Primary First Issue 31 by Synergy

Issue 31 £5.00

by Carys Morgan aged 14

Primary First

The Journal for Primary Schools

Rosemary Evans

Bequest Award Are you a recently qualified early years or primary teacher (QTS gained since June 2019)? Are you keen to reflect on your professional development as a classroom practitioner? Are you keen to get something published in an educational journal and add it to your CV? If so, we hope you will be interested in the Rosemary Evans Bequest Award to be given on an annual basis to the best article received for publication in Primary First from a recently qualified teacher (who is currently in their first or second year of teaching). The award is for £400 and EITHER the theme can be selected from one of the following: The highlights and challenges of taking on your own class What do you see as the key principles and/or values which inform your approach to learning and teaching? How can teacher retention be improved? The global teacher for the 21st century. OR you can identify your own issue for exploration which draws directly on your experience of teaching in the classroom and your developing professional awareness as a primary practitioner. This could, for example, relate to an area of responsibility you are taking on or might be linked to a masters level unit or might simply be an issue about which you feel passionate. The article should be between 1500 and 2000 words and you are encouraged to select your own focus and title, irrespective of whether you select one of the above themes or opt for something different. The article should both critically explore aspects of your own experience and identity as a recently qualified teacher and be informed, if and where appropriate, by relevant literature. The final date for submission for this academic year is 1 August 2021. It is to be submitted electronically in PDF format to Robert Young, NAPE General Secretary at rmyoung1942@yahoo.co.uk. The Primary First Editorial Board will judge the submissions and it is anticipated that more than one submission may well be considered for inclusion in the journal, although not in receipt of the Award itself. Further details about the Award can be requested from Robert Young.

About us Editorial Dr Robert Morgan Editorial Board Peter Cansell Stuart Swann Robert Young Primary First journal is published three times per year by the National Association for Primary Education. Primary First 57 Britannia Way Lichfield Staffordshire WS14 9UY t 01543 257257 e r.a.morgan@gre.ac.uk ©Primary First 2021 Summer Issue No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written permission of the publisher. Whilst every care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the editorial content the publisher cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions. The views expressed are not necessarily those of the publisher.

Produced by Synergy

Contents Why a balanced and broadly-based curriculum matters

Beyond teaching; experiencing a purposeful curriculum

Time and Space for the Curriculum

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility

Meaningful pupil voice and its impact across the curriculum and in the world

Boxing Clever

Book review The Joy of Not Knowing

Is there an aspect of inclusion your school is missing?

Would you like to write an article for Primary First?

Find us on Twitter @Pr1stjournal 3

Editorial This issue celebrates the recently held Schiller conference, so I start with Christian Schiller (1979, p. 93), who wrote:

children in primary education some sixty years later, that subjects have little significance for a new reason.

‘Curriculum is not an attractive word. Whether heard through the ear as a sound, or seen through the eye as a shape on a page, it leaves an impression of something sharp and harsh. It is, of course, a Roman word, unaltered and unassimilated by our native tongue; and this fact no doubt reveals a certain tardiness in finding a native word which says, quite simply and with feeling, ‘What we do in school’. Perhaps also it reflects a certain reluctance to think in general terms of all those activities with which children find themselves engaged by our choice as teachers.

The 2021 Schiller conference as headlined by Dr Eaude, made the eloquent and academic point that ‘the humanities and the arts can make essential contributions to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and help children to cope confidently with the challenges ahead [and that] a balanced and broadly-based curriculum relates to social justice… that such a curriculum is potentially enabling and empowering…’ The argument calls for a broadly and balanced curriculum the recognition of those subjects that fall outside the scope of the all too powerful English and mathematics; the insignificance of the non-core subjects is, arguably to many readers, a sad reflection of modern pedagogy.

And this is not surprising. Curriculum has for long conventionally been used as a collective noun to denote a collection of subjects. But in the field of primary education we are becoming increasingly doubtful whether ’What we do in school’ can be conveniently described in terms of subjects, since it has become increasingly clear that for young children ‘subjects’ have little significance.’ On first reading of Schiller’s 1958 speech extract, this may be interpreted as advocating a progressivist form of education but then again it may be that in a post-2012 national curriculum era, the issue that ‘subjects have little significance’ may still be applicable. Formerly, that would have probably been a teaching approach of topic-based learning, but I am beginning to reflect that for a lot of

As I pen this editorial, the Prime Minister has announced a ‘further easing of COVID restrictions’ from May 17th. Such easing has prompted me to effect and speculate as to what such an announcement will mean for me. For example, I have renewed my season ticket for my local football club, had a haircut, booked a short domestic break and will be considering a return to the theatre, cinema, art galleries and museums. I am not particularly a fan of the ballet, garden centres, shopping malls or DIY shops, but I am glad they are reopening. This is all curriculum related: physical education, design technology, art and design, music, history are at the heart of these enterprises, businesses, and entertainment outlets. The subjects of the wider

