Education Executive Summer 2022

ISSUE 166

EDUCATION EXECUTIVE CREATING A CULTURE OF HEALTHY LIVING Helen Burge on promoting healthy living in your school

FINDING THE ‘CATCH ZONE’ Designing displays that catch the eye of those they’re aimed at – children!

Supporting business and f inancial excellence in schools and academies Summer 2022

ONBOARDING NEW STAFF

YOUNG ACTIVIST SELECTED AS UNICEF YOUTH ADVISOR

How to give your new people a flying start

We meet one of the inspiring UK youth advisors for UNICEF

Making your voice heard Do you struggle to be taken seriously in meetings? We have the answer

Manchester 6th October 2022

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Contents 06

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

20

PROCUREMENT

NEWS Latest school business management news in brief NEWS AND VIEWS

Collaborating on procurement T

NEWS REPORT

Headteacher in South Yorkshire warns students’ mental health is the “worst it has been” A school in Barnsley has reported that their pupils are struggling more than ever since the pandemic

DAVID CARNE, serving school business professional and executive coach, offers very useful guidance on making collaborative procurement work for your school

14 14

he education sector is under constant pressure to identify ways to generate financial efficiencies. As school leaders are acutely aware, a significant majority of expenditure goes on staffing - which is often the area which is most challenging to cut while maintaining quality of provision. This then leaves non-staffing costs creaking under the strain of punching above their weight in delivering efficiency savings. However, 12 years into the academisation agenda, there are many good examples of multi-academy

trusts which have achieved significant savings by pooling contracts for goods and services across their schools.

Collaboration is a force-multiplier and collaborative purchasing saves not only money, time and energy, but also allows schools to access expertise which may not exist in their own organisations.

So how do we maximise opportunities to collaborate at every level and leverage our buying power to deliver savings?

I would argue that many schools, academies and trusts are doing excellent work in this area and support from

C

I’ve spent £500k on mental health support - it’s not enough

ARE SCHOOLS DOING ENOUGH? The number of students visiting the Wellbeing Centre has tripled since the start of the pandemic and the school has called for further government funding specifically targeted at mental health support. One student who uses the services available at Horizon Community College said, “I think every school should have it (wellbeing facilities) as mandatory”.

This presents the question, ‘Are schools and the government doing enough?’ A spokesperson for the Department for Education said, “We are accelerating and expanding the roll-out of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, giving nearly three million children in England access to health experts through school or college by April 2024.”

08 08

Summer 2022

NEWS REPORT Head teacher calls for additional government funding following an increase in number of students visiting the Wellbeing Centre.

10 SPOTLIGHT ON: THE PERIOD PRODUCTS SCHEME A look at the scheme which aims to make sure that periods are not a barrier to learning

12 THE IMPORTANCE OF CPD Bethan Cullen of the Institute of School Business Leadership shares ways in which you can manage your CPD when time seems to be in short supply

CREATING A CULTURE OF HEALTHY LIVING IN YOUR SCHOOL Eco-schools: Helen Burge on promoting healthy living in your school

MAKING YOUR VOICE HEARD Do you struggle to be taken seriously in meetings? Keystone Knowledge has the answer

Y

24

learning environments that promote learning; schools that do this well tend to share certain key features.

CARE AND ATTENTION Children will reflect what they are experiencing; if they can see great care has been taken in ensuring a clean, safe, carefully-presented environment then that’s what they will produce in their work and their demeanour.

If everything has a place in your classroom then children will be better

at tidying up. If your board and desk are organised and pride is taken in what you model, then children will reflect the same care in their own presentation - if spaces are kept clean and presentable then children will respect and care for their class around them.

The litmus test, according to one head, is to compare the classroom walls, furniture and resources to your home environment, and to ask each member of staff to do the same – would you want to live in these conditions?

Summer 2022

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 well-earned break from numbers and statistics

N E W S TA F F

Onboarding new staff I

ANDREW BLENCH, of School Business Partner and Barefoot Coaching Ltd, on processes you can implement to help your new starters

t’s that time of year when many schools start to think about their staffing for September and how they will integrate any new recruits to the school. In a primary school this might not be a huge number of people but, in a secondary or college setting, this could be a significant number of people anywhere between eight and 12 new people to welcome.

It’s recognised by the CIPD that giving new staff a good welcome and induction goes a long way towards helping them to settle in well in order to be effective in their new roles - and it also reduces staff turnover. Many organisations are taking a fresh look at how they onboard staff as reflected in the 2021 CIPD HYPERLINK "https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/ strategy/resourcing/surveys"Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey | Reports | CIPD

22 22

DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH, director of One Life Learning, takes us on a fascinating journey around school displays – from the child’s eye view. Are your displays catching their attention? Probably not...

our children will spend around 10,000 hours in your school over the seven years of their primary education. They spend around half of their waking hours in the physical environment that you provide for them, and we know from the research that their environment plays a significant role in their mindset, wellbeing and achievements.

Visiting schools across the country, I have seen noticeable differences in the approaches that are taken to creating

LIVE IT

34

S C H O O L D I S P L AY S

Finding the ‘Catch Zone‘

26

HR

COLLABORATING ON PROCUREMENT David Carne has some timely guidance on making collaborative procurement work for your school

18

ICT MATTERS I C T M AT T E R S

Summer 2022

Never stop learning

laire Huddart, headteacher at Horizon Community College, has spent more than £500,000 of her school’s budget on mental health support - yet remains concerned.

Horizon Community College has shown its commitment to student welfare; half a million pounds has been spent on a state-of-theart Wellbeing Centre, where 10 staff work and students are free to drop in throughout the school day. The South Yorkshire school also offers outside support and the assistance of a Mind councillor - that said, Huddart has warned that more still needs to be done. “I’ve spent £500,000 on mental health support and it’s not enough,” she said.

MANAGEMENT

WHAT IS ONBOARDING OR INDUCTION? It’s an introduction to key people, policies and processes which the new member of staff will need in order to perform their role well.

It’s also about the physical (including online) environment. Where do I find this? Or in which electronic folder does this belong?

CYBER SECURITY: Gary Henderson explains why we should be looking internally as well as externally when considering cyber threats

HOW WELL DO SCHOOLS DO THIS? You will probably need to cast your minds back to pre-covid days to answer this question. For most of you over the last 2 years its been a case of fire or outbreak fighting and a lot of other things have had to get placed on pause.

INDUCTION DAYS/HALF DAYS A lot of settings will bring new staff into school during the

Summer 2022

ONBOARDING NEW STAFF Andrew Blench has the gen on how to give your new people a flying start

26 FINDING THE ‘CATCH ZONE’ Designing displays that catch the eye of those they’re aimed at – children!

30 A GUIDE TO THE SCHOOL-TOSCHOOL DATA TRANSFER SYSTEM How schools access and use the schoolto-school secure data transfer system

32 TECHNO GEEK: GETTING THINGS DONE – CAN TECH HELP? Nigel Milligan has ideas on ‘getting things done’ – and how tech can help with this

36 ENSURING YOUR SBL SKILLS ARE FIT-FORPURPOSE Time to think about the future and burnish your, already impressive, SBL skills with Val Andrew

39 60 SECONDS WITH Sharon Marsh, freelance school business professional tells us about her love of baking, where she makes her best decisions, and her SBM journey

EDUCATION EXECUTIVE ISSUE 166

LEADERSHIP

BY EXAMPLE

NEWS & VIEWS

CREATING A CULTURE OF HEALTHY LIVING Helen Burge on promoting healthy living in your school

FINDING THE ‘CATCH ZONE’ Designing displays that catch the eye of those they’re aimed at – children!

Supporting business and f inancial excellence in schools and academies Summer 2022

ONBOARDING NEW STAFF

YOUNG ACTIVIST SELECTED AS UNICEF YOUTH ADVISOR

How to give your new people a flying start

We meet one of the inspiring UK youth advisors for UNICEF

Making your voice heard Do you struggle to be taken seriously in meetings? We have the answer

On the cover BE HEARD Keystone Knowledge share useful hints and tips to ensure you are taken seriously and have your voice heard in meetings

Editor’s comment Summer’s here! Finally…and, of course, that means a bit of time off and, hopefully, some sunshine! It also means one more issue of Education Executive before we start back in September – and, like all our editions, it’s packed with original articles, priceless insights and even some light-hearted fun in our LIVE IT section!

We kick off our summer issue by shining a spotlight on the period products scheme.

The government’s goal to ensure no student misses out on education because of their period – is it working? David Carne offers expert leadership advice on making collaborative procurement work for your school and Keystone Knowledge suggests ways to help you get your voice heard in meetings.

