Leadership Focus, May/June 2015 by Steve Smethurst

LEADERSHIP F O C U S All the news from conference P.6 The magazine for NAHT members May/June 2015 • £5

Issue #69

Meet the executive officers P.26 When a deputy met Ofsted P.32

Own the story It’s time for the profession to take education out of the hands of politicians

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EDITORIAL WE N A T I O N A L P R E S I D E N T

ow the dust has settled on NAHT’s recent annual conference – and that TONY DRAPER minor bunﬁght which took place in early May – we can start to take stock a little. Hands up all those who predicted a Conservative majority government? That the country hasn’t ended up with another coalition came as a surprise to us all and, I’d hazard a bet, not least to the politicians themselves. page nine, one in 10 children have a diagnosable mental health We now know with whom we will be working (see page eight) condition, partly because of the pressures placed upon them. and NAHT staff and officers can’t wait to get going. There are Sport is my way of escaping day-to-day issues so I’m big issues to address: Ofsted is one, followed by assessment and delighted the Youth Sport Trust (YST) is going to be NAHT’s accountability. What is clear is that the pace of change of the charity partner for the next 12 months. Sport and PE promote past ﬁve years cannot continue without the system breaking. healthy bodies and boost mental wellbeing. Ali Oliver, chief I’m a massive advocate of leaders taking risks, particularly executive of the YST, outlines some of the work they have where they believe they can make a positive difference (also been doing with schools (page 24). My aim is for all schools to page eight). Deputy head Nigel Bailey took a risk in taking register for YST membership in the hope that all children will on a school that was due an Ofsted inspection and missing its leave school with healthy bodies and minds. senior leaders (page 32). He not only managed the situation but Finally, I look forward to seeing many of you as I visit ensured the school came out stronger as a result. branches and regions. I’m told it’s going to be exhausting but I It’s a concern to me that not only are school leaders and their can’t imagine a better set of people to be meeting. staff stressed as a result of work overload but, as described on

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A FOCUS ON WELLBEING

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ASSOCIATION AND EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES NAHT 1 Heath Square, Boltro Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 1BL www.naht.org.uk Tel: 0300 30 30 333 Editorial board: Tony Draper, Heather Forse, Lesley Gannon, Nicky Gillhespy, Kim Johnson, Magnus Gorham, Chris Harrison, Russell Hobby, Gail Larkin, Caroline Morley, Stephen Watkins and Paul Whiteman. @nahtnews @LFmagNAHT

EDITORIAL TEAM Managing editor: Steve Smethurst Assistant editor: Carly Chynoweth Designer: Adrian Taylor Senior picture editor: Claire Echavarry Production manager: Jane Easterman Cover photograph: Tempest Columnist illustrations: Lyndon Hayes Printed by: Woodford Litho

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ISSN: 1472–6181 © Copyright 2015 NAHT All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be copied or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers. While every care has been taken in the compilation of this publication, neither the publisher nor NAHT can accept responsibility for any inaccuracies or changes since compilation, or for consequential loss arising from such changes or inaccuracies, or for any other loss, direct or consequential, arising in connection with information in this publication. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply recommendation by the publishers. The views herein are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor or NAHT.

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CONTENTS

EWS

You’ll never walk alone NAHT’s national officers took time out from their busy conference schedule to pick up a trophy

Annual conference overview NAHT held its annual conference in Liverpool in early May, just before the general election. The theme was ‘Own the story’

Nicky Morgan’s speech “There will be no going back on reforms,” Ms Morgan told delegates in a pre-election speech to conference Mental health funding Cornwall head Julie Simpson presented a motion on the ‘national disgrace’ of mental health funding

10 NAHT president’s speech Tony Draper’s message was that members have the answers and deserve a chance to put their knowledge to the test 11 General secretary’s speech Russell Hobby said: “We have not waited to react. We have begun to build the system we want to see” 12 Medics Month set for October October will become ‘Medics Month’ as Primary Futures links up with the Medical Schools Council 13 NAHT’s meeting of minds Annual conference saw a panel discussion chaired by CfBT Education Trust CEO Steve Munby 14 Family Action leaﬂet NAHT’s official relationship with Family Action comes to an end with a leaﬂet on self-worth enclosed

FEATURES

IEWS

24 Building a brighter future Ali Oliver, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, introduces NAHT’s charity partner for the coming months

16 NAHT partners Find out more about progress testing in maths, English and science from GL Assessment and healthcare insurance from CS Healthcare

26 National ofﬁcers Meet new national president Tony Draper and his vice president Kim Johnson – what qualities will they bring to their respective roles?

17 Legal update NAHT senior solicitor Simon Thomas looks at the risk of dismissal over the ‘private’ use of social media

28 Conference decides… The serious business of conference is to set the priorities for National Executive for the coming months. This year there are 31 resolutions 32 Twenty-seven days later Deputy head Nigel Bailey can smile about it now, but he had a baptism of fire when he agreed to work three days a week supporting a local school with an imminent Ofsted inspection 36 Support structures The benefits of coaching and mentoring are clear, says Carly Chynoweth: they give people confidence and belief in themselves 40 Many hands make light work A brains trust of education leaders, including NAHT Edge’s Louis Coiffait, attend a roundtable event to discuss strategies for school improvement 44 Grand designs If you had free rein to plan a school building from scratch, what would you do? Joy Persaud meets the team behind the Lighthouse School in Leeds

19 Rona Tutt’s column Rona has some advice for Nicky Morgan: let the profession take the lead and allow us to ‘own the story’ 21 Russell Hobby’s column The general secretary promises that NAHT will be proactive and ethical as the government draws battle lines over forced academisation 22 Best of the blogs Our bloggers turn their attention to the Conservative’s pre-election pledges, NAHT support for SBMs and the lighter side of annual conference 49 Book reviews Titles by Dame Sally Coates, Professor Barry Carpenter and Pasi Sahlberg 50 Susan Young’s column Cranﬁeld Academy in Bedfordshire has developed a user-friendly replacement for levels, which uses the idea of stepping stones

LEADERSHIP F O C U S

15 NAHT’s SEND conference The conference, held in March, featured talks from Professors Barry Carpenter and Francesca Happé

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NEWS FOCUS

NEWS • CONFERENCE ROUND-UP • SECRETARY OF STATE • MAVERICKS BEING STIFLED • PRESIDENT’S SPEECH • GENERAL SECRETARY’S SPEECH

WE N E W S F R O M T H E W O R L D O F E D U C A T I O N

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

You’ll never walk alone NAHT’S NATIONAL OFFICERS TOOK TIME OUT FROM THEIR BUSY CONFERENCE SCHEDULE TO ADD SOME SILVERWARE TO THEIR NEW BADGES OF OFFICE

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NAHT’s new national president Tony Draper (right) and vice president Kim Johnson (left) joined members of NAHT’s national executive at Anﬁeld, home of Liverpool FC, for a stadium tour. The tour included the chance to have photographs taken with the Champions League trophy, which the Reds last won in 2005. For Tony, a former coach at Northampton Town FC and a passionate Huddersﬁled Town FC supporter, it was a particularly exciting event because he may have to wait quite a few seasons

until he sees his beloved Terriers holding the cup aloft, although he was grateful they escaped relegation to League One before the conference began. Tony is head teacher at Water Hall Primary School in Milton Keynes, while Kim is head at Bradﬁelds Academy in Chatham, Kent. The academy provides education for 300 students aged four to 19 who experience a co-morbidity of complex learning disabilities and difﬁculties. Interviews, page 26

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Inspection framework

Ofsted to assess healthy eating Ofsted inspections will consider schools’ approaches to promoting healthy eating from September as part of the common inspection framework

Inspectors will look at the food and talk to pupils and staff for evidence of how schools are embedding a culture of health and wellbeing

NAHT annual conference asks delegates to ‘own the story’ Stay up to date with NAHT’s annual conference was held the weekend before the the latest association general election in early May and delegates voted in favour of all 31 news on Twitter motions that were put before them (see page 28). Russell Hobby, NAHT general secretary, summed up the event: “We had three days of debate about what the next five years might look like and the overwhelming theme is that politicians must to live up to their promises about trusting the profession. School leaders should be able to get on with the job of raising standards and driving through change for themselves.” He added: “We face a leadership crisis that threatens our progress on standards, particularly in our most challenging and vulnerable schools. The demands placed on leadership have never been greater and the job has never before carried so much risk along with it. “To combat this, NAHT will build a new Leadership Foundation with our colleagues in the professional associations representing leaders and governors. NAHT will also guarantee a mentor for every new head teacher in the country (page 9). Furthermore, our Aspire pilot (page 15) has shown it is raising standards and is working successfully on a large scale. It does so without the trauma and conflict of so many top-down interventions.” With the outcome of the general election unknown at the time, Mr Hobby told delegates: “We are poised now in a moment of political uncertainty. That moment may extend further than we expect. While a gap exists, we will fill it responsibly, with plans that put children first. And when the dust settles we will be fast off the blocks to engage and shape the future.”

@NAHTnews

SBMs urge government to share pupil data Nicky Gillhespy, chair of NAHT’s SBM committee, proposed a motion at annual conference that called for increased data sharing between government departments to identify those children entitled to free school meals and therefore pupil premium funding. Nicky, school business manager at Cheam Fields Primary School in Sutton, Surrey, said every pound mattered when school ﬁnances were under so much pressure. “The pupil premium is a signiﬁcant amount of money but if parents don’t know they can claim for free school meals, the child will miss out. In 2013, 11 per cent of eligible families didn’t claim and, while well-intentioned, universal free school meals for infants are aggravating the situation,” she said. “Pupil premium funding is now hit and miss depending on incentives from the school and the local authority. The data is out there and the government owns it. It should share the information with local authorities and schools with no need for parents to do anything. It’s the right thing to do so all children receive funding they are entitled to.” Full list of conference resolutions, page 28

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Help is available to schools in England and, in most cases, it’s free to access, although places are limited. Visit www. schoolfoodplan.com/takeup

Schools take on family support role A poll by NAHT has found that schools are frequently providing food, clothes and washing facilities to children from poor families. NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said: “Our research estimates that this costs all state schools around £43.5m per year. This is money that schools are having to find to help families who have been affected by cuts to public services.” More than 2,000 school leaders responded to the survey with 84 per cent saying that they are providing more support than they did five years ago. Mr Hobby said: “This is a hidden national scandal. Schools will do all they can to help and in many cases they’re providing more support than they can afford. Schools are judged on results and on the quality of the teaching and learning they offer but this is a much wider problem.” NAHT president Tony Draper said that his school, Water Hall Primary in Milton Keynes, had scrapped learning mentors and now employs a dedicated family support worker whose sole role is to support parents – advising them how to access food banks and where to go for advice on money, housing, evictions and benefits changes. “At my school, the amount of help and the different types of help we’re providing is increasing all the time,” he said.

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SECRETARY OF STATE WE Nicky Morgan

Constructive dialogue Nicky Morgan addressed delegates in Liverpool

SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Unleash the mavericks Of the three politicians who addressed national conference, Nicky Morgan was the clear winner at the polls, if not with the delegates. The Conservative secretary of state has retained her role, while schools minister David Laws was ousted at the polls and, as LF went to press, Tristram Hunt was being touted as a contender for the next leader of the Labour party. Ms Morgan opened her speech by praising NAHT’s leadership for the constructive way it had dealt with her since coming to ofﬁce last July. “We’ve found a way to work together that’s positive, healthy and constructive,” she said. She outlined what she wanted from schools by paraphrasing what her constituents asked for: “They want to know their child is looked after, happy, won’t be bullied and, if they are, that someone will do something about it. They want the basics of reading, writing and maths, and their children to be stretched academically. They want to know you don’t see them as a statistic, or a funding-scheme problem. My constituents want to know that when their child comes to school no door is closed and no opportunity missed and that’s what drives me: opportunity.” She then took a harder line, saying head teachers had told her they needed stability and calm, but in some areas achievement is a ‘scandal’. She highlighted the areas Trafford and Knowsley, where in the latter she claimed children were half as likely to get the standard of education they needed to achieve in life. “This is deeply unfair,” she said. She told delegates that she had heard pleas to ‘stop meddling’ but democratic accountability was important and there was no going back on reforms. In response, NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby agreed that they had enjoyed constructive dialogue. He also pointed out that the profession wants every single child to leave the primary stage with good skills. He then urged her to fund schools: “If you increase demands on schools you have to equip them to deal with it.” Finally, he suggested that the Aspire model of school improvement was one to talk about in the context of coasting schools if she was back in the job after the election, which, it turns out, she is.

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‘Maverick’ head teachers are being stiﬂed by an inspection system that stops them doing their best for pupils, NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby has said. He told delegates at NAHT’s annual conference that school leaders should be able to try out new ideas, but too often they avoid risk, fearing Ofsted will disapprove. “The current system forces schools to spend too long guessing what the inspector wants instead of thinking about what their pupils need,” he said. The general secretary also urged school leaders to ﬁght back against ‘crazy’ government schemes, saying heads should speak out if they believe a policy will fail. “It only encourages the

crazy schemes when we find a way to make them work. We should be a lot stronger in saying: ‘Look, you haven’t given us enough time, this is not well thought through’ and ask the government to go back to the drawing board.” The idea may find favour with Ofsted, as its chief Sir Michael Wilshaw told the Norfolk Annual Headteacher Conference last year: “Government is very much looking to ambitious, buccaneering, go-getting school leaders. “It chimes with my conviction that the future of education in this country depends on these energetic, dynamic, entrepreneurial, and perhaps slightly maverick leaders, who thrive on competition and aren’t afraid to ruffle feathers.”

No ‘outstanding’ for Ofsted Ofsted should return the definition of ‘outstanding’ back to the profession, said NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby. Speaking at annual conference, he said: “The ‘outstanding’ grade is one of the most pernicious aspects of our inspection regime. Ofsted should content itself with good or not yet good. The profession should define ‘outstanding’ and it will define it in many different ways. “All institutions have strengths and weaknesses. When a school is good, it should be allowed to participate in a highquality peer-review system. There are several versions in existence, not least our own Instead.”

bit.ly/NAHT_Instead

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ONLINE DBS CHECK NAHT Assure’s Disclosure and Barring Service has been developed for the education sector and provides a quick and efﬁcient alternative to paper applications in two to ﬁve days. Register at www.nahtassure.co.uk/online-dbs or call 0845 519 7001

Mental health funding ‘a national disgrace’ says Cornwall principal A lack of support for children with mental health issues is a national disgrace, Julie Simpson (pictured), principal at St Martin’s CE School in Liskeard, Cornwall, told delegates at annual conference. Julie proposed the first of three motions on pupil wellbeing and mental health. She said: “This is not a national tragedy, it’s a national disgrace. How many colleagues are called to daily incidents of violent behaviour as a result of the poor mental health of our children and young people? “In what other profession would workers tolerate being assaulted on a daily basis and put up with it because the alternative would be to exclude the pupil and no one wants to fail a child in this way? We need the training and support to recognise poor mental health in children at an early age to prevent escalation to a serious mental health condition.” The motion was seconded by Katherine Warren, head teacher at Kea Community Primary School in Truro, who quoted statistics from the Young Minds website. “One in 10 young children aged five to 16 suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder – that’s three children in every class. Nearly 80,000 children and young people suffer from severe depression and 72 per cent of children in care have behavioural and emotional problems – some of the most vulnerable people in society.” She added that services such as CAMHS only have capacity for those already at crisis point. “Poor mental health is a significant barrier to learning,” she said. “We need the government to put mental and emotional health for children at the forefront of policy.” www.youngminds.org.uk

NAHT EDGE RECRUITMENT CRISIS LOOMS There is a growing issue with recruiting teachers at all levels. Data from more than 1,100 school leaders collected at start of this academic year shows that right across the country nearly 62 per cent of those surveyed said they were struggling to recruit teachers on the upper pay scale. The results also showed that 14 per cent said they had failed to recruit deputy heads and 20 per cent said they had failed to recruit assistant head teachers. Louis Coiffait, CEO of NAHT Edge, said: “It’s time to be frank, we’re facing a recruitment crisis at all stages of the education system. Until we address it at each of those stages, there’s no chance that we’ll have the quantity

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or quality of head teachers we need in the future. That’s why we set up NAHT Edge – to give the next generation of school leaders the support they need to overcome the challenges they’ll face in their careers.” Mr Coiffait added: “Nothing is more important than ensuring children have access to the best possible standards of teaching. But any improvements we’ve seen in education will stutter and stall if there’s no investment in teacher development and career progression. Promising professionals will leave and would-be leaders will choose not to take on leadership roles. That can’t be allowed to happen.” www.nahtedge.org.uk

Mentoring service for new heads NAHT used annual conference to announce plans to guarantee free mentoring for every new head teacher in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Russell Hobby, NAHT general secretary, said: “The demands on school leaders have never been greater. At the same time, traditional sources of support are falling away. With this in mind, our association will guarantee a mentor to every new head teacher who wants and needs one. The service will be free and provided by serving school leaders and NAHT members. “We will offer training to the mentors, which will give valuable skills to take back to school. This will be important career development for these volunteers and will ensure high quality. “We would aim to work alongside existing sources of support for new school leaders where they are still available. “Headship is an opportunity to make a difference. There is so much to learn in the early years of headship but there are also thousands of people who have made the journey and want to give something back. That ethos lies at the heart of NAHT. “Over time, we will extend this offer to other senior and middle leaders as part of our vision to show that it is the teaching profession itself that is responsible for driving up standards in education.”

