Leadership+ Issue 59 November 2010

ISSUE 59 ● NOVEMBER 2010

+ Leadership THE PROFESSIONAL VOICE OF PRINCIPALS

Online Applications Avoiding the Paper Cuts!

Whole School Evaluation

Prepare for the worst and it may never happen...

School leaders, by and large, have worked in an environment which has seen small but steady improvement.

Suddenly everything has changed. Many of the things that we have taken for granted are no longer certain. There are no more ‘untouchables’.

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Prepare for the worst and it may never happen...

by Seán Cottrell and Pat Goff

School leaders by and large have worked in an environment which has seen small, but steady improvement.We have been frustrated at times with the slow pace of improvement. IPPN has made multiple submissions and argued for investment in several key areas. Suddenly everything has changed. Many of the things that we have taken for granted are no longer certain. There are no more ‘untouchables’. At the time of going to print, we await the outcome of the next budget. The spin doctors are hard at work ‘flying kites’ and judging public reaction.

Where does this leave us? We only know one direction in education – progress and improvement. We have no experience or training in dealing with regression. The implications for Principals and teachers of a system facing potentially radical reductions in funding and staffing are unknown. It is as though we are entering a wartime period where the very essence and core of who we are and what we stand for is under threat. As resources are ‘rationed’, how should we respond?

Suddenly everything has changed. Many of the things that we have taken for granted are no longer certain. There are no more ‘untouchables’ Whatever personal view we may hold on who is to blame for the country’s finances, it is neither helpful nor appropriate to dwell on such matters. We are acutely aware that, even in the ‘good times’, parents were funding between 20% and 40% of the running costs of primary schools. There isn’t a school in Ireland where the parents have been insulated from job losses and falling incomes. It is highly unlikely that schools will continue to receive this level

Director: Seán Cottrell director@ippn.ie President: Pat Goff president@ippn.ie Editor: Damian White editor@ippn.ie Assistant Editor: Brendan McCabe

of ‘voluntary’ contributions upon which schools have come to depend.

Boards of Management, staff, parents and children will be forced to re-examine priorities according to what is affordable. This is exacerbated in a system where operational funds are allocated six months in arrears. It is simply impossible for schools to continue to deliver the same level of service with vastly reduced funding. It is absolutely essential that Principals use their leadership role to commence and manage this re-prioritisation.

Perhaps this is an opportunity for Principals to bring people together from the whole school community and, in doing so, earn their respect for your leadership and your professionalism.

Vital to this process is clear and frequent communication with BoM, parents and staff.

If, for example, your school is going to lose a teacher or suffer a reduction in funding, it is important that everyone in the school community is informed. Principals have a tendency to only share good news and bottle up bad news for their own sleepless nights.

Tough times can bring out the worst in some people, but they certainly bring out the best in many. One of the hardest things to do as a Principal is to ask for help. To do so can feel like admitting that you can’t cope, that you are under pressure or worse still, that you are incompetent. The reality is the complete opposite. Research shows that teachers, both with and without posts of responsibility are eager to help, and actually feel affirmed when asked to do so. Failure to delegate will guarantee increased stress and isolation. This is not an option for Principals right now. Parent Association as well as staff and Board of Management meetings are vital opportunities to openly address the new challenges facing us and the contingency plans required.

Our recent survey of newly-appointed Principals tells us that stress is the greatest problem they have experienced in their role so far. While this is regrettable and not surprising,

Assistant Director:Virginia O’Mahony Advertising: adverts@ippn.ie Irish Primary Principals’ Network, Glounthaune, Co Cork T: 353 21 452 4925 F: 353 21 435 5648 PAG E 3

it is preventable. Enthusiastic Principals throw themselves into a frenzy of activity, trying to be all things for all people. However, failing to plan for unforeseen and unexpected situations can send the stress levels soaring. It is surprising the number of Principals with many years experience who haven’t got their five legallycompelled policies up to date and ratified by the BoM. Furthermore, not every school has issued every member of staff with child protection procedures. Legalities aside, last winter hundreds of schools were forced to close due to frozen pipes, ice-covered footpaths and car parks. These are just a few examples where being unprepared caused significant disruption and confusion in the school community and consequent stress for Principals. Getting the Board of Management to organise a plumber to insulate exposed pipes or update a five-year old policy statement may not seem like a high priority in September. Ach ní hé lá na gaoithe lá na scolb.

This brings us to the core of the issue, your role as Principal. It is not, and must never be, your role as Principal to do everything that needs doing.

This brings us to the core of the issue, your role as Principal. It is not, and must never be, your role as Principal to do everything that needs doing. You have both a right and an obligation to delegate responsibility for appropriate tasks to the teaching and non-teaching staff, the parent association and, with the chairperson’s support, to members of the BoM. We all know there are schools where aspects of this are simply impossible due to interpersonal difficulties. However, we also know that any Principal who tries to be all things to all people may do so, but at a huge personal cost. In the words of Roy Keane, ‘if you fail to plan, you plan to fail’. Bígí ullamh.

The opinions expressed in Leadership+ do not necessarily reflect the official policy or views of the Irish Primary Principals’ Network ISSN: 1649 -5888 Design: Brosna Press • 090 6454327 • info@brosnapress.ie

Online Applications Avoiding the Paper Cuts!

By Simon Lewis, Principal, Carlow Educate Together NS In August 2009, I pondered the idea of creating a system where teachers could apply for jobs in a school using an online system. Teachers were complaining, rightly, that it was costing them over €2 every time they applied for a job.

Moreover the amount of paper being wasted was ridiculous.

Almost a year later, some of the education partners came together to publish a standard application form for teachers. The idea behind this was to make applicants’ and schools’ lives easier as all applications would look the same. I believed it was a step closer to moving these forms to an electronic format but I’m way too impatient to wait for that!

I checked with the relevant parties whether it would be ok to create an online version of the standard application form. They saw no reason why not. The idea was that, instead of filling out a paper version of the form, teachers could apply using almost exactly the same form, except in electronic format. I believe we then became the first primary school in Ireland to adopt an online application form for teaching jobs.

Creating the form was very easy thanks to an inbuilt form creator on our web site. We asked the same questions as the paper application form, (except for the religion ones as we are an Educate Together school).

Of course there were some factors to consider: G Would be get a lot more applications as it was “free” to apply?

G How could we prevent spam?

G How could we be sure we didn’t look at

applications before the closing date?

G What if applications got lost in cyberspace?

G What happened to applications once

processed?

To counteract these issues, we decided to add a couple of questions to the standard ones to prevent applicants simply copying and pasting their answers. Regarding spam, we added a security question, which, if answered incorrectly, would be dumped. The question was “4+5=?”.

If an applicant wasn’t able to answer that question, we probably weren’t going to hire them anyway!

The issue of separating applications was solved by creating a new email account to which applications were sent.The account wasn’t opened until after the closing date. Although the Internet is more reliable at sending information than An Post, people seem much less trusting and we received about a dozen enquiries asking if we had received applications. In all cases, we had.

The final issue regarding the storing of applications was solved with a little disclaimer at the top of the form. We wrote that all applications would be stored in an email account but nobody except the selection panel would have access to this account. All applications would be deleted after one year.

The good news is the whole thing went flawlessly. We received a similar number of applications as we had the year previously. We came up with a system to narrow down applications gradually.

We emailed these applicants to inform them of the interview and also wrote them a letter with the same information. We were thrilled that we were able to hire some fantastic teachers on the interview day.We asked them for their feedback on the online application procedure and we were delighted that all of them had huge praise for the process.

Once our new recruits had accepted our job offer, it was time to inform the unsuccessful candidates that the posts had now been filled. In the previous year, this had meant stuffing over 200 envelopes with the same standard letter.This year, we simply wrote one email and sent it to all unsuccessful applicants, (we used the BCC to paste in the email addresses to hide their identities), which took approximately 3 minutes including the writing of the email.