curriculum matter to those who recognize the ultimate outcome; if you do not appreciate design technology, do not get a haircut. It is not a secret that policy makers advocate the curriculum not only to be preparation for secondary school but for the needs of the economy and for it to be knowledge based. Nick Gibb highlighted that falling UK productivity and underperforming core curriculum skills are lagging behind Asian counterparts, but his solution was to focus on the English, mathematics, phonics in an effort to raise standards. (You cannot raise a standard, you need to create a new one, but this simple fact often escapes ministers). Aside from the pandemic I wonder whether it is all working? The Times ran an article concerning the Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane who expressed the surprising claim that the nation’s skills crisis rests with poor numeracy skills, ‘there is an inability to add up properly’. Perhaps focusing even more attention on mathematics is not the answer, maybe allowing mathematics to be taught in more real-life contexts and meaningful problem-solving constructed situations through a wider curriculum is. This brings me back to the significance of the foundation subjects, or the after-lunch studies (why is mathematics and English timetabled for the morning?) Do children, when preparing to study for, for example, history get asked to sit in their ‘English ability groupings’? A broad and balanced curriculum requires teachers to look more at disciplines (a point made by Jonathan Barnes

in his articulating for an efficient curriculum) and to look beyond discrete subject teaching. This can happen if all subjects are valued. Footballers are intelligent; Fran Kirby and Harry Kane are intelligent if measured according to physical education intelligence. Physical education matters if you wish to enjoy the art of football. Think the same of Dua Lipa, Rakie Ayola, Susan Philipsz, Samantha Mumba, Cressida Cowell, the local florist, hair stylist, car mechanic, plumber, gas fitter, all of whom showcase the very talent that a wider curriculum has to offer.

Dr Robert Morgan Editor

References Barnes, J. (2015) Cross-Curricular Learning 3-14. London: SAGE Gibb, N. (2015) The purpose of education. [Online] Available at: https:// www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-purpose-of-education Narwan, G. (2021) ‘It’s not a joke…the problem with numeracy sums up our skills crisis’, The Times, 15 May, p. 63. NAPE (1979) Christian Schiller in his own words. NAPE, London: A&C Black Ltd.

Why a balanced and broadly-based curriculum matters particularly for young children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds This article is a shortened version of the Christian Schiller Lecture, given during the NAPE Conference on March 8th 2021. The full text and other presentations are available on nape.org.uk/post-conference-slides Dr Tony Eaude

After a few words about Christian Schiller and some reflections on the last year, I discuss what a balanced and broadly-based curriculum looks like and make four interlinked arguments why this matters particularly for young children and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. I emphasize the ‘why’ because we too rarely explore or articulate why and how children benefit from some activities and experiences, notably those associated with the humanities and the arts. As a result, such areas of learning are often seen, including by many teachers, as frills - or in Robin Alexander’s words ‘desirable but inessential’(2016, p 2). After summarising these four arguments, I end by suggesting that an engaging, inclusive and humane education depends more on how teachers relate to, and interact with, children than the written curriculum. Schiller was an inspector in Liverpool in the 1920s, a role rather different from that of inspectors now – more to advise and encourage than to evaluate. His concern at the desperate

squalor and poverty he witnessed - his humanity – and the narrow and inappropriate curriculum on offer comes through powerfully in what he said and wrote (Schiller, 1979). His main focus was on children’s basic needs - being properly fed, clothed and cared-for - being met; and he believed passionately that young children need a broader and richer range of experiences – particularly physical activity and the arts.

Reflections on the last year The last year has demonstrated even more clearly than previously the devastating impact of poverty and the importance of schools where children feel safe and interact with other people, not just where they learn. The pandemic has exposed starkly the extent to which children who are hungry, lack space and opportunities to play or have experienced or witnessed domestic violence and other difficulties are disproportionately those living in poverty. Children from disadvantaged

backgrounds have had a more restricted range of opportunities than those from privileged ones, though the latter may have faced considerable difficulties. Black Lives Matter has highlighted the prevalence and significance of racism and the need for the curriculum to reflect the diverse backgrounds and identities of children and families in contemporary societies. The restrictions on how teachers have been able to work have caused many to re-think their role and pedagogy. In thinking about a ‘recovery curriculum’, I suggest that we must consider how children can be enabled to become less dependent on teachers and the extent to which on-line learning is appropriate for young children; and how to counter the impact of many forms of disadvantage. A recovery curriculum must not just be a ‘catch-up’ curriculum which entails ‘more of the same’. All children, whatever their background, require a better balanced and broadly-based and a more engaging and enjoyable range of experiences and opportunities.

What does a balanced and broadly-balanced curriculum entail? State-funded schools are required by law in England and Wales to ‘offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly-based’- with similar wording in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Let us think what these terms mean, recognizing that, as Colin Richards (2019) argues, they are open to interpretation and will always be a matter of debate. Broadly-based seems the easier idea. A table with four legs is more stable than one with only three. Most four or five year olds soon discover that a tower with a narrow base is likely to fall over. There is inevitably a trade-off between depth and breadth, but, while individual children may wish to explore in greater depth what interests them, most groups benefit from a broad, though not a superficial, approach, in ways to which I shall return.