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NEWS FOCUS

INSPIRING LEADERSHIP The conference for leaders in education, by leaders in education takes place from 10 to 12 June at the ICC in Birmingham. Register at www.inspiringleadership.org

NAHT PRESIDENT

Owning the story New NAHT president Tony Draper told delegates he’d been inspired to take up the role by the way his son Jamie ‘spoke passionately about his beliefs’ when standing for the UK Youth Parliament. His presidential theme, he added, was ‘Own the story’ and he said the profession needed to seize the initiative. On academies, he said: “An academy can be a great school. But so can any other, with the right leadership, teachers and plans in place. There is no evidence that academy status raises standards. We must ﬁght forced academisation – it is a waste of money and it doesn’t help children.” On Ofsted, Mr Draper said: “It no longer has anything to do with school improvement; it’s become punitive and we

have lost faith in it. We know there are inspectors who are not ﬁt for purpose, who are incompetent, who bully and harass heads and their staff. Finally, the politicians are seeing it our way. We must convince the next government that nothing less than wholesale reform of Ofsted is required.” He was also scathing about assessment: “What a dog’s dinner it is. The plans in place

for baseline assessment are confusing. Key stage one and two testing is narrow and uninspiring and the changes to GCSEs are coming so thick and fast that we can no longer be sure what the results are telling us. We must persuade ministers that we have the honesty and integrity for them to trust teacher assessment.” He concluded by saying: “The people in this room know more about what works (and what doesn’t) than any politician ever will. It took me and my team ﬁve years to turn our school around and everyone deserves that kind of opportunity. Instead we have a ‘bull in a china shop’, quick ﬁx, here today, gone tomorrow approach that destroys careers and limits what our kids can achieve.”

Governance a ‘patchwork quilt of quality’ Governance was a hot topic at conference with many members still reeling from the aftershocks of the ‘Trojan Horse’ affair in Birmingham. Tim Gallagher, a life member from Wolverhampton, said: “There is no national database of governors. None are required to take any training, only chairs of governors in Wales. It’s a patchwork quilt of varying quantity and quality. “Inappropriate behaviour does take place. It does not

need to be as dangerous as we found in Birmingham, it can be micromanagement of our members or the decisionmaking of those who lack knowledge, skills or understanding. We need to regulate the number of governing body posts any one individual can hold; and we need a database of governors and we need to be able to check their suitability.” His motion was seconded by Alison Marshall of Birmingham branch, who

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said: “Nine months after the Clarke report, we’re still a long way from implementing the recommendations. We need to exert pressure to ensure they are delivered and not watered down. “Some of our members have been left truly broken and emotionally it’s been very painful. Yet, despite all the evidence, not one single governor implicated in the ‘Trojan Horse’ scandal has been investigated or banned. Where is the justice in that?”

The ‘fourlegged stool’ of support The opening guest speaker at NAHT’s annual conference was James Hilton (pictured), a former head teacher now working as a consultant. Mr Hilton told delegates that he had been a successful school leader running a large primary school. However, problems hit – panic attacks, a stammer, avoiding meeting colleagues outside school, migraines and, ﬁnally, agonising back spasms. After seeing a doctor and a counsellor he returned four months later with strategies to cope. He described the ‘four-legged stool’ of support: family; social life and friends; support from within school; and professional networks. “Distance and perspective helped me make sense of things,” he said. “One of the most important things I learned was most of us have a comfort zone but if you don’t challenge it, it shrinks. Mine contracted so far the only place that I felt safe was in my own house. Now, I challenge myself. lf you told me in 2007, when I couldn’t get a sentence out, I would be standing in front of the NAHT conference, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

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‘Trojan Horse’ – not yet gone away

General secretary: ‘We have begun to build the system we want to see’ NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby (pictured) celebrated five years in the role with a speech that outlined some of the major achievements of that time. He said: “We have not waited to react. We have begun to build the system we want to see: • We have built our own approach to inspection. Instead has helped put peer review on the table as a credible alternative and dozens of schools are piloting it; • We created the Aspire project. More than half the ‘requires improvement’ schools in the first wave achieved ‘good’ after 18 months; • The framework from the NAHT Commission on Assessment is now the most widely used replacement for levels; • We worked with colleagues in United Learning, Pixl and ASCL to create our own performance tables, owned by the profession and available first to parents; • We have worked with the Education and Employers Taskforce to promote Inspiring the Future for secondary pupils and to create Primary Futures (see page 12); and •We recognised our duty to the next generation of leaders and established Edge, our section aimed at middle leaders.” He concluded by saying: “Lest you think we’ve come over all sweetness and light I should mention that we did not forget to fight the introduction of no-notice inspection, or the proposed ranking of 11-year-olds across the country into 10 per cent bands. We fought the cuts to pensions and the turbulent changes to examinations. We went to the High Court on behalf of GCSE students. Fear not: we can still be cantankerous when necessary.”

A head teacher has received death threats for speaking out against homophobia. Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson of Anderton Park primary school told conference: “‘Trojan Horse’ has not gone away. We still have dead animals hung on the school gates. We have petitions outside schools objecting to teachers teaching against homophobia. We have death threats on Facebook.” Birmingham branch secretary Alison Marshall called for Peter Clarke’s report into ‘Trojan Horse’ to be fully implemented (see governance story, page 10). The recommendations include a permanent ban from serving as a governor for anyone found to have indulged in intimidatory tactics against head teachers or other school staff.

TWEETS IN BRIEF

#NAHT2015

@joirritableowl Every time I hear @russellhobby speak I’m both delighted he heads my union and disappointed he isn’t prime minister!

@SBMholytrinity Have really enjoyed my ﬁrst conference. Feeling very inspired, thank you Liverpool for being so friendly especially our cabbie!

@MrScottEvans Sometimes it really is tough. But an inspirational weekend with colleagues has certainly helped to raise spirits!

@LouisMMCoiffait Great to see school leaders and governors debate key issues, it comes down to investing in development.

@Sazhewitt Nolan Principle no.7 ‘Be willing to challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.’ This is what NAHT is doing. Proud to be a member.

@ArianaYakas While I totally agree about governor training let’s not forget about training for SLT on imp and what good governance looks like.

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@MichaelNewman6 Motion on challenging behaviour carried. The hard work with DENI begins!

#NAHT2015 is putting such emphasis on mental health.

@rob_kelsall Alison Marshall – passionate speech about the injustice of heads forced out by extremist governors.

@michaelmrbailey There must be a better way than the current governor system where amateurs hold professionals to account.

@robcampbe11 Rona as biting, witty and intelligent as ever – how many secretaries of state have been qualiﬁed for the job?

@Moggy14 this is my ﬁrst conference, very reassured that my views on accountability are shared by most.

@joirritableowl Really proud as a head teacher and also as the mother of a psychotic son that

@KEWarren68 Really positive day at conference. Thought provoking and energising!

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NEWS FOCUS PRIMARY FUTURES WE Medics Month

launches in October WELSH GOVERNMENT

NAHT Cymru presses for change A new campaign aims to widen access to medical school October has been designated ‘Medics Month’. The initiative will see thousands of medical professionals visit primary schools to talk about their jobs while highlighting the importance of literacy and numeracy. Many events will take place on Thursday 15 October, the first anniversary of the launch of Primary Futures and the deadline for all applications for medical school. The month-long initiative is part of NAHT’s collaboration wiht Primary Futures and involves joining forces with the Medical Schools Council (MSC) to find a medical volunteer for each of the 18,000 primary schools in the country. An MSC report last autumn revealed that just two fifths of doctors attended non-selective state schools, with narrow social groups dominating medicine. The report stressed that much more needs to be done to make a difference to social mobility in the UK and broaden the talent pool from which doctors are drawn. It suggested that the journey to medicine should start in primary schools. The MSC is running a competition for medical students to develop activities to engage children and to help them realise the importance of English, maths and science. The winning activities will be used to develop guidance for the medical profession ahead of Medics Month. Danny Mortimer, CEO of NHS Employers, said: “We are profoundly concerned to improve the diversity of our workforce and this is an important and supportive step, which raises the profile of careers within the NHS.” NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said: “There is a real benefit in talking to children at an early age about the jobs they might do when they’ve grown up. Providing the right kind of inspiration can really broaden horizons, which is where Primary Futures is proving to be so successful. Thinking about future possibilities shouldn’t wait until secondary school.” Primary Futures, the free national scheme developed jointly by NAHT and the charity Education and Employers, has already given schools access to more than 2,000 volunteers. www.primaryfutures.org

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Welsh issues were at the forefront of NAHT annual conference in Liverpool. Rob Williams, director of NAHT Cymru, said: “In Wales we’ve made strides to break the link between poverty and educational attainment. The Donaldson report shows that progress is being made on the key areas of accountability and assessment. But there is so much more to do. “We had ﬁve conference motions and they were all about putting pressure on the Welsh government to ensure its reforms are really making a difference to children. “We can’t go on using the ‘free school meals’ label for poorer children any longer. It masks the causes of social deprivation in Wales and blocks the path to effective intervention. The Assembly needs to change the way it looks at this problem.” NAHT Cymru president Dean Taylor, and former NAHT Cymru president and current National Executive council member Ruth Davies proposed an end to the national annual tests in literacy and numeracy. They said they are “damaging young people

and sapping the professional capacity and fervour of practitioners in schools and colleges in Wales.” Reflecting the unique set of challenges facing school leaders working in the Welsh system, Ruth pointed out the lack of confidence in the present system of school categorisation, arguing it doesn’t provide an accurate picture of the progress of schools and the resources needed to support them. Earlier in the year, NAHT Cymru welcomed the publication of the Donaldson report. The report closely followed proposals from Welsh school leaders to make changes to the way schools are held to account. Dean told conference that it should back a move to press for the Donaldson report to be put into practice at the earliest opportunity. A final motion proposed pushing the Welsh government to address the worrying downward trend in wellbeing among teachers, as identified in a recent NAHT Cymru survey of school leaders. Conference resolutions, page 28

PHOTOGRAPH: CORBIS

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NEWS FOCUS

PANEL DISCUSSION

NAHT’s meeting of minds One of the highlights of conference was a panel discussion across a range of education issues. It was chaired by CfBT Education Trust CEO Steve Munby. Panel members included chair of NAHT’s primary committee Ann Lyons; chair of NAHT’s secondary committee Rob Campbell, Schools Week editor Laura McInerney; co-founder of the Education Foundation Ty Goddard; and Toby Salt, chief executive of the Ormiston Trust academies chain. On levels, Anne said: “We are data rich, but the difﬁculty over the past few years has been that teachers and parents have increasingly categorised children with a number and a letter. “We’ve been far too rushed

in losing assessment levels but it is a fantastic opportunity to talk about children, about their learning and how we take them on.” She then turned her attention to Ofsted: “It doesn’t capture what the school stands for or how it meets the needs of learners.

It should be rigorous and challenging with peer review, moderated so the school can see what it does well and areas to move it forward.” In terms of funding, Rob warned that the situation was dire. He told delegates: “We have to save £250,000 by September and a further

EXAMINATION REFORM SEMINAR

BETTER GOVERNANCE RELATIONSHIPS

NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby and Glenys Stacey, CEO at Ofqual, will be among the speakers at the Westminster Education Forum’s seminar: England’s examination system – the next steps for reform. It takes place on 12 October in London and will focus on challenges facing England’s examination system.

An updated version of What governing boards should expect from school leaders and what school leaders should expect from governing boards is now available to download. It’s a joint piece of work from NAHT, ASCL, National Governors’ Association and Local Government Association to address the changed role of school governance. NAHT general

secretary Russell Hobby said: “The relationship between governors and school leaders needs to be constructive and involve both challenge and support in equal measure.”

£250,000 after that. We’re thinking about cutting one of our minority subjects which will have an impact on the curriculum and also children’s life chances. People working across schools seems to be the only solution and that’s a situation that worries me.” Ty said he wanted to see a school-led system with school and college leaders involved in evidence and policy formulation: “Policy formulation is too narrow, with too few people from the profession.” Summing up, Steve said that it was possible to achieve change, citing NAHT as an example: “I’ve never known a time when the professional associations are so much on the front foot as now. It bodes well,” he said.

NEWS IN BRIEF

www.westminsterforum projects.co.uk

PHOTOGRAPH: TEMPEST

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bit.ly/governors_school_ leaders

NAHT ENDORSES HORSE MEMORIAL The Free Spirit Horse Memorial appeal is to create a sculpture at the National Memorial Arboretum in

Staffordshire as a tribute to the thousands of horses that have served in times of conﬂict. NAHT is pleased to endorse this work and to acknowledge the important contribution that horses make to the physical and emotional development of children and young people, particularly those with special needs. Free history resources for schools are available at www.freespiritmemorial. co.uk

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NAHT NEWS AND INFORMATION

FA M I LY A C T I O N

Self-worth advice NAHT’s partnership with Family Action has now come to a close after two years, with 10 leaﬂets created together in the ‘Ready to Learn Every Day’ campaign. The partnership raised almost £12,000 and introduced Family Action to 300 schools, with one school generating £5,000. David Holmes, CEO of Family Action, said: “It has been such a pleasure to work with NAHT. Our partnership has enabled us to raise awareness of the important work of Family Action with so many schools and it has also helped us to raise some

much needed funds. “I know the Ready to Learn Every Day leaflets we produced together have been well received by schools and been used widely to engage families and support children in their learning and everyday lives. We extend our thanks and best wishes to all at NAHT.” The final leaflet in the series, Self-Worth, is designed to explore ways to help children know their own worth and ways we can all increase and celebrate self worth from a very young age. As always, if your school would like to get involved

New faces at NAHT (NI)

Wakeﬁeld branch secretary’s review of NAHT training

Jonny Gray is the new president of NAHT (NI) and Helena Macormac the policy director. The next issue of LF will include a report from the NAHT (NI) annual conference and a proﬁle of Helena.