I was heartened to read a couple of posts on IPPN’s EducationPosts.ie Message Board forum which is a discussion forum where teachers can talk about education. A number of users were delighted with our online application system and were even praiseworthy when they received the email from our school letting them know their application was unsuccessful.

I would highly recommend that schools try out an online application system for jobs coming up in their schools in the future. It saved me, the selection panel and our school secretary hours of work and, best of all, no papercuts!

See full details on www.anseo.net.

www.ippn.ie Resources - Principal Advice The following resources have recently been added to the website and can be found under the relevant web pages listed in bold font below:

BOARD OF MANAGEMENT/ HEALTH & SAFETY ● Stress Risk Assessment ● Stress Management Policy

PRINCIPAL ADVICE SCHOOL POLICIES ● Diabetes Policy ● ICT Policy III ● Attendance Policy III ● Confidentiality Policy ● Establishing a School Council

RECRUITMENT Teachers ● Standard Application Form For Teaching Posts (Gaeilge)

INCLUSION ● SNA Daily Logsheet

Principals ● Standard Application Form For Principalship (Gaeilge) Special Needs Assistants ● Standard Application Form For SNA

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT ● Laptop Use Agreement PUBLICATIONS ● IPPN Google Calendar Monthly Planning Prompts 2010/2011 ● Leadership+ Issue 58 – September 2010 SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT & CURRICULUM PLANNING ● A Guide to Whole School Evaluation.

Bailing Out – The Consequences

By Damian White, Principal, Scoil Shinchill, Killeigh, Co. Offaly and Leadership+ Editor Recently, while hurrying to a meeting in a Midlands town, I turned off the motorway, turned right into the town and joined a line of traffic which sat motionless for the next 5 to 10 minutes. Joe Duffy’s daily moan fest kept me sufficiently preoccupied not to worry about my situation. As Joe tut tutted to a close, I began to get uneasy about my final destination which was still some distance away. I craned my neck out the window for an update before looking in the mirror to see a line of cars queued back towards a dot on the horizon behind me. Slowly at first but with speeding panic I realised that those cars in front of me were unoccupied. That I had in fact pulled in behind a row of parked cars and those obedient lemmings feeding on my exhaust fumes had done the same. As I pulled out and sped onwards through an almost empty town centre, I understood for the first time how the banking crisis had occurred.

In our school over the past 2 years, several blackboards, dusters, boxes of chalk, classroom clocks and big fat monitors have become redundant with no possibility of gaining reemployment. One blackboard up-skilled and returned to work as a staffroom table while others are looking at the possibility of taking

lesser work as shelves and partitions. Chalk and dusters are the real victims of the times. Like the coopers of Guinness, those who were once indispensable but are now part of the jobs history, they join the cane and the inkwell in the educational cemetery.

What is shiny and new is wonderful, with seemingly endless resources at the press of a button. However, it begs recollection of the smartly-dressed man parking in a dodgy area of town, who when solicited for a few bob to mind his car turned down the enquiring cheeky urchin by saying ‘the Doberman Pincher in the front of the car will mind it for me’. Not to be outdone, the next Bill Cullen replied – ‘Ah very good Mister – does he put out fires?’ IT has grown at an alarming rate but has it yet developed a mass production way of tying a shoe lace, peeling a banana or solving a bullying issue?

Has technology de-stressed the Principal in any way, or reduced his/her workload? Will the current rush towards IT and all its goods and chattels in time be revealed to be just a fad and of little use to the real education of a person?

The Code of Professional Conduct for teachers recognises the life-long learning aspect of the

profession. The Teaching Council is currently working on a policy paper on the ‘continuum’ of teacher education, spanning all stages of a teacher’s career. I find it hard to trust a word that has a double ‘u’ in the middle of it or where it might take us. While all teachers are faced with a clear and present danger of being trampled in the bull run towards IT Heaven, there is a greater danger that what has always distinguished a good teacher will be trampled on. The late, great Mater Surgeon Maurice Nelligan admitted in a radio interview that the good techniques he picked up came from working with and observing great surgeons in his junior days.

As the panic spreads over the potential financial loss that may befall senior teachers and Principals should they not retire before a fastlooming date, we should pause and consider what is being lost. Cumulatively speaking, thousands of years of expertise may be cast aside in the coming months, depriving children and young teachers of the benefit of an experienced guiding hand.

In the fallout from the banking crisis, is there a sadder consequence!

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All Schools Require One Thing – Good School Leadership

By Ruairi Quinn, TD, Labour Party Spokesperson on Education Leadership+ editor Damian White recently spoke to Labour’s Ruairi Quinn and asked him for his thoughts on education priorities for the future. The following is Ruairi’s reponse.

Labour will give Principals the skills and freedom that they need for this increasingly complex job. We will ensure Principals have substantial autonomy to manage their school resources.

PRINCIPALS New Principal appointments will be for ten years only and they will be required to have or complete a MA in Educational Management.

Principals will, with the support of the Inspectorate, draw up a five year plan for their school and teachers. They will be able to allocate and manage staff with increased flexibility.

New Principal appointments will be for ten years only and they will be required to have or complete a MA in Educational Management.

will also act as the Project Manager for all major school building projects, refurbishments and every day minor repairs.

LITERACY Labour in government will make literacy a national priority. Young people with poor literacy levels are more likely to be early school leavers. Child literacy in Ireland has not improved since 1980. Labour will focus on the teaching of literacy in our classrooms.

We will develop a national literacy strategy, with school-level targets. Every school will be required to have a Literacy Action Plan, with demonstrable outcomes.

PATRONAGE Labour will reform our primary system so that it is more democratic. The Patronage system is archaic and lacks accountability.

There is a need to ensure our primary education system provides a wide range of choices in the ethos of schools to reflect the social diversity of Ireland today.

The Forum will also develop proposals to ensure all Patron bodies subscribe to a basic charter which would set out a common position on issues such as a Freedom of Conscience clause for teachers on the teaching of religion; implement a common Relationship & Sexual Education curriculum and tackle the prevalence of all forms of bullying in schools.

The provision of support services for schools, such as clustered secretarial services, co-ordination of supply teachers and tendering for electricity and heating should come from the Local Education Boards

Labour will reform our primary system so that it is more democratic. The Patronage system is archaic and lacks accountability.

A REVITALISED DEPARTMENT Labour will radically reform the structure and operation of the Department of Education.

Among the many changes to be made will be the bringing together of the primary and secondary divisions so as to co ordinate their work and promote the efficient use of resources, physical and human, to develop the integrated educational campus concept throughout the country.

A ROLE FOR THE VECS Labour will reorganise the VECs into sixteen new Local Education Boards (LEBs). These LEBs will continue to carry out their existing educational functions. Board members will be elected in a manner similar to the present VECs.

Labour will establish a National Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the primary sector.

This Forum would be open to all the stakeholders in the education sector, will have concise terms of reference and produce a report in one year.

CONCLUSION Labour regards education as a partnership: ● Between teachers and parents ● Between pupils and schools ● Between principals and teachers ● Between individuals and society

The provision of support services for schools, such as clustered secretarial services, coordination of supply teachers and tendering for electricity and heating should come from the Local Education Boards for all primary and voluntary secondary schools. The LEBs

The Forum will consider how a transfer of patronage from the dominant Patron to others should be carried out in a democratic and socially responsible manner and how the current system of Boards of Management will be reformed.

Ireland needs to construct a completely new foundation for our education system so it is fit for purpose in the 21st century.