Switching from leadership to management, we explore how best to deal with colleagues and the other members of your team. In the fourth in our series on the Eco-Schools Awards, Helen Burge looks at how to create a culture of healthy living in your school while Andrew Blench tackles the subject of onboarding new staff and the processes you can implement to help your new people get off to a flying start.

As ever, we explore the latest in the ever-changing arena of information, communication and technology in ICT Matters (do you share this with your IT team? You should!) Dr Fiona Aubrey-Smith starts us off by asking whether your school display is catching the attention of its target audience – the children – and we’ve got a guide to help you navigate the school-to-school data transfer system. Nigel Milligan shares his thoughts on how tech can help to ‘get things done’ – we all need to take heed of his wise words.

As usual, we try to leave you smiling with a more light-hearted take on the world of education and school leadership. Take a few minutes to unwind and enjoy a medley of life hacks, inspirational quotes, interesting facts and trivia.

As always, we’d love to hear any suggestions you have for the magazine. If you’d like to get involved with EdExec, or want us to cover a certain topic, please let us know.

Contact eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk or tweet @edexec with ideas, opinions or success stories.

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.

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Graphic designer Amanda Lancaster alancasterdesign.com

Editorial

Editor Ellie Potter eleanor@intelligentmedia.co.uk

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info@intelligentmedia.co.uk

Publisher

Vicki Baloch vicki@intelligentmedia.co.uk

ELEANOR POTTER EDITOR We want to hear from you!

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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Education Executive is published by Intelligent Media Solutions Intelligent Media, 115 Mare Street, London, E8 4RU Tel 020 3794 8555 | Fax 020 3794 8554 Email info@intelligentmedia.co.uk Web www.intelligentmedia.co.uk

Contributors 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

DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH

DAVID CARNE

NIGEL MILLIGAN

HELEN BURGE

ANDREW BLENCH

SHARON MARSH

VAL ANDREW

Editor Education Executive

School business professional and executive coach Cardinal Griffin Catholic College

Deputy COO The Priory Learning Trust

Freelance school business professional

Director One Life Learning

IT technician manager St Herbert’s RC Primary School

SBM consultant School Business Partner

Programme manager Best Practice Network DSBM Level 4

GARY HENDERSON

ANME Ambassador and director of IT Millfield School

NEWS STORIES RESOURCES EXPERT BLOGS

EDUCATION EXECUTIVE

NEWS AND VIEWS

NEWS

NEWS

The latest news and views from the world of education

@Mr_and_Mrs_SBM: Listening to some great seminars #EdExecLIVE

School business leader in Felixstowe used school funds to pay for hot tub and holidays As reported by the BBC News, a school business manager has been handed a suspended sentence after it was revealed she spent over £13,000 of the school budget on personal items.

Katherine Todd, of Trimley St Martin Primary School, regularly used the purchasing card for her supermarket shopping and even for designer clothes. The 49-year-old has admitted two counts of fraud at Ipswich magistrates’ court. She was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and will have to pay £13,177 in compensation. Suffolk County Council found that Todd used the card for personal expenditure between March 2017 and December 2019. The team found evidence that the former SBL had bought other luxury items including garden furniture, camping equipment and tickets for West End shows in London.

Rachel Hood, cabinet member for education, SEND and skills at Suffolk County Council commented: “This public money should have been used to enhance the education and enjoyment of children at Trimley St Martin Primary School; instead it was selfishly squandered on a luxurious lifestyle.”

@Jordan_EMutual: I’ve spoken to many SBLs today at #EdExecLIVE2022 who have been let down by their providers over the last year! Visit us at the stand to hear how a mutual run by schools, for schools - holds all the solutions to the pitfalls of commercial insurance! #sbltwitter

06

Summer 2022

Student in Hampshire, Jamie See, is selected as one of eight UK youth advisors for UNICEF Jamie’s appointment was the result of a rigorous selection process and an interview by the UNICEF youth lead. Her application included a video in which she explained her commitment to championing children’s rights and a recital of her poem There Must Be a Reason For Why We Are Here with which she won the Hampshire Young Poets Competition.

Previous youth advisors have spoken at events like the COP26 summit and conducted interviews for Sky News. Jamie’s UNICEF role will give her the opportunity to talk to leaders and decision-makers worldwide and she is aiming to use her two-year term to highlight the issues she is most interested in: gender equality, women’s rights, protecting free speech and access to education for all. Speaking about her term of office, Jamie See said: “I’m very excited to be representing young people as part of the UNICEF UK youth advisory board and to amplify children’s voices and concerns in decision-making.”

NEWS

NEWS AND VIEWS

News in brief

Systemic inequalities are exacerbating teacher recruitment and retention crisis Teachers’ union NASUWT has warned that the government’s failure to address inequalities is exacerbating the recruitment and retention crisis within the school workforce. Black and ethnic minority teachers, across the UK, are being driven out of the profession by significant pay erosion, stifled career progression and discrimination at work. Nearly 3-in-4 black and ethnic minority teachers are seriously considering leaving their jobs, according to NASUWT research. The union’s stark warning coincides with new research by the NFER revealing that the most significant ethnic disparities in teacher career progression occur during early career stages.

Oldham primary school celebrates cultural heritage with MACFEST Freehold Community Primary Academy recently hosted its own MACFEST (Muslim Arts and Culture Festival), following the example of the popular festival which took place in Manchester in February. Since 2017 MACFEST’s mission has been to tackle Islamophobia and bring Muslim and non-Muslim communities together to promote equality and inclusion. Kirsty Swift, creative pedagogical lead at Freehold, saw how well the festival aligned with the school and trust’s values, prompting her to get in touch with the founder of MACFEST, Qaisra Shahraz, to help organise their own event. The aim was to promote the school values of respect and empathy through championing traditions, customs and people of the Islamic faith. Teachers curated activities for every child to engage with, from Nursery to Year 6, including cooking traditional foods and looking at the work of Manchester-based Muslim artists. It also gave the children the opportunity to have a Mehndi done in school by parent volunteers, and look at literature from Muslim authors - the school even had a visit from author Hiba Noor Khan!

“We’re incredibly happy with how the event went,” Kirsty said. “It was a true celebration of a heritage that plays an important part within our school community. “We were lucky enough to welcome Qaisra to talk to staff, children, parents and governors throughout the day, and were very excited to host Hiba Noor Khan, who talked about her experience as a female Muslim author. There was a real buzz about the school, and we are already looking forward to the next one!”

School business leader begins charity walking challenge As reported by the Shropshire Star, Peter Neale of Thomas Adams School, in Wem, has called for support for the Severn Hospice’s challenge. For the second time in less than a year Peter is taking on ‘Walk in our Shoes’ - which challenges people to take as many steps as possible in the month of May, targeting at least 10,000 a day just like one of the hospice’s nurses during a shift on the ward. In September last year Peter took an amazing 423,000 steps, and raised close to £1,000 for the hospice. The cause is close to Peter’s heart. His mother, Rosemary, was cared for by the hospice in Shrewsbury during the late 1990s. “I have a very soft spot for the hospice,” says Peter. “Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and then it came back much more vigorously. The care she received at the hospice was brilliant and we just couldn’t thank them enough for how they looked after her.

Since then, I have done whatever I can to raise funds for the hospice”.

@ruralSBM: Managing return to work after long term absence needs to be handled with clarity, respect and kindness. Great session with Tracey Gray from @EducationMutual #edexeclive2022

Summer 2022

07

NEWS AND VIEWS

NEWS REPORT

Headteacher in South Yorkshire warns students’ mental health is the “worst it has been” A school in Barnsley has reported that their pupils are struggling more than ever since the pandemic

C

laire Huddart, headteacher at Horizon Community College, has spent more than £500,000 of her school’s budget on mental health support - yet remains concerned.

Horizon Community College has shown its commitment to student welfare; half a million pounds has been spent on a state-of-theart Wellbeing Centre, where 10 staff work and students are free to drop in throughout the school day. The South Yorkshire school also offers outside support and the assistance of a Mind councillor - that said, Huddart has warned that more still needs to be done. “I’ve spent £500,000 on mental health support and it’s not enough,” she said.

I’ve spent £500k on mental health support - it’s not enough

ARE SCHOOLS DOING ENOUGH? The number of students visiting the Wellbeing Centre has tripled since the start of the pandemic and the school has called for further government funding specifically targeted at mental health support. One student who uses the services available at Horizon Community College said, “I think every school should have it (wellbeing facilities) as mandatory”.

This presents the question, ‘Are schools and the government doing enough?’ A spokesperson for the Department for Education said, “We are accelerating and expanding the roll-out of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, giving nearly three million children in England access to health experts through school or college by April 2024.”