Wakefield branch secretary Tracey Lake has shared her experience of attending phase one of her NAHT induction training. The infants school head praised the staff and quality of training she received and said she was looking forward to phase two. Tracey said: “There were 10 officials keen to learn how headquarters staff can support us, so we in turn can support our local NAHT members. I take my hat off to each of the presenters as they showed the utmost professionalism.” The course covered: • NAHT structure, officials’ roles and facilities time

Recruit a colleague A leaﬂet with this issue invites you to help us increase membership by recruiting a colleague. Please encourage your senior leader colleagues to join NAHT or middle leaders to join NAHT Edge. Details are in the leaﬂet.

in the Ready to Learn campaign you can access free resources, including the series of leaﬂets and a weeklong assembly pack, at the website below. Any money raised will be well spent: For more information or hard copies of leaﬂets, please contact Elisa Cappello at Family Action. 020 7241 7454 elisa.cappello@ family-action.org.uk www.naht.org.uk/ familyaction New charity partner, Youth Sport Trust, page 24

• Tour of headquarters • Branch funding and development • Communications • Recruitment • Member support • Policy and campaigns • Representation and advice • Regional ofﬁcers • Media handling Tracey said she found the information worthwhile and believes it will prove very useful as she carries out her role as branch secretary. You can read Tracey’s full account on the NAHT website under ‘Ofﬁcials’ training. www.naht.org.uk

Why not stay with NAHT as a life member? Education is a vocation. Retiring or leaving the sector shouldn’t mean saying goodbye to everything you’ve learned in your career. By becoming a life member you can stay with NAHT and remain engaged with this most rewarding profession. At NAHT we respect and value the years of experience that you have and the contribution you have made to the lives of so many young people. Leaving education shouldn’t mean closing the school gates on your involvement. Life membership can provide you with the reassurance of retrospective cover should any action be taken against you that arises from your time in service. From just £16 per month for 12 months, you would be covered for life. If you are retiring or leaving education this winter, you can download an application form at the NAHT website to transfer your membership. You can discover the full range of beneﬁts and ﬁnd out how we can support you in the future. If retirement is a few years away you may be interested in our upcoming seminar ‘Planning for the future’ (bit.ly/Planning_your_ future) on 1 July 2015 to help you consider your options. www.naht.org.uk/ retirement

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NAHT’s SEND conference heralds collaboration and co-operation ‘Leading the changes: engaging learners’ was held in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, in March, with keynote speakers including Professor Francesca Happé (pictured), a professor of cognitive neuroscience at King’s College London, and paediatrician and lecturer Dr Paul Hutchins. Seminars ensured there was something for everyone, with topics ranging from Ofsted inspection developments to Fintan O’Regan’s session on social, emotional and mental health, subtitled ‘No two children are the same’. Professor Barry Carpenter, whose career in education has spanned 30 years, opened the conference, outlining what would prove to be its enduring theme: the potential that scientiﬁc advances had to address challenges in the ﬁeld. “In 15 years time head teachers could be getting brain scans of children,” he said. He called on teachers to play detective, becoming curious as well as imaginative. Professor Happé took the theme forward, calling on professionals from all disciplines to work together. Scientists desperately needed to listen to educators and parents, she said, adding: “educationists and scientists make very powerful partners.” On day two, general secretary Russell Hobby took the previous day’s theme forward, saying collaboration and co-operation were imperative. The event ended with insights from experts. Professor Amanda Kirby talked about the role of executive functioning skills — how to plan for the future, both medium and long term. And closing the conference with a moving and amusing account was Dean Beadle on his experiences of life with Asperger’s syndrome. Despite being labelled as a monster at age two, Dean is now a successful journalist and speaker. www.naht.org.uk/welcome/naht-events

Book review, page 49

Seminars to assess pupil progress NAHT, NAHT Edge and technology firm Frog have been running a series of free roadshows to help tackle the challenges presented by assessment without levels. The first event took place near Durham in May and others have been held in Leeds, Cheam and Salford, with one in Bristol scheduled for 23 June. NAHT’s position is that the removal of levels and the implementation of linear assessment at key stage four offer an opportunity to reconsider custom and practice in assessment. Key principles have been identified in assessment reform and NAHT’s assessment framework offers the best the vehicle to meet these principles. bit.ly/Frog_roadshow www.naht.org.uk/ assessmentmaterials

NAHT Aspire ‘offers a clear path to improvement’ Half of the schools participating in the NAHT Aspire pilot – which were in the ‘requires improvement’ category – have now been judged ‘good’ by Ofsted and three quarters would be ‘good’ if inspected today. The programme stems from NAHT’s manifesto for education, which contains a vision for education in which schools drive up standards for themselves. NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said: “The school leaders involved in Aspire say they’re on a clear path to improvement. Aspire puts peer support at the centre of its programme. There may be difﬁcult choices that school leaders have to take but these are made in a spirit of collaboration and enthusiasm. Aspire gives the schools involved the tools they need to turn things around, without the upheaval that is becoming commonplace when a ‘requires improvement’ verdict is handed down.” Julia Brown, head teacher at Greenhill Primary School in Shefﬁeld, said: “It is the best professional development any of us have ever had, providing solutions which are research-based,

PHOTOGRAPH: UNP

14_15 NAHT News V3.indd 15

realistic, and practical and really work. It is also intellectually challenging, which we are all enjoying. “Also, it is completely refreshing to work with people who value and respect you as a head teacher and don’t apply a deﬁcit model when talking about improving your school. For the ﬁrst time in years I have felt supported. And the other reason why we really like it is because it is all about the children.” The general secretary continued: “In the election campaign we heard a great deal from politicians about raising standards without hearing many ideas for exactly how that should happen. The answer is to work with the profession to improve the quality of teaching and middle leadership. This is the only true way to reliably improve standards.” • Four schools in Cornwall and a special school in Kent – the Inspire Free Special School – are the latest to join Aspire. nahtaspire.co.uk

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15/05/2015 16:13

MEMBER BENEFITS

PARTNERS WE M E S S A G E F R O M A S C H O O L P A R T N E R Progress testing in maths, English and science To help you measure progress accurately as you move away from national curriculum levels, GL Assessment has launched a new suite of assessments. The Progress Test in Maths, Progress Test in English and the Progress Test in Science can be used together to help schools monitor progress objectively against a national benchmark. They will also help to identify if any child is not fulfilling their potential, highlight potential barriers to learning and suggest intervention strategies. A recurring theme in the evidence presented to NAHT’s Commission on Assessment was the need for externality in terms of progress checking. This series provides this check and schools using our tests can be assured that they have an objective starting point for designing their own assessment system. The tests are broken down to help set personal targets for children. Armed with this information, a teacher can put highly targeted interventions in place that will move the child forward. The scores can also be used to provide reports to school leaders, parents, multi-academy trusts and local authorities that deliver an accurate picture of progress by child, class, year, school or region. The Progress Test series is available in digital or paper format for £4.95 per pupil per test and can be used for children aged five to 14. Contact GL Assessment on 0845 602 1937 or email info@gl-assessment.co.uk to find out more.

WE M E S S A G E F R O M A M E M B E R P A R T N E R First two months’ cover FREE* for NAHT members CS Healthcare is a provider of comprehensive health insurance with more than 80 years’ experience in protecting the health of our members. We stand apart from many of our competitors as a mutual friendly society established to protect our members and their families. We pride ourselves on providing a high level of personal service that gives you access to experienced UK based staff. Key benefits of CS Healthcare’s health insurance: • First two months cover FREE* for NAHT members who join • Flexible choice of cover and access to more than 300 UK hospitals • Competitive rates and fast, direct claim settlement As an NAHT member, you receive your first two months’ cover FREE* when you take out individual cover, simply quote promotional code 147. For more information, or to obtain a quote, visit www.cshealthcare.co.uk or call 0800 433 4940^. CS Healthcare Society Limited is incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act 1992. Register number 463F. Registered office: Princess House, Horace Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2SL. Civil Service Healthcare Society is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority – Financial Services Register number 205346. Our products are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The maximum joining age is 74 years and 11 months, unless you are switching from a previous insurer in which case the maximum joining age is 69 years and 11 months. *Terms and conditions apply. Full details are available on request. The offer may not be available for policies arranged through a broker or for existing members of CS Healthcare, including those who cancel and rejoin. ^Calls may be recorded and monitored for training purposes and/or the prevention and detection of crime.

WE NAHT

partner contacts NAHT is committed to negotiating a wide range of high quality, value-added benefits and services for its members. If you have any comments on the services provided by our affinity partners, contact marketing@naht.org.uk.

SERVICES FOR SCHOOLS NAHT ASSURE HR, payroll, property, health and safety 0845 519 7001 Email: helpdesk@nahtassure.co.uk www.nahtassure.co.uk Online DBS checking 0845 519 7001 www.nahtassure.co.uk/online-dbs ETEACH Online staff recruitment 0845 226 1906 Email: info@eteach.com www.eteach.com GL ASSESSMENT Pupil assessment 0845 602 1937 www.gl-assessment.co.uk GL PERFORMANCE Kirkland Rowell Surveys 0191 270 8270 www.kirkland-rowell.com THE EDUCATION BROKER Staff absence insurance 0845 600 5762 www.theeducationbroker.co.uk

SERVICES FOR MEMBERS ROCK Travel insurance 0844 482 3390 www.nahttravelinsurance.co.uk AVIVA Home, contents and motor insurance 0800 046 6389 www.fromyourassociation.co.uk/NAHT CS HEALTHCARE Private medical insurance 0800 917 4325 (use code 147) www.cshealthcare.co.uk GRAYBROOK INSURANCE BROKERS Professional indemnity and public liability cover 01245 321 185 Email: enquiry@graybrook.co.uk www.graybrook.co.uk/naht-members MBNA Credit card services 0800 028 2440 www.mbna.co.uk SKIPTON FINANCIAL SERVICES Financial planning 0800 012 1248 Email: sfsnaht@skipton.co.uk www.skiptonfs-naht.co.uk

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NEWS FOCUS

LEGAL UPDATE

The pitfalls of social media Employment tribunals have considered several claims involving dismissal of staff for ‘private’ use of social media accounts, writes NAHT senior solicitor Simon Thomas. A dismissal is unfair if, in the light of the employee’s conduct, the decision to dismiss is not within ‘a range of reasonable responses’. Cases have also considered the relevance of the Human Rights Act in terms of respect for private life; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and freedom of expression. Preece v JD Wetherspoon concerned events on the afternoon of 24 May 2010 in the Ferry Boat pub, Runcorn. Preece, a shift manager, endured a “shocking torrent of verbal abuse and physical threats” from a group of customers, including Brian and Sandra, who were asked to leave. Later, Preece received several abusive and threatening phone calls calling her a “snide b****”, “s***” and “w****” and advising her to “get your f***ing P45”. Preece entered into a Facebook discourse with friends (some of whom were employees of the respondent) which included: “Ha, ha, just had a phone call from the daughter calling me a snide b****, lol”; “Hope her hip breaks”; and “Sandra and Brian barred, ha ha ha!” The comments could have been viewed by 40 to 50 people and possibly as many as 646. JD Wetherspoon had a social media policy, which included acts outside that which might “be found to lower the reputation of the organisation, staff, or customers…” Preece was summarily dismissed. The tribunal found that taking into account the provocation and mitigation and the claimant’s right to privacy under the Human Rights Act’s article eight, the dismissal was “within a band of reasonable responses” and therefore fair. The company’s disciplinary and internet policies were important factors. Teggart v Teletech UK concerned a Facebook comment suggesting promiscuity on the part another employee. When asked by her friends to remove it, Teggart posted a further obscene and abusive comment directed at the same employee. Teletech had policies that included conduct off premises and outside work hours. The industrial tribunal (Northern Ireland) considered the impact of articles eight, nine and 10 of the Human Rights Act but

PHOTOGRAPH: PLAINPICTURE

17 Law.indd 17

not surprisingly found that they gave Teggart no protection in these circumstances and his dismissal was fair. In Crisp v Apple Retail UK, an Apple employee was dismissed for Facebook postings derogatory to Apple and its products. One of Crisp’s ‘friends’ had passed copies to their mutual employer. Crisp argued that, as a result of privacy settings, his Facebook posts could only be seen by ‘friends’, and were therefore private. The employment tribunal disagreed: “The nature of Facebook is that comments by one person can very easily be copied and passed on.” His article eight right was not therefore engaged. In Bates v Cumbria County Council and another, a teacher was unfairly dismissed after he accessed a dating website for 15 seconds during a class, in breach of the school’s policy. The employer had allowed its own negative views on the use of dating websites to influence its decision. His dismissal was judged unfair. In Stephens v Halfords plc, Stephens posted a Facebook page “Halford workers against working three out of four weekends”. It was in contravention of social media policy but he had taken immediate action to remove it when he realised it contravened the policy, was apologetic, and it was not ‘grossly offensive’. His dismissal was judged unfair. These cases are fact-sensitive but suggest that employers should have clear social media policies and bring these to the attention of employees and should be wary of allowing their own disapproval influence disciplinary decisions where social media activity does not have any significant impact on work. School leaders, as employees, and often high profile figures, should be very wary of treating their social media activity as ‘private’ or unconnected to their employment and consider whether their use of social media could be considered to impact on their relationship with their employer, parents or children or their, or the school’s, reputation.

If you need professional advice, call 0300 30 30 333

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A Lesson in Leadership Notley High Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Home-Learning Revelation

Notley High School & Braintree Sixth Form is a successful and heavily over-subscribed school in Braintree, Essex, who gained academy status in 2011. 2013 marked the establishment of the North Essex Multi-Academy Trust (NEMAT), which also consists of The Ramsey Academy Halstead. Both schools are successfully using Show My Homework to support student learning and raise achievement. Before Show My Homework (SMHW) what were 3 points of homework frustration you faced school-wide?

â&#x20AC;˘ It was near impossible for subject leaders to monitor the consistency of homework set across departments.

â&#x20AC;˘ Parents and carers found themselves contacting the school directly just to be certain that home-learning had been set.

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completion of home-learning by students in their year groups.

Show My Homeworkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s monitoring tools are simple to XQGHUVWDQG TXLFN WR XVH DQG DUH H[WUHPHO\ HÎ? HFWLYH IRU middle & senior leaders to quickly establish whether teachers are setting home-learning, and whether they are appropriate learning activities for students in their classes. As a Senior Leader, what are your three favourite SMHW features?

â&#x20AC;˘ The ability to see at a glance if homework is being set and if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in line with our home-learning policy.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;As a busy parent with a varying work schedule Î&#x2013; Č´ QG WKLV IDFLOLW\ LQYDOXDEOH.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

â&#x20AC;˘ Using reports to immediately establish the quantity of homeOHDUQLQJ WKDW LV EHLQJ VHW E\ GLÎ? HUHQW GHSDUWPHQWV DV ZHOO as the ability to sample tasks so we are able to evaluate the TXDOLW\ RI GLÎ? HUHQW KRPH OHDUQLQJ EHLQJ VHW

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in and see exactly what home-learning has been set by their teachers; the ability to attach resources is also a huge help especially when students lose their original copies!