PAG E 6

IPPN Presentation on Curriculum Reform to the Joint Oireachtas Committee IPPN was invited to make a presentation to the JOC for Education & Skills on the topic of Curriculum Reform. This was our third appearance before this Committee of TDs and Senators from all political parties. Currently the JOC is chaired by Paul Gogarty, TD. The opportunity of presenting before the JOC was very welcome. While the JOC is not in itself a policy-making group, it does have an important influence, particularly as Bills move through the Dáil and Senate where amendments can be made.

What was remarkable was the one-sided view offered by parents – they agreed whole-heartedly with IPPN’s questioning of the value of homework in its present form.

In all, 12 points were raised in our written submission to the JOC. Following the 5minute oral presentation, members of the Committee asked questions seeking clarification and further information.

Media coverage over the following days almost exclusively focused on the points we made relating to homework. While it was the last of 12 points presented, it captured the public’s imagination and resulted in several local and national radio and TV interviews as well as coverage in the print media. It was also the first time in IPPN’s ten years that we received direct contact by telephone and email from parents. What was remarkable was the onesided view offered by parents – they agreed whole-heartedly with IPPN’s questioning of the value of homework in its present form. It appears that there isn’t any research published in Ireland on the topic of homework and its effectiveness in improving learning outcomes for children. This would suggest that perhaps it

Scam – Don’t get caught out!

In the last two years, schools have been targeted by a small number of unscrupulous and opportunistic scams. Some of these ‘con artists’ have taken advantage of the open and welcoming nature of primary schools. Many have educated themselves in the language of teaching resources and the shortage of funds to purchase same. Sometimes they have gained the confidence of the Principal by giving free or heavily-discounted products which prove to be extremely useful resources.

On a further visit, deposits, or in some cases full payment, is requested before delivery. To the shock and annoyance of everyone in the school, the product never materialises and their money is gone.

There have also been instances of emails / letters offering to include schools in a directory of organisations which may be beneficiaries of philanthropic or other funding. To the busy Principal, this appears to be harmless and they

think, why not sign up? A few weeks later a letter comes from a solicitor’s firm demanding payment of hundreds of euros which was mentioned as a cost in the smallest of print.

There are no free lunches. As a word of advice, never purchase anything from an unknown company without satisfying yourself that the company is real, that it has a known address and a manned landline telephone number. Unless you fully trust the salesperson, never pay for a product in advance, whether partially or in full. Remember the old adage ‘if it seems to be too good to be true then it probably is!’

PAG E 7

is now time to research and analyse the value of this age-old feature of schooling.

From time to time, IPPN invites Principals and Deputy Principals to take part in online and/or hardcopy surveys. These surveys are extremely important to the leadership of IPPN as they are a crucial means by which we can measure the opinion of school leaders on various topics. The other main means by which we gauge members’ opinion is through our National Committee, which comprises two elected or nominated Principals/Deputy Principals from each of the 26 counties.

The 52 members of the National Committee come from a wide variety of school sizes, types, patronage models and locations. The National Committee meets three times each year and provides a vital link between Principals in each County Network and the National Executive.

Whole School Evaluation Mary Irvine, Principal, St. Catherine’s Infant School, Cabra, Dublin 7 We were extremely pleased with the report on our Whole School Evaluation. Our Board of Management decided to publicise this success story with a view to attracting some additional pupils. As a result, our school was profiled in a glowing article in the Irish Independent (15th September 2010). Ironically, most of the interest generated by this article has come from principals and teachers in other schools asking us to describe what we do and how we do it.

This article may go some way towards answering those queries.

teachers availed of these opportunities and continue to do so, resulting in a very high degree of in-house expertise. Our teachers began to implement First Steps in Writing, in conjunction with Jolly Phonics, in their classes and generously shared their expertise with colleagues. Likewise, we implemented Maths Recovery with carefully screened individual pupils. We also began to use the Maths Recovery strategies, and the explicit emphasis on counting associated with Maths Recovery, on a daily basis in First Class.

up the appropriate rung. If a child rolls a six, she moves her counter up to rung number 6.

The teacher asks higher questions such as “what number are you hoping to get on the next throw of your dice?” (ideally 4). “What number would not be useful on your next throw (5 or 6). This type of teaching allows for automatic differentiation where the level of challenge in the question can be tailored to suit the abilities of each child. It is clear that this type of questioning, and the responses prompted by it, would not be possible in a large group of children.

We are a small school, catering for pupils in Junior Infants, Senior Infants and First Class.

Consequently, the school’s exclusive focus is on the crucially important early years. As is the case in many infant schools, our teachers have developed considerable expertise in teaching children aged four to seven. There were two other factors that have proved pivotal to our success: firstly, teachers devote a huge amount of time to planning lessons, both individually and collaboratively, and secondly, over the years we had virtually eliminated the use of workbooks within the school.

We’ve invested a huge amount of time in the preparation of our curricular plans. It takes a long time to write a short plan!

Perhaps our bravest decision to date has been the introduction of team teaching of mathematics in all Junior Infant and Senior Infant Classes, inspired by the First Steps in Reading Power Hour.

The school’s exclusive focus is on the crucially important early years. As is the case in many infant schools, our teachers have developed considerable expertise in teaching children aged four to seven.

We started to update our school plans with the implementation of the Revised Curriculum (1990). We began by prioritising literacy and numeracy, motivated in part by what we perceived to be pupils’ underperformance on standardised tests. We decided to address this underperformance by introducing innovative methods of curriculum delivery to harness the potential of our pupils.

We were lucky in that about this time we were offered opportunities for professional development in highly regarded programmes such as Ready, Set, Go Maths; Maths Recovery and First Steps in Writing and Reading. Our

Perhaps our bravest decision to date has been the introduction of team teaching of mathematics in all Junior Infant and Senior Infant Classes, inspired by the First Steps in Reading Power Hour. In the latter, four teachers occupy four stations in a classroom and each group of children spends approximately ten minutes at each of the four stations, engaging in four different types of intensive reading or writing activity. In our case, we implemented this model of provision over four days each week. On each day, four teachers co-teach in a single classroom, each working on a different maths activity with one group of four or five children. Therefore, over a period of four days each group experiences four different types of maths activity. These maths activities are based on the Number Worlds programme, Ready Set Go Maths, Maths Recovery activities and on some commercially produced games. There’s an explicit emphasis on counting in most of these activities, using very simple materials such as dice, counters and dot pattern cards. The crucial part of these mathematical activities is that they facilitate higher order questions and consequently deeper processing of fundamental counting concepts. For example, in a ladder game with each rung numbered 0 to 10, children throw a dice and move their counter PAG E 8

The team teaching of maths just described involves three members of the learning support team in addition to the class teacher working simultaneously in the classroom. This model of curriculum delivery addresses a major challenge for many teachers, namely, that of lessons missed by children who are out of the classroom attending learning support.

We’ve invested a huge amount of time in the preparation of our curricular plans. It takes a long time to write a short plan! This investment has paid off; our concise plans are very user-friendly and greatly facilitate shortterm planning.

Because our pupils underperformed on standardised tests, we were forced to track improvement by comparing their performance against that of their peers (in our school) from previous years. Eventually, after several years of transforming the way we teach, our standardised tests results are at or higher than the national average.

P.S. We’re very proud to be a DEIS band one school.

New Integrated Approach to School Attendance, Participation and Retention October 2010 Progress Update

By Nuala Doherty, Acting Chief Executive Officer, NEWB Background In May 2009 the Department of Education and Skills (DES) extended the remit of the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB) and charged it with developing a single, strategic approach to attendance, participation and retention in schools to meet the needs of children who are at risk of early school leaving or of developing attendance problems.

A core part of the new strategy will be an integrated child- and family-centered education support service drawing on the skills, expertise and knowledge of four services – Home School Community Liaison (HSCL), Educational Welfare Service (EWS), School Completion Programme (SCP) and the Visiting Teacher Service for Travellers (VTST).