08

Summer 2022

SPONSORED

NEWS AND VIEWS

Never stop learning Whether you are the school business manager in a small rural primary school or the chief financial officer of a large multi-academy trust, the pace rarely slows. Bethan Cullen, Operations Director at the Institute of School Business Leadership, considers how you can find time for professional development

C

ontinuing professional development (CPD) is called that for a reason: we should always be developing professionally; it should be a continuous thing. However, for various reasons we either don’t plan to do it, or it is happening, and we cannot take time to recognise it. There are three useful tools that can help you make space for your own development:

DEVELOPMENT LOG Keeping a record of your professional development helps you reflect on what you have achieved and how you have applied prior learning. This is especially beneficial when planning for your appraisal and considering your future development needs.

DEVELOPMENT LOGS CPD REVIEW CYCLE The CPD review cycle is a practical method that helps structure your development plan, learning objectives, and outcomes so that the training (or learning) you undertake is suitable and worthwhile for your career. Use this approach to help you be more intentional in your own development and make sure that where you have undertaken training, you measure the impact of it and how it has improved what you do.

REFLECTION Reflection is the process by which you assess the benefit of your development activities to yourself and your school, recognise strengths and weaknesses for self-improvement, and generate further ideas for personal and professional development.

CPD reflection encourages you and your team to identify links between development activities and their impacts, allowing you to modify any actions, behaviour, and learning objectives appropriately. It also prompts you to identify the purpose of each CPD exercise so that you assess what you are specifically gaining from them, and any areas of potential improvement in the future.

Reflection is about learning from your experiences.

ISBL offers members a way of capturing CPD using a personal CPD log that is available on the member portal. Alternatively, you could create a simple spreadsheet that captures: ● My goal ● What am I going to do to achieve this? ● What resources or support do I need? ● What are my success criteria? ● What was the outcome? ● What did you learn from this?

Your development log should record what you have done. This might be a specific piece of training, but also covers conversations with other professionals, reading books and magazines, and experiences where you have done something new.

Using these simple tools should help you identify areas for development, enabling you to plan the required learning. You should also be able to recognise and reflect on the learning and development you are achieving. We are always learning; we just don’t pause to acknowledge it.

If you would like more advice on your own professional development journey, then please email training@isbl.org.uk or visit www.isbl.org.uk

Summer 2022

09

NEWS AND VIEWS

SPOTLIGHT

SPOTLIGHT ON

The Period Products Scheme

The Period Products Scheme was launched on 20 January 2020 to ensure that no learner misses out on education due to their period. It enables schools and colleges in England to provide free period products for learners in their place of study

T

he scheme provides free period products to learners who need them in their places of study.

The scheme is available for organisations to order until July 2022 and covers all state-funded schools and 16-to19 education organisations in England which have female learners in year 5 (aged nine or 10 years) or above. Each eligible organisation was allocated a maximum amount of spend (a ‘spend cap’) between January 2020 and December 2020 and received a separate spend cap for the 2021 calendar year; both spend caps were based on 35% of the number of learners in the organisation whose legal

gender was female and who, based on age, were likely to have started their periods. A minimum spend cap of £16 was set to allow all organisations to order a reasonable range of products. An average secondary school has a spend cap of around £1,300 each year, but most primary schools have a spend cap at or close to the minimum.

TAKE-UP OF THE PERIOD PRODUCTS SCHEME Half of eligible organisations made at least one order during 2021 (10,213 out of 20,458 organisations). Takeup was low at the start of 2021 but

has subsequently increased - this is likely to be due to the restricted opening of schools and colleges during January and February 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In addition, many organisations made orders towards the end of 2020 and so may have had sufficient stocks of products available for the first few months of the year. By the end of the year take-up was slightly higher than in 2020 (50% compared to 48% - see Figure 1). Overall, 13,822 organisations had made at least one order since the scheme began in January 2020; this is 68% of the organisations that are currently eligible.

Figure 1: Cumulative number and percentage of organisations Figure 2: Cumulative number of orders placed, 2020 and 2021 who have placed at least one order, 2020 and 2021

Figure 3: Total value of orders placed, 2020 and 2021

For more information go to: https://www.gov.uk/ government/publications/ period-products-inschools-and-colleges/ period-product-schemefor-schools-andcolleges-inengland

10

Summer 2022

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Have real-time RAG reporting with drill-down functionality which removes the need for cumbersome, time-consuming spreadsheets Have a helicopter view of key information with the multi-site dashboard, which gives you the ability to drill down into the granular detail Centralise all your information with one HR system and set trust-wide standards Manage trust-wide pay scales with the MAT admin functionality

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Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2021 Education Annex Education institutions are under increasing threat of cyber attack. The following is a sample of some of the breaches discovered during a Government survey published in March 2021.

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Further Education Colleges

Percentage that have identified the following types of breaches or attacks, among the organisations that have identified any breaches or attacks Base

135/49

158/91

57/43

Phishing attacks

84%

86%

91%

Takeovers of organisation’s user accounts

8%

10%

12%

Viruses, spyware, malware and ransomware

22%

16%

35%

Others impersonating the organisation in emails or online

20%

37%

58%

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

PROCUREMENT

Collaborating on procurement T

DAVID CARNE, serving school business professional and executive coach, offers very useful guidance on making collaborative procurement work for your school 14

Summer 2022

he education sector is under constant pressure to identify ways to generate financial efficiencies. As school leaders are acutely aware, a significant majority of expenditure goes on staffing - which is often the area which is most challenging to cut while maintaining quality of provision. This then leaves non-staffing costs creaking under the strain of punching above their weight in delivering efficiency savings. However, 12 years into the academisation agenda, there are many good examples of multi-academy

trusts which have achieved significant savings by pooling contracts for goods and services across their schools.

Collaboration is a force-multiplier and collaborative purchasing saves not only money, time and energy, but also allows schools to access expertise which may not exist in their own organisations.

So how do we maximise opportunities to collaborate at every level and leverage our buying power to deliver savings?

I would argue that many schools, academies and trusts are doing excellent work in this area and support from

PROCUREMENT

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

Many schools, academies and trusts are doing excellent work in this area

both the Department for Education and elsewhere in terms of collaborative purchasing has improved significantly.

Below I outline five levels of collaborative procurement for consideration; for each level I suggest the basic steps to implementation. Most schools are probably using at least one already, but may be able to utilise others.

LEVEL 1 – INTERNAL COLLABORATION At its most basic, collaborative procurement can simply mean a

centralisation of some aspects of a school’s ordering - for example, consolidation of all orders for printer paper into a single annual order placed on ‘call-off’ basis and distributed internally.

This type of pooled or centralised ordering can deliver significant savings particularly if each separate order would be subject to delivery charges - and is relatively easy to organise. Buying in larger quantities can deliver savings and locking in a price can guard against rises during the year. To implement this: ● Audit

your school’s most commonly used goods/services. ● Calculate

a realistic consumption figure per annum. ● Use

your existing procurement procedures to get quotes for these on a call-off basis. ● Put

in place an easy-to-use internal ordering, distribution and accounting system for consumption.

LEVEL 2 – INFORMAL COLLABORATION At this level multiple schools come together to benchmark, discuss, tender and evaluate for goods and services - but each school enters into an individual contract with the supplier. This can deliver economies of scale in terms of

time spent in procurement, and mean that schools may be able to access greater expertise where one of the partners has someone with specific relevant knowledge. Informal consortia like this can achieve economies of scale and save money. To implement this: ● I dentify goods and services you wish to procure. ● B uild a community of practitioners to benchmark, tender and evaluate bids. ● A gree compliant procurement procedures to obtain and evaluate quotes/tenders. ● A gree contracting arrangements for each organisation in line with existing financial regulations.

LEVEL 3 – FORMAL COLLABORATION At this level schools create a formal organisation, or nominate a lead partner, which enters into a single contract with a supplier. This is commonly achieved through central procurement in a multiacademy trust, but can also be achieved by school companies, a single school acting as the lead purchaser and, of course, where local authorities procure on behalf of schools. To implement this: ● E stablish an appropriate lead organisation.

Summer 2022 15

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

Identify partners and put in place contracts for each party, setting out obligations. ● A gree legally compliant procurement procedures to obtain and evaluate quotes/tenders (bearing in mind PCR 2015 regulations and identifying any external procurement expertise you may require). ● S ign contracts. ●

LEVEL 4 – FRAMEWORKS AND DYNAMIC PURCHASING SYSTEMS Typically, at this level, a third-party organisation with specific expertise in procurement will establish a framework.