All Our Futures, the Robinson report, (NACCCE, 1999, pp 52-53) argues for balance: 1. between different fields of study and disciplines; 2. within all disciplines between tradition and innovation; and 3. in the teaching of different values and traditions, reflecting and responding to cultural diversity. The first emphasizes a balance between the arts, the humanities and the sciences and mathematics. The second highlights that, while children will always be expected to draw on various types of knowledge, they must also be encouraged to exercise their imagination and create their own ideas and new ways of working. The third is necessary in a society with much greater diversity, of language, belief and culture, than when I was a boy. A fourth type of balance comes over time by working with different teachers, because inevitably all teachers have varying personalities and quirks, strengths and weaknesses.

Why does breadth and balance matter? One could just argue that a balanced and broadly-based curriculum matters because this is a legal requirement or that, in England, Ofsted, the inspectorate, expects this, as it does, in Key Stages 2 and 3, on the basis that a narrow curriculum has a disproportionately negative effect on the most disadvantaged pupils (Ofsted, 2019, paragraph 174). While this is welcome, Ofsted encourages a focus, in Key Stage 1, on literacy, especially reading and writing, and numeracy to enable children to access a balanced and broadly-based curriculum subsequently. I shall argue against this view. These reasons are cogent, but even more so are those based on how children learn and the types of people and societies we hope to shape; and so to social justice, inclusion and entitlement.

There is not enough space here to explore in detail how young children learn, but I shall highlight some key points, remembering that young children: • find many, varied routes into learning; • benefit from being active, not just in PE lessons or on the p layground, but also by imagining, exploring, constructing and discussing; and • should not be constrained by subject boundaries. In Identity, Culture and Belonging: Educating Young Children for a Changing World, (Eaude, 2020), I argued that we are all constantly changing and in the process of becoming, young children especially so, as they struggle to make sense of themselves and the world around them. Identities are multiple and fluid, and often-conflicting; and how children construct, weave and negotiate identities is neither linear nor even, and is affected by many intersecting factors. Perhaps the most obvious are gender and race/ethnicity, along with religion, language and disability, but class is often overlooked, particularly in terms of money, though poverty takes other forms such as the poverty of love and aspiration. Maslow’s hierarchy (1998) indicates that biological needs, such as those for nourishment, sleep and a sense of safety, must be met before other needs. But we, especially adults from middle-class backgrounds, have become obsessed with keeping children safe - and fallen into the trap of overprotecting them. Children have to feel safe but they thrive on challenge and must be equipped to cope with what is unfamiliar and unexpected, if they are not to become brittle and overdependent on adults. Margaret Donaldson (1982) emphasizes the importance of context and relationships. With young children, social and emotional development underpins every other aspect. Instruction is not how children, especially young

ones, learn best. Knowledge and skills, qualities and dispositions are learned more easily and securely where these are introduced and applied in a meaningful context, by example and practice - watching, listening, being listened to, imitating and adapting. This implies that children should have a sense of agency and be self-directed and intrinsically motivated. The challenge for teachers is to create contexts and environments which empower young children from a variety of backgrounds, to engage with and explore different types of, and routes into, learning. Exciting, enjoyable and memorable moments transport children beyond their inevitably limited range of previous experiences; and a wide range of opportunities helps them to gain new perspectives on other people and cultures. We all tend to live in bubbles mixing with those from similar backgrounds and interests; and need both mirrors and windows. Mirrors to see people like ourselves, windows to see those different from ourselves, in both cases indicating their

achievements, their qualities and their flaws. Schools have a vital role in helping all children, whatever their background, to avoid cultural encapsulation and insularity, where they only encounter views similar to their own. I love the metaphor of the ‘horizon of possibilities’ where new, previously unseen, possibilities open up, the closer one approaches to the horizon. Let us seek to expand the horizons of all children, especially those who for whatever reason find it hard to see beyond what is within their immediate vision. Another favourite metaphor is to see everyone – and every experience - as contributing to the ‘well of memory’ on which children will later draw. This illustrates the extent to which all experiences are combined into a mixture where no- one knows exactly what will subsequently emerge; and helps adults to recognize that their task is a long-term one. Who knows the possible lifelong impact on a young child of a theatre group or a musician, a scientist or a storyteller? Or a teacher?

All people have a range of abilities and talents, though young children’s may not yet be discovered or well developed. Therefore, in Reed’s (2001, p 122) words, even the youngest children should be exposed to a broad and ambitious curriculum in the hopes of identifying one or more areas at which each child excels or is motivated to learn. Such a curriculum opens up new possibilities for what children may become interested in, or benefit from, in the future. As Susan Engel (2015, p 190) suggests, teachers should fill classrooms with the kinds of complexity that invites inquiry and provide children with interesting materials, seductive details and desirable difficulty. But such experiences can happen through art, poetry, music, science or mathematics – and in many areas beyond the classroom, from astronomy, basketball and cooking through to yoga and zoology. Let us not forget the importance of play, drama and children’s talk, all processes which cross

subject boundaries. There is a widespread recognition that very young children need to, and learn through, play, but a suspicion of play remains, once children are deemed ready for the ‘serious business’ of learning. Play’s sister, drama, enables one to adopt temporarily other identities and feel how it is to inhabit someone else’s skin and mind. Children’s talk is also regarded with suspicion if this does not result in some visible outcome. A quiet classroom is often seen as evidence of children learning, though the benefit of children talking, being listened to and engaging in reciprocal conversation – not just listening to adults - is now widely recognized and enabled by teachers. And let me put in a plea for indirect, enjoyable routes into learning such as stories and analogies, imagination, playfulness and humour. Learning is a serious matter but should not be a solemn one.