The Board of NEWB has set up a Steering Group of Board members whose job it is to provide strategic direction and guidance to the integration process.

Planning for Integration Work is well advanced on the organisational arrangements for integration. A memorandum of agreement with the Department outlining the respective NEWB and DES responsibilities for matters to do with the Board’s new responsibilities has been completed.

The Board of NEWB has set up a Steering Group of Board members whose job it is to provide strategic direction and guidance to the integration process. The members of the Steering Group are Sr. Eileen Randles (Chairperson), Billy Sheehan (INTO), Michele Clear (HSE), Aine Lynch (NPC Primary), Ruairi Gogan (Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform), and Pat McSitric, (Department of Education and Skills).

Service Strands Each of the four service strands now reports to the NEWB including the Visiting Teachers Service for Travellers and the SCP and HSCL national teams.

Each service strand continues to provide continuity of services to schools, families and communities in parallel with the development of the integrated service model. Any decisions about long-term organisational structures will be made when the detail of the integrated model is finalised.

It is envisaged that integration will result in better engagement with other Departments, agencies and services, statutory and non statutory, working with children and families.

The strong working relationships already in place continue to build. An ‘integrated management team’ which comprises NEWB regional managers and regional co-ordinators of the SCP and HSCL services has also been established and the team meets regularly to deal with operational managerial matters.

Each of the four services has significant continuous professional development programmes and these opportunities are being harnessed to support the integration process.

The Integrated Management Team is examining the scope for significant joint training initiatives where personnel from the services would come together at local level to work on a shared aspect of the service to children, families and schools.

Designing an integrated model of service The foundation of the new model of integrated service must be based on a solid framework of knowledge in relation to policy, practice and research. A seminar entitled ‘Mapping the Landscape’ was held in March 2010 where the Board of NEWB, the Integrated Management Team and representatives of the Visiting Teachers Service for Travellers explored current practice, policy and research in the areas of early school leaving, education disadvantage and educational wellbeing.

PAG E 9

The lessons from the presentations for the design of the new service were examined in a series of workshops. This learning is being drawn upon as part of the detailed work on the new service model at national and local level.

Benefits of integration The purpose of the integration project is to improve educational outcomes for children.

There will be more unified service delivery from the perspective of the child, family and the school.

It is envisaged that integration will result in better engagement with other Departments, agencies and services, statutory and non statutory, working with children and families.

Policy-making too should be enhanced with the increased emphasis on planning, outcome measurement and the gathering of evidence on the impact of interventions.

Further updates will be placed on the NEWB website (www.newb.ie) as the work progresses.

Mol an Óige Tagann páiste chugat a rá, Inniu mo bhreithlá ! nó Féach ar mo chuid oibre!

To suit every praiseworthy situation, we have inexpensive, imprinted pencils, erasers, wristbands, badges, stickers, bookmarks etc.

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PAG E 1 0

ICT & Backups

by Seaghan Moriarty, IPPN Technical Advisor “You must learn from the mistakes of others.You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Sam Levenson Your laptop with all your emails has failed to start and the technician says that it can’t be fixed.You’ve spent all weekend rewriting your policies, but the pen drive they were on has gone missing.Your spreadsheet with all parents and pupils contact details was … you get the picture!

A Stitch in Time There are numerous scenario examples which will not only bring a cold sweat to your brow, but also imply hours and hours of wasted revision trying to rewrite and re-collect materials, data and documents that you already have. Are you willing to put in 1 hour’s work as insurance against these disasters? If so, read on ….

copy a folder of all your policies into your ‘Dropbox’ (using drag and drop – or right-click > Send to DropBox) and by the time you get home, they will be copied to your ‘Dropbox’ folder on your PC at home.

Because DropBox gives you up to 1Gb of space (you can get even more, free, if you view the tutorials etc.) you can drag any files/folders into your DropBox and know that they are securely available from any location.You can even login to the website from a different PC (without DropBox) and get access to your files. Because your files are stored online, you can’t damage them with spilt coffee!

Sharing with People & Groups One of the most powerful features of DropBox is that you can share a file (or a folder, or a subfolder) with a group of people. For example, you

Online sharing and backup One example of an online backup and sharing facility is ‘DropBox’. I’ve used this myself with many groups and schools and, without exception, colleagues respond to me a few months later saying that it worked great, it was simple to use and makes life a lot easier. There are of course many other online backup solutions available but I’ve chosen this as one for you to try out because: It’s simple to set up and use It’s free (up to 2Gb storage for free) It enables you to securely ‘share’ files/folders with various groups.

How does it work?

Think of DropBox as a magic box. When you put something into ‘dropbox’ in school, it automatically gets copied/transferred into your ‘dropbox’ at home. So for example, in school,

PAG E 1 1

can have a folder called “Draft1Policies”. Rightclick and using DropBox you can share this folder with teacher1@school.ie, teacher7@school.ie etc.

Each teacher will (even without having DropBox installed) get a link to that folder and be able to view and update the files therein. Similarly, you could have a folder for the BoM, another one for Parents’ Association etc.

Disclaimer: This article has used DropBox as an exemplar of the online backup systems that are available at the moment. Below are other similar solutions that are available. IPPN does not endorse any specific backup product. www.syncplicity.com www.box.net www.spideroak.com www.sendthisfile.com www.nomadesk.com

Latest News NEWS/PROJECTS UNDERWAY version of the website. Some really ● Retiring/ Newly-appointed good suggestions are also being Principals - 160 vacancies for the post incorporated as we continue to of Principal have been advertised since enhance the website … See page 21 1st January 2010. Of these, 60 are still for more information. awaiting appointment. Please notify Jackie on if you have been newly● IPPN 10-year Report – work is well appointed and have not yet made underway on a commemorative contact with IPPN. Similarly, if you are publication charting the first ten years aware of a school seeking to appoint a of IPPN. All schools will receive a copy Principal, please let us know so we can by the end of the year. follow up to ensure all the appropriate supports are put in place for the new ● Conference 2011 – January 27th – Principal.

29th Citywest Hotel, Saggart, Co Dublin, promises to be our largest ● EducationPosts.ie Development – conference to date and includes following the relaunch of the website keynote inputs from Prof. Andy in December 2009, we are currently Hargreaves, Dr Pasi Sahlberg & Prof. working on a number of enhancements Niamh Brennan. The Expo and to the site.

Seminars are being revamped with a twist, and will incorporate some of the ● TextaParent.ie Enhancements – We suggestions received from attendees of have received some very positive previous events. Booking is essential feedback from schools using the new prior to Friday, December 11th. Forms

are enclosed with this copy of Leadership+ and are also available on www.ippn.ie.

MEETINGS/TRAINING HELD OR ATTENDED BY IPPN ● Newly Appointed Principal Mentors – Galway, Cork, Navan, Mayo ● NCSE Consultative Forum meeting in Trim and Seminar in Croke Park ● IPPN Executive Committee Meeting on 12th November ● IPPN National Committee AGM on Saturday 13th November ● Misneach 3 – Ennis, Kilkenny, Monaghan and Portlaoise ● County Network meetings are being held in Meath, Westmeath and Donegal in November.

G Access to our titles online G Great interactive exercises and activities for our Bun go Barr series G Links to specially selected web sites relevant to each page of our entire Quest series G Free trial of the award-winning Destination Maths (Riverdeep), software, localised for Ireland G Teacher’s manuals, solutions, schemes of work… they’re all online at www.cjfallon.ie G New material being added all the time

Block B Liffey Valley Office Campus Dublin 22 Tel 01 616 6490

www.cjfallon.ie PAG E 1 2

Leave your Wellies in the Shed!