This organisation will run a tender which allows schools and trusts to calloff products and services with agreed specifications and pricing. This would include public sector buying organisations, such as ESPO, YPO, WMS, etc., local authorities which allow others to ‘piggyback’ onto their frameworks and national framework organisations such as Crown Commercial, Crescent Purchasing, etc.

As a Catholic school we also benefit from some excellent frameworks and DPS offered by Churchmarketplace, a national framework provider which every Catholic school has access to.

16

Summer 2022

PROCUREMENT

A dynamic purchasing system allows suppliers to join and leave the framework at any time, enabling schools and trusts to encourage incumbent suppliers to join and bid, or new suppliers to join to ensure compliance with threshold requirements. These larger frameworks secure huge economies of scale and often have good support for those using them. To implement this: ● I dentify a framework or dynamic purchasing system to use; guidance on this is available on the Department for Education schools buying website. ● E nsure you have adequately specified your requirements, bidding procedures and selection criteria (most frameworks will have support guidance for this). ● R eceive mini-tender submissions from suppliers and evaluate in line with existing procurement regulations. ● Sign contracts.

LEVEL 5 – SUPPLIER COLLABORATION At this level suppliers collaborate to bring together services or products which together add value to the buying organisation – for example, a supply insurance company which also offers

You may wish to suggest added value products and services which suppliers could include value added wellbeing or counselling services through a third-party. At this level, the buyer benefits from complimentary services which interface to provide something of value.

While, at face value, this might not be something that appears to require input from you as the purchaser, you may wish to suggest added value products and services which suppliers could include, or even put suppliers in touch with each other for a conversation. Once in place, evaluate and ensure the new product/ service provides value as described above.

Clearly, the scope of this article does not allow full exploration of the legal and statutory aspects of each of these arrangements, and you should seek professional advice to support your procurement structures and processes.

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LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

GETTING YOUR VOICE HEARD

Making your voice heard Do you find yourself struggling to be taken seriously in meetings?

KEYSTONE KNOWLEDGE has some important ideas on how to get your voice heard

L

ove them or hate them, meetings are an essential part of professional life. Good meetings effectively utilise the knowledge, experience, and skills of those around the table to create solutions and foster great strategy.

Bad meetings waste people’s time, promote partisan behaviour and don’t make progress which can be frustrating for all involved.

If you leave thinking, “I wish I had said X or Y but I just didn’t feel able to”, if you find it hard to be taken seriously in meetings or you’re often talked over, here are some tactics that you can use the next time you want to make your voice heard in a meeting.

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READ AHEAD Reading the paperwork before a meeting is one of those obligations that everyone puts to the back of their to-do lists.

Although the additional reading before a meeting can be tedious, try to think of it as an opportunity to get ahead.

Use this extra time to ruminate on the questions that you would like to ask, or information you would like to bring up, and write down exactly what you’d like to say. This will make it easier to remember what you’d like to say if you find yourself getting flustered.

GETTING YOUR VOICE HEARD

SPEAK EARLY IN THE MEETING When any group of people come together to discuss anything, there will always be differences of opinion; when people are as passionate as they are about education, tensions can run high and this can lead to people talking over each other.

Speaking early in your meeting can help to establish your presence and make it easier to talk later on. If you find yourself struggling to be heard in a meeting, be confident (fake it if you don’t feel it!) and raise a point in the first few agenda items. If you are interrupted, wait until they have finished and begin again, but always remain calm and polite. State the behaviour you want from others - “I need you to listen to what I have to say and then to respond with questions once I have spoken”.

ASKING QUESTIONS AND SEEKING CLARIFICATION Asking intelligent questions, and asking the speaker to clarify, can help you to understand the subject better and can gain you respect amongst your peers. Keep your questions short, concise and to the point. If you are the lone voice asking for clarification in a meeting and others are getting impatient, introduce your question by saying “I am almost ready to join the consensus of opinion; in order for me to do so, I just need to understand X, Y and Z”. This signals that you are a team player but that there are things that are important to you.

Avoid starting your questions with, “I’m sorry” or “This might be a silly question”.

These starters will make you seem less authoritative and assertive.

STAYING FOCUSED ON THE TASKS AT HAND If a colleague makes a point you agree with, and illustrates it with an example or anecdotal evidence, avoid the need to add weight to their argument by adding your own anecdote. Simply say, “I agree with X, as that example chimes with my experience/understanding”.

If you are chairing the meeting, keep

LEADERSHIP BY EXAMPLE

things on track by ending each agenda item by asking, “Are there any more issues arising from this item?” Once any lingering issues have been aired, you can be confident in shutting down any attempts to move back to an item later in the agenda. Hopefully, as adults, we have moved past using the ‘speaking spoon’ to determine who is talking but it may also be helpful for the chair to have a timer and restrict speaking times to prevent meetings from going over time.

The old adage ‘It’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar’ still rings true

FOSTER GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS The old adage ‘It’s easier to catch flies with honey than vinegar’ still rings true. In his classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie said, “Success in dealing with people depends on a sympathetic grasp of the other person’s viewpoint”. Finding common ground with those around the table will allow you to build a good, personable relationship with them. Including everyone in discussions, standing up for those who are being talked over, and becoming the calm voice of reason will help you to be seen in a positive light.

Keystone can help with external reviews of governance. As well as auditing your governance procedures and policies, we can sit in on meetings to monitor behaviour.

From there, we can provide solutions to ensure that your meetings work toward the thing that matters most – improving outcomes for your pupils.

For more information, go to www. keystoneknowledge.com or email hello@ keystoneknowledge.com.

Summer 2022 19

MANAGEMENT

H E A LT H Y L I V I N G C U LT U R E

Creating a culture of healthy living in your school In the fourth article of the series which focuses on how to address each area of the Eco Schools Award HELEN BURGE, deputy COO at The Priory Learning Trust, discusses how you can promote healthy living in your school 20

Summer 2022

H

ealthy living focuses on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and introducing habits that improve your health – be that sleeping well, managing stress and your emotions, eating healthy foods, staying hydrated, being physically active, reducing alcohol intake and screen time, not smoking or vaping - the list goes

H E A LT H Y L I V I N G C U LT U R E

MANAGEMENT

The memory of school dinners can evoke a mixture of emotions for many people on. Ofsted’s new Common Inspection Framework includes a judgement on personal development, behaviour and welfare and inspectors look at the extent to which schools are successfully supporting pupils to gain knowledge of how to keep themselves healthy and make informed choices about healthy eating and fitness - but we don’t do things because of Ofsted, we do it because it’s the right thing to do by our school community.

The memory of school dinners can evoke a mixture of emotions for many people – the pure joy of green custard and getting the skin - or avoiding the skin, depending on your preference warm iced buns and salty spam fritters.

It would be fair to say that, in general, pre–Jamie Oliver’s intervention in 2005, school dinners weren’t great Instagram moments of healthy living. I also don’t remember there being a great selection of vegetarian options, so I used to opt for chips every day – good job I used to play a lot of sport! My boys were vegetarian until the youngest went to school, had a school dinner, and then told me he had eaten ‘meat’ and it was ‘yummy’! I worked in the school at the time and did wonder why the photo of my boys in the kitchen, next to the word ‘vegetarian’ hadn’t been the communication tool we all thought it would be. Anyway, this happened in 2007 so, thanks to Jamie, at least no turkey twizzlers would have been on his plate.

HEALTH PROBLEMS We know that high consumption of red and processed meat can increase the risk of health problems, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. By reducing meat consumption you also are lowering your school's carbon foodprint; meat production produces more planetwarming greenhouse gas emissions than other types of agriculture and food production. A recent study, published in Lancet Planetary Health in 2021, showed that daily meat consumption has fallen by 17% over the last decade. I wonder whether this was for green reasons? The National Food Strategy, based on a review of the whole UK food system, has recommended that meat consumption in the UK falls by 30% in the next decade; if you’re someone who has meat every day, reducing your meat consumption by 30% means having two meat-free days per week.

What about the snacks that students bring into school? This is slightly more contentious! What does your litter or bin contents show you about your school’s processed snackeating habits? How can you work with parents to help them choose healthier alternatives as snacks? How does the school’s message about healthy living get mirrored and supported in PTFA events? So many questions!

A WAY FORWARD? It might help to use the Healthy Schools Programme in order to access the resources and provide a clear focus.

