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OUR WELL-BEING CAMPAIGN
To coincide with Tim Bowen’s presidency, and simply because it is needed more than ever, NAHT has launched a campaign to focus on the well-being and mental health of school leaders.
Tim said: “It’s no secret that school leaders do an incredibly stressful job, and no more so than over the pandemic, but while we often talk about these issues, we rarely focus on the things that can help.”
Tim has chosen Education Support as his nominated charity for the year, the only UK charity dedicated to supporting teachers and education staff’s mental health and well-being. Find out more about Education Support here: www.educationsupport.org.uk
Tim Bowen NAHT president 2021/22
SOME WAYS NAHT MEMBERS LOOK AFTER THEIR WELL-BEING
NAHT carried out a snapshot survey of members during the summer term to ask them the following: is there anything you’ve done during the pandemic that has been particularly helpful for your wellbeing or mental health? Here is a selection of what they said.
“Being outdoors; going for a run. Something I will hold on to forever is being able to finish work at a decent hour and spend some time with my young children (which I never got to do before the pandemic).”
A PRIMARY SCHOOL HEAD TEACHER IN SUNDERLAND ‘WALKING THE DOG’
“Bought a dog! Walking the dog means that I have to get outside, and I have to do this every night ... rather than reach for the wine! “[We’ve also implemented] a renewed emphasis on staff members’ well-being, including the training of two mental health first-aiders and a well-being strategy, which extends to governor level. All policies are reviewed in the light of work-life balance and well-being, which staff say has impacted them positively.”
JULIE WRIGHT, HEAD TEACHER AT ALL SAINTS CHURCH OF ENGLAND PRIMARY SCHOOL, WIGSTON, LEICESTERSHIRE
‘WELL-BEING LUNCHES FOR STAFF’ “[We’ve put in place] counselling for pupils and counselling for staff, including ‘well-being’ special lunches for staff teams, split into each key stage.” HARRY ANDERSON, PRINCIPAL AT MUNTHAM HOUSE SCHOOL, WEST SUSSEX
‘OUR SCHOOL’S THERAPY DOG’ “We got a new school therapy dog. It’s been lots of work, but it has brought joy and fun and a welcome positive distraction for pupils and staff.”
KATHRYN HARPER-QUINN, HEAD TEACHER AT HOUNSLOW HEATH INFANT AND NURSERY SCHOOL ‘RUNNING, AND LISTENING TO AUDIOBOOKS’
“The most helpful thing that has happened in our area is that local secondary heads have met once a week via Zoom to exchange ideas, solutions but also, more importantly, to share stories, empathise with one another and laugh together. It has been like group therapy. “I also have from the outset adopted a completely transparent approach with governors and the senior leadership team. Nothing is kept back, and we share responsibility for decision-making. We also said early on that we would forget the development plan and our strategic priorities and just focus on getting through the pandemic. “Finally, I knew I had to find a way to get some ‘headspace time’ that didn’t involve a glass of wine, so I took up running again and listening to audiobooks completely unrelated to work or the pandemic. Both have been extremely helpful, and as a bonus, I have lost weight!”
SEAN MAHER, HEAD TEACHER, RICHARD CHALLONER SCHOOL, KINGSTON-UPONTHAMES
“One of the first things I did was to move the staffroom into the hall. It sounds like such a small thing to do, but it glued my (already strong) staff team together.
“They sit in there for playtimes, have lunch there, and we have our staff meetings there. It has meant the staff have reacted well to the many changes, and they have been incredibly supportive, which has helped massively with the stress of dealing with the pandemic and has also hugely helped me. “I have also (with the staff) looked at workload again. I have actively encouraged staff to leave promptly at the end of the day and reduced workload to support this. Tired staff create additional stress for me! It’s also given me the green light to go home early and not create work (we head teachers are all prone to that!). “I have reduced paperwork enormously over the last year. And the school has run very well without it – as a school, we have really tried to use this opportunity to take stock. Having a strong local network of heads has also helped: as the pandemic has become ‘normal’, it’s interesting to note that the frequency of emails has reduced!”
HELEN RICHARDSON, HEAD TEACHER AT JOHN BLOW PRIMARY SCHOOL, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE
WE’VE BEEN WORKING HARD TO DRIVE PROGRESS FOR OUR MEMBERS.