By Damian White, Editor, Leadership+ and Principal, Scoil Shinchill, Tullamore

As students in days of yore, even the most diligent of us will have celebrated the news of a burst pipe at school with unrestrained glee. A few parents and even the occasional teacher may have enjoyed the possibility of sleeping in on such cold days as would cause such a calamity.

For the Principal though, (s)he had to load the car with wetsuit, wellies, stilson wrenches, buckets and towels and head for the school’s attic, boiler house or Miss Diligent's well-decorated room to prevent Old Faithful from washing the clock off the wall. Those were the days when the briefcase lost out to the toolbox in the 'most popular Principal's accessory' category.

Ideally, heat should be maintained in the building during periods of severe cold weather.

During my interview for Principalship 17 years ago I was asked if I could bleed a boiler. My answer involved a layman's description of the complexities of the sump of a Massey Ferguson, lots of burnt oil and fearlessness of dirt and grime.

That, more than my ability to maintain staff morale, integrate subjects or teach multi-classes sealed my fate. Now, at a time where caretakers roam freely and Boards of Management offer the possibility of including local expertise in their ranks, it is time for Principals to delegate such tasks.

The following pointers, given to us by Allianz Insurance, will help to prevent damage caused by severe weather conditions to heating systems and water services. They should be shared with the school caretaker, the Board of Management or whomsoever the Principal feels relevant.

1. Ideally, heat should be maintained in the building during periods of severe cold weather. a. If the heating system is fitted with a frost thermostat, ensure that it is correctly set, i.e. 35° F or 2° C if located indoors, or 32° F or 0° C if outdoors. Test its

effectiveness by setting it at the current temperature. If the system does not start up, have it checked by an engineer.

If the heating system in the school has no frost thermostat fitted, the system should be started manually and checked periodically by a responsible person.

N.B. If a frost switch is fitted, this puts either the frost thermostat or time switch in control of the heating. There is no protection unless the switch is in the 'Frost' position. b. If the heating system in the school has no frost thermostat fitted, the system should be started manually and checked periodically by a responsible person and kept running long enough to keep temperatures in the school building and the boiler room at a safe level.

2. Remember to protect your oil supply against freezing. Precautions listed above will be ineffective if the oil is frozen and cannot reach the boiler. This may happen if temperatures of 12° F or -9° C prevail.The oil supply pipe can be protected with weather-proof insulation and a tarpaulin cover will provide emergency protection to the tank.

3. Where the heating system is used, internal doors should be left open to protect unheated or poorly-heated compartments, but always subject to applicable fire safety rules and regulations which should take precedence.

Make sure all radiators are on.

4. Leave air vents open sufficiently in the boiler room to allow an adequate supply of air for combustion.

5. If the system is not to be kept running during periods of severe cold, the entire system PAG E 1 3

(including the boiler) must be drained.

Remember to open radiator vents to ensure complete drainage.

6. Where the system is drained or the building is otherwise unheated, all sanitary and domestic water services should be drained by shutting off at the mains and running and flushing off all water in pipes, tanks and cisterns. In these circumstances, outside toilets and pump houses should be similarly protected.

7. Make sure that all tanks and pipes in the roof space and all external vent or expansion pipes are well lagged or insulated.

NOTE: When a heating system is drained, switch off at the main switch and place a prominent notice on the switch stating ‘SYSTEM DRAINED - DO NOT START’.

If the system is not to be kept running during periods of severe cold, the entire system (including the boiler) must be drained.

The information provided in this article is intended for use as a guideline only in assisting schools to assess preparedness for frost conditions during severe or prolonged cold weather and to encourage appropriate preventative measures.

Hopefully, this will be a milder winter where these precautions remain untested.

Whatever the case, use the expertise at your disposal and leave the wetsuit and wellies in the shed!

NOTE: Allianz will be sending a very helpful publication to schools at the end of November entitled ‘Protecting Your School from Fire and Weather Related Losses’.This includes a pull-out checklist that you can pass on to the responsible person to evaluate the school’s preparedness for the winter.

Legal Diary

by David Ruddy, B.L.

Essential Legal Policies for Schools Over the last couple of years we have witnessed a large influx of newlyappointed Principals and Deputy Principals. These men and women have to deal with numerous issues, including a review/redraft of the school plan if they were lucky enough to have inherited such a plan in the first instance. Even longserving Principals are challenged by the demands of having up to date policies.

The revised Whole School Evaluation (WSE) format demands that a school should have the required legal policies in place. Evaluators now tend to be forensic in nature and the WSE reports tend to be more specific and hard-hitting if necessary. Parents and pupil questionnaires are a welcome addition to the process so as to give

as complete a picture as possible of the whole school.

In light of this, I propose to examine a number of essential legal policies that all schools must have in place. I will examine four in particular.

Safety Statement Checklist (1) HEALTH AND SAFETY STATEMENT This, in my view, is the most important document in any school plan. Every parent is entitled to the assumption that their child will be safe in school. The expectation is based on the Duty of Care concept.The other policies can be cross-referenced to the safety statement. It is a statutory requirement that all schools have a safety statement. If they do not, the Board of Management (BoM) can be prosecuted and

Safety Statement Checklist

HAZARD

RISK ASSESSMENT

CONTROL MEASURE

REVIEW

Fire

Low

(a) exits clear at all times to include window exits

Checked once a term

Broken Glass etc on yard

Accidents on school yard

Medium

High

fined. Many private companies will not be insured unless they provide their insurance company with an up to date safety statement.

Allianz has not imposed such a requirement to date on schools.

(b) Fire Drill

Drill performed once a term

(c) Fire Fighting Equipment

Checked once a year

Caretaker checks yard each morning before school opens

Yard checked each morning

First Aider on staff

Need for 2nd First Aider

Adequate First Aid Equipment Purchase more games for yard Line marking etc

Working well

Checked on termly basis New equipment purchased 10/10/10

PAG E 1 4

The following is not an exhaustive list but may be a good starting point: (1) The Safety Statement should be reviewed by the BoM on an annual basis (2) All BoMs should have a safety officer. (The safety officer can be a “competent person”, they don’t have to be an engineer) (3) The school fire drill should be referenced in the safety statement. A fire drill should be carried out once a term. Fire-fighting equipment should be checked once a year.

(4) The school should have at least one qualified First Aider; all school staff should have basic first aid skills.

(5) The layout of the safety statement should be simple, practicable and achievable. It should contain lists of hazards, control measures and risk assessment.

(6) Make sure the safety statement refers to the 2005 Health & Safety Act and not the old 1989 Act. The safety statement should be displayed publicly.

(2) ADMISSION AND PARTICIPATION POLICY BoMs must have and publish an Admissions and Participation Policy as required by the Education Act 1998.The only time your school’s policy will be challenged is when the school refuses to admit a pupil. Parents of a pupil who has been refused admission are entitled to challenge a BoM’s decision under a Section 29 appeal.The Appeals Committee hears arguments / submissions from the school and the parents. It then gives its decision. If the school loses its case then it has no option but to take the pupil who has been refused. A number of schools have recently taken High Court Judicial Review Proceedings against the Department of Education and Skills (DES). These High Court challenges have been successful. The Law as a

result has been clarified.

Points to Consider (1) A refusal to admit a pupil must be in accordance with the Admissions Policy (2) A school is entitled to be supplied with all relevant information in the application form (3) An Appeals Committee has no right to reverse a decision of a Board of Management. An Appeals Committee is not a placement agency.

(4) Whether the policy has provision for refusals on Health & Safety grounds (ensure that this is cross-referenced with the Safety Statement) (5) An Admission Policy must be transparent and in line with the Patron’s Guidelines.

BoMs are entitled to request that parents sign up to the acceptance of the Code of Behaviour as a condition of the admission of pupils to the school.