All features encompassed in Show My Homework are helpful PRQLWRULQJ WRROV QRW MXVW IRU VWDÎ? EXW IRU SDUHQWV DQG FDUHUV DV well, and they all help to further support the quality of teaching and assessment. :KDW LV WKH VLQJOH ELJJHVW UHDVRQ ZK\ \RX ORYH 60+:" SMHW is so easy to use for all involved! The data is always up-todate thanks to the regular auto SIMS sync. The website is easy to navigate and the app is a fantastic product in its own right. 5HVSRQVHV IURP VWDÎ? KDYH EHHQ RYHUZKHOPLQJO\ SRVLWLYH DQG itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s helping to reduce the number of home-learning deadlines missed by students, whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not to love?! Robin Newman Senior Deputy Headteacher Notley High School & Braintree Sixth Form

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help@showmyhomework.co.uk

Phone: 020 7197 9550 13/05/2015 08:50

OPINION

VIEWS IN EDUCATION • RONA TUTT • RUSSELL HOBBY • BEST OF THE BLOGS

WE V I E W F R O M A P A S T P R E S I D E N T

arold Wilson, who won four general elections, is thought to have coined the phrase: ‘A week is a long time in politics.’ It was demonstrated vividly by NAHT’s annual conference taking place so close to the election. There we were, listening to Nicky Morgan, David Laws and Tristram Hunt. Less than a week later, we discovered that Nicky would be staying on, Tristram would not be in a position to replace her and David had been erased from the equation, along with a large number of his colleagues.

VIEWPOINT • RONA TUTT

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED IF A WEEK IS A LONG TIME IN POLITICS, CAN WE HOPE TO OWN THE STORY OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS?

Red lines drawn Whatever your views on the outcome, it has avoided the situation we were told to expect: not just a coalition government, but a rainbow coalition of assorted parties. This means that we will never know how this would have worked out. When every party seemed to be drawing so many red lines before the election, it was hard to envisage how anyone would have been able to work with anyone else, let alone more than two parties agreeing to work together. Indeed, the results were so entirely unexpected that there has been a suggestion that there needs to be a poll to ﬁnd out why all the polls, apart from the exit poll, managed to get it so wrong. So perhaps it would be timely to offer the secretary of state a few words of advice. First, that in the wake of her Workload Challenge, everyone’s workload would be immeasurably reduced if schools and other educational settings were allowed some respite from the constant churn of change. In addressing delegates at annual conference, she thanked those present for getting up early and working late into the night to inspire the next generation. Later in her speech she said: “Teachers are not just teachers but friends, relatives, mothers, fathers, daughters... They should be able to balance their own family life with work.” Quite right, but with the present workload, that balance is often hard, if not impossible, to achieve. Another example of how to make life less stressful would be to clip the wings of Ofsted and to come up with a system that doesn’t rely on ‘undependable data’, as school reform minister Nick Gibb has called it. Ofsted is not a force for improving schools but a source of considerable stress. Heads spend half the

week waiting for the phone to ring and the other half preparing for what happens when it does. Instead of concentrating on improving pupils’ learning, time is wasted on charts and graphs of dodgy data, revising and inventing policies to cover all eventualities and keeping the all-important website up to date. Any government that is serious about school improvement would scrap the hugely expensive and damaging system of schools being judged by an assorted group of inspectors, who have it in their power to deliver a damning verdict before making a quick getaway, while the school is left to pick up the pieces. There are several other suggestions that might be made, not least having a moratorium on testing and retesting that eat into teaching time and make pupils feel they are failures when they don’t meet arbitrary standards laid down by successive governments.

Let the profession lead When will politicians accept that, in the same way they pride themselves on being different from each other, no two children are the same? Why do we have to keep on saying something that is so blindingly obvious to anyone outside the walls of the DfE? Let us hope that politicians will allow the profession to take the lead, as outlined in NAHT’s manifesto, and in the words of Tony Draper’s conference theme, to ‘own the story’. Rona Tutt is a retired head teacher and a past president of NAHT

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OPINION

EE “We will offer the profession a more inspirational model of voluntary yet purposeful collaboration”

he result of the general election is known and we now have some RUSSELL HOBBY clues about the future direction of education policy. Yet regardless of government intent, three forces will constrain any decisions: pupils, teachers and money. Specifically: more of the first, less of the other two. We have spent a lot of time highlighting these risks, both at our recent annual conference NAHT WILL BE PROACTIVE AND in Liverpool and in the media. We are ETHICAL, AS BEFITS A DECISIVE also prepared to act on them. FORCE IN EDUCATION The government, however, has confirmed that it will continue to be working with more than 100 schools. The government operate through the levers of autonomy and accountability. lacks capacity for sustainable and successful interventions so These, of course, have their place but there is a serious risk a more collaborative approach is vital. here of preparing to fight the last war. Forced conversion could be this government’s Maginot Line. A decisive force The critical issues of the next five years will all have their We will offer the profession a more inspirational model of roots in capacity. For example, how do we meet increasing voluntary yet purposeful collaboration. We do think that demand for places when much of the capital budget is going standalone schools are vulnerable and that working together to free schools? Where will we find high quality teachers as offers inspiration and collegiality. However, we don’t think their pay lags behind other graduate roles and we lack good there is one way of achieving this, nor do we think that data on supply? How can we make leadership in challenging forced collaboration is reliable. We need to point to a better schools an attractive job in the face of seemingly arbitrary path here. judgements and incredibly high stakes? We will continue to present a better vision of inspection Autonomy and accountability without capacity are through our peer review – which is really taking off – and meaningless, possibly even destructive. High performing to build better bonds between work and education through education systems balance on three pillars, not two. Primary Futures and Medics Month (see page 12). It’s also pleasing to see that our work on assessment is now the most Proactive stance widely used framework in the world without levels. How will NAHT navigate this terrain? Our compass is simple: This is a proactive and ethical approach that befits a union take ownership of standards and take responsibility for each of leaders and confirms NAHT as a decisive force in the other. This is the proactive stance that has delivered results education landscape. for us before and it is more relevant than ever. It is not an easy path as it eschews the pleasures and We will take ownership of leadership development, so our simplicity of instinctive opposition. It involves hard members are prepared to tackle the new challenges. This conversations about what a viable alternative looks like. But applies to nurturing the next generation of talented leaders it works. It works for leaders and it works for learners. through NAHT Edge, ensuring that every new head has a mentor and protecting our national leadership qualifications. We will offer government a plan of improvement that Russell Hobby avoids forced intervention and drawn-out conflict. This is is NAHT general secretary already proven to work in our Aspire project, which will soon

VIEWPOINT •

A HARD ROAD LIES AHEAD

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BEST OF THE

BLOGS The lighter side of life at NAHT’s annual conference Susan Young Education journalist Susan Young attended almost every session at NAHT’s annual conference, liveblogging her way to 3,600 words of in-depth coverage. This is an extract from her summary, which takes a look at the lighter side of events. “If you’re an NAHT member but weren’t in Liverpool, what did you miss? Well, there’s a lot of fun to be had at conference. One of the great hits was Karen Roberts, deputy head at Water Hall school in Bletchley, near Milton Keynes, who’ll be spending the next year in charge as head Tony Draper is taking a year out to fulﬁl his presidential duties for NAHT. “It’s one of the quirks of conference procedure that the deputy speaks

‘Judge us by how tough we sound’ say Conservatives Warwick Mansell Education journalist Warwick Mansell wrote a pre-election blog on the Conservative’s election pledges. Does it bode well? Perhaps not… “The Conservative party wants to continue with irrational policy-making and when it comes to school reform, its offer is ‘more of the same’. That is, it’s a retread of the tired, ultra-shallow, pointlessly adversarial ‘judge us by how tough we can sound’ default mantra that has dominated major government education announcements for at least the past 10 years, without much hard evidence of success. “As revealed in The Sunday Times, Nicky Morgan proposed a ‘war on illiteracy and innumeracy’, warning a future Tory government will remove head teachers who fail to ensure every pupil knows their times tables off by heart.

about the new president – and Karen was quite spectacularly rude about Tony with devastating comic timing – to the extent that he ruefully joked the next day that more people wanted a copy of her speech than his. “There’s usually a motion led by Rona Tutt [see page 19], whose famous PowerPoint accompaniment this year included a talking hamster showing up the nuttiness of phonics tests. “Then there’s the famous dinner and disco, where leaders take the opportunity to dress up and let their hair down away from the astonished eyes of parents and pupils. “And this year there was the sheer joy of a small breakaway party in an adjoining hall playing a small and inept game of cricket with a child’s set purchased at lunchtime from a nearby department store.” www.naht.org.uk/welcome/newsand-media/blogs/susan-young

“All 11-year-olds will also have to pass new tests in long division and complex multiplication, be able to read a novel and pass a writing test that shows they can use accurate punctuation, spelling and grammar. “In future, under the Tories, schools that fail to get every pupil to pass the times tables and writing test two years running will face a takeover by new leadership teams and will be forced to become academies. “Morgan also set a new target for England’s schools to be the best in Europe for English and maths by 2020, and among the top ﬁve countries globally in the OECD’s triennial Pisa tests of 15-year-olds across the world. “David Cameron followed this up with a pledge that up to 3,500 ‘requires improvement’ schools would automatically be considered for conversion to academy status unless they had a clear plan for rapid change.” www.naht.org.uk/welcome/newsand-media/blogs/warwick-mansell

VIEWS IN EDUCATION • BEHIND THE SCENES AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE • WHAT DO THE TORIES HAVE IN STORE FOR US? • HOW NAHT CHAMPIONS THE SBM CAUSE

NAHT leads the way in SBM recognition Nicky Gillhespy School business manager Nicky Gillhespy assesses the progress SBMs have made through NAHT membership. “When I was first elected to represent the SBMs in NAHT membership in March 2013, I decided I’d be true to myself and not merge into the background. I was determined to make the most of every opportunity to promote the SBM profession. “When National Executive agreed to make the SBM position permanent, it signalled that our union was wholeheartedly committed to pressing the SBM case. In fact, my role has been far from an afterthought. I’ve joined a range of subcommittees covering issues from policy to funding, and I’m also chair of the SBM committee which meets termly. “It seems NAHT has led the way in its recognition of the essential work of SBMs and part of this has been to spread the word at the highest levels. As a result, it now seems the DfE and local authorities are regarding SBMs with greater respect. “The DfE’s Review of Efficiency in the School Systems concluded that one of the seven key characteristics of the most efficient schools is that they employ, or have access to, a skilled SBM who takes on a leadership role. What an excellent step forward in terms of how SBMs are now perceived. “NAHT has also been working with colleagues at the National Association of School Business Management (NASBM) to press for even greater recognition. Moves by NASBM to set up a national set of professional standards for SBMs are being enthusiastically supported by NAHT with the association forming part of a stakeholder group to help develop the framework by November 2015.” www.naht.org.uk/welcome/ news-and-media/blogs/nickygillhespy-blog

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15/05/2015 15:14

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13/05/2015 08:58

CHARITY PARTNER 2015/16

Building a brighter future for young people By Ali Oliver, CEO of the Youth Sport Trust THE YOUTH SPORT TRUST IS AN INDEPENDENT charity devoted to building a brighter future for young people through physical education and school sport. We help young people achieve their potential by working with schools and communities across the UK and in 63 countries internationally. We are delighted and honoured to have been chosen as NAHT’s charity partner for the coming year. NAHT shares our mission of enhancing the lives of young people and through our partnership we believe we can make a real difference together. Particular thanks must go to NAHT president Tony Draper and general secretary Russell Hobby, who have long been friends of the Youth Sport Trust and attended many of our events. Their ongoing support is something we value greatly. Through our day-to-day work in schools we are fully aware of the huge challenges schools and head teachers face around accountability, new approaches to assessment and achievement and ongoing changes to pupil behaviour and mental wellbeing. That is why we passionately champion PE, school sport and physical activity because of their proven

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ability to enhance children’s physical health, boost mental wellbeing, build up pupils’ resilience and leadership, lift academic achievement and create active habits for life. We believe by raising the quality of PE and school sport we can simultaneously tackle behavioural problems, help to raise achievement across all subjects and, ultimately, improve whole school performance. For example, our work with an inner-city Nottingham primary school shows how developing children through sport can reap a multitude of beneﬁts. Many parents at the school were not particularly engaged until the head teacher started to use sport to connect with them. Sport was used as a vehicle to get parents into school and get them involved with leading sessions for the pupils. Attitudes towards school from the parents – as well as the children’s attendance, behaviour and achievement – improved dramatically. It shows we must not underestimate that sport can be used as mechanism to engage with parents and carers, especially those whose own educational experiences were not particularly strong.

Physical literacy One of the core strands of the Youth Sport Trust’s work is to give every child the very best ‘sporting start’ in life. Providing primary children with a solid foundation in physical literacy is crucial to giving them the confidence and competence to stay physically active for life. We make an impact in this area by supporting primary teachers through the best teaching strategies and latest insight into PE and school sport practices. We have also developed a range of tools to build the skills and confidence of teaching staff to help them deliver engaging PE and school sport. A programme that demonstrates this is Bupa Start to Move, which aims to equip teachers with the techniques and confidence to teach physical literacy and support learning in PE in ways similar to other subjects. This is important because physical literacy is just as important a life skill as numeracy and literacy. Through our relationship with NAHT, we are keen to increase our level of influence within schools, attract new members and also help our own charitable fundraising drive. We would like to raise £20,000 over the coming year to help support our work and – with the support of NAHT and its members – we are confident this target can be reached. This will enable us to do important development work with those young people most in need both in the UK and overseas. www.youthsporttrust.org

PHOTOGRAPH: YOUTH SPORT TRUST

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SPONSORED FEATURE

Healthy bodies, healthy minds Coram Life Education works with primary schools to help children make healthy choices

he need for children and young people to understand and value what is healthy and normal – and gain the confidence to make choices, including resisting negative peer influence – has never been as pressing. We live in a rapidly changing and complex world that sees children living their lives under intense scrutiny. One child in 10 in the UK has a diagnosable mental health problem; there is a significant upward trend in overweight and obesity rates in children aged 11 to 15; and children as young as four are being referred to specialist drug and alcohol treatment services in the UK. Coram Life Education (CLE) visits schools in a mobile classroom to facilitate age-appropriate lessons using a life-skills approach. Educators make learning fun and memorable, capturing children’s imaginations using interactive techniques such as puppetry and role play.

Increased confidence Last year, CLE delivered health education to more than 800,000 children in the UK, reaching a fifth of the country’s primary schools. Of those surveyed, 87 per cent of children who attended a session knew more about keeping healthy, 91 per cent understood how others influence the choices they make about smoking, alcohol and other drugs, and more than 88 per cent of teachers agreed that they ‘felt more confident’ to deliver PSHE. The whole-school approach to health and drugs education offered by CLE is high quality and evidence-

science (2014) states that year six pupils should learn how to: “Keep their bodies healthy and learn how some drugs and other substances can be harmful.” Ofsted’s PSHE lead inspector, Janet Palmer, stated recently: “A strong PSHE department can go a long way to helping a school fulﬁl its responsibilities to progress pupils’ good spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC) and to ensure they are properly safeguarded.”