There are also some incremental steps you can introduce to make your school a healthier one. ● P rovide drinking water and encourage reusable water bottles for staff and students. ● M eat-free day on the weekly menu. ● R educe meat content by adding lentils and vegetables. ● P rovide daily fresh fruit and vegetables. ● I ntroduce the ‘daily mile’ within your school grounds – https://thedailymile.co.uk/ ● T ry growing some vegetables – https://bit.ly/3NE8RnH ● P rovide healthy snacks in the staff room. ● P rovide a fruit tuck shop which is run by the students. In secondary schools, the Young Enterprise Scheme could do this. ● P rimaries may be able to link the development of healthy, active lifestyles to the sustainability agenda via sports premium funding. ● Y ou might also be able to link pupil premium funding to supporting healthy breakfast clubs, plus there are grants via Greggs, Kelloggs and Magic Breakfast.

Small, incremental, step changes will advance your school’s green agenda as well helping the school community to be a bit healthier – win-win! 

Summer 2022 21

HR

N E W S TA F F

Onboarding new staff I

ANDREW BLENCH, of School Business Partner and Barefoot Coaching Ltd, on processes you can implement to help your new starters

t’s that time of year when many schools start to think about their staffing for September and how they will integrate any new recruits to the school. In a primary school this might not be a huge number of people but, in a secondary or college setting, this could be a significant number of people anywhere between eight and 12 new people to welcome.

It’s recognised by the CIPD that giving new staff a good welcome and induction goes a long way towards helping them to settle in well in order to be effective in their new roles - and it also reduces staff turnover. Many organisations are taking a fresh look at how they onboard staff as reflected in the 2021 CIPD HYPERLINK "https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/ strategy/resourcing/surveys"Resourcing and Talent Planning Survey | Reports | CIPD

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WHAT IS ONBOARDING OR INDUCTION? It’s an introduction to key people, policies and processes which the new member of staff will need in order to perform their role well.

It’s also about the physical (including online) environment. Where do I find this? Or in which electronic folder does this belong?

HOW WELL DO SCHOOLS DO THIS? You will probably need to cast your minds back to pre-covid days to answer this question. For most of you over the last 2 years its been a case of fire or outbreak fighting and a lot of other things have had to get placed on pause.

INDUCTION DAYS/HALF DAYS A lot of settings will bring new staff into school during the

N E W S TA F F

HR

Ask any members of staff who started with you in the last year, how their induction went and learn from this

summer term prior to the September start for an induction event.

This might involve a day, or half day, event during which new staff will meet key leaders and contacts within school and be given talks about different aspects of school life, such as safeguarding arrangements and marking policies.

These events do, of course, rely upon the goodwill of the school that the new member of staff is already working for that they will graciously allow them out of school for a day or half day! I wonder about how effective these events actually are? In my experience we throw lots of information at the new recruit in a very short space of time and I wonder how much of it actually sticks!

HYBRID OR ‘CHUNKED’ APPROACH Many organisations are now looking at much more easily digestible approach, seeing induction and onboarding as a process, rather than a fixed event. To facilitate this you need to ask, ‘What does a new member of staff need to know, and from when do they need to know it?

Thinking about what they need before start date, what they will need to be introduced to in their first week, and then in their first term which is, typically, 13 weeks. Set this out in a document with Weeks one to 13 addressed, plus any before start date questions and answers.

Some things will definitely need to be done before the person starts, or at least on the first day. I would suggest a tour of the school site including all areas, not just the department they are going to work in. Think about physical and logical key-issuing - a key to the classroom, codes for doors and/or fobs to open magnetic locks. What about network sign-in details? Whilst new staff can rely upon other staff to let them into areas until their details are sorted, it isn’t ideal and conveys a message that they are not expected.

Other aspects can be covered later on, such as how the performance management system works, or how to join the staff welfare club.

There will be lots of policies that you will want the new recruit to read, and sign to say they have read, but don’t present them with a long list of policies to read without setting some expectation as to what order to tackle them in. Also think about when you are expecting these to be read. Can the new member of staff be given time off timetable to read them? If we don’t facilitate time for this, we may wind up with lip-service being paid to some important policies.

In terms of ‘chunking-up’ which elements can be delivered virtually - can health and safety training be completed online?

Are there members of staff who could record short videos where they explain certain aspects of school life? Again, set an expectation with the new recruit as to when each element needs completing by and put this into your first 13-week document.

REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS Don’t forget that some of your new recruits may have a disability and reasonable adjustments may need to be considered. This should have been picked up during the recruitment process but, in my experience, this doesn’t always happen - or, if it is discussed, the interviewer assumes that the SBM has an endless supply of special chairs in the storeroom! As well as asking the question in the interview, why not give them a call, ask the question and have a general discussion before they start?

TAKE THE LEARNING Ask any members of staff who started with you in the last year, how their induction went and learn from this. Clearly, their answers will be affected by COVID, but they might reveal some invaluable tips and easy fixes. 

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I C T M AT T E R S

CYBER SECURITY

Cyber Security: Looking inwards

O

GARY HENDERSON, ANME Ambassador and director of IT at Millfield School, discusses why we should be looking at the internal risks as well as the external risks when considering Cyber Security

ften when looking at cyber security, and by association at data protection, we focus on the external risks.

We focus on: ● managing

vulnerabilities which an external threat might use to access our systems and data ● on

managing and monitoring the areas on our network where an external threat may gain access ● managing

the security of our data solutions in relation to attempts at external access.

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We look outwards for the dangers, and I suspect, given all we constantly see in the press regarding organisations suffering externally driven cyber incidents, this is becoming all the more common. Yet a recent article regarding a disgruntled ex-IT staff member got me thinking that maybe we aren’t sufficiently considering the internal risks.

ACCIDENTAL DISCLOSURE I feel accidental disclosures of data go largely unreported and therefore any statistics in relation to how often they

happen would be massively underrepresentative. Accidental disclosure might include where data is disclosed by accident in an email or via sharing functionality.

The most common scenario is when the email is sent accidentally to the wrong person. Although sharing functionality in Google and Microsoft also allows for sharing files with the wrong person or for permissions to be misconfigured accidentally, allowing unintended users to have access.

We need to accept that mistakes will happen, and I am afraid this will

CYBER SECURITY

The current press around cyber security almost encourages the externalfacing focus only become more common as we get continually busier, so the challenges are twofold, to reduce the number of incidents, and to respond quickly to rectify things where they occur. On the preventative side, it’s about little prompts ahead of sharing externally and limiting permissions, especially external sharing.

With responding, it’s about user awareness and the need to report issues or suspected issues as soon as possible.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT The internal issue of change management relates to the potential for changes in settings, permissions, processes, etc., to have a negative impact on the school.

In attempting to address an issue or a request, it is all too easy to simply go ahead and change a setting, but sometimes the unintended consequences can be problematic, to say the least.

Here, it is about the appropriate change management processes to ensure that

changes are approved and ideally tested before being deployed. This won’t stop those issues we couldn’t predict; however, it should ensure that those we can, we do, and that appropriate governance of change and accountability is in place.

The right change management processes will also potentially help where changes are being made by an internal user, purposefully seeking to cause a negative impact, as it will be apparent that such changes were not approved.

OFFBOARDING As the earlier mentioned article highlighted, we also need to be conscious of the potentially disgruntled ex-employee who might seek, post leaving, to inflict damage. There is also the potential for an ex-employee to seek to use school data to their advantage post leaving. This highlights the vital need for appropriate off-boarding processes to manage the proper disabling and deletion of user accounts. There is also the need, particularly with IT staff, for any key passwords to be changed to prevent their future misuse.

STUDENTS Looking inwards at threats, we cannot forget the students. Some will be seeking to explore cyber security themselves through keen interest and may unintentionally cause issues. Others may be actively looking to cause problems, modify or

I C T M AT T E R S

access data. Here the critical measures needed relate to segmentation of your network to prevent students from accessing sensitive data and systems, and monitoring to try and detect any unusual or malicious activity from among the student body.

With those seeking to explore, I think there is great potential to harness and encourage their eagerness and ensure they operate within the school’s code of conduct, and local legal parameters. In a world where a shortage of cyber security professionals continues to be reported, it seems a missed opportunity to focus on sanctioning students where their actions were focused on learning, albeit having a potentially negative impact.

And for those students with malicious intent, I think there is clearly the need to sanction and warn them of the dangers of their current path, but equally, there is an opportunity to direct them onto a more positive pathway where their skills and interests might be able to be put to more constructive use.

CONCLUSION The current press around cyber security almost encourages the external-facing focus. We are worried about hacking groups, nation state-backed offensive security operations, and other external threats. Therefore, it is all too easy to look outwards when there are equal risks already within our perimeter, risks which equally need to be considered.