(3) CODES OF BEHAVIOUR The National Education Welfare Board (NEWB) published guidelines for schools in 2008. Schools were requested to conduct an audit of existing codes and to have revised codes of behaviour in place by September 2010. A school’s Anti Bullying Policy is an integral part of any Code of Behaviour. All BoMs are required to publish the school’s Code of Behaviour under the Education Act 1998. In my view, the success of any Code of Behaviour is dependent on participation in the process by the whole school community. Pupils should be asked for their views on the School Rules. Pupils who are part of the process are more likely to embrace the Code. Parents could be asked to vote on the final draft of a Code of Behaviour.

If parents were to reject the Draft in a vote then the reasons for such a rejection should be examined by the BoM and school staff.

Checklist (1) Publish the Code of Behaviour in the Pupils’ Journal / Diary (2) Teach the pupils the rules. It is vital that pupils should understand the purpose of the Code. In doing so, make allowances for international students whose first language is not English, and Special Educational Needs students.

(3) As part of the Admission process, parents should be supplied with a copy of the

Code of Behaviour. They should be asked to sign the Code as a condition of admission to the school.

(4) The application of a school’s Code of Behaviour applies to special needs pupils as it does to non special needs pupils (5) Sanctions must be appropriate to the age and development stage of a pupil (6) Fair procedures based on the principles of natural justice must be at the core of any Code of Behaviour.

Guidelines for Primary Schools” 2010 to be published by the DES. All BoMs will be asked to adopt and implement the new guidelines. The new guidelines will incorporate an annual review for each BoM. Designated Liaison Persons (DLPS) and Principals will be more accountable to BoMS in relation to reports made to the Health Service Executive (HSE). It is anticipated that Garda vetting and the recruitment process will be part of the New Guidelines.

Suspension (1) Informal or unacknowledged suspension/ voluntary withdrawal is not acceptable to the NEWB (2) The NEWB guidelines recommend the following possibilities for BoMs: (a) Principal – power to suspend for 3 days (b) Principal – power to suspend for 5 days (with approval of BoM Chairperson) (c) BoM should put a ceiling of 10 days in relation to a particularly serious incident.

Over the past year or so, Patron Bodies have requested that all schools publish a Strategy Statement in relation to Child Protection. This statement, which should be prominently displayed, contains a declaration that the BoM and the school are fully committed to the Child Protection Policy. The DLP, Deputy DLP, Patron, Child Protection Officer and Director of Community Care are all named with relevant contact details.

Expulsion (1) Grounds for Expulsion (a) Behaviour is a persistent cause of significant disruption to the learning of others and the teaching process (a) Continued presence of pupil constitutes a real and significant threat to safety (a) Pupil is responsible for serious damage to property.

(1) Automatic Expulsion for first offence (a) A BoM can impose automatic expulsion for certain prescribed behaviours to include: • Sexual Assault • Supplying illegal drugs to other pupils in the school • Actual violence or physical assault • Serious threat of violence against another pupil or member of staff (b) The Code of Behaviour should be cross-referenced to the Safety Statement of the school.

(4) CHILD PROTECTION POLICY AND STRATEGY STATEMENT The Child Protection Policy should be drafted in accordance with the updated “Children First” guidelines (Department of Health and Youth Affairs 2010) and the “Child Protection PAG E 1 5

All staff should be conscious of the ‘Qualified Privilege’ which is afforded to persons making reports of suspicions of child abuse. Such privilege can only be displaced when it can be established that the person making the report has acted maliciously. It is important to be aware of the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 & 2003. This allows the public to access personal information in relation to information about them in the possession of Public Bodies like the HSE. In a recent High Court action, the Information Commissioner forced the HSE to release the contents of interviews the HSE had with members of a teaching staff in relation to Child Protection concerns expressed by the teachers.

The Child Protection Policy should be cross – referenced to the Safety Statement of a school.

Conclusion As stated at the outset, the Health & Safety Statement in my view is the most important policy document that any school has in its possession. The other key legal policies - the Admission & Participation Policy, the Code of Behaviour and the Child Protection Policy should be cross-referenced and in harmony with it. All four policies are the legal cornerstone of any school and are essential components in our duty of care to pupils.

IPPN Conference 2011 Our Children – Our Future Plans for Conference 2011 are well underway. It will take place at the Citywest Convention Centre in Saggart, Co. Dublin from Thursday 27th to Saturday 29th January.

Applications Forms are enclosed with this issue of Leadership+ and are also available on www.ippn.ie.

ACCOMMODATION Bed & Breakfast accommodation in standard guest rooms is available at the excellent conference rate of €88 per room, per night, whether single or double/twin occupancy. To book accommodation at this rate, please call the Citywest Hotel direct on (01) 4010500. Please quote IPPN 2011 on booking to avail of this rate.

A dedicated IPPN Conference accommodation reservation page will also be available – look out for details on forthcoming conference-related escéals.

All room rates include full Irish Breakfast and VAT at 13.5%. Standard bedrooms have a private bathroom, satellite TV, radio, direct dial telephone, tea and coffee-making facilities, trouser press & ironing board and a hairdryer. Terms & Conditions of reservations are available from Citywest.

PREVIEW Conference Facilitator Olivia O’Leary.

Keynote speakers to include: ● Andrew Hargreaves, Educational leadership expert and Chair in Education at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College ● Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation in Helsinki, and formerly an Education expert at the World Bank ● Niamh Brennan, Professor of Management and Director of Centre For Corporate Governance, UCD Seminars to include: ● The Incredible Years Programme ● DEIS ● Conflict Resolution ● NCCA – School Planning – Link it up! ● Literacy – What are we doing? ● The Inclusive School – Myth or Reality? ● Staff Management ● Time Management ● ICT in schools – future-proofing our children.

A conference schedule, including all keynote speakers and seminars, will be available on www.ippn.ie in due course.

PAG E 1 6

CONFERENCE EDUCATION EXPO 100 companies will exhibit at the Expo making it the largest to date. A list of those companies exhibiting can be viewed on the conference web pages and will enable you to identify the suppliers you are interested in and to arrange a meeting while attending Conference if you wish.

The Education Expo will be open from 9am until 6pm on Thursday 27th and Friday the 28th January.

Five Conference 2011 packages were on offer for those Principals who renewed their IPPN membership by Direct Debit for the first time.

Each package includes Conference 2011 registration with B&B accommodation for both Thursday & Friday, January 27th & 28th 2011.

The following Principals are the winners of these Conference Packages: 1. Aideen Mulligan, St Colmcilles NS, Longford 2. Padraig O’Sullivan, Scoil Atha na mBlath, Kerry 3. Noelle Doherty, Clonmany NS, Donegal 4. Sinéad Ní Thorsnaigh, Gaelscoil Chlauinin, Leitrim 5. Annie McCartney, St. Colmcilles NS, Donegal.

Well done to all the prize-winners!

An analysis of the Text-to-Speech program, Claroread Plus V5, and its educational potential for pupils with Dyslexia

By John Phayer, ICT in SEN Tutor

As more pupils in primary school are being diagnosed with Dyslexia, Special Education Teachers constantly seek current information about latest technologies which can assist students with their reading, writing and spelling.

One particular program which could support these pupils with their literacy difficulties is a specialised Assistive Technology application called Claroread PlusV5.This article discusses this sophisticated Textto-Speech program and how it can assist these pupils with their learning, provides a summary of the features of the application and describes the most effective ways in which students can use this program in their studies.

Introduction A high level of interest has been expressed by teachers in using Information Communication Technology (ICT) for students with Special Educational Needs (SEN). It is also well known that ICT is used to engage students with information but there is a much deeper interest in focusing how it can be utilised to improve the learning needs of students with Dyslexia.The Orton Dyslexia Society describes Dyslexia as being a language-based disorder that ‘…is manifested by variable difficulty with different forms of language, often including, in addition to problems of reading, a conspicuous problem with acquiring proficiency in writing and spelling.’