The humanities and the arts Let us consider what, and how, children learn through the humanities and the arts. Both are too often marginalized or trivialized and are ‘umbrella’ terms, so that whether an activity falls within a particular subject boundary matters less than how children benefit. In Eaude (2017), I suggested that the humanities should be seen fluidly as including history, geography, religion, philosophy, literature, languages and culture, more generally; and fulfil a vital role in how children construct and weave together their multiple identities into a coherent identity. Martha Nussbaum (2010) argues that democracy requires citizens who can deal with complex, conflicting and contested ideas and that the humanities encourage this. At times of uncertainty, the ability to do so and know when to exercise one’s judgement is necessary. We

must, as adults, especially teachers, find ways of enabling children of all ages (at least to start) to do so if they are to become active, confident and informed citizens. This requires qualities and dispositions such as the ability and willingness to empathize, and to discuss and negotiate respectfully, with those with whom they disagree. Sadly, such qualities are too often in short supply among many adults, especially powerful ones who should know better. The Humanities 20:20 manifesto (www. humanities2020.org.uk) argues that the humanities matter because they enable children to: 1. consider questions about the meaning and purpose of their lives; 2. explore their own identities, values and beliefs and concepts such as time, space and faith; 3. develop skills and habits associated with critical and creative thinking;

4. extend their cultural and imaginative horizons; 5. learn to empathise with people who are different, as well as those who are similar, thereby celebrating diversity and challenging stereotypes; 6. learn about democracy, global citizenship and sustainability; 7. strengthen a sense of care for themselves, each other and the planet in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Exploring the humanities tends to encourage children to become more humane and compassionate. Values must underpin how children are expected to act as they come to recognize that their own and other people’s actions have moral and ethical implications. Learning is not just a matter of technical skill. The lockdown has emphasized the contribution of the arts, as well as science, to society and to everyone’s well-being. Elliott Eisner (2002) suggests that the arts enable children to: 1. learn to make good judgements about qualitative relationships, with judgement rather than (rigid) rules prevailing; 2. learn that problems can have more than one solution and questions more than one answer; 3. celebrate multiple perspectives, since there are many ways to see and interpret the world;

4. learn that in complex forms of problemsolving purposes are seldom fixed, but change with circumstance and opportunity, requiring people to be able and willing to surrender to unanticipated possibilities as the work unfolds; 5. come to know that small differences can have large effects; 6. recognize that neither words nor numbers exhaust what we can know; 7. learn to express what cannot easily be said in words, so that when they are invited to disclose what a work of art helps them feel, they must reach into their poetic capacities to find the words to do so; and 8. have experiences that they can have from no other source and through such experience to discover the range and variety of what they are capable of feeling. These summaries indicate that the humanities and the arts can make essential contributions to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and help children to cope confidently with the challenges ahead. Such challenges are both personal such as assessing the veracity of information and constructing a coherent sense of identity; and societal such as those related to environmental damage, sustainability and technological change and the appeal of populist leaders often with little regard for minorities and democracy itself.

Social justice Another powerful argument for a balanced and broadly-based curriculum relates to social justice. Though the most potent one, it is the hardest to make, since it may seem common sense that children who have not yet mastered skills in literacy and numeracy should do so before encountering a broader curriculum- and those from less advantaged backgrounds are disproportionately in this group. But I am arguing otherwise – that such a curriculum is potentially enabling and empowering, especially for such children. Most have had a more restricted range of opportunities than more privileged ones who are likely, because of opportunities out of school, to experience a better balanced and more broadly-based range of experiences, for instance visiting historic monuments, going to the theatre and playing sports. Many come to school with little experience of the reciprocal interactions and dialogue essential to learning; and if they fall behind their peers, especially with reading, can

become disheartened and demotivated. Such a process easily becomes self-fulfilling. Adults must look for multiple ways to unlock children’s varied potentials; and schools offer a broad, spacious curriculum to help open up opportunities from which many children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, will otherwise be excluded. To engage children with, and by, what they are learning, teachers must be prepared to build on children’s existing ‘funds of knowledge’, especially for those children, mainly from working-class and (some) minority-ethnic backgrounds, who may find school learning unfamiliar and unmotivating. A broad range of activities and experiences can give such children the confidence to draw on, and apply, what they already know and to try new activities. Moreover, this can enable children to reach beyond, even if only temporarily, their own often-limited and possibly distressing lives.