Scarf resources

based. The programme supports the national curriculum guidelines for PSHE education and the safeguarding and emotional health and wellbeing elements – including the new judgement category of personal development, behaviour and welfare – of the Ofsted framework, effective from September. The benefits of health promotion in schools are far-reaching. The 2014 Cochrane review revealed that ‘healthpromoting schools’ produce significant benefits across areas such as diet, exercise, bullying and smoking. Evidence from research commissioned by Public Health England shows that pupils with better health and wellbeing are likely to achieve better academically. Although PSHE remains nonstatutory, the national curriculum for

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25 Coram.indd 25

In anticipation of the new Ofsted requirements for safety, personal development, behaviour and welfare, CLE is launching an interactive valuesbased range of educational support tools called ‘Scarf’ to complement its mobile classroom sessions. Standing for safety, caring, achievement, resilience and friendship, Scarf resources will help schools prepare for the Ofsted framework and enable school leaders and teachers to develop PSHE policy and integrate existing SMSC Ofsted expectations into whole school planning. Scarf has free curriculum mapping tools, which can be downloaded from the CLE website. Schools receiving CLE can subscribe to Scarf. Subscription includes detailed lesson plans, ﬁlm clips featuring CLE characters and assessment for learning tools. For more information on Scarf, visit www.coramlifeducation.org.uk/scarf To book a CLE session for your school, telephone 020 7520 0364 or email cle@coram.org.uk

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NATIONAL OFFICERS

Tony Draper NAHT president Tony taught at Duston Eldean and Thorplands Lower Schools in Northampton, before becoming deputy head at St James’ Infants in Daventry, then head at Heronshaw First and Water Hall primary schools in Milton Keynes.

Tell us about Water Hall It serves an area of high deprivation where more than 65 per cent of children are eligible for pupil premium. Mobility is signiﬁcantly higher than the national average with only 63 per cent of children classed as ‘stable’. We put a strong emphasis on personal wellbeing and providing a safe, calm environment in which children can learn, based on core values. We were rated as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in March 2013, citing the imaginative curriculum that is extremely well matched to pupil needs and the creative ways the school engages parents. Strong core values underpin everything. These, together with a creative staff team who are prepared to take risks, mean that learners at Water Hall are happy, well behaved and motivated.

What will you bring to the presidency?

Where would you like to make the biggest impact? Assessment is broken; I want to work with a new government to overhaul a system in which narrow testing and ﬂoor standards are all that matters. This must be done through partnership and respect – something that was lost under the last government. I see an opportunity for this, and believe NAHT must commit to working with the government to sort this out so that schools can be judged on the totality of provision. I am particularly keen to lobby over the impact of austerity measures on children and schools. We have seen an increase in families falling below the poverty line and ministers need to understand the impact of this on children’s wellbeing and mental health and on their educational outcomes.

Describe yourself in 10 words Relaxed, happy, irritating, infuriating, challenging, friendly, complex, spirited, loyal, Yorkshire!

The passion that comes with being head of a school in challenging circumstances. I have been under the cosh, coped with intervention and grown stronger and more confident as a result. I recognise and identify with the dayto-day issues that heads work under and am prepared to stand up and fight for schools threatened with forced academisation. Local solutions should be the first option. I want to engage colleagues who feel isolated and under constant threat and encourage them to become involved and work together

to ensure that by pulling together our collective strength means the need for external intervention becomes redundant.

W• Tony Draper, head teacher, Water Hall Primary School, Milton Keynes learn more about the local issues and meet members.

Any message for members? Get involved. I worry when I attend NAHT meetings about the colleagues who are not present. Too many school leaders are afraid to leave their schools. They miss the messages. When I ﬁrst joined the National Executive I was told by my SIP that I couldn’t afford the time out of school to do it. In fact, I couldn’t afford not to do it. What I learn through NAHT is far more valuable than anything any local authority provides. We meet with ministers and officials and pick up on the key issues well in advance. In my view, members cannot afford not to be involved in their local branch. I urge all of you to do this.

And in your spare time? What excites you most about the next 12 months? The opportunity to develop what I hope will be a positive working relationship with a new government to persuade them that there is a much better way to engage the whole profession than the adversarial strategies used for much of the past ﬁve years. I also look forward to visiting branches and regions to

I have a lifelong interest in football and coached at Northampton Town for 12 years. However, my first love is Huddersfield Town and my thanks go to club manager Chris Powell for securing Championship safety before NAHT’s conference weekend. I also support the Huddersfield Giants, a re-emerging force in the superior code of rugby league – although being from Huddersfield, I may be a little biased.

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INTERVIEWS

Kim Johnson NAHT vice-president Kim started teaching in Norfolk in a BESD special school, before moving to a PRU and then a mainstream secondary, where he taught PE and geography. He moved to Warwickshire, where he became a Senco, and then to Germany to a service children’s secondary school. His ﬁrst headship came in 1995 in North Yorkshire at a BESD special school, before he moved to Kuwait to become director of three schools: a primary, secondary and special school for ages four to 21. He moved back to the UK to take up headship of a BESD special school in Croydon before moving to Medway and a complex needs special academy.

Tell us about Bradﬁelds

sectors. I will give Tony Draper and Russell Hobby my full support to ensure we provide expert advice, support and representation at local and national levels.

Where would you like to make the biggest impact? • Furthering the proﬁle and success of NAHT’s sensible and highly effective school improvement practices through Aspire, Instead and Primary Futures • Engaging with local authorities and academy trusts/chains to further the implementation of the NAHT leadership compact as a basis for partnership work to beneﬁt educational leadership dialogue and working practices • Furthering research into complex learning needs and the work of neuroscience and special school practitioners to better place us in meeting the co-morbidity of difficulties and disabilities present in mainstream and specialist settings • Proactively engaging with mental

Bradfields Academy provides education for 300 students aged four to 19 who experience a co-morbidity of complex learning disabilities and difficulties. It aims to be a leading centre of excellence in the special education sector. This work has been furthered in our strong international links with seven European countries and China in partnership with the British Council. While Describe yourself in 10 words Bradfields has been highly commended Experienced, hard-working, and celebrated over committed, enthusiastic, the past nine years, philosophical, with everthe judgement we like ready humour. to acknowledge and endorse is the one we received from Brian May of Queen in April. Following a day with us, which included health agencies and the DfE in ensuring a music session with our students, he ‘happiness’ and ‘resilience’ are key to described us as an ‘incredible school’. a child’s educational experience to try We feel this captured us succinctly. to ensure that the WHO prediction of… ‘depression being the most prevalent child disorder by 2020’ is warded off What will you bring to the role? • Furthering our involvement with We have not had a president from parent and carer organisations, such as a special school for a number of the Family and Child Care Trust, to the years and I will bring that area of benefit of the whole local community expertise to benefit all phases and

W• Kim Johnson, principal, Bradfields Specialist SEN Academy, Chatham, Kent • Rallying the membership to ensure that the rich vein of talent in our young aspiring leaders, serving heads and retired colleagues is fully engaged

What excites you most about the next 12 months? The opportunity to work alongside the talented team of headquarters staff in supporting Tony in his presidential year on the national educational platform is extremely exciting. It will also give me a great insight into the demands of the position and allow me to prepare for my own presidential year.

Any message for members? Leading teachers can be challenging but the rewards are truly immense. I have enjoyed many years in a key leadership role ensuring the educational communities can grow in their effectiveness and be places where students want to learn and staff want to work. In the same way, I look forward to working for and with you to beneﬁt our association and our students.

And in your spare time? Walking in the Yorkshire Dales, watching football at Scarborough Athletic and Charlton Athletic, ﬂy-ﬁshing and riding my Harley Davidson Sportster.

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NAHT POLICY 2015/16

Conference decides… The serious business of conference is to set the priorities for National Executive for the coming months: here are this year’s 31 resolutions Pupil wellbeing 1 NAHT recognises the fundamental role that mental health plays in children’s success and that poor mental health is a signiﬁcant barrier to learning. We call upon the government to increase the funding which will enable schools to raise awareness and provide consistent and continuous support for these children and young people. Proposer: Julie Simpson Seconder: Katherine Warren Cornwall branch 2. Conference believes that the amount of national testing given to primary-aged children is excessive and is not good for them. Conference asks National Executive to commission a study into the effects of testing on primary-aged children. Proposer: Jayne Williams Seconder: Rosie Simmonds Cambridgeshire branch 3 The NAHT (NI) demands that the Department of Education NI provide appropriate and improved guidance, support and resources to enable schools

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to meet the complex needs of pupils with challenging behaviour. Proposer: Colm Davis Seconder: Jonny Gray Northern Ireland region

Funding 4 Conference calls upon the next government to introduce a national system of data sharing so that schools are automatically informed when pupils are entitled to free school meals and therefore pupil premium funding, rather than relying on individual parents to apply for their children. Proposer: Nicky Gillhespy Seconder: Alan Doyle SBM Committee 5 Conference calls on National Executive to press the new government to make real term increases to education funding to avoid a budget crisis in our schools. Conference continues to call for a national funding formula to be put in place. Proposer: Vince Burke Seconder: Patrick Foley South West region/Bromley branch

6 Conference calls on the Welsh government to introduce a national funding formula for schools and allow schools to form co-operative trusts to foster school-to-school working and use scarce resources collectively to deliver democratically determined national and local policies. Proposer: Mark Biltcliffe Seconder: Dean Taylor Flintshire/Blaenau Gwent branches 7 The NAHT (NI) call upon the Education Minister (NI) to enter into a direct dialogue with school leaders on budget reform which: • devolves as much as possible to school control; and • gives a greater range of possibilities for the local management of schools. That is: models of management which allow schools and their boards of governors to develop decision-making at a local level through their own self-evaluative processes and achievements. Proposer: Harry Greer Seconder: Clare Majury NAHT Northern Ireland

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annual tests in literacy and numeracy. They are damaging young people and sapping the professional capacity and fervour of practitioners in schools and colleges in Wales. Proposer: Dean Taylor Seconder: Ruth Davies NAHT Cymru

8 Conference applauds the Welsh Minister for Education’s commitment to breaking the link between poverty and educational attainment. His bureaucratic deﬁnition of poor pupils as being those in receipt of free school meals is however discriminatory and unhelpful to those who share his full commitment to raising standards and social justice. Conference instructs National Executive to campaign for the Welsh government to work with NAHT Cymru to determine a suitable alternative measure of social deprivation. Proposer: Mark Biltcliffe Seconder: Richard Edwards Flintshire/Cardiff branches

Curriculum and assessment 9 Conference calls on the Welsh government to end the national

10 Conference acknowledges that any assessment system that is harmful to children must be opposed. Conference calls upon National Executive to continue to explore options to vigorously oppose the imposition of any such system. As part of the campaign conference calls upon National Executive to continue the work that has been developed by the Assessment Commission. Proposer: Patrick Foley Seconder: Gary Wilkie Greater London region 11 In the light of ongoing changes to assessment and testing arrangements conference calls on the DfE, as a matter of urgency, to review national benchmarking and assessment for pupils working signiﬁcantly below national norms. Proposer: Tony Newman Seconder: Paul Williams SEND Committee 12 Conference welcomes the publication of the Donaldson Report as an opportunity to build a curriculum made in Wales that will equip young people with the skills and knowledge needed for them to take their place as active learners, workers, consumers and citizens of the world. It is especially

pleased that the recommendations regarding school and system accountability mirror the ambitions and principles of the NAHT because they call for an end to the school-level reporting of teacher assessment and the use of national sampling as a means of checking the performance of the school system nationally. Conference calls on National Executive to press the Welsh government to implement these recommendations at the earliest opportunity. Proposer: Dean Taylor Seconder: Mark Biltcliffe NAHT Cymru 13 Conference calls upon the government to stop imposing external, educationally questionable tests on our youngest school children and give trust and responsibility back to early years professionals to assess the needs of these children at a crucial time in their education. Proposer: Judy Shaw Seconder: Nigel Bailey Yorkshire region 14 Conference calls upon National Executive to develop further its nationally and internationally recognised work on ‘Peer to Peer School Improvement’, to build on the success of the London Challenge and to expand the NAHT’s Aspire programme. Conference further instructs National Executive to take account of the document School Improvement: A Self Improving System, produced by the South Central Region, to develop further the NAHT’s policy in this area and to enter into immediate negotiations on school improvement with the new government. Conference requires National Executive to report back to a conference plenary session at the 2016 National Conference. Proposer: Eugene Symonds Seconder: John Adam South Central region E

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NAHT POLICY 2015/16

W Accountability 15 Secondary committee embraces the responsibility of schools and school leaders to be accountable for providing the quality and opportunity of education which stakeholders require of them. However, National Executive is called upon to engage with parents and carers to help them to understand the true implications for their children of what political parties choose to represent as their will. Proposer: Alan Mottershead Seconder: Rob Campbell Secondary Committee

Proposer: Ruth Davies Seconder: Richard Edwards Swansea/Cardiff branches

16 Conference notes that there was no mention of special schools in the most recent HMCI report and calls on Ofsted to ensure that the work of this sector is acknowledged and commented on in the next report. Proposer: Paul Williams Seconder: Tony Newman SEND Committee

20 Conference strongly opposes moves to sack head teachers solely on the outcome of an inspection and calls upon the National Executive to resist any such moves and to initiate a national campaign to counter the negative environment of criticism, denigration and blame in which education currently operates and to promote the hard work and commitment of teachers and school leaders. Proposer: Rob Freeth Seconder: Adrian Cogill Bradford branch

17 Conference calls on National Executive to campaign for any future system of school inspection to give greater acknowledgement in its judgement of leadership to strategic, long-term planning and ingenuity likely to result in strong, sustainable improvement, and the particular challenges presented by each unique school setting. Proposer: Graham Frost Seconder: Tanya Hughes Cumbria branch 18 Conference believes that the present system of school categorisation in Wales is too inconsistent in its application between regions and so provides inaccurate information about the progress of schools and the resources needed to support them. Conference calls on the Welsh government to make the changes needed to secure the conﬁdence of both the profession and the people of Wales.