Summer 2022 25

I C T M AT T E R S

S C H O O L D I S P L AY S

Finding the ‘Catch Zone‘

Y

DR FIONA AUBREY-SMITH, director of One Life Learning, takes us on a fascinating journey around school displays – from the child’s eye view. Are your displays catching their attention? Probably not...

our children will spend around 10,000 hours in your school over the seven years of their primary education. They spend around half of their waking hours in the physical environment that you provide for them, and we know from the research that their environment plays a significant role in their mindset, wellbeing and achievements.

Visiting schools across the country, I have seen noticeable differences in the approaches that are taken to creating

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learning environments that promote learning; schools that do this well tend to share certain key features.

CARE AND ATTENTION Children will reflect what they are experiencing; if they can see great care has been taken in ensuring a clean, safe, carefully-presented environment then that’s what they will produce in their work and their demeanour.

If everything has a place in your classroom then children will be better

at tidying up. If your board and desk are organised and pride is taken in what you model, then children will reflect the same care in their own presentation - if spaces are kept clean and presentable then children will respect and care for their class around them.

The litmus test, according to one head, is to compare the classroom walls, furniture and resources to your home environment, and to ask each member of staff to do the same – would you want to live in these conditions?

S C H O O L D I S P L AY S

TOP TIP Parent helpers are always happy to help wash resources, clean furniture, run materials and aprons through the wash or tidy up display walls.

COLOUR-CODING It’s possible to help children to identify what they need to engage with; for example, if your school uniform is red then colour-code anything to do with school rules and information by using red borders or backing paper.

Use a contrasting colour, such as yellow, for displays or exhibits that are showcasing excellent work, and a different colour - maybe blue - for all displays and stimuli that are for supporting learning (e.g. word walls, learning journeys). For wall displays just use the colour for borders, backing and mounting and for table and unit displays colour-code with tablecloths or sugar

I C T M AT T E R S

paper. Don’t overcomplicate things – just three colours to differentiate between ‘information’, ‘showcasing’ and ‘learning’.

difference does it make to what they see and notice? What impact does this have on their learning?

TOP TIP Ask a child on the playground which displays they can remember in their classroom and which they find useful.

What they remember (and what they have forgotten about) is telling; if it’s not being used, is it worth displaying?

TOP TIP Trying ‘closing’ space by using voile to lower high ceilings, or putting furniture in the centre of a room to space-out children – see what the impact is on classroom dynamics and behaviours.

CURRICULUM DISPLAYS Reflect your broad and balanced curriculum by making sure you have displays and exhibits that reflect learning-in-action as well as achievements from across the curriculum. It is easy to slip into the habit of making displays about history topics, writing and a few artworks, but how are you showing both breadth and depth within your learning environment?

TOP TIP Do a curriculum audit and see which subjects are most and least represented in your learning environments. What does this say about your priorities for children’s experiences?

TIME WELL SPENT Make sure the time spent on organising classrooms and making displays is having an impact. Watch the children carefully when they first experience something that has changed – maybe furniture moved around, or a new topic display; what difference does it make to their dialogue and behaviour? What

Would you want to live in these conditions?

THE ‘CATCH ZONE’ With the many hours spent planning and facilitating the learning environment in and around your school, it is easy to stray away from some of the very basic principles - the most important of which is to remember who the environment is really there for – the children. To help refocus on this, start thinking about the ‘Catch Zone’ – but to do this you need to find it first!

Identify a Reception child and a Year 6 child – ideally children who are particularly inquisitive and observant (you know who they are!). Then find a blank space on the wall in your office and, for each child, mark the wall where their eyeline height is. Do this twice – once when they are standing and once where they are sitting (use different coloured sticky notes). The space between the height of the younger

Summer 2022 27

I C T M AT T E R S

S C H O O L D I S P L AY S

The ‘Catch Zone’ – the place where they will be most likely to notice things child’s eyes and the height of the older child’s eyes is called the ‘Catch Zone’ – the place where they will be most likely to notice things.

Take those children on a walk around your school – be sure to include all year group classrooms as well as communal areas, like the hall, and learning spaces such as learning hubs, outside spaces (not just the playground)

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and functional areas such as corridors.

Initially, ask children to focus on what they see that doesn’t move (in other words – not looking at the people in the space). Ensure that they are aware that you are asking for their views as the youngest and oldest in the school, and that you know that they will each experience different things and that there are no wrong answers.

Ask them to tell you exactly what they notice first on entering each space and what they see during the time spent in that area. If possible, ask the children to each film their experience of what they see from their height,.

Capture all of the above – take notes on what they say if you are not able to film it. Keep a track of how much they see that is about: ● s timulating, encouraging and

supporting learning (e.g. word walls, stimulus learning journeys); ● passive

or reference information (e.g. rules, fire routes, signs); ● c elebrating achievements (e.g. topic displays, photos, completed work); ● stimulating ideas or discussion.

Now carefully consider what were the similarities and differences between the Reception child and the Year 6 child? What did they not notice, and what patterns were there in what they each noticed across the school?

Repeat the steps of this walk with the staff who are responsible for each area – what do they notice? What are the similarities and differences between what they see and what the children experienced? Consider what has been identified by both staff and children and focus on the three key themes – learning,

S C H O O L D I S P L AY S

Would you engage with things...that are presented a metre above your eyeline? information and celebration.

How much of your environment has learning stimuli within the Catch Zone?

Should this be closer to 100%? Where are you presenting work and photos that are celebrating achievements?

Who is it that you want to see this – children, staff, visitors? Do the current arrangements reflect this?

Where are you displaying

information and how much of this do you want to be used on a regular basis? To what extent could statutory and occasional use information be placed in spaces that you can direct attention towards, as and when necessary, in order to free up valuable Catch Zone spaces?

PLAN TO IMPROVE Usually a key finding of this task is that most of the stuff we want children to engage with is in the adult Catch Zone rather than at a height appropriate for children. Think about this for a moment – would you engage with things, particularly within confined spaces such as classrooms and corridors, that are presented a metre above your eyeline?

Utilise the next school holiday, when walls are empty and furniture is already being moved about for cleaning, to

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make a change. Move display boards down so that their midpoint matches the children’s Catch Zone. If it uncovers tatty walls and you don’t have budget to repaint those patches then cover them with bright material or paper (remember the colour-coding above) that draws attention to these new spaces.

Do a quick and informal audit in each space around the school – particularly classrooms and resource areas. What needs a good wash and clean up? Can it be done over the holiday? If not – remember those parent helpers this term while the weather is warm and things can dry off outside!

Less is more. A few carefully chosen resource tables and display walls can make a big difference if they are planned from the perspective of the child, not the adult.

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I C T M AT T E R S

D ATA - T R A N S F E R G U I D E

A guide to the school-to-school data transfer system How schools access and use the school-toschool secure data transfer system

T

he school-to school (S2S) data transfer system is a secure data transfer website available to schools and local authorities in England and Wales. It was designed to enable common transfer format (CTF) files to be sent from, and to, any maintained school.

GENERIC FILE TRANSFER FACILITY A generic file transfer facility enables S2S users to exchange files of any safe type securely by following a file name convention; for schools there is a file size limit of 4Mb. SECURE MESSAGING SERVICE A secure messaging service enables free-text messages, or a message based on a standard template, to be sent to other S2S users.

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LOGGING IN TO S2S Access to S2S is now through the DfE’s sign-in system at: https://services.signin.education.gov.uk/my-services ENCRYPTION All generic files sent to the DfE via S2S must be encrypted using Winzip, DfE’s tool of choice.

1N ame the file you want to send in the S2S format eg: 101LLLL_ DFESXXX_max15characters.xls (101 = LA number).

2 Right click, choose WinZip, and click on ‘Add to zip file’.

3 I n the ‘Compression’ section, highlight ‘.Zip Legacy compression (maximum compatibility)’.

4U nder ‘Options’, tick ‘Encrypt added files’, then click ‘Add’.

5T his will bring up the ‘Encrypt’ box to enable you to create

D ATA - T R A N S F E R G U I D E

a password. The password must be at least eight characters long, and you must remember the password as you will have to relay it to the destination organisation.

6U nder ‘Encryption method’, click ‘256Bit AES (stronger).’

7C lick ‘OK’. The WinZip file will have been created in the folder you have saved it in.

Use the ‘Establishment Finder’ at ‘Getting Information About Schools

HOW TO FIND A SCHOOL To find the DfE number and other details of the school to which the pupil is moving prior to creating a CTF, you can use the ‘Establishment Finder’ at ‘Getting Information About Schools’.

To search for a school, input in the minimum information - such as the town and the main part of the school name.

