Southwark schools on the rise AGAIN!
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outhwark schools have risen yet again in the official Ofsted school performance rankings to 15th place out of 163 schools. The borough also has the 4th highest number of outstanding schools in London. Southwark’s secondaries lead the way with a performance ranking of 4th nationally and 3rd in London.
Ofsted rankings continue to improve year on year Jim Eshelby Head of Standards 0 - 19
The overall number of children achieving Level Four across reading, writing and maths combined, rose from 77 per cent in 2013 to 81 per cent this year. Individual percentages for Key Stage Two are as follows: • 90 per cent achieved Level 4 in reading (88 per cent in 2013)
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ducation Minister John O’Dowd has urged the education sector to collaborate in response to the challenges facing schools. Addressing delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers annual conference in Newcastle, the Minister said: “A good education is central to the success of any society and the many transformational leaders across the education sector are inspiring positive change and helping young people to succeed.” Paying tribute to the teaching workforce the Minister said: “Performance is improving. In 2013/14 65.2% of year 12 pupils achieved 5+ GCSEs grades A*-C (including equivalents) including GCSE English and GCSE maths, which is an increase of 4.3% from 60.9% in 2012/13. The focus on literacy and numeracy is paying off and standards across our schools are rising.
In the more challenging arena of inner city primaries, Southwark has 73.7% of its schools judged as Good or Outstanding and a rise of 10 percentile points would see the borough in the top quartile of the country. In the latest primary performance figures released by the Department of Education, Southwark has seen a rise in all areas of Key Stage Two learning.
SCHOOLS ARE URGED TO COLLABORATE
• 87 per cent achieved Level 4 in writing (84 per cent in 2013) • 88 per cent achieved Level 4 in maths (87 per cent in 2013)
“This would not be achieved without a highly motivated and dedicated workforce committed to inspiring and enabling our young people to raise their expectations and to extend their aspirations.”
There has also been a rise in the percentage of children progressing by two levels or more in reading, writing and maths, with 93 per cent in reading, 94 per cent in writing and 92 per cent in maths – all also up on last year.
SECONDARY SCHOOL OPEN DAYS Do remember to keep the Secondary Open Days calendar enclosed with this issue of HEADS UP! It is very important that parents are advised early of the dates on which they may visit schools, since it can be very inconvenient and disruptive to the secondaries to have to make discrete arrangements for individuals.
John O’Dowd
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HIGHSHORE PUPILS GO TO THE POLLS
UNICORN
programme The Unicorn Theatre has announced its 2015/16 Schools’ Programme. From Greek myths to fairytale baddies, the theatre has got exciting new shows for every year group.
On Thursday 7 May Highshore School went to the polls.
As well as being a valuable experience in itself, a visit to the theatre can stimulate meaningful learning experiences back at school: enlivening curriculum topics and providing opportunities for speaking, listening and writing, as well as developing pupils’ critical thinking skills and ability to think from multiple perspectives.
Following a vigorous two week period of election campaigning, including making their own party election broadcasts our five candidates faced the ballot box. A polling station was set up in school staffed by pupils from year 13. All pupils were given the opportunity to vote and almost all pupils did so. The school was thrilled when the Guardian newspaper picked up one of the school’s tweets on the day and contacted the headteacher, Eileen Ollieuz, for permission to use one of the school’s photographs in the Guardian social care section. The school wishes to thank Cllr Vikki Mills who met with the candidates to advise them on their campaigning strategy and congratulations go to Peter of the Green Party who was elected by a narrow majority.
Our highly regarded RESOURCE PACKS, TEACHER CPD and WORKSHOPS are all designed to help you discover the learning potential in our productions so that you really make the most of your visit. Don’t miss our FREE teacher event around Baddies: the Musical on Tuesday 10 November 15. EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: book two or more shows together before 31 July 2015 and get 25% off ticket prices (£7.50 per pupil). To see the programme or download resources, visit www.unicorntheatre.com.
ENTERPRISE SCHEME’S AWARDS FOR SCHOOLS Enter the Enterprise awards and receive an award of £250 - £1000 towards your initiative.
Southwark Suppliers and supporters are providing awards for schools who want to set up a School Business. To enter, simply complete the form with you suggested enterprise which will then be submitted to our sponsors and suppliers to select a scheme they wish to support and make an award to.
Rules: than n enter more • Schools ca once. to be ust be agree ity to • Schools m and for public photographed c. local press et to see e followed up b ay m s ing. • Award ss e is progre how the schem
Some ideas.... Schools can submit ideas from creating a “farm shop” to sell home grown produce, purchase mugs/T shirt printing equipment, baking equipment... the more innovative the better. Entries must be submitted by 5 JUNE and awards will be made at the Celebration Dinner at the Hilton Docklands Riverside Hotel on 12 June.
Further information from yolanda@headexec.com or visit www.southwarkheads.org.uk to enter.
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NAHT makes pledge for post election stand
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n the calm before the election storm, NAHT General Secretary Russell Hobby made a speech to NAHT’s conference in Liverpool.