Using Text-to-Speech software could address many of the problems faced by pupils with Dyslexia, especially reading, writing and spelling.

What is Text-to-Speech software?

Text-to-Speech software is an application that ‘uses voice synthesis software to provide oral reading of ordinary electronic text files, such as word processed documents, text on web-pages and e-books’. Other terms like ‘Speech Synthesis’, ‘Screen Reader’ and ‘Text Reader’ are also used to describe the speech output of text. Allowing students to hear text spoken by a computer may act as another way of communicating to create more independent access to the content of reading materials.

The Claroread V5 software is a Text-to-Speech application and acts as ‘a highly effective, multisensory software solution for supporting reading and writing’.This application contains other features such as

(a) a voice output screen reader (b) optical character recognition and (c) an audio and video file creation program designed specifically for students with Dyslexia.

Fig. 1 is a snapshot of the Claroread software toolbar whilst Fig. 2 explains the purpose of each of the toolbar buttons.

Fig. 1

Scan button

Check spelling and grammar

Play facility

Save to Audio or Video

Stop button

Extras tool

Font facility

Settings facility

Spacing button

Help Menu

Homophones facility

Close Claroread

Fig. 2

This article summarises the most important buttons and also offers suggestions to teachers as to how these facilities can be used within an educational setting.

SCAN OPTIONS The Scan Options tool allows teachers or pupils to scan textbooks or handouts and have them converted Fig. 3 into Word documents. PDF documents can be unlocked for editing and saved on a computer for reviewing at a later stage (see Fig. 3.)

Teachers can use this scan tool in various ways. For example, to scan in pages from a Geography or History text book that is being covered in a class for a Dyslexic student and allow them to use the various tools of the software at home to assist them with comprehension and understanding of the topic. Students with Dyslexia also tend to have problems with spelling words. Therefore, if ‘blocks’ of typed words were scanned in for them prior to a test, they could be practised before the test commences.

PAG E 1 7

PLAY BUTTON (READING TOOLS) The Play button serves as the main facility for dictating text on a screen by using colour coded highlighting of words in addition to providing audio output for each word / sentence.This facility would assist pupils with Dyslexia practising the skill of writing as it would allow them to examine and proof read their written work quite easily. Students with Dyslexia could also use this tool for practising spellings in Microsoft Word whereby a block of words could be typed by including a space between each letter of the word and use the reading button to hear and see the word being spelt.

SAVE TO AUDIO / VIDEO This tool converts text documents into audio files which can be transferred onto a computer or mp3 player.

The ‘Save to Video’ function is similar option but converts text into video using a high quality ‘voice over’ corresponding with the displaying of text.The ‘Save to Audio’ button could be used quite effectively for pupils who have difficulty memorising Maths Tables i.e. make a recording of addition / subtraction / multiplication numbers and also use this function for revision. The ‘Save to Video’ can also be used for revising word spellings allowing pupils to hear and see the word they are experiencing difficulty with.

BIOGRAPHY John Phayer completed an MA in Education (Research) in Mary Immaculate College on the following thesis title: “Dyslexia and Assistive Technology in Education: What benefits can be gained by third level students with Dyslexia from the use of the Assistive Technology software package, TextHelp?” under the supervision of Mr. Brendan Barry.

John delivers ICT in SEN courses to primary and post-primary teachers in different Education Centres and also provides tuition to students with Dyslexia on how to operate different types of AT software and hardware. John has written various articles based on the themes of Dyslexia, ICT / Assistive Technology for journals like, LEARN, REACH, Reading News, Closing the Gap and Special Educational Technology Practice.

John can be contacted by email at johnphayer@yahoo.co.uk or on his mobile phone on 086 - 3165183.

Establishing a system of fair pay for Secretaries and Caretakers in primary schools

By Seán Cottrell, Director, IPPN To avoid any confusion, IPPN’s policy regarding the employment of secretaries and caretakers has not changed. Our policy is that the Department of Education should employ and pay ancillary staff on the same basis as they are employed in many other public service organisations e.g. hospitals and VEC schools. That said, one of the most common queries we receive in the Support Office is ‘how much should the BoM pay a secretary who is working x hours per week?’. It is clear that the DES has no intention of doing the right thing for school secretaries and caretakers. (For the purpose of this exercise, what applies to the secretary also applies to the caretaker.)

Since 1978, the DES provides a capitation-based grant for ancillary services to schools. This grant is wholly inadequate and has resulted in some schools depending on voluntary service or paying below the minimum wage, which is completely unacceptable. Meanwhile, needs must and schools are left to figure out payment structures which can vary significantly from school to school. It has to be said that Principals continuously express their sense of embarrassment and guilt when discussing this issue with their school secretary.

The approach that I would recommend is as follows: 1. Start with the ideal i.e. what is the salary paid to a secretary of an equivalent grade,

which in the case of schools with less than 500 pupils is a Clerical Officer Grade III. This is the salary scale of a secretary paid by a VEC school.

2. If we take 35 hours as a standard full-time working week for a secretary in a VEC school and multiply this by 52 weeks, we get 1,820 hours. Dividing this figure into €23,188 (the first increment of the salary scale) gives us a figure of €12.74 per hour gross, excluding PRSI payments. This would then be the minimum starting salary of the school secretary. At least now we are basing it on a salary which is comparable in responsibility and not an arbitrary figure pulled out of the air!

3. Different schools have different needs and receive different grant aid. In some cases, secretaries will work 4, 6 or 8 hours per day for 3, 4 or 5 days a week. In some schools, they will work a number of days in excess of the 183 contact days.

4. The Principal and the BoM should decide on how best to structure the amount of secretarial support the school can afford.

BoMs of some schools supplement the ancillary services grant from fundraising activities. The amount of money available is typically the main factor in deciding the level of secretarial service. Other factors will

SCHOOL SECRETARY: A PROPOSED PAY STRUCTURE The proposed structure below is based on a school with an ancillary services grant of €35,296 (half secretarial/half caretaking) topped up by €5,000 from local fundraising.

Hours per Day

8.30 am – 3.30pm = 7 hours

No. of days per week

5

No. of weeks per year

42 (= 81% of 52 weeks, the standard VEC year)

Total No. of hours

1470

Clerical Officer Grade III

€ 23,188 (1st increment)

School Secretary @ 81%

€18,728

Rate per hour

€12.74

Employers PRSI @ 10.25%

€2,046

Total

€20,648 (1st increment) PAG E 1 8

include the skillset of the secretary i.e. does the secretary have all the required computer and general office administration skills?

How long has the secretary been employed by the school? If the secretary has been there a number of years, will the BoM be in a position to reflect the experience by applying the appropriate increment?

5. Using the minimum ‘benchmarked’ figure of €12.74 per hour and the funds available to the BoM, you as Principal can calculate the annual number of hours of secretarial support available to the school. These hours can be structured in many ways as outlined in point 3 above.

6. Once agreed with the secretary, this approach can facilitate a standard monthly salary throughout the year, including Summer holidays. This can be done by simply totaling the number of annual hours and dividing by 12.

7. Pay is only one aspect of an employment contract. The duties and other aspects of the role are not for this article. However, sample contracts can be accessed from the Principal Advice – Recruitment – Ancillary Staff section of www.ippn.ie.

8. Principals can at least have the satisfaction of knowing and being able to explain the basis for payment. This approach will undoubtedly result in a reduction in the number of hours of secretarial support in some schools.