Towards a holistic approach The argument that young children should concentrate on literacy and numeracy at the expense of a balanced and broadly-based curriculum sets up a false dichotomy. We must avoid dichotomies between the humanities and the arts on the one hand and either literacy and numeracy or science and mathematics on the other. All of these must complement and support each other. Numeracy is only one part of mathematics and becoming literate requires far more than the ability to decode text and write a grammatically correct sentence. Providing a balanced and broadly-based curriculum does not entail undervaluing literacy and numeracy, but of enabling the skills involved to be learned and applied in a variety of meaningful contexts. But it does mean avoiding a relentless diet of skills supposed to be acquired (somehow) out of context. Such an approach without children making progress tends to lead to lower selfesteem, disaffection and disengagement. Activities and experiences associated with the humanities, the arts, and the sciences - and physical activity - provide enjoyable, engaging contexts to interest young children and encourage them to represent, discuss and think about these experiences; and so to want to learn and to apply these skills and understand themselves and the world. Black Lives Matter has highlighted the extent of racism and the need for an inclusive curriculum which reflects cultural diversity. But inclusion involves much more than this. If we are to create an inclusive society, where those who start at a disadvantage are able to succeed, and everyone succeeds in a variety of ways, a holistic approach is required, similar to what in German is called Bildung. This is based on the belief that welleducated people have experience, and knowledge, of the humanities and the arts and of science, technology and mathematics, so that they can challenge their own assumptions and the status

quo; and that all aspects of learning and of life are connected and should be mutually supportive. This challenges the dominance of ‘academic’ and cognitive learning and the belief that one can sensibly separate physical from mental processes and emotion from cognition; and places a greater emphasis on procedural knowledge – being able to do practical things - and on personal/interpersonal knowledge – the ability to understand oneself and relate to other people. Education is too often seen mainly in terms of predetermined outcomes such as success in tests and, ultimately, employability and where those who do not succeed academically are deemed, consciously or otherwise, to be of less value. We should reconsider - and celebrate diverse views of - what constitutes success. Schools and teachers must be prepared to alter how they work rather than always expecting children to do so and conform. This involves starting from where the child is and working forwards, rather than from the ‘expected levels’ which children are supposed to achieve and then trying to work backwards. Adults tend to underestimate what young children can achieve. Underlying the current approach is an assumption that young children cannot cope with complex ideas. They can, in the right context and with sensitive adult guidance, particularly as they approach adolescence. For instance, I recall a discussion with a class of nine year olds who, in discussing whether animals should be kept in zoos could articulate, and disagree on, whether it was more important to be free or safe. I have presented four main arguments for a balanced and broadly-based primary curriculum based on: • the legal requirement that schools must offer this or Ofsted’s expectations of this (at least from 7 years old); • how children create coherent, robust and flexible identities, founded on a sense of agency;

• a conception of democratic citizenship in which young children become able to deal with increasingly complex ideas; and • social justice since such a curriculum will open up opportunities from which many children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, will otherwise be excluded.

The way ahead We must always remember that a curriculum is much more than a syllabus- and that environments, relationships and pedagogy matter more than the written curriculum. The types of knowledge which children (and adults) require are more subtle and complex than mere information and skills. Learning is a reciprocal process which requires relationships of warmth and trust. We need to re-humanise our schools and make education less like a production line where only those who succeed academically are deemed to matter. Each child must be loved and cared for and challenged in a variety of ways, whatever their abilities or background. This is the entitlement of all children and the responsibility of all teachers. And children must also care-for others, if they are to develop empathy, especially boys, particularly those who have not experienced and internalised models of masculinity where this is manifested. I started by referring to Christian Schiller’s experience in the slums of Liverpool in the 1920s. Now, a century later, poverty and disadvantage may take somewhat different forms, but surely we must seek to combat all types of disadvantage and discrimination to carry his vision forward. A narrow, often dull, curriculum impoverishes every child, but especially those whose horizons are limited. As a society we must re-think what we hope to achieve through schooling, to try and ensure that children are, and become, rounded and responsible people. We must educate the whole child, not just a few aspects; and make a balanced and broadly-based curriculum a reality,

not just for seven to eleven year olds and those from advantaged backgrounds- but also for younger children and all children whatever their background. This will require a transformation of what and how children are taught; and requires the potential and creativity of children and their teachers to be unlocked from the current constraints. Such changes are difficult and do not happen overnight; but they are necessary if today’s children are to become the responsible, caring and humane citizens of tomorrow and to help create a genuinely inclusive and compassionate. society. Dr Tony Eaude was previously headteacher of a multi-cultural first school in Oxford UK and now works as an independent researcher and author. Details of his work can be seen on www.edperspectives.org.uk He can be contacted at tony@edperspectives.org.uk

References Alexander, R. (2016) What is Education For? Submission to the House of Commons Education Committee Inquiry into the Quality and Purpose of Education in England. Donaldson, M. (1982) Children’s Minds, Glasgow: Fontana. Eaude, T. (2017) Humanities in the Primary School: philosophical considerations, Education 3-13, 45(3), 343-353. Eaude T. (2020) Identity, Culture and Belonging: Educating Young Children for a Changing World. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Eisner, E. (2002) The Arts and the Creation of Mind, New Haven: Yale University Press. Engel, S. (2015) The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Maslow, A. (1998) Toward a Psychology of Being, New York: Wiley. NACCCE (National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education) (1999) All Our Futures: creativity, culture and education. London: Department for Education and Employment. Nussbaum, M. (2010) Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ofsted (2019) School inspection handbook Available at: https://www.gov. uk/government/collections/education-inspection-framework Reed, E. S. (2001) ‘Towards a Cultural Ecology of Instruction’, in D. Bakhurst and S. G. Shanker (eds), Jerome Bruner: Language, Culture, Self, 116–26. London: SAGE. Richards, C. (2019) Broad? Balanced? Curriculum? Impact, 6, 12-15. Schiller, C. (1979) Christian Schiller in his own words. London: A. and C. Black.