IBM hosts FREE computing summer school
IBM is to host a FREE four day immersive and practical summer school for anyone involved in school computing. Delivered by IBM professionals alongside teachers and specialists, the course takes place at IBM’s award winning London Connected Learning Centre. The course will enable participants to gain a better understanding of programmes of study; get to grips with assessment and progression; explore effective ways to support colleagues; and develop creative and imaginative ways to embed computing in the curriculum. The course covers learning from KS2 and beyond. The programme also explores the principles of computational thinking, digital media and information systems within real world contexts with a focus on IBM’s commercial and social programmes. Participants in the summer school will also be offered an IBM mentor to provide ongoing support. For more information contact: Kim Morrison, London Connected Learning Centre at kmorrison@londonclc.org.uk
Our schools are among the best in England
Let’s celebrate our success Come and join us for an evening of collegiality
Friday 12th June 2015 at Hilton Docklands Riverside Hotel From 4.00pm Dress code is smart casual
First place FREE! Additional senior leaders (Deputies and SBMs): £40.00 Please visit www.southwarkheads.org.uk to book your places. For further information, please contact yolanda Houston, Business Director, Southwark Headteachers Executive at yolanda@headexec.com or call her on 01797 364366 or mobile: 07770 347616.
The speech provided an analysis of the next few years and a summary of NAHT’s planned response. Among other things it commits the NAHT to: • guarantee a mentor for every new head who wants one; • establish a Leadership Foundation with our colleagues in other professional associations to fill the gap left by a retreating National College; and • develop innovative trust models that will help every school participate in a strong, voluntary and values-led collaboration. The NAHT also offered an incoming government trenchant advice on recruitment, funding, inspection and accountability. School leaders will likely have seen some of the press coverage of the organisation’s approach to peer review. For example, which is now firmly on the table as an alternative to the current inspection regime. All three front bench spokespeople for education attended conference and engaged constructively with the NAHT’s suggestions. The conference also used twitter extensively to spread the message. Members wishing to stay in touch with the organisation can follow these accounts: @russellhobby, @NAHTnews, and @NAHTedge. A transcript of Russell Hobby’s speech can be found at http://www.naht.org.uk/ Russell Hobby
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Join the Headteachers Executive team and help shape our futures
jobs 4 schools
The Headteachers Executive meets regularly with external stakeholders and the Local Authority to influence decisions and policies. Your views, concerns and issues are raised at these meetings and the minutes and actions arising are provided to keep you and your schools informed. The Executive is made up from representatives from Primary, Secondary, SEND, Nursery and Hospital School headteachers in addition to the School Business Director, Chair and Treasurer. The Executive meets once per term as a group, where the Director of Education (Merril Haeusler) attends and also meets once per term with the Director of Adult and Children’s Services Management Board (David Quirk-Thornton) and the CAMB leadership team. In addition, the Executive meets with representatives from Education Scrutiny, Health (Clinical Commissioners) and the Police. The roles and meetings are not arduous, but they are very important, as are the views of Headteachers and the schools they represent. Southwark Headteachers Executive
has been representing the views of schools and headteachers for more than a decade. The Annual Election of officers and the Executive members are to be held shortly and we invite all Headteachers from all Phase Groups to stand to become a member of the Executive (self nomination) or to nominate a colleague (with their consent) . The Executive would also like to open invitations to become the Chair of the Executive and to thank the Current Chair, Kay Beckwith, for representing the Executive and Southwark Schools during the past year. PLEASE E-MAIL YOUR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST TO: yolanda@headexec.com.
MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE
Nearly half of all teaching vacancies available in 2015 are arising now. How will you attract the best candidates without stretching your budgets? www.jobs4schools.co.uk provides a focused platform for all kinds of school posts, at all levels, for just £50.00! Because the resource is not designed to make profits, the price for advertising is minimal. To take advantage of our offer at a tiny fraction of the cost of using TES or The Guardian, visit www.jobs4schools. co.uk
By Janel Lailey
T
he Children and Young People’s Health Partnership (CYPHP) which is being funded by Guys and St Thomas’s Charity has resources to pilot new approaches to supporting the mental health of children in schools. Children and young people’s mental health is consistently described as one of the most problematic areas locally and statutory mental health services are under considerable pressure.
A number of initiatives have already focused on mental health in schools and a considerable amount of material is available. We would like to set up a small, focused meeting in April to talk to primary and secondary head teachers to discuss what has worked in the past and about what they would find helpful in the future to meet these needs. Informed by these discussions we would develop and test models for supporting schools. The CYPHP has been funded by the GSTT Charity and is applying for further funding. CYPHP is setting up a three year programme to transform children and young people’s everyday healthcare in Lambeth and Southwark by developing and testing new models of care. Four workstreams have been established – supporting and improving primary care; developing new models of physical and mental health care for children and young people with asthma and epilepsy; developing young people friendly services; and training and education for children and families and for priority professional groups. Work supporting schools on children’s mental health is part of the Partnership’s education and training work. Two secondary and two primary headteachers are sought to form a small group to advise. For further information please contact please contact Janet.Lailey@gstt.nhs.uk
SEND US YOUR NEWS!
HEADS UP is published monthly during term time by Southwark Headteachers Executive. We would love to hear from you, so tell us your news:
Yolanda Houston T: 01797 364366 M: 07770 347616 E: yolanda@headexec.com
For all your information needs visit www.southwarkheads.org.uk