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19 Conference is saddened by continuing attempts by the political parties to use testing of grammar and maths at key stage two as a political football. Conference instructs National Executive to use all NAHT’s inﬂuence to dissuade the next government from such draconian measures. Proposer: Tony Roberts Seconder: Sue Cornall Lancashire branch

Governance and structures 21 Variable quality of school governance is one of the most frequent causes of school leader anxiety and stress. When governors perform their role well, they provide strength to school leaders and are an asset. Conference instructs National Executive to work with the NGA and all relevant stakeholders to seek to improve the system of school governance to ensure that there is high quality support for school leadership. Proposer: Graham Frost Seconder: Mick Brookes Cumbria branch 22 At a time when the demands placed on schools make teaching a less

attractive proposition, and austerity makes it even more imperative to spend money wisely, conference calls on National Executive to campaign for all future educational reforms to be led by the teaching profession, so that they are educationally sound, robustly evaluated and overcome the propensity for governments to implement reforms driven by political dogma. Proposer: Rona Tutt Seconder: Rachel Younger Hertfordshire/Blackpool branches 23 Conference instructs National Executive to work with the profession and the next government to ensure all schools are part of a collaborative structure that offers mutual support, accountability and development. Proposer: Bernadette Hunter Seconder: Tim Gallagher West Midlands region 24 £8.6 billion of taxpayer money was invested into the coalition government’s ideologically driven academies and free school agenda in their ﬁrst two years of office. There is no evidence this has had any demonstrable effect on overall school standards. Conference therefore calls upon National Executive to lobby all stakeholders and policy makers, for evidence-based school improvement strategies to be available for all schools, which will ensure that funding is made

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these roles to secure the quality of learning for pupils in the context of these demands. Proposer: Bev Sheppard Seconder: Lorie Dickson Deputy and Assistant Head Committee

available for CPD and support for our great school leaders and teachers within the classroom. Proposer: Grahame Colclough Seconder: Tim Gallagher West Midlands region

is an available experience for all; as opposed to the lottery of training provision that exists at the present time. Proposer: Catriona Williamson Seconder: Alan Cornwall East Riding branch

25 Conference notes with concern that the recommendations of the Clarke Report on school governance have not been implemented in full. We call on National Executive to strongly lobby the DfE and NGA and all stakeholders to introduce better governor training which is compulsory for chairs of governors and where necessary more timely interventions to ensure ﬁt for purpose school governance. Conference instructs National Executive to campaign for a national database of removed or barred governors so that schools or local authorities can check the suitability of all new or existing school governors. Proposer: Tim Gallagher Seconder: Alison Marshall West Midlands region

Pay and conditions

27 If we are to retain the most talented of our young teachers, the unrealistic expectations being placed upon them needs to be addressed urgently before the profession is irreversibly damaged – which will have a devastating impact upon our children’s life chances. Conference calls on NAHT to seek to work with key partners in education, to highlight the causes of this exodus from the profession and to take a lead in the delivery and adoption of manageable practices, that while ensuring the highest possible educational experience for all our children, also provides for an appropriate worklife balance for our talented young teachers and future school leaders. Proposer: Christine Coulbeck Seconder: Gareth May East Riding branch

26 The next government must ensure that initial teacher training is co-ordinated, consistent and fair for all trainees and schools. Conference instructs National Executive to work closely with the secretary of state and the DfE, to seek to develop a system which ensures that high quality ITT

28 Conference recognises the importance of assistants and deputies gaining experience of leadership, as well as the increasing demands of system leadership on head teachers. National Executive is asked to explore how schools can support capacity for

29 Conference views with dismay the real term reduction in pay of all school staff over the last ﬁve years. The impact of this reduction on both recruitment and retention of the best school leaders and staff must be recognised and addressed. Conference calls on National Executive to work with other key stakeholders to press politicians to remedy this dire situation and put in place proper salary levels, commensurate with a graduate profession. Proposer: Judith Stott Seconder: Nigel Bailey Professional Committee 30 Conference commends the actions to date of the association in attempting to address the chaos caused by the recent implementation of legislation relating to disqualiﬁcation by association. Conference calls upon National Executive to campaign vigorously to have this legislation repealed in relation to schools. Proposer: Anne Lyons Seconder: Sally Bates Professional Committee 31 Conference is deeply disturbed by the results of the survey of member wellbeing conducted by NAHT Cymru. It calls on the Welsh government to reduce the burdens on teachers and school leaders and tailor the pace of change to suit the reasonable professional development of the education workforce rather than the race for space in the media. Proposer: Richard Edwards Seconder: Ruth Davies Cardiff/Swansea branches

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STEPPING UP

27 Days later I’VE BEEN A DEPUTY HEAD AT A BARNSLEY PRIMARY school for the past eight years. I have also supported other schools to enhance and develop teaching and learning. In addition, I’m on NAHT’s National Executive. So it wasn’t a complete shock when I was approached in early January to support a semi-rural school that had hit challenging circumstances some 18 months previously and moved from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’. The governors, along with the local authority, were seeking to put someone in post short-term to alleviate the pressure on staff, address parental concerns and to create stability and direction. This time, however, there was one key difference. The school’s head, who had only been in post for 10 weeks, was now on longterm sick leave. Even the assistant head was off sick. Then there was the small matter of Ofsted. The call had been made and although an inspection had been deferred, it only left a small window of opportunity to pull things together. Did I want to take on this leadership challenge? I had a moment of doubt. Did I want to be a head? Could I do it? Would I let everybody down? How would I deal with Ofsted? It wasn’t the responsibility that worried me, more how I was going to be accountable in a system where the rules change constantly and depend on who comes through the school doors on a particular day to see if you are ‘doing the job right’. I knew I would work hard to achieve the best for the children the staff and the community. I have my own clear beliefs and philosophies and a passion for creating well-rounded learners who have had rich educational experiences standing them in good stead for the future. In particular, developing core skills like resilience and independence – giving our future generations the conﬁdence to communicate effectively using quality interpersonal skills. Supporting the professional development

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Deputy head Nigel Bailey can smile about it now, but he had a baptism of ﬁre when he agreed to spend three days a week supporting a local school with an imminent Ofsted inspection of all colleagues and nurturing trainee students to bring in new energy and fresh ideas to teaching and learning is also high on my list of priorities. So, I took a deep breath and said yes. My head teacher was very supportive, seeing this as a short-term professional development opportunity for me to experience headship, while also developing leadership capacity in my substantive school.

First steps My ﬁrst meeting was overwhelming. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I was trying to absorb everything and at the same time exude knowledge and conﬁdence. I’m not sure I succeeded on any level, but I remember saying to one of the teachers that I wanted to support him and take the pressure off so he could focus on his children and teaching and learning. Fortunately, the governors were very proactive and the chair explained the support and systems they were putting in place. The local authority’s school evaluation officer (SEO) then shared her half-termly reports to give me a solid starting point. It was agreed I would make myself available three days a week and, in light of parental concerns, I felt that Monday, Thursday and Friday worked best. My priorities were to create stability, ensure parents were well-informed, identify learning groups that were making – and not making – progress and identify why. Also, to check the quality of maths provisions: what learning was taking place and how were marking and feedback being used. The head had completed a thorough report and a very detailed school development plan back in September, which had been shared with all the staff and was clearly being worked to. The governors had also brought in a national leader of education (NLE) as an adviser who had worked in primary and secondary

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STEPPING UP W Daily log – Monday 19 January – DAY 1

parents with weekly newsletter updates. This took time and wasn’t ideal to do on a weekly basis long term Spoke with supply cover regarding Ofsted expectations but in the short term it was a necessity. Met governors to share current position and thinking: ‘the story so far’ Being able to go back to my own school and reflect Introduced myself to the children in assembly and take stock was also very useful. Having time to talk Was visible to children and parents. Outside at key times to my experienced head gave me the added dimension Collated Parent View from October with support of parent governor of support I needed along with being able to ask staff in my own school for ideas. The role of the head, as I Identified key areas to focus on – strategic link to data and SEF discovered, can be isolating at times (see panel, right) Used local school leaders’ support with similar contextual background and when dealing with challenging issues it’s difficult Made list of governor roles and contacts and their specific lead role to know who to turn to. Having the NLE, the local Devised CPD for staff going into local school, focus on learning spaces and displays authority adviser, my own school’s senior managers Wrote letter to parents explaining the situation and celebrating positive stories and the admin and financial managers in the school I Parents’ noticeboard – we’ve done what you asked for was supporting were crucial partnerships. Alongside Organised a fire drill – log needs updating this I had the support of experienced heads from the Introduced ‘chances box’ for positive attitude to learning focusing on key developme NAHT National Executive who could give me advice ntal areas Need to create quality learning/reading areas and displays and guidance along with heads locally. For me, it was about building trust with many people Also, golden tickets, raising profile of SMSA and eating healthy lunch and packed lunches in a short space of time so we could get down to school Safeguarding of school, need to follow up with LA and local builder who is governor business. Making contact with local heads also helped Began to raise profile of good attendance through rewards for best class attendanc e me to realise I wasn’t on my own. On my request, they Governors book now in place and signed – encouraged governors to come into school to do came to meet me to support and help me put things a safety and behaviour check. Raise issues and challenge the school where necessary into perspective and this was something I was truly Organised agenda for staff meeting to support preparedness for Ofsted grateful for. Gathered data to identify a narrative of the school and building context of groups Having said all that, the point was made that too much and individuals Ordered display folders for topic and quality pieces of writing information, advice and support can be overwhelming Started to develop an Ofsted-ready checklist and be a blocker to moving forward. This was good advice; I needed to decide what I wanted the school to Need to build an effective working relationships with governors, NLE and SEO look like and what worked for me but at the same time at the back of my mind was: ‘Could the substantive head who would be picking this up in a few months’ time run schools as a teacher and head teacher for more than 30 years with it? Did it meet her vision and SIP?’ But it soon became to support me and enhance my capacity. This turned out to be apparent that including her in any conversations wasn’t ideal one of the best things I could have asked for. His realistic and because it was adding to her stress. down-to-earth attitude was just what I needed to help ground Day 10: the call me and focus my thinking. Then came the call. It was my 10th day as acting head and I Key challenges was at my main school. A text message said they were coming in the next day. I remember driving to the school thinking that One of my first tasks was to unpick where the school was with the draft school evaluation form was as good as it was going regards to the school improvement plan (SIP), so getting into to get. My lever-arch file was also as ready as it could be with classes and trying to unpick the data was a priority. Each day each section linked to the Ofsted areas. I wrote a plan of action, using a traffic-light system to see what I’m pleased to report the inspection was managed effectively I had achieved and what needed to be focused on the following and fairly. The lead inspector was fully aware of the situation day. I created a flow chart for when the Ofsted call came and arranged to meet the teaching staff and assistants. I wasn’t there we were in and was happy to ask questions and allow me time to give them more changes but to create stability by working to find answers. Much of her work focused on looking at how closely to the SIP, create a buzz for learning and to support the school had developed since the last Ofsted judgement just parents in understanding how the school was moving forward. over two years previously and the journey it had been on. I had One of the things that helped build relationships with the to rely on key members of staff to explain this and they stepped up magnificently. It was clear they were coming out of the other parents was having an open-door policy – being visible and side and were able to identify what was relevant and needed available before and after school every day and providing Met staff, initial contact, overview of current position – flagged up positives

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WE What’s different about headship?

It’s complex and draining Headship is very different to being a deputy in the level of respect the role commands. This is reassuring but also means that people do for their school to move forward even what you say – and so it needs to be the right thing and for the right more rapidly. reason. Along with this, everybody wants your time, they all want to I was able to share the information speak to you and tell you something – it could have a hidden agenda regarding data and assessment and or they could just want to get something off their chest. the systems and strategies that the new head had put in place along with You need to manage this carefully and be seen to be making my own observations and scrutiny appropriate changes but also to have the confidence to stand your of marking. The NLE came in at a ground and not just change things for the sake of pleasing someone. minute’s notice to set the scene which I also needed to ensure that I had someone to share and let off steam was tremendously useful. He also with, as the whole experience was an emotional rollercoaster where supported me in getting things together you have not only all of your own challenges, but are also privy to during the inspection, enhancing my everyone else’s and expected to fix them. capacity as a leader greatly. The role is multifaceted to say the least, complex and emotionally I observed with the inspector, which draining, but when things fit into place and work out it is rewarding. was helpful, and our outcomes were very similar. She had an immense Work-life balance? amount of information to gather and process in a very short The downsides? I didn’t see much of my son for weeks and when space of time. I got a strong sense of where it was going but the whole experience was intense and exhausting. NAHT members I was home I was busy preparing for meetings or dealing with will be able to imagine the relief and sense of pride we felt when parental complaints. It put a strain on my home life and this aspect we were told the judgement was ‘good’. needs to be considered carefully. I don’t think the experience was totally realistic in terms of having to absorb so much information The experience was rewarding but the journey was intense in such a short time. Being at two schools was also challenging and stressful and at times emotional. because trying to switch from one to the other was hard. During the 27 days I spent in the school, I had to find a teacher who was confident and ready for an Ofsted inspection, But I can’t thank the staff enough at the school for welcoming cover the year two class for three weeks and also appoint a me into their world, along with the community that took me on board and supported me when things were difficult. I have made teacher for an imminent maternity leave. There was also a challenging safeguarding issue regarding access to the site and new friends and have many new professional contacts. I managed to get the local authority to commission a fence For me headship was about making connections and real and gate to be fitted during the Easter holidays, which they emotional attachments at all levels: parents, governors, pupils, match-funded. staff. One minute I was dealing with parents, the next I was Staffing became a real issue at times in such a small school walking down the valley with a group of six year olds looking but, on the whole, people pulled together and covered the gaps. for signs of spring. One weekend I was playing my euphonium This didn’t help parents feel comfortable regarding the staff at a local musical production, the next dealing with the DfE. inconsistency, so I was on call to allay these fears and keep Headship is fascinating – it challenges the most emotionally them up to date with the aforementioned weekly newsletters adept. Having a really clear short-term focus, an overarching shared vision and the drive, energy and passion to carry it forward and reasons behind what was changing and why. I also introduced several initiatives into school to reinvigorate is essential and somewhere along the line time you need to find the children, along with enhancing displays and learning areas time to recharge your batteries ready for the next half term. and nipping low-level disruption in the bud. I also tried to be Nigel is deputy head at Birdwell Primary School, Barnsley. visible at the end of playtimes to ensure the children were behaving and to sit with them during lunch to get to know them Courses on Ofsted and taking control of inspection are as well as to monitor behaviour. available at www.naht.org.uk/events

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STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Support structures The benefits of coaching and mentoring are clear, says Carly Chynoweth: they give people confidence and belief in themselves ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS LIZ COOK DID WHEN she took on her first headship was find a coach who could work with her and her entire leadership team. “Schools are under a great deal of pressure,” says Liz (pictured), who leads the 11-18 Easthampstead Park Community School in Bracknell Forest. “And if you are a leader on the senior management team you are sandwiched between middle leaders, teachers and your head’s demands, so having someone else to talk to and work through issues with is very helpful.” The benefits of coaching are clear, she says. “Team members are more open to discussing their own weaknesses with me and as a team people have become more open about talking about when they are struggling or when they have concerns. That wasn’t previously the case.” This makes it easier for colleagues to provide practical assistance to one another and to manage team decisionmaking; it also means that the team is more closely knit. Equally, individuals show more self-awareness. Having a coach is valuable for her, too. “It is a time when I have to focus on me, the way I behave with other people and the decisions I make,” she says. “It makes me mindful of that.” School leaders also tend to value a relationship in which they can admit to doubt and uncertainty – and work their way through them – without having to worry about whether they will be judged for their concerns, says professional coach Debbie Inglis of Square Two Development. The former deputy head has coached teachers at all levels, from NQTs getting to grips with their new careers, through to school leaders looking for some extra support dealing with a challenge. The common thread with all her work is that her job is not to offer advice or share her experiences (that’s mentoring) but to help people find their own solutions. “It is very non-directive. It’s about asking questions, listening and giving feedback in a

very positive way that will support them and help them achieve their goals.” It is certainly not about criticising teachers or telling them that they are doing something wrong – most get enough of that sort of thing already. “Teachers and schools operate in a culture that is constantly telling them that they have to do better. They are always being judged and observed. I help the people I coach to focus on the skills and strengths they already have and which can help them with what they are doing,” says Debbie. Many of the school leaders who seek her help are seeking support in dealing with colleagues – for example, communicating with disaffected teachers who decide that they’ve had enough of constant change and do not want to do it anymore. “And sometimes I talk to heads about their personal issues, it might be about how they can build a more positive mindset about change or helping them feel more in control of a situation,” she says. With NQTs, the focus is more likely to be on helping them manage behaviour and learning how to be more resilient in the face of challenges. “Again, it is not about me suggesting answers, but about helping them to identify how they can use their resources to ﬁnd strategies that work for them.” Others need support to work out how to negotiate the boundaries of their relationship with teaching assistants, while many E