For example, if you are looking for St. Mary and St. Martha School, Fishponds Lane, Bristol you are likely to find the school you want by just entering ‘Martha’ into the schools name box and ‘Bristol’ into the town box. This service includes schools in Wales and school which have closed.

To find details of schools in Scotland use NGFL Scotland. It is not currently possible to send a CTF to a school in Scotland, but you can share information on children moving to or from Scotland and confirm that a transfer has been completed.

FILENAME FORMATS FOR SCHOOLS It is critical that the filename is correct as the filename is used to identify the source, destination and type of file being sent. The following filenames are used and are automatically generated when the file is created.

CTF FILENAME FORMAT LASSS1_CTF_LASSS2_NUM.XML (Where LASSS1 is the DfE number of the sending school, LASSS2 is the DfE number of the destination school and NUM is a number that increments each time a file is created for this destination).

EXAMPLE: 9165402_CTF_8171234_003.XML IS THE THIRD CTF FILE CREATED BY SCHOOL 9165402 FOR SCHOOL 8171234 A file sent to a LA uses LLLL as the destination ‘school number’.

EXAMPLE OF A CTF FILE FROM A SCHOOL TO ITS

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LA IS 9165402_CTF_ 916LLLL_007.XML Any three letters or numbers can be used in place of ‘CTF’ in the name of a file transferred across S2S.

EXAMPLE, A FILE WITH KS1 DATA COULD BE RENAMED AS 9165402_KS1_916LLLL_005.XLS. However, school and LA MIS software will not create CTFs with this type of name. Thus, when transferring a file with KS1 data, it could be created as a CTF, then renamed, and then transferred using S2S. Schools should only rename files in this way when instructed to do so by the LA. SCHOOL CENSUS FILENAME FORMAT LASSS1_CCC_LALL06_NUM.XML (Where LASSS1 is the DfE number of the sending school, CCC represents the termly school censuses (using SC1/2/3), LALL06 is the number of the LA indicating the censuses in 2006 and NUM is a number that increments each time a school census file is created).

EXAMPLE (SCHOOL CENSUS): 8054301_ SC2_805LL06_001.XML IS THE FIRST SCHOOL CENSUS FILE CREATED BY SCHOOL 8054301 FOR THE SUMMER 2006 TERMLY SCHOOL CENSUS.GENERIC FILES This provides a way for any safe file type to be sent securely via S2S; there is a file size limit of 10Mb. Larger files can be ‘zipped’ into file type ‘.ZIP’ but the file can be of any type so long as the naming convention is followed. Here ‘xxx’ is the file type. The filename may only contain alphanumeric characters and the underscore character _.

Generic filename format = LASSS1_LASSS2_ UPTO15CHARACTER.xxx (between 2 schools) Generic filename format = LASSS1_LALLLL_ UPTO15CHARACTER.xxx (from school to LA) (Where LASSS1 is the DfE number of the sending school, LASSS2 is the DfE number of the destination school, LALLLL is the LA number followed by LLLL, UPTO15CHARACTER is a description of no more than 15 characters but no spaces, and .xxx is the file extension).

EXAMPLE: 9165402_916LLLL_SENLIST.ZIP For further support in learning to use the service click here.

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I C T M AT T E R S

TECHNO GEEK

Techno Geek

Getting things done – can tech help?

NIGEL MILLIGAN, IT manager to schools and businesses, shares some ideas on ‘getting things done‘ – and how tech can help with this

L

ife in school for administrative and teaching staff and it is simple to sign up to. The app is available on all is a daily rollercoaster ride, with numerous tasks devices or can be easily accessed on any browser using and to do lists that seem impossible to keep up the web version. I used the free version for some time with; technology has helped with many things, before upgrading to the pro version - which allows me but has created more paperwork and a constant stream to do much more, including hosting projects with many of emails - not just internally, but externally from parents other free users. and suppliers, etc.

The best way to get started is to capture as much as The only way to make a positive impact on tackling this you possibly can from your mind and list all of the things productivity issue is to make a start with our own mindset that you have to deal with at work. It also helps to create and start to declutter our minds. Many years ago I read a personal set of projects too to help clear your mind. about ‘getting things done’ (GTD) and the methodology When I describe this process in my presentations I liken it behind it. David Allen has written a great book, Getting to the ‘pensieve’ from the Harry Potter stories. For those things done: the art of stress-free productivity. unaccustomed to the wizarding world, the pensieve is Why not use technology to help you to work smarter, used to review and store memories which are captured reduce workload and more easily using the wands of wizards. collaborate with the rest of the school Once you have a collection of team? One example I’ve seen so many projects and associated tasks the Why not use times in meetings is the use of traditional magic starts when you organise paper diaries to make notes and create them with due dates. As more technology to to do lists - but handwritten notes and and more people start to use an help you to to do lists are out-of-date the minute the app such as Todoist, they quickly meeting is over! Until the contents of the realise the power of collaboration work smarter? notes and to do tasks have been clarified, by arranging meetings with all staff organised and engaged with, they won’t or departments to identify shared jump out of the diary a few days or more projects and tasks. later after the meeting to remind you; in many cases tasks The final part - when things come together perfectly and such are overlooked due to the way they are captured. - is when tasks are shared and assigned to key people.

There are lots of to do list apps available online, Once each stage is completed all relevant members many of which I have tried out over the years since know exactly the status of where things are up to and adopting the GTD methods. Many years ago I made the amount of irrelevant internal email is reduced too, the decision to use ToDoist. The one main reason for by allowing conversations to take place with a focus on choosing this is that you can work collaboratively for free, each specific task.

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Scanning in Education By scanning and deploying a document management solution, education establishments can more efficiently manage all their paper and digitally born material. By embracing digital transformation the ability to better manage business peaks and ensure smoother workflows and processes is enabled. Further key benefits include: • Centralised storage with enhanced security of all information, including client records, authorisations, contracts, identification and invoices.

• Enhanced compliance (GDPR) throughout all departments with all regulatory guidelines; address efficiently and timely your Subject Access Request and comply to retention periods

• A business process agility that can lead to productivity gains and cost savings.

• Faster access to client and staff information, leading to improved monitoring and execution, better engagement and empowered decision making.

• Ensure more success from information capture where enhanced and improved data analytics lead to more informed outcomes • A notable ROI, with most establishments reporting a full return on their investment within 18 months of implementation.

Automate administrative tasks and free up time

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fi-800R

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Reliability and robustness sees Fujitsu scanners the No.1 choice in Education

SV600

For further information visit – http://emea.fujitsu.com/scanners-in-education

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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 For any mishaps that may occur on wooden window frames or skirting boards, you can use nail polish remover to tidy up unwanted paint splashes or a thin highlighting brush – often found in hairdressers – to achieve the perfect painted edge.

Pub quiz 1. In what country is K2, the second-tallest mountain in the world?

2. Sisters Anne, Charlotte and Emily were members of which 19th century literary family?

3. In what year was the Great Fire of London?

4. What was the name of Samuel L. Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction?

5. In Friends, who plays Rachel’s sister Jill?

Answers: 1. Pakistan 2. The Brontë family 3. 1666 4. Jules 5.

Reese Witherspoon 34

June 2022

Kind fines

THUMBS UP!

As reported by BBC News, a woman said she was “overwhelmed” after a stranger left money on her car to help pay for a parking fine. Selena Mills got a ticket from the machine in a car park in Mapperley Top, Nottingham, which allowed her to stay free for two hours. On her return, she found she had been fined £25 due to her ticket blowing over, but she also found £20 and a note saying ‘from one mum to another’. Mother-of-two Selena said she thought the ticket might have blown over when she shut the car door. After posting her thanks on Facebook, she tracked down the mystery donor. She said she had sobbed when she read the stranger’s note. “I think she has restored my faith in humanity,” she said.

TEABREAK

“

Well, knock me down with a feather!

“

DID YOU KNOW? Did you know it takes 70 different pieces of wood to make up a violin? This explains why some of them are so expensive (one even sold for $16m!)

QUOTE OF THE MONTH In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on Robert Frost

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Eagle population reaches new heights The number of golden eagles in southern Scotland has hit its highest recorded level since the early 19th Century, BBC News has reported.

There are now estimated to be more than 30 birds in an area where there were fewer than five breeding pairs just four years ago. The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project (SSGEP) has been relocating birds to the region since 2018. It started bringing chicks from the Highlands but has now begun introducing older birds. It is the first project in the UK to move golden eagles aged between six months and three years from one area to another. The latest additions are seven birds caught in the Outer Hebrides and then transported and released in the south of the country.

