the evidence presented to us – challenging bias within it and being absolutely clear on what it might mean for our school, our teachers and, most importantly, for our students

2

FOR EVERY RESEARCH FINDING THAT ARGUES ONE APPROACH, THERE WILL BE RESEARCH ELSEWHERE ARGUING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT Your role is to identify which research relates most closely to your specific context.

You can do this by asking: a) W ho produced the material that I am reading? What bias might they have?

Have they acknowledged this bias and shown how they have mitigated it? b) What evidence led to the recommendations? What data are findings based on – and are these large scale and surface level, or smaller scale which probes more meaningfully? c) W hat is the vision for teaching and learning here, and how does this align with the vision of what good learning and good teaching look like in our own school?

3

PLAN FOR IMPACT BEFORE YOU COMMIT TO INVESTING A vital part of decision-making is planning, from the outset, how you will evaluate what works and why; you will then remain forensically focused on what matters most to your school throughout procurement, implementation and review.

Furthermore, you will be able to identify and recalibrate when ideas do not work as intended so that future practice improves.

Guskey (2016) encourages us to think

about impact through five levels; reactions to something, personal learning about it, consequent organisational change, embedding ideas within new practices and, finally, creating a positive impact on the lives of all those involved.

These things apply to both teachers and students (as well as leaders, parents and other stakeholders – depending on the product). Embedding meaningful review of the impact of your product choice connects your intentions to the lived experiences of the students whose needs and future you are serving. The two vital questions that you will want to ask yourself and your team are: a) W hat evidence is there that our intentions for this product are being lived out in reality by our young people? b) W hat evidence is there that our provision (through this product) is making a tangible difference to how students view themselves, their learning and their future?

ANY DECISION MADE IN SCHOOL SHOULD ALWAYS BE ROOTED IN IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING This can easily be lost amongst conversations about requirements and procurement. To help with this, identify three to five ‘personas’ – short descriptions of the people who the

product is, ultimately, intended to support. For example: ● H igh attaining pupil premium students. ● W hite working-class boys in KS2. ● K S3 girls disengaged with STEM. ● C hildren with EAL in KS1.

At every point keep coming back to these personas – how would each product, feature, piece of research, impact finding, or sample of evidence relate to these specific students. In this way, we keep a forensic eye on what matters most – our students and their learning.

All of these issues will be debated and unpacked by school leaders, suppliers and academics in the Making evidence-informed decisions about edtech panel at The World Education Summit (21-24 March 2022) AUTHOR BIO Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith is an award-winning teacher and leader with a passion for supporting those who work with children and young people. As Director of One Life Learning Fiona works with schools and trusts, professional learning providers and edtech companies. www.onelifelearning.co.uk/@ FionaAS

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It’s time to turn data into smarter data We connect all your school and trust data across finance, school management, and engagement software to create smarter insights, processes, and outcomes.

That’s the power of better-connected data.

Connect with our education experts today and become a smarter school.

0344 225 1525 iris.co.uk/education

TECHNO GEEK

I C T M AT T E R S

Techno Geek

Strategic IT planning NIGEL MILLIGAN, IT technician manager at St Herbert’s RC Primary School, discusses why you should implement a strategic plan in your IT department in order to achieve successful outcomes

W

hen I ventured into my first school, back schools to help them carefully plan the IT budget; in 2008, I was shocked to discover that the in order to do this successfully, the life cycles of IT school - along with many others at that time devices must be known.

- did not have a robust strategy in place for When I start a new conversation with a school I maintaining their IT assets and, therefore, couldn’t even ask them whether or not they strategically plan their think about how they could afford a sustainable future. After IT infrastructure and devices in line with their school taking the leap of faith from a civil engineering company, development plan. The answer is usually a firm ‘No’, where I had developed an asset register system, I quickly as many IT providers don’t offer this service as part of sorted this issue out and immediately started to report back the ongoing IT support. to the leadership and governors of the school to help them plan for the future. A new building was on the horizon, due SO, HOW DO WE TRACK THE to be completed in 2010; to cut a long story short, we were LIFE CYCLES OF ALL IT ASSETS? able to successfully complete all of the IT infrastructure In order to track the life cycle of IT assets you need a among other items, such as Apple Macs across the school. robust asset management policy and system, along with As the strategic plan continued and developed, this moved a simple financial plan showing the annual costs ahead on to 1:1 iPads for all pupils and staff in 2013. for each IT area. Asset registers in schools are usually an Strategic planning is essential to determining the annual job which an external company carries out; many direction of your school; it focuses your efforts, and times, these aren’t fully accurate and don’t tie in with the ensures that everyone in school is working towards a school’s procurement processes. An asset management common goal. It also helps you to agree actions that will system should be a live system that is constantly updated contribute to the successful outcomes of your school. throughout the year to allow the tracking of disposals Most schools carry out strategic planning with a school and allocated devices at fixed or portable locations. Loan development plan which focuses on devices should be signed out/in along the curriculum, staffing, the building with terms and conditions of use. There and many other resources; the IT are many solutions available to help with assets in school aren’t always tracked Strategic planning this, ranging from a more comprehensive - which means that informed decisions spreadsheet to sophisticated, cloud-based is essential to cannot be made to replace and solutions such as Parago and Inventry. determining the upgrade devices as they reach the Remember: “If you fail to plan, you end of their life. are planning to fail” - Benjamin Franklin direction of Reduced budgets are one of the I’m always happy to discuss this your school common situations that schools find further if anyone would like to reach out themselves in. I have worked with many my Twitter handle is @mrnmilligan.