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STAFF DEVELOPMENT WE Coaching staff improves

relationships with pupils W benefit from learning not to be too hard Julie Nash, the head teacher at Cape Cornwall secondary school on themselves, she says. This is particularly in Penzance, is a big supporter of coaching. All members of important in light of recent research that found her senior leadership team have been trained in both coaching two in five NQTs quit the profession before the and training others to coach, and are now helping teachers and end of their first year, or never even start their assistants across the school learn the ropes. “There is coaching at job. Alongside this, a 2012 Education Select every level in the school,” she says. “Staff to staff, staff to students Committee report noted that ‘a lack of teacher and students with students.” continuity and low retention rates’ are key problems for inner-city schools. Julie was inspired to introduce the new approach after teachers at Add to this the matter of the UK’s struggle to the 11-16 school realised that they were having conversations with appoint new head teachers and it immediately students, particularly those in Year 10 and 11, that were “lovely” becomes apparent that coaching and mentoring but didn’t achieve much. “They lacked focus and did not really could have an impact on the whole education hold the students to account for what they needed to do to take landscape, says Chris Harrison, the secretary responsibility for their progress,” she says. “I had seen an article on general of ESHA and a past president of NAHT. a local TV programme about coaching and it sounded fantastic.” Many schools struggle to find applicants for The idea is that teachers who use a coaching approach with headship, for instance, while evidence suggests students are better able to encourage young people to take that a significant number of deputy heads who responsibility for their own learning and the decisions they make. completed the old NPQH qualification decided The results with students have been impressive – “they are more that, having had a good look at what headship focused and they feel really bad if they don’t stick to what they said involved, it wasn’t for them. that they would do” – but she is seeing benefits in line management “In too many areas people don’t feel confident conversations, too. “It helps you think carefully about the questions or supported enough to take on the totality of you ask. And I want people to come to people management what school leadership is about,” says Chris. meetings with their own ideas about what they want to improve. “In terms of NQTs, we recognise that induction Again, it’s about accountability, about people taking responsibility is seriously important if you are to retain for their own destiny.” people in the profession, although even then Coaching can start to have a noticeable effect in as little as a few we are still in the silly position where half are weeks. “Plus it does not have to take much time,” adds Julie. “You gone two or three years after qualification. But can have a high-quality coaching conversation in 20 minutes, where retention is good is where induction and whereas before we were having rambling chats for an hour. support is good.” “My advice is just to go for it. It does take some time to be trained Interestingly, an Estyn report on Cardiff but in the long run it will save you time and everyone will be having High School also found a correlation between much more effective conversations.” well-structured coaching and mentoring programmes with promotion: 13 of 15 teachers coached at the school in 2011-2012 were promoted by the end of that year. One newly appointed curriculum leader told the inspectorate: “The encouragement and advice I have received spurred me on and helped me to become a more effective manager this year.” Louis Coiffait is paying particular attention to what can be done to help people who are taking the first tentative steps towards possible headship by taking on a middle leadership role. Louis, the chief executive of NAHT Edge, the association’s new section focusing on the needs of this group, says: “They are generally good teachers, which is why they have been given extra responsibilities, but they might not be given much extra training to support them to become good leaders and managers as well. A lot of what middle leaders need is building capacity and building confidence in themselves. There is a big

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W• NAHT Edge’s

practical tips for mentors need out there for mentoring and coaching. At the moment what people experience is really variable. Some people get a mentor from the moment they become a leader, while others get all the way to head teacher without getting support or advice. At NAHT Edge we want to make sure that there is at least a minimum level of support.”

Mentoring support

• Focus on supportive advice and guidance with some constructive criticism • Use the ﬁrst meeting to set the ground rules and to clarify expectations • Try to link theory and practice wherever possible • Questioning and listening are two of the most powerful techniques available • The relationship may cover personal as well as professional issues although this should not be the main focus

• Treat matters in confidence to build trust Elinor Suter (pictured) is head of history at Upton-by-Chester High School, a 1,700-pupil comprehensive in Chester. “I was mentored Source: www.nahtedge.org.uk when I started teaching and again when I became head of department,” she said. “It was massively important when I took on the department because it is such a step from classroom teaching. the more senior person defaults to a mentoring role of giving Having a ‘go-to’ person was invaluable. We discussed how to answers and advice, but sometimes what people need is a person manage a team and team dynamics, also timetabling and dealing who can ask the right questions and give them time to find the with parents. Heads of department can have more parental right answers,” he says. “You should be clear about what type of contact and it tends to be on a more serious level – long-term relationship is needed.” Providing practical training for mentors planning and introducing changes such as a new curriculum.” and coaches themselves can be extremely helpful here, he says. Elinor agrees. “I find it valuable to observe others doing it. Elinor found her own mentor in a more experienced teacher In my old school we had a system where people training to be running a different but related department. “I think you have mentors buddied with more experienced mentors, which was to look for someone who is like-minded, approachable and who you think will have the time,” she says. “I very helpful.” Experience of being mentored can work with someone in a similar subject area, so also be useful, she adds. “When I was an NQT my mentor took a bit of a hands-off approach. there is some overlap.” He allowed me the freedom to experiment and Supporting middle leaders makes the job try things out rather than being prescriptive itself less stressful and it makes it clear that the but I knew he was there if I wanted advice and profession is committed to helping people as support. I like that approach… but as a mentor they take on bigger roles – both of which should there are times I have had to be a bit more on encourage more middle leaders to consider a future headship, says Louis. the (mentee’s) case to help them focus. You have “My worry is that only half of deputy heads to be flexible and tailor your approach to the support they need.” and a third of middle leaders say that they want Meanwhile, Chris Harrison wants to find a to be head teachers,” he says. “But a lot of that way to use the skills of some of NAHT’s 12,605 retired members – is about confidence, so if we can help people feel that they are former school leaders who are in the perfect position to support ready and that they will be supported it will help. Obviously the next generation of heads. “We are developing a bid for the EC potential heads have to show determination and grit but it for next year to harness the talent, expertise and experience that’s should not be the slog that it is for senior leaders.” there with the life membership and recently retired and how they Both Louis and Chris want to use the skills of NAHT can be maybe in a voluntary or largely voluntary capacity use that members and also life members. “Registering to be a mentor will let us build up a bank of people around the country who to support newly appointed school leaders as coaches and mentors. are willing to offer support,” says Louis. “We have a lot of Says Chris: “If that experience was available to support online guidance available already for people who want to know people… it would decrease the high-stakes pressure that many of more about being a coach or a mentor. We plan to add online them feel, and they would be more willing to take headship on.” tutoring and, eventually, face-to-face training.” NAHT course: school improvement through effective It is useful for people to understand the difference between coaching bit.ly/NAHT_school_imp_coaching coaching and mentoring so they can work out which is most appropriate for them, adds Louis. “Often what happens is that NAHT to offer mentoring service, page 9

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Many hands make light work How empowering staff to help drive the improvement agenda gets the best results

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SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

INSPIRATIONAL LEADERS HAVE THE POWER to enthuse an entire school community with their vision. They also need a great team around them to translate their vision into reality. Many school leaders ﬁnd it hard to let go of the reins and let others lead but a recent white paper suggests that empowering and delegating responsibilities can be the difference between success and failure for school improvement programmes. The white paper, Making a difference: How can schools empower every professional to play a part in school improvement? was produced by school improvement resources company, Bluewave Education. It captures the discussions prompted by this question at the second annual Bluewave Education round table, held at the Institute of Education in London last November. Included on the discussion panel was NAHT Edge chief executive Louis Coiffait. Together, Louis and his fellow education leaders discussed seven strategies that can help schools empower every professional to make a full contribution to continuous improvement. With the help of Keith Wright, managing director of Bluewave Education, LF revisits the roundtable debate and lists those seven strategies..

1 Professional learning for teachers A focus on professional learning for teachers – not training and development on its own – is a key element in ensuring teaching and learning make a difference to children, said Philippa Cordingley, chief executive of the Centre for the Use of Research and Evidence in Education (Curee). “We should be thinking more in terms of workbased professional learning, rather than just continuing professional development (CPD), and provide this learning through collaboration between schools. It’s when teachers take risks together that they build up trust. “Schools have rarely shared their understanding of what actually constitutes professional learning. It’s perhaps surprising as pupils are being given increased responsibility for their own learning so they can take control of it but this hasn’t been pursued in the same way for teachers. “We have all this pedagogy at the heart of what we teach pupils, so why don’t we have the same thing for teachers? Leaders should treat their staff in the same way they do their classes.”

ILLUSTRATION: ALAMY

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2 Knowledge should be pooled within and between schools It is important for teachers to learn together, said David Weston, chief executive of the Teacher Development Trust. “Collective discussion among teachers is crucial. They need it so that they can get a clear understanding of where their students are – what they know and what they don’t know, where they are going to take them and how they will do this. “Teachers get really engaged when they get involved in the clariﬁcation of pupil progress. That is when they realise the difference they can make. It lets them pool their knowledge.” He added: “To empower staff requires leaders to give a lot of control away. Sometimes you just have to take the plunge and hand it over, but it does depend on where your school is on its journey.”

3 Leaders who lead the culture David highlighted research by education academic Professor Viviane Robinson who said the most important element of school improvement is how leaders lead professional learning. “They need to show how, as a school leader, they are going to learn and improve practice. They literally have to give teachers time and space to do that as well,” he said. Peter Earley, professor of education, leadership and management at the UCL Institute of Education, agreed. “The leader’s role is to create a culture within the organisation where empowerment is an expectation,” he said. “Creating this culture is the most difficult thing. There is some excellent practice around but we need to make sure that this becomes the norm. It is patchy at the moment.” Schools need to become learning-enriched places and this is the responsibility of leadership, he said. “The National College of Teaching and Leadership has been disempowered but the creation of a Royal College of Teaching is a positive development. This could play a part in creating a culture of professional learning in our schools.” If head teachers immerse themselves in learning then this would encourage a climate of learning in the school, said Dame Reena Keeble, former head of Cannon Lane Primary in Middlesex and now an independent consultant. “I always called myself ‘lead learner’, not the head teacher,” she said. “It was only when I was doing my doctorate that I started to understand what it was really like E

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SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Wto be a professional learner. There is an issue around leadership creating a culture of professional learning. If the leader starts first this gives the rest of the staff permission.” Achieving a culture of professional learning is desirable but it presents practical issues, said Debbie Barkes, head teacher at St Faith’s Infants School in Lincolnshire and CPD lead of the Kyra Teaching School Alliance. “The day-to-day pressures schools are under makes it difficult to make time, even if you know in your heart that it is the right thing to do,” she said. “A lot of schools we work with at Kyra are very committed to sharing good practice but they are also concerned about their best teachers being out of the school a lot. “The key question is how can we do this practically? Most school leaders recognise the value of developing collaboration but managing this is another issue. School leaders feel accountable for everything so it is as much about empowering leaders as empowering staff.”

4 Meaningful collaboration Accountability is a major barrier to this empowerment of leaders and teachers, said NAHT Edge’s Louis Coiffait. He referred to research carried out by the association that revealed the spectre of Ofsted is deterring many members from becoming head teachers. “When we asked them what CPD they needed they said they wanted to be able to help staff prepare for Ofsted. I think that neatly summed up the incentives driving the system at the moment,” he said. “It is good we have been given the opportunity to become a self-improving system but we need a transition period and there has been no time for that. “We need support for it to be fully realised but no one is likely to think that expectations will be lower on our schools in the immediate future. Resources will be flat. It will be up to leaders, teachers and schools to help themselves.” Teaching schools could play a major role in creating this school-led system but there were still serious issues with accountability structures, particularly Ofsted, said Louis. Nigel Ashley, head teacher of Meadowside Community Primary School, North Yorkshire, said: “We are all focusing on targets so there is no time to really change practice. What I’m seeing from our teaching school work is that if we are going to have a school-led system it has got to understand how to change itself.” Peter said Ofsted had driven schools to a situation where

whatever was inspected got done, with no emphasis within schools on the improvement of pedagogy. “The College of Teaching might help here and give schools some strength to be able to say that they are not prepared to be as dominated by Ofsted as they are now,” he said. He agreed that schools in a category had no choice but to focus on standards. “Good or outstanding schools should be driving the agenda about what we understand to be a good school. Raising standards is just too narrow a definition.” Despite the structural challenges and the pace of change schools can still reach out and link into effective networks, said Carol Jones, specialist for leadership and teacher professionalism at ASCL. She highlighted the London Leadership Strategy and its Securing Good programme. “Once schools are out of a three and four rating they’re able to enjoy working with each other because they can share experiences and work collaboratively. There is a sense of optimism and hope when working collaboratively and growing together. This is one of the reasons why programmes like Pixl are popular. They provide staff with opportunities to meet other subject heads from across the country. Whenever there is an opportunity for professional challenge it is very much appreciated. Schools struggle to find a structure nationally for that.” Debbie questioned the effectiveness of the expert-led model of school collaboration and suggested that a peer-topeer support approach might work better. “There is nothing that reduces confidence more than a teacher judged to be inadequate being shown lots of outstanding practice. That’s not to say that there is not a place for experts but you have to build up staff from where they are rather than continually showing them those who are best. “We pair our teachers who require improvement together with other teachers in the same position. Often the best learning takes place if the learning is with someone in same position as you.” Nigel agreed. “The explorer Ernest Shackleton was a superb leader but he said that he learned the most about leadership from his ﬁrst two captains, who were terrible,” he said.

5 Time for professional development Schools need to look creatively at the way they organise their training and professional development, said Peter. “Recently we looked at ‘inset’ days and how they were used by schools. They were a mess. ‘One size ﬁts no one’ is a very apt description of how schools use the ﬁve days of inset. There

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WE Panellists • Dr Martin Airey, head of school, Darrick Wood School, Kent then followed a panel discussion where wide-ranging views were expressed • Nigel Ashley, head, Meadowside Community Primary School, including those of Professor Earley, who North Yorkshire advocated looking at the structure of the • Debbie Barkes, head, St Faith’s Infants School and CPD lead, school year and more personalised Kyra Teaching School Alliance, Lincolnshire professional development. • Jon Boyes, deputy head, Sandwich Technology School, Kent Denise Willis, head of collegiate • Louis Coiffait, chief executive, NAHT Edge management at the independent Queen Ethelburga’s College, told the panel: “We • Philippa Cordingley, chief executive, Centre for the Use of expect all academic and support staff to Research and Evidence in Education (Curee) undertake up to 12 days of professional • Professor Peter Earley, professor of education, leadership and development per year, which includes a management, Institute of Education, University College London block of seven training days before the • Carol Jones, specialist for leadership and teacher start of the academic year, in addition to professionalism, ASCL opportunities for individual CPD or exam• Dame Reena Keeble, consultant, formerly head of Cannon Lane board training. Primary School, Middlesex “As an independent school we do not have access to support co-ordinated by a • Jonathan Walsh, strand leader, Manor Academy, local authority. To avoid becoming isolated Nottinghamshire it is vital that our programme of CPD is • David Weston , chief executive, Teacher Development Trust vibrant and addresses topical issues. • Denise Willis, head of collegiate management, Queen “CPD is driven by our teaching staff and, Ethelburga’s College, North Yorkshire although fully supported by the senior leadership team, it is a bottom-up system. Outstanding teaching is an initiative designed and delivered by staff from a range of disciplines who work within individual departments roles, which all have equal status and remuneration, include as well as delivering at whole school events. a leader of pedagogy and a specialist in learning content or CPD also includes filmed lessons, whole-school literacy organisational leadership. and subject specific strategies for teaching students with 7 Evaluation of professional English as an additional language, leading to an externally development takes centre stage assessed qualification. Also, 10 teachers each year take part It is important that teachers evaluate their progress and in a three-unit training programme delivered on site in professional development needs to help their professional support of moving the quality of their teaching from ‘good’ development, said Debbie. to ‘excellent’.” “When teachers are going through initial teacher training 6 Retain expertise within schools they evaluate every breath they take but when they get to Philippa said that empowering teachers to be fully involved in school there is no commitment to reflection,” she said. curriculum design would be an early, positive step towards “Teachers need to use systems to help them record their more empowered schools. practice so that they can go to performance management “We need to look at reconfiguring teaching and leadership meetings with a clear idea of what they need to develop and as curriculum design,” she suggested. “One of the features of what the school needs to develop too.” the old system was that we pulled teachers out of schools and they joined bodies like the Qualifications and Curriculum The white paper is available as a free download at bit.ly/school_improvement Development Agency or the local authority. We removed a lot Bluewave bluewaveeducation.com of creative talent from the profession. “The best professional learning is collaborative through, for For information on NAHT Aspire, the association’s peer-led school improvement programme, see example, the testing of a scheme of work.” nahtaspire.co.uk In Singapore, school teachers can choose a specialist role alongside their classroom responsibilities. This ensures NAHT course: school improvement through effective specialist expertise stays within schools, she added. These coaching bit.ly/NAHT_school_imp_coaching