9. Under no circumstances should any BoM pay less than the statutory minimum wage, which is currently €8.65 per hour.

Effective secretaries are vital to the smooth running of the school. Many Principals will admit that a day where the secretary is absent presents greater challenges than any other absence. It is essential that secretaries are paid properly for the work they do. IPPN does not present the above framework as a recommended solution. It simply offers guidance which enables the BoM and Principal to act as fairly as possible within the constraints of the funding provided.

Treasure Your Secretary!

By Joanne Moran, Principal, Scoil Bhride MNS, Dunleer, Co. Louth and CPD Organiser and National Committee representative of Louth Six years ago I began my first principalship.

My secretary Helen, like me, was new but thankfully had the necessary skills, insight and practical nature to support me through what was a huge learning curve in the area of administration. Along with the Deputy Principal and teachers, we worked together as a team to successfully organise the smooth and efficient running of the school and to ensure the happiness and safety of the children in our care.

If I had any words of wisdom and advice to give to newly appointed principals, in particular teaching principals, it would be to treasure your secretary..

It was wonderful to know that, as a busy Teaching Principal, my secretary was there to support me and the school. She was discreet, confidential and sensitive towards everyone in and outside the building. And as a community member was well regarded, respected and trusted.

If I had any words of wisdom and advice to give to newly appointed principals, in particular teaching principals, it would be to treasure your secretary. It is not a throwaway remark when someone says that behind a good Principal is a good secretary. Your secretary can support you in countless ways: to meet and greet visitors when you are unavailable; to make and take phone calls (filtering many!); to open and to distribute the mail; to distribute messages; to look after the daily needs of teachers such as typing letters, making bookings, photocopying, calling home when children are sick, injured (looking after them until they are collected) or have

forgotten something; to keep accounts; collation of attendance numbers and transfer to the leabhar tinreamh; to help organise school events; to sort money and issue receipts and make lodgements; to organise ancillary staff salaries; to keep the school diary up to date; to help with OLCS; to accompany teachers on buses; to make the necessary calls when there are electrical, plumbing or heating problems; to be a calming force when times get hectic! These are but a few! With the increasing demands being made on Principals, it is imperative to have a good secretary by your side.

I have moved on now and am an Administrative Principal and am blessed to have another fantastic lady working alongside me as again I continue to learn and grow as a Principal. Your secretary is a valued member of staff and is indispensable. Thank God for wonderful secretaries!

A service from IPPN A simple web-based system that allows you to quickly and easily send instant text messages to specifically targeted groups of people within your school community – parents, members of staff etc.

Over 1,500 IPPN member schools are now using this service regularly TextaParent.ie allows you to instantly convey messages such as: ● ● ● ●

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Designed by Principals for Principals – An IPPN Service No set-up costs or monthly standing charges 4 cent per text message Send a single or group text message Import name & mobile contact information Gaeilge text message compatible Monitor school’s usage with instant reporting system Online payment facility

For details on how to start using Textaparent.ie email info@TextaParent.ie or visit www.TextaParent.ie PAG E 1 9

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TextaParent.ie – Latest Enhancements The new TextaParent.ie website has now been in operation for two months and feedback has been very positive on the many new features the upgrade has brought. A dedicated support team has been assisting users with getting up to speed on the new features. If you have any queries please email info@textaparent.ie and we will respond within a working day.

ONLINE PAYMENT An important new feature is the introduction of online purchasing using credit card (Visa, Master Card and American Express) or Visa debit card (which is replacing Laser cards in most Irish banks). We would encourage schools to make use of the online payment facility as the new system keeps track of all payments to the school account and an email is issued from Paypal to confirm each transaction.

It also cuts down on the considerable overhead involved in processing ‘advance credit’ for both the school and the Support Office. However, if you do find yourself in need of advance credit you may still contact the Support Office.

RECENT ENHANCEMENTS The following have been implemented since the new website launched in late September: 1. Copy & paste phone numbers from Word or Excel into the ‘Send Message’ screen to send text messages without having maintained contact data in advance 2. Ability to ‘copy and paste’ parent numbers and names into contact groups or directly into the list of contacts – no longer need to upload a CSV file or type them in one by one although these options are still available 3. Automated email to Principal when text units fall below level set in the school profile 4. Deletion of multiple contacts in one go.

PROPOSED ENHANCEMENTS The following, and several other proposals, are currently under review and we will keep users informed of decisions and progress in relation to them through the ‘New Website – Clarifications’ webpage under the Resources menu.

PAG E 2 1

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Clearer reporting statistics, particularly in the Send History report Use of the website using iPhone and other ‘smart phones’. Flash’ technology which is used by TextaParent.ie is not supported by the iPhone - a number of possible solutions are currently being reviewed Ability to maintain multiple ‘Sender IDs’ and select one during Send Message process Allow school secretary role to update School Profile Search facility within View/Edit Group screen.

We will continue to update the site to incorporate new features so please continue to send us your suggestions (and your feedback on the new website!) to project@ippn.ie.

To get help with any aspect of the system please email info@textaparent.ie and we will respond within a working day.

Are you planning to retire in 2010?

If you have made the decision to retire in the coming weeks or months of 2010 we wish you every happiness and fulfilment in the future.

IPPN acknowledges the importance of providing every possible support for Newly Appointed Principals and aims to contact them as soon as they are appointed. However, the greatest challenge we face is to find out the names of these Newly Appointed Principals as early as possible.

To assist the work being done in the IPPN Support Office could you please let us know of your impending retirement and also the name of the Newly Appointed Principal as soon as that decision has been made? This would be of enormous help to us and I know would be very much appreciated by the Newly Appointed Principal.

Any information that you can provide can be emailed or mailed to Jackie at the IPPN Support Office

support3@ippn.ie

FAQs Principalsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Frequently Asked Questions The following is a list of the categories of frequently-asked question currently available to view on the website. Once logged in with your username and password, click on Principal Advice, then click on FAQ and then click on the category you wish to view.

ADMINISTRATION G Payroll G Pupil Records G Emergency Closures G Clustering G Teaching Principal Release G Authorised Closures G Data Protection G Airgead Bunscoile G Official School Time-Table BOARD OF MANAGEMENT G Finance / Funding G Relationships G Discipline G Amalgamation G Enrolment G Fund Raising G Roles - Renewing Boards G Section 29 Appeals HRM G Career Breaks G Maternity Leave G Under-performance G Seniority G In-Service G Grievance Procedure G Complaints Against Staff G Absences G Supervision G Job Sharing G Secondments G Staff Discipline G Class Allocation G Insubordination INCLUSION G Special Education Needs G SNA Role G Special Needs Assistants G Newcomer Irish G Traveller Children

ADMINISTRATION For how long must records be kept and who has the right to access these records?

The records of a pupil must be kept until the pupil is 21 years of age. 18 + 3 (they have 3 years where they can take a case themselves). The person and an agent working on behalf of the person have the right to access these records.

See: Data Protection Act

RECRUITMENT Teachers G Advertising G Contracts G Interviews G Ancillary Staff G SNAs G Marking Schemes G Qualifications G Posts of Responsibility G ISM Team G Principals G Seniority G

RECRUITMENT Can a deputy principal take up a resource post/ shared resource post?

A deputy principal can take up a resource post.

A deputy principal CAN NOT take up a shared resource post unless they relinquish their Deputy Principal post for the duration of the shared arrangement

SCHOOL POLICIES G Policy Development G Child Protection G Behaviour/Discipline/Conduct G Supervision G Health & Safety SCHOOL DEV & CURRIC PLANNING G School Development & Curriculum Planning

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Can teachers opt in/ opt out of yard supervision/agreed duties?

A teacher can opt out of supervision duties. Once a teacher has opted out they are prevented from opting-in later.

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PARENTS & PUPILS G NEWB Attendance G Custody & Access G Parents Association G Parent Teacher Meetings G Permissions PAG E 2 3

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