March 2022 31

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!

Caption competition Let us know your funny caption ideas by tweeting us @edexec

LIFE HACK Use a trouser hanger to hold your recipe book! This useful tip will stop you from losing your page and getting your recipe covered in ingredients when you’re getting creative in the kitchen. Simply hang the hanger from one of your kitchen cupboard handles and clip your book to it for a stress-free, hands-free cooking experience.

Pub quiz

The odds of getting a royal flush are exactly one-in-649,740. Poker fiends have a slightly better chance of laying down a straight flush - try 72,192-to-one. However, out of the 7,462 distinct five-card poker hands, you have a 42% chance of getting a single pair.

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March 2022

Answers: 1. Central Perk 2. Four 3. 1997 4. Once (1966) 5. Wellington

DID YOU KNOW?

1. Name the coffee shop in US sitcom Friends.

2. How many human players are there on each team in a polo match?

3. In what year did Tony Blair become British Prime Minister?

4. How many times has England won the men’s football World Cup? 5. What is the capital of New Zealand?

TEABREAK

Well, knock me down with a feather!

THUMBS UP!

Delivering kindness

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A teenager who made and gave out thousands of COVID-19 ‘survival packs’ for young people during lockdown has been rewarded for his good will, BBC News has reported. Alfie Dixon-Clark, from Peterlee, came up with idea as he saw “a lot of people suffering”; he hopes his actions will inspire “others to be kinder”. The 14-year-old was the youngest winner of a North East COVID Acts of Kindness Community Awards, backed by his council. The student estimates he has made about 14,000 activity packs for others during the pandemic, which also saw him produce special VE Day bags for local care homes.

The bags contained activities such as colouring pages, craft supplies and snacks including fruit and chocolates.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.

Amanda Gorman

What a wonderful world Deep-dive discoveries BBC News is reporting that marine explorers have discovered a ‘pristine’ 3km coral reef at depths of 30m off the coast of Tahiti, in French Polynesia. It is one of the largest ever discovered at that depth, says the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which led the mission. UNESCO’s Dr Julian Barbiere said there were probably many more of these ecosystems that “we just don’t know about”. UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay said the “remarkable” discovery extended our knowledge of “what lies beneath”.

The reef was found in November during a diving expedition to a depth known as the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’ - part of a global seabed-mapping mission called the Seabed 2030 Project.

LIVE IT

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SAUSAGES As reported by Sky News, a dog in Hampshire has been rescued from rising tides with a sausage attached to a drone. The Jack Russell terrier, called Millie, went missing after getting free of her lead in Havant. She was found stranded on mudflats near Portsmouth, with rising tides threatening to sweep her out to sea, prompting a rescue effort to swing into action. Police, firefighters and coastguards tried tirelessly for four days to rescue her, but were left scratching their heads when even kayaking out to her wouldn’t work.

The chances of Millie being reunited with her owner seemed increasingly slim when a rescuer had the idea of attaching a sausage to a drone in the hope of tempting her to safety. Luckily, the pork-dangling plan worked, with the terrier following the sausage towards her rescuers, and away from the rising tides, to safety.

March 2022 33

A TAILOR-MADE DAY FOR SBL SUPERHEROES We may not have tailor-made tights, capes and pants-on-the-outside for our SBL superheroes, but we are one of the only events that allows you to build your own itinerary and select only the seminars that are of interest to you and your school.

By selecting specific seminar topics relevant to you, you can be sure that your day will be filled with information and learning that will be directly relevant to you and your school’s current requirements.

Manchester- 5th May 2022 London- 9th June 2022

Flag your interest now to claim discounted tickets by emailing hello@edexec.co.uk using ‘I want to go to EdExec LIVE 2022!’ in the subject line