Beyond teaching; experiencing a purposeful curriculum Rachel Ford

At the centre of education lies the coexistence of core values and effective communication that ensure a shared vision within every educational establishment is achievable and sustainable. The key thing that drives practitioners in schools is the desire to make a difference for all children, to have a positive impact on families and to contribute to a community. In the face of ever changing policy and rapid movement in priorities, schools continue to aim for these successes while trying to maintain the equilibrium between new pressures and expectations. Schools are preparing children for life beyond the classroom. Through a clear commitment to a vision for all pupils’ futures, our school provides pupils with experience and values they can continue to aspire to after leaving school. So, rather than being compared to those of other schools, a more sobering judgement of success would be to understand the success of the life chances that our schools are offering children compared to their family members in the past. As schools, we can make strides towards the commitment and value that we place upon the whole curriculum for every child. If we can create a trusted and safe environment for children to feel cared for, then we are creating a support mechanism that allows children and staff to face new challenges head on without fear of making mistakes and with an unfaltering love for all things new and exciting.

To be successful we need to be honest about the challenges that we face; we need to inspire and lead change without compromising our values. Change should be driven by self-evaluation, provided that the self-evaluation is realistic and takes account of economic and social changes. The school community is at the core of all we do to ensure that individual needs are met. Putting it onto paper is the easy part. The challenge comes in finding practical ways to raise standards whilst maintaining staff morale through respecting worklife balance. Positive communication is key to ensure that we emulate respect for the community alongside demonstrating a sense of determination to contribute to a sustainable future. In these days where changes and challenges feel unending and where we wish we could do more to change a child’s story, there needs to be a moment of reflection, a time for perspective. Without faltering, the adults in our school strive for our children to have a voice and achieve their own true joy when they see the difference they can really make. Staff are proud that the children who leave here are the product of a school that was team based and pupil driven throughout the whole curriculum; creating a foundation for self-belief. The quality of schooling is vital in determining the life chances of children; we need to challenge their destinies and to narrate an enriching future for them. Consequently, our practitioners are always exploring new ways to prepare our

I believe that we have succeeded in our roles if the learning opportunity that we have given all children enables them to take our school values into their lives beyond our school. children to function in a world beyond the classroom. Value is placed on the diversity of style and approach, so that our school embodies a culture where all effort is valued. Collaborative learning for the adults and children develops personal qualities of cooperation, resilience and confidence when faced with challenges. The school community thrives on learning through a relevant curriculum, a curriculum that is genuinely interesting and offers a depth to learning that comes from inquiry, investigation and a purposeful context of the ‘real’ world. The real world where staff are collecting children on their way into school to ensure that they attend; the real world where a worrying percentage of children have no fixed abode; the real world where staff volunteer their weekends to give respite to families and pupils, and a real school with pride that is so tangible it can be felt in every room and corridor Children need to have their curriculum connected with the ‘why’ embedded and a sense of belonging recognised for all children. Showcasing of abilities through a variety of accessible multimedia resources such as, video, music, photography, helps to draw children into a more creative way of approaching a subject. Children need to have a genuine voice to inform, change or feedback. Helping children to articulate their ideas is the key to building confidence and promoting independent learning skills. There naturally also develops joint thinking amongst the school community with purposeful learning opportunities and outcomes at the heart of the curriculum. Within our school we have sixteen Pupil Leadership Groups that represent

the children’s voice and these change yearly in response to local and national initiatives. These currently include, Rights Respecting Group, Digital Leaders, Wellbeing Team, Community Champions and Values Team. By contributing to these leadership groups, all children in Reception to Year 6 develop the confidence to anticipate and adapt to change. Something which the current pandemic has certainly tested. Children and staff need to be given sufficient time to apply knowledge and skills, and to demonstrate active learning while exploring autonomy and independence for all learners and practitioners. Through effective assessment and review of learning, staff exercise their professional judgement in order to meet the diverse needs of our pupils. Assessment provides positive impact to children’s learning, allowing for the curriculum to be adapted and experiences extended where needed. As a school we place great value on practitioners assessing the whole curriculum and the whole child. All subjects are analysed for potential gaps in learning and the subject leaders regularly audit the provision in place for each subject. These reviews allow curriculum experiences to be responsive to children’s needs and serve to continually highlight the importance of the whole curriculum. Extra-curricular clubs and visits/visitors develop experiences and collaboration, while also ensuring children gain further understanding through their own self-assessment and reflection. These opportunities also draw upon the school community for a clearly shared contribution to children’s learning. For example, our STEM club utilised the Premises Manager for how to change a plug and looking at electrical circuits (not using live electrics), Administrative Assistant for technical knowledge regarding photography, Teaching Assistant for Lego Town Planning, and senior leaders/teachers for tasks such as, newspaper bridge engineering and mini science investigations using everyday materials.