A RECORD-BREAKING STRAWBERRY A farmer in Israel has entered the Guinness World Records after he grew the largest strawberry on record, says Sky News . Weighing in at 289g, it has been declared the world’s largest after Chahi Ariel spent a year farming it; the previous record was a strawberry grown in 2015 in Fukuoka, Japan, that tipped the scales at 250g. The strawberry was picked on Mr Ariel’s family farm near Netanya in central Israel in February 2021 and has been stored in a freezer ever since. “We waited for a year for the results.

We kept it in the freezer for a year.

It’s no longer as pretty as it was,” Chahi said. The strawberry is a local varity called Ilan which tends to grow to a hefty size. Sadly, the record-setting fruit has shrunk to about half the size it was a year ago.

Junel 2022 35

LIVE IT

SBL SKILLS

Ensuring your I SBL skills are fit-for-purpose VAL ANDREW, programme manager for Best Practice Network DSBM Level 4 (among other things!) on how now is the right time to think about the future and burnish your, already impressive, SBL skills.

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have huge concerns about the overwhelming challenges that practitioners in the SBM/SBL profession are juggling at present. Every day, on social media, there is someone talking about frustrations, inequities, workload pressure, lack of support, lack of funds, lack of recognition and brain fog.

Despite what the politicians would have us believe, the education sector (in common with the rest of the public sector) has been starved of investment for too long and the result is that just about everyone still working in schools is in danger of disappearing down the proverbial ‘rabbit hole’.

We are all trying to do our very best for the children and young people in our schools – but with limited resources, and even less support. The climate across our schools is very different now, not least due to COVID, but on a number of other levels too. I’m reminded of the famous Pooh bear quote overleaf.

SBL SKILLS

We are so busy banging our heads against whatever ‘brick wall’ is in front of us now that we lose the capacity to think logically about how we can change things for the better.

I believe the skills that SBMs and SBLs need now are quite different from the skills they needed ten years ago - although we didn’t realise it at the time, those really were good times! The education landscape has changed; the challenges are different and the people are different. Whilst some of the technical skills remain valid SBM professionals need a range of additional skills in order to remain ’fit-for-purpose’.

ISBL has acknowledged that its set of professional standards, produced back in 2015, needs a refresh in order to reflect the changing scope of the role - a project that is ongoing at present. So, what are the skills we need in order to remain ‘relevant’?

A bit of introspection is needed.

This can be an uncomfortable process, which is why we tend to avoid it, and it also requires time - something we struggle to set aside in our busy lives. Once you’ve engaged with the concept, I’d suggest you divide this personal reflection into two distinct areas; reviewing technical skills and then looking at a range of personal competencies required to build resilience and engender success.

understanding the implications of the final stages of implementing the national funding formula, and how to keep the school warm and lit during the current energy crisis are amongst the plethora of current financial dilemmas.

Since Brexit it’s likely that procurement rules might be re-thought; IT is constantly changing and the pressures to move more towards the virtual world of education delivery is inevitable post-COVID. These are just a few of the ways the SBM technical skills are changing - so an update might be a great idea. This might be achieved through opportunities to study individual areas or units (BPN offer all DSBM L4 units individually) or could be done by researching online, reviewing updated guidance issued by other professional organisations, ensuring you receive the weekly gov.uk updates and, not least, regular networking with other SBMs. I know budgets are tight, and CPD is usually the first victim when things have to be cut, but there are other creative ways of refreshing technical skills that don’t cost a fortune.

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ADDITIONAL SKILLS I wrote in my last piece (Restoring a culture of respect – April 2022) about the clock being turned back 20 years and SBMs, along with other support staff, once again finding themselves having to justify the value and relevance of their roles - so you need an endless amount of patience and innovation to keep hammering home (in the politest way possible!) the key messages about how the role contributes to the smooth running of the school, how it reinforces effective resource management and, ultimately, albeit indirectly, how it contributes to the education of the pupils, plus the support it provides for leadership teams which need to focus on improving attainment levels.

You also need emotional intelligence - after the upheaval of the last two years none of us are the same people we were before the pandemic. It’s about understanding the way staff and pupils are feeling, what motivates them, and what frustrates them. The key characteristics of good emotional intelligence include empathy, compassion, trust, patience

TECHNICAL SKILLS The obvious ones are finance, HR, procurement, marketing, IT and infrastructure management – all of which may need a refresh. If it’s a while since you participated in training it might be worth looking at what you can do to update these core skills. Managing challenging budgets,

Summer 2022 37

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SBL SKILLS

(already mentioned) and the capacity to read the situation around you. SBMs are usually very good at these things, especially in relation to others, while often neglecting themselves, and many are now needing to be on the receiving end of some TLC. Education is a people-centric sector, so recognising your own need for a reset will equip you well to help other people around you.

Future-proofing OR horizonscanning are both current buzz phrases (forgive me!) This can manifest itself in a variety of ways. Effective SBMs need to have an eye on the future, what’s likely to come down the track, and thus provide a heads-up in anticipating the impact this might have on your school.

The recent white paper indicates that another push towards academisation might be on the cards - so how might this impact on you and your school? Are you likely to be involved in the process of conversion or joining a MAT - in which case, do you understand the process fully?

How might this impact on you personally? It might be a good time to update the CV and start thinking about your own skills and experience and if you see yourself working in a more specialised environment, exploiting

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Above everything else, you need a very thick skin! your favoured skills, or whether your preference is to find another, more generalist, SBM role elsewhere.

Finally, resilience (another buzz word – sorry!) If you do identify with Pooh Bear in the extract above you will realise that, above everything else, you need a very thick skin! The role of the SBM has never been easy, and I think this new generation of practitioners will need resilience in bucket-loads to deal with the challenges ahead. That said, the one thing I am confident about is that you will be fine with this!

No pressure. Through my work with BPN and the DSBM Level 4 programme I have had the privilege to meet and get to know lots of new SBMs who are just starting out on their careers across the sector, and I am constantly in awe of them, their innovation and resilience. To summarise then; don’t sit on your hands and become a square peg in a round hole!

FINAL THOUGHTS Check out what’s happening around you and seek out ways to refresh your existing skills and, perhaps, adapt ways of working to integrate some new ones too. There are more opportunities to improve and develop new skills nowadays, and lots of practitioners are using coaching as a way of keeping themselves motivated and up-to-date. There are still lots of experienced people out there willing to mentor colleagues new to the profession too.

Why not start a conversation with one of them?

VAL ANDREW ● P rogramme

manager for Best Practice Network DSBM Level 4 - find out more: https://www. bestpracticenet.co.uk/dsbm-l4 ● P atron of ISBL. ● F ormerly ASCL School Business Leadership Specialist (2010 - 2018). ● R ecipient of ISBL CEO Award for exceptional contributions to school business leadership in 2018. ● S emi - retired SBL and very proud grandma.

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60 SECONDS

6 0 S E C O N D S W IT H SHARON MARSH, freelance school business professional, tells us about her love of baking, where she makes her best decisions, and her SBM journey

Sharon Marsh, freelance school business professional

What led to your current role?

I started as a TA in my local infant school and my headteacher invited me to apply for the admin officer role in school when the established AO was due to retire. The role developed and, after a few years, I moved to a local primary school as an SBM. Over the years I have worked in a few local schools, and then as a consultant SBM, before branching out on my own and forming my own company.

Tell us something unusual or interesting about yourself.

When I am not working, or helping my family, I like to bake and experiment with new recipes. I am passionate about good food and enjoy going out to eat delicious food in incredible places. I also really enjoy ballroom dancing; I have been dancing since I was 12.

What’s your favourite aspect of working as a school business professional so far?

Seeing all the different people and places in the settings I am privileged to be invited to work in. I have worked in a large variety of phases of education - academies, maintained and SEND provisions; the thing that links them all is the incredible teams of people all working to achieve the best outcomes for their pupils.

What’s been your greatest professional achievement to date?

Starting my own company during the recent pandemic.

How do you ensure that you continue to grow, personally and professionally?

By always striving for excellence, keeping up-to-date with latest updates and guidance across our industry, supporting my peers and networking, especially now that we can do this face-to-face again.

I make my most clear decisions when I am walking my dog in the forest where I live Where do you take inspiration from, both work and life-wise?

From my peers, and also from the world around me. I make my most clear decisions when I’m walking my dog in the forest where I live.

What three words would you use to describe your role?

Evolving, supportive, enjoyable.

If there was one thing about your job you could change, what would it be?

The stress and work-life balance of colleagues I am asked to support when I am called in to assist schools in an interim capacity. 

Summer 2022 39

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 6th October 2022

Book or email us for limited free promotional delegate places hello@edexeclive.co.uk