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SCHOOL BUILDINGS

Grand designs 44

If you had free rein to plan a school building from scratch, what would you do? Joy Persaud meets the team behind the new Lighthouse School in Leeds

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HOW MANY SCHOOL LEADERS WOULD LOVE THE chance to design a school from scratch? It’s an opportunity that not many get the chance to do – even so, the challenges involved should not be underestimated when trying to undertake what is usually a mammoth project. Louise Greatrex is the principal at Lighthouse School, a £2.1 million renovation being carried out near Leeds. It is one of the ﬁrst free schools to cater speciﬁcally for up to 50 pupils aged 11-19 with an autistic spectrum condition or related disorder. The founders’ aim was to create a beacon school to complement the existing provision made by Leeds City Council’s children’s services and to forge strong community ties. When it opened in September 2012, says Louise, Lighthouse rented space in the bustling mainstream Leeds City Academy, which was perfectly practical since it only had seven pupils. Then, as pupil numbers increased, the academy allowed Lighthouse to use additional rooms, such as the sports hall and food technology classrooms. But while this has been “a good start”, she says, the students

PHOTOGRAPHY: BBA

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need a quieter environment so that their anxiety levels are minimised in a setting that supports their learning. With this in mind, she and the former principal and Lighthouse lead proposer, Katie Parlett, viewed potential properties for a permanent base. They found a run-down property, Arthington House, and quickly saw that it was “perfect”, despite the loose wires, holes in the ceilings and the ﬂock of resident pigeons. Now almost three years on, the new premises (see architect’s drawing above) are weeks away from opening. Louise says: “The priorities were to ﬁnd a self-contained building to house secondary school students, including a sixth form, in an easily accessible yet quiet location near to a partner mainstream secondary school. It is essential for the students to be housed in a setting designed to allow them to feel safe and supported while they access a broad and balanced curriculum delivered by dedicated specialist staff who understand the needs of young people with autism.” E They invited residents and businesses to consultations,

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SCHOOL BUILDINGS WE The Lighthouse School:

meeting the budgetary challenge Not surprisingly, the main challenge for the Lighthouse School has been budgetary. The newly formed PTA has already paid for bicycles and fi nding the reaction positive, while W is now raising money to buy items for the therapy room. Additionally, a local councillor kept them informed the school was awarded £30,000 by the on the area’s issues. After delivering charity Wooden Spoon to build an outdoor a proposal to the DfE, the team was play area. A local group of restaurants, invited to the next stage of the process – Arc Inspirations, sold more than 30,000 an in-depth interview before a panel of Lighthouse burgers, the proceeds of which eight education experts and government were used to pay for the equipment in the advisers. This was followed by the school’s food technology room. submission of a financial plan, including “We are busy fundraising for basics like full budgets and benchmarked costs. desks and chairs but it will all be worth The planning stages were crucial it,” says Louise. “We have received a – they had the opportunity to design significant amount of support from many a school from scratch – but where to grant funders and local companies with start? Louise, Katie and their colleagues donations of desks, chairs, whiteboards had their own ideas, but they also visited and so on. other schools to talk to head teachers and staff about what they had on their “We have also been very fortunate in premises – and what they would change gaining the funds from the Sir George if they did it all again. Martin Foundation to equip the life skills They then worked with key staff, room – a small studio flat used to teach including the school’s wellbeing basic home and independence skills. It will have a bed to teach how to manager, to design the safety aspects change the duvet and sheets, a sink and washing machine, an ironing and key autism specific elements. Each board and iron, kettle, toaster and a vacuum cleaner. Students will classroom will provide learners with a learn simple skills they can use in the home. We teach a high level of choice of spaces for when they become independence and this will be another unique and key teaching area overwhelmed. There are quiet areas in for all our young people.” the classrooms and separate spaces off each classroom where they can choose to have time out, as well as plenty of social seating in corridors. teenagers, so they can learn individual strategies for managing “Speech, language and communication underpins all our anxieties and relaxation.” students’ learning across the curriculum,” says Louise. “We Mark Henderson, a director at Brewster Bye Architects in have expertise among the staff and continuous professional Leeds, helped to plan the school. He tells Leadership Focus: “The development for everyone to ensure students can access learning school had a very defined brief about what it wanted to achieve and make progress across the curriculum. Without a high level and had decided that a derelict building on the site of the former of speech and language therapy input, it would be out of reach. Cookridge Hospital near Leeds was the building they wanted. “We will have a purpose-built therapy room that will be We had to try to restore and redesign it to create a fantastic learning environment. used to deliver the wellbeing curriculum. Students will access “We advised on the building’s potential, carried out specialist support to help them in a number of ways, such as feasibility studies, handled the planning application and have how to reduce their anxiety and learn how to express their done all the design work. A new school needs to be extremely feelings, in a safe and calm environment. Another facility in practical, hugely inspiring and be delivered within budget.” this suite of rooms is a sensory room, designed specifically for

EE “Another facility is a sensory room, designed for teenagers, so they can learn individual strategies for managing anxieties and relaxation”

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WE The other side of the coin Glenwood Primary School is a 513-pupil inner-city school in Belfast. Part of the school is housed in an 80-year-old listed building, while another wing was built in the 1960s. The Lighthouse School was different Terry Leathem, its principal, explains that Glenwood was originally to many new school projects because the designed as a secondary school and can’t deliver a modern primary building had conservation status. It meant curriculum. He says an overhaul is the only way to maintain a school the architects, with their contractors and in the area. project managers, had to adhere to the “Listed-building status means that demolition is impossible and that planning constraints that went with the any changes to the internal layout are strictly supervised. To date, site being in a conservation area. discussions to move ahead with the project have been going on for Mark adds: “We have maintained and 10 years and a number of economic appraisals have been presented restored all the building’s character to the DfE.” features, which date back to around 1900, Non-compliance with area planning requirements and the expense and complemented them with modern of the project have, to date, prevented the project moving beyond the elements such as large windows and planning phase. The cost implications have grown over time to a peak folding sliding doors. This means all the of around £14m and then reduced by the current, less ambitious, plan classrooms open out on to south-facing to about £10m. landscaped areas that incorporate an outside dining area, cycle track, outdoor “Currently, the realisation of the project depends upon issues around fitness suite, sensory garden, horticulture a much smaller neighbouring school being satisfactorily resolved area and a multi-use games area. and then funding being agreed by DfE,” says Terry. “Throughout the “We’ve also complied with current various planning phases, surveys, discussions and appraisals, the one building regulations legislation, creating constant has been that the children attending Glenwood have not great ventilation and incorporating a been educated in a building that is fit for purpose. The listed part of highly efficient heating and cooling the building is to be architecturally admired but is in need of being system, which would be used on any new educationally appropriate.” build school. On a more practical level, Even when Glenwood gets the green light, the logistical difficulties it’s vital to consider where pupils will of housing the school population for the duration of any works are be dropped off and picked up and how likely to be considerable. vehicles can access the school safely.” “The search for a suitable temporary site to avoid the school being Due to the school’s specialist nature, maintained on a building site, with the adherent health and safety careful attention has been paid to building risks, adds a further layer of both cost and complication to the in as many supportive aspects as possible, project,” warns Terry. with functional learning at the heart of its design. For example, the indoor fitness equipment will familiarise students with what they will find at a leisure centre to to be used as the Lighthouse School. In many ways this project encourage them to attend with their families and friends. has reinforced how transforming an existing building can They also plan to create a multi-interactive learning environment (‘mile’) room to allow teachers to project images of pay huge dividends. It offers so much character and fantastic a variety of environments such as a supermarket, office, hospital, features, such as a stunning entrance hall, that you would or outside space, with accompanying sounds and smells. never find in a new building.” With hindsight, Louise admits that one of the hardest things “This will assist our students to acclimatise to a previously has been to visualise from the plans how the building will look. unknown environment that is safe and stimulating,” Louise She says: “We have been hand-held through the process with explains. “The mile room is key to our vision of all students experienced architects and a project management team. At aspiring to and gaining jobs and careers. Within this room, the beginning of the process we did not appreciate the huge sounds, images and smells of different job environments and benefit of having such a high level of involvement in the design community places will be role-played and practised within of our own school. the curriculum, particularly the enterprise and community “But we are extremely excited about seeing the faces of our curriculum. This will greatly help our students feel confident students as they see the wonderful facilities for the first time about the world of work.” Mark has been mindful throughout that there have been cost and realise it is their school. It’s a dream come true and we constraints. He says: “I’m constantly surprised at just how well have waited a long time, so it will be an emotional moment things seem to be turning out. It’s as if the building was meant when we get the keys.”

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Recycle your magazine and seven days later it could come back as your newspaper.

The possibilities are endless.

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13/05/2015 09:00

BOOK REVIEWS Looking for inspiration? We’ve picked out four of the best new releases to challenge, inform, help and inspire you, covering schools from the shadow of Wormwood Scrubs to beyond the Arctic Circle

Headstrong: 11 lessons of school leadership Dame Sally Coates with Steve Adcock and Michael Ribton John Catt Educational £14.99, paperback Dame Sally, director of United Learning’s southern academies, is probably best known for the transformation of Burlington Danes Academy in west London, a school in the shadow of Wormwood Scrubs Prison. The introduction contains a sentence similar to one you might have heard from NAHT of late: “It’s our job to proactively set the agenda for our schools, to steer the ship in the direction of our choosing, rather than simply keep it afloat as the waves rise around us.” Yet she admits that having taken on headship at the school, which was in ‘a sorry state… unruly, chaotic and lacking basic discipline’, her immediate reaction was ‘what the hell have I done?’ The book presents her plan of action and has useful tips, not least on how to have a conversation with an underperforming teacher. Having identified 23 of them at Burlington Danes, they’d all left the school within two years (21 of them in the first

year), which suggests that staff development wasn’t one of her priorities. But it may have been a necessary, if drastic, approach over the short term. Her book should inspire and inform in equal measure – and she appeals for more female leaders in schools: “A sense of authority seems to ﬁt men more naturally in my experience, but women are better at recognising the complexity of situations… and yes, you can be a head teacher and sleep at night.”

with co-existing and overlapping conditions that may be unfamiliar to many educators. Fortunately, the book’s approach – combining research, case studies and practical tools – shows how the Engagement for Learning Framework can ensure the best possible outcomes for children with CLDD.

Leadership Dialogues: conversations and activities for leadership teams

Engaging Learners with Complex Learning Difﬁculties and Disabilities Barry Carpenter et al Routledge £26.99, paperback Professor Carpenter, a regular speaker at NAHT events, is lead author of this guide aimed at teachers and teaching assistants. Much of the book is taken from a complex learning difﬁculties and disabilities (CLDD) project that highlighted four key themes: the importance of neuroscience; the value of transdisciplinary approaches; student engagement in the context of personalised learning; and partnership with families. The case studies feature children

John West-Burnham and Dave Harris Crown House Publishing £24.99, paperback This isn’t a typical school leadership book. It contains more than 40 questions that should be important to school leaders and groups them into eight themes, including effective leadership, thinking strategically, leading and managing resources and leading people. The authors state that they want it to stimulate and support dialogue and conversations between leaders with the aim of moving meetings ‘from the operational to the developmental’. To give an example, in ‘Leading teaching and learning’, questions include: To what extent are your pupils fully engaged? Do you analyse different depths of

pupil engagement in the classroom? Are staff focused on raising engagement levels in their classes? Do staff share strategies for improving pupil engagement? And do you ever investigate staff engagement? All good questions. It should get you thinking.

Finnish Lessons 2.0: what can the world learn from educational change in Finland Pasi Sahlberg Teachers College Press £18.50, paperback There’s an interesting line in this second edition that suggests the UK has suffered from a ‘germ’ – the global educational reform movement – and the book is a disinfectant. This edition was published before the recent shift to teach ‘topics’ instead of subjects and despite all the plaudits for Finnish schooling, the author suggests radical change was needed. “Finnish schools must restore the student engagement that was once a hallmark,” he writes. He calls for less classroom-based teaching, more personalised learning and a focus on social skills, empathy and leadership. We may need to wait for a third edition to see if the changes have worked.

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WE T E L L U S A B O U T Y O U R S C H O O L We ’d l ove to share your stories with LF re a d e rs . Ema il Su s a n E educationhack@gmail.com

FINALLY… V

isit Cranfield CE Academy in Bedfordshire and it won’t be long before you hear a conversation about stepping stones. Children talk about them, staff talk about them and so do the parents. Stepping stones are the academy’s user-friendly replacement for levels, formally launched last September and now firmly embedded in the lower school’s life. It’s a simple concept: there are five sequential pathways of achievement, covering maths, reading and writing, each made of ‘stepping stones’ to achieve. In reading and writing, the number of stones per pathway decreases because pupils aim for depth, while in maths the opposite happens as they seek breadth. In early years, stones mark smaller achievements, so encouraging pupils. Head teacher Joanna Farbon says extensive planning included whole-staff conversations about the basic principles before the senior leadership team completed the bulk of the work during the summer. “The children and the parents think it’s brilliant: it’s so workable for them. Everything’s in ‘childspeak’, which allows all involved to use it. Teachers use it in feedback, marking and assessment, both formative and summative. Stones are all over their planning. Everything we do with the children has stepping stones and we refresh targets each half term.” The stones are in the children’s home-school books and given as a colour photocopy to parents at consultation evenings so they understand where their children are; and where they need to go next. According to how much of each pathway the children have covered, their achievements are described as emerging, expected, exceeding and exceeding+. Pathways have also been created in science, English as an additional language and for children working at P-levels. Parents can see how it all fits together with weekly notes from the class teacher and the curriculum on the website. It’s empowering, says Joanna. “Parents can see how their support fits into their child’s education and that is so important.” She adds that regular workshops (with cake) help keep parents on top of the scheme.

SUSAN YOUNG

ONE STEP AT A TIME It remains a work in progress but two local schools have already purchased the system at nominal cost.

High expectations On balance, Joanna thinks levels could have worked if schools had become better at explaining them to parents, but she believes Cranﬁeld has learned a lot from creating pathways. Positives included subject leaders working across the whole school and the honing of assessment principles. “We’ve learned our school has very high expectations of what our children should achieve and we celebrate that. We’ve also learned a great deal about assessing activities in small groups and over a term. Plus, we’ve learned the importance of having teaching assistants in our training. We’re proud when visitors don’t see a difference between teachers and teaching assistants: everyone is a leader of learning.” Moreover, the most experienced and the newest staff are equally positive: one teacher applied for the job because of the pathway. Joanna says NAHT’s Commission on Assessment report (see link) was helpful, but Cranﬁeld’s needs – it has 31 per cent mobility and 22 languages – meant it needed to invent its own system. “We have our own spreadsheet on progress from start date – we had two children join us from Saudi Arabia only yesterday,” she adds. “I’d say to other schools: don’t be frightened. You’ve got to really embrace what assessment without levels means for you and your children. Read all the documents that are out there and then go for it. Set yourself a time frame, and embrace what it will do for assessment and progress in your own school.” bit.ly/NAHT_ assessment_ materials

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