The voice of the school community ensures that the wider curriculum can be more fully met and is appropriate and relevant for the children within our school. The curriculum nurtures personal qualities of children and develops resilience through links to real life context and problem solving. Taking the whole school curriculum beyond the classroom enhances collaborative spirit in areas such as our House Teams, charity and community events. Children and adults work together to grow plants, flowers, fruit and vegetables with the latter being used within the daily school lunches. I have recently responded to letters from children, in Year 3, regarding a sustainable school, with the impact of this contributing to the future debate of ‘No Meat Mondays’, increased recycling bins in the playground, a greater number of cycling lessons to prevent the use of cars on the school drop off/ collection and the idea of an upcycling club for children to give new life to unwanted objects. I believe that we have succeeded in our roles if the learning opportunity that we have given all children enables them to take our school values into their lives beyond our school. For those children affected by community, family and previous teaching, I feel that we are here as educators for their future to allow them the opportunity to develop self-worth, success as a citizen and a real sense of determination to achieve their true potential through full access to an engaging curriculum. Children’s lives are not changed by data and limiting experiences to the core subject areas, but by the role models who show them how to respect and believe in their own community and by the educators who nurture the skills of resilience, creativity and confidence so that when they leave our school, children have empathy for others, curiosity about the world and the communication skills that will allow them to formulate a committed contribution to a sustainable future.

Rachel Ford is the headteacher at Bannockburn Primary School, in Plumstead, Royal Borough of Greenwich. 19

Time and Space for the Curriculum Barbara Cook

In his Schiller Lecture on 8 March 2021, Dr. Tony Eaude outlined a compelling argument that primary children need a broadly-based and balanced curriculum. I agree. This is especially so following more than a year of disrupted schooling and the social inequalities exposed by on-line cut-back learning, in particular access to any practical curriculum or first-hand experience. Now that schools are in session, it is important to acknowledge that all children have entitlement to the full curriculum. Reflecting on the content of the talk I have been left with questions, not about why this is needed, but how will it be achieved. Did the lecture go far enough to be a catalyst to encourage primary schools to take a new look at the suitability of their curriculum offer, post pandemic? The National Curriculum (NC) (2013) lays out the 10/11 subjects and their subject content plus Religious Education (RE) and Relationships Education. In all Local Authority primary schools in England the programmes of study are to be followed, by law, in Key Stages 1/2. Every state funded school must offer this content, which aims to provide pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge they need to become educated citizens who are compassionate and able to contribute to society. However, there is also an acknowledgement that this framework is just one element in the education of every child:

There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. (p 6). Furthermore, the framework goes on to tell teachers, schools and headteachers that they can transform this content into exciting and stimulating lessons. I would argue that lessons or series of lessons do not constitute a curriculum, even if all subjects are timetabled. Dr. Eaude referred to that fact that the law states that the primary curriculum should be broadly based – if there are eleven subject areas together with RE and Relationships Education, then surely the curriculum will be broad. However, a simple list of subject disciplines is not a curriculum. Adults wrote the framework and it needs to be translated by school leaders and teachers into meaningful learning suited to primary-aged children. I would argue that lessons, however stimulating and exciting, are not enough to make learning coherent or for children to begin to make sense of their place in the world and society. Children are capable of so much more than they are allowed to achieve in ‘lessons’ if one subject piles on top of another, fragmenting and constraining understanding. In addition, there is the NC reference to time and space, highlighted in para. 3 above. If there is this void, extra time, available beyond the framework requirements, why is there such concern amongst

teachers that they cannot fit everything in, that subjects are missed or squeezed out? Teachers know that the curriculum has become narrow and out of balance. In October 2017, Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector of Schools, published a commentary on research commissioned by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) on the primary and secondary curriculum. In this she discussed that a curriculum makes a school and That a good school achieves a careful balance because Time is limited. (c.f. 2013 NC Framework reference to time in para. 3). The research programme she commissioned had three phases, with the intention of informing OFSTED’s understanding of how curricula were being implemented, before a new inspection framework was published. It was also to challenge their own organisation concerning whether the OFSTED inspection process had played a role in bending the curriculum out of shape. This referred to curriculum narrowing and imbalance between subjects observed during school inspections. Spielman’s whole commentary is essential reading and requires considerable reflection particularly regarding the themes of knowledge and expertise which are i mportant considerations and more aligned to valuing how children learn rather than subjects to be taught. Despite OFSTED confirmation that exams should exist in the service

of the curriculum, the research concluded the opposite, in that there was too great a focus on preparing for Key Stage 2 tests. A narrowing of the primary curriculum was also found. Preparation for Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) begins in some school after Christmas and, whilst it is appropriate for children to be prepared and confident for SATs, much time is stolen by dull over rehearsal. Curriculum imbalance might therefore be caused by focussing teaching on that which is tested, evidenced by the schools where English and mathematics become the dominant subjects across all primary year groups and commonly take up most of the morning, every day of the week. Imbalanced focus on these two subjects pushes out opportunities for reflective teaching methods. Drafting, re-drafting and word skills have become production-line processes; in mathematics children miss opportunities to explain methods, understand concepts or explore patterns and instead are taught pass-the-test tricks. Another factor that may be squeezing the curriculum out of shape, introduced through OFSTED inspections, is that school leaders may have abandoned curriculum development under a perceived pressure of school accountability. Recognition of this effect was acknowledged in the 2018 OFSTED Annual Report. In the speech by Amanda Spielman, in which she launched the report, English and mathematics were