COVID-19 PROGRESS TO DATE AND NEXT STEPS
COVID LOGISTICS, TESTING AND GUIDANCE
• Throughout the pandemic, NAHT has provided detailed guidance to members and regular FAQs in response to government policy decisions. This includes advice on managing Covid-19, professional issues, assessment, relations with other unions, mental health of pupils and a wide range of other topics. • NAHT continued to call on the DfE to remove school leaders from the track and trace process. This led to the announcement that from July 2021, the responsibility would largely shift to
NHS track and trace. • We have continued to call for a more proactive stance from government on key issues such as ventilation in schools. The government will now be providing CO2 monitors to all schools and is running a trial of air purification systems in some schools. • NAHT has continued to call on the government to provide better notice of changes to guidance. Following the national lockdown in January 2021, the government confirmed schools would get at least two weeks’ notice of any changes, apart form in emergency circumstances. • NAHT ensured that schools would not be asked to remain open for Critical Worker or Vulnerable Children during
February half-term or Easter in 2021. Next Steps: • NAHT continue to call on the government to do more to protect pupils and staff. We will continue to lobby the government to do more to support schools to improve ventilation (including offering financial support where necessary), support schools with the cost of supply staff and change aspects of current covid guidance.
FUNDING
• NAHT secured some emergency funding support for schools in the most precarious financial position as a result of Covid through the exceptional costs scheme and the Covid workforce fund. • Despite the limitations of the scheme,
NAHT sought and received clarification that teaching assistants, learning support assistants, therapists and other non-teaching staff in special schools and AP were included in the
Covid workforce fund • Secured an additional £1b in Covid recovery funding at the 2021 budget and a further £4.7b in core funding by 2024-5. Next Steps: • NAHT will continue to campaign on school funding and make the case that a return to 2010 levels is not sufficient.
There will be a particular focus on
SEND funding within this. • We will continue to call on the government to reimburse schools for their additional Covid related costs, and support schools with additional supply costs. NAHT will continue to campaign for a sufficient, long-term funding solution for the Maintained
Nursery Sector.
ASSESSMENT, EXAMS AND PERFORMANCE DATA
• Ensured that the government cancelled all forms of primary statutory assessment in 2020/21. • Represented the views of secondary members influencing the decisions of government about the awarding of grades in 2021 through numerous consultations and meetings.. • Ensured that there will be no school level performance data published or used for accountability purposes in 2021. • Ensured that the results of primary tests and statutory assessments will not be published in KS2 performance tables in 2021/22. Next Steps: • NAHT will continue to represent members views regarding exams and assessments in 2022, including the contingency plans should exams not be able to go ahead. • NAHT will continue to challenge the decision to go ahead with the full suite of primary statutory assessments in 2021/2022. • NAHT will continue to raise member concerns around the use of performance data in 2021/22.
OFSTED AND ACCOUNTABILITY
• Successfully ensured that there would be no return to routine inspection in the spring and summer terms 2021 and that monitoring inspections for
Inadequate and double RI schools would focus on how well schools are educating pupils in the current circumstances rather than progress since last inspection. • Took the first steps to commence judicial review proceedings against
Ofsted in order to challenge the legal basis for their visits to schools in autumn 2020. • NAHT issued detailed guidance on monitoring inspections advice for members on how to handle a call from
Ofsted following a parental complaint about remote learning. Next Steps: • NAHT will continue to set out a vision for an approach to inspection that supports rather than penalises schools, and where the high stakes, perverse incentives and unintended consequences of inspection are reduced, line with the recommendations of our Accountability and School
Improvement Commissions.
EDUCATION ‘RECOVERY’
• Ensured that schools have significant freedom and autonomy to decide how any additional ‘recovery funding’ is spent, including increased flexibility in relation to how tutoring funding is spent. • Secured an additional £1b for recovery funding in the 2021 budget. Next Steps: • NAHT will continue to call for additional funding to support schools with their ongoing recovery work, particularly in relation to pupil mental health. We will also continue to call for schools to have the freedom to determine how money is spent. • NAHT will oppose any simplistic attempts to extend the school day.