A narrow curriculum, delivered in lessons that do not connect learning or ideas or recognise unique qualities, will not produce creative, caring, critical thinking adults and will no longer be acceptable to OFSTED.

described as the spine not the limit of children’s learning. However, she went on to strengthen the importance of a broader curriculum describing English and mathematics only as the gateway to a broad curriculum that includes the humanities, science, language and the creative subjects too. In the Annual Report a year later (2018/19) it was reported that some schools had lost sight of the real substance of education: the curriculum. The report also acknowledged, not only the role OFSTED had played in this demise, but also reflecting that OFSTED now had a role to play in reversing the trend. In 2019, the OFSTED Education Inspection Framework was updated and included a new statement of curriculum intent by which schools would be judged at inspection. This included: • Leaders take on or construct a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged …. the knowledge and cultural capital to succeed in life • The provider’s curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning … • Learners study the full curriculum OFSTED reacted to its own research findings by widening their scope for inspection to include the full curriculum, the coherence of its design, all learners, the disadvantaged and the degree of knowledge and skills the curriculum would provide for future learning. Is OFSTED to be both the cause and repair of a narrow primary curriculum? Unfortunately, since the publication of the framework, school inspection schedules have been severely disrupted. However, OFSTED have clearly given the green light for curriculum reform. An OFSTED Blog post (2021) provides a post-pandemic update on key points to the 2019 Inspection Framework. These include a statement to the effect that despite the impact of

COVID-19, future school inspections will expect to observe an ambitious curriculum that helps all pupils to study a full breadth of subjects. This gives schools clear instructions to offer a more ambitious and creative approach, to develop a curriculum to meet the needs of every child and it is an area to be inspected. A catch-up curriculum cannot be narrowly focussed but must offer children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, broadening experiences of the real world. Dr. Eaude encouraged us to make such a curriculum a reality, not because it will be inspected, but because it is each child’s entitlement to experiment, to paint, to sing and to explore. A narrow curriculum, delivered in lessons that do not connect learning or ideas or recognise unique qualities, will not produce creative, caring, critical thinking adults and will no longer be acceptable to OFSTED. Last year I had several conversations with a final year BA Hons student who was researching her dissertation. In coming to the end of her course, she felt she had struggled to learn enough about the broader curriculum either through her university course or during her school placements. As a young professional, she had experienced an imbalance in curriculum organisation and delivery in school practice and a bias towards mathematics and English with very little coverage of science, which is the third NC Curriculum Core subject. She had, for example, taught one fifty-minute lesson on magnets by the end of her final year. Her passions are music and dance, she believes that non-core subjects can spark learning and aid expression for children who might struggle to read or who fear mathematics. She longed to share her expertise in music and singing and knew the potential these subjects have for all children, beyond subject knowledge, to build confidence through performance, to develop self-awareness and to encourage compassion whatever their backgrounds. Her research into how schools were preparing and organising a balanced curriculum ready for the new inspection framework gave her confidence to accept a role as a Teaching Assistant

to gain more experience rather than entering the classroom underprepared as a teacher. This is an anecdotal comment but it carries a strong message. As schools complete the summer term, it remains important to discuss how they might seize upon the opportunity to take a reflective look at their curriculum offer. 2020-2021 has been a disrupted, extraordinary school year. Hopefully schools will be able to move to a new beginning, a whole school year from September. I hope there is the energy and the will and that curriculum for the whole child becomes a priority for school improvement. I am lucky enough to have worked in junior schools as a teacher, senior teacher, Deputy Headteacher and Headteacher holding a number of different curriculum responsibilities with learning at the forefront of my philosophy. I began my career in the period when there was no recognised curriculum and teachers made it up; through the period of the introduction of the National Curriculum, through National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies including training and implementation, into SATs and OFSTED Inspections, league tables and reform. As a young teacher I met influential educators who shaped my belief, including Christian Schiller, who led a staff meeting on mathematics at my school. I participated in Local Authority residential courses where the subject was Learning how to Learn and always worked in schools where curriculum discussion took priority. The curriculum is every experience a child has through school: everything you can hold in your hand. The OFSTED Phase 1 Research (2017) into curriculum found little evidence of debate or reflection taking place in the schools they visited and a lack of common curriculum-language for such important areas as progression or skills. They also found weak theoretical understanding of curriculum. In the ten years that I have been out of a school environment, has there been a de-skilling of school leaders and a gradual loss of those who were brought up immersed in curriculum?

If schools are unable to recruit teachers with wider subject experience or knowledge of curriculum design, how will Dr. Eaude’s argument become a reality? There was a time when how children learn, the pedagogy of primary education, was discussed in headteacher training and local area meetings with the local authority. Several key Local Authorities (Oxfordshire: John Coe; West Riding of Yorkshire: Sir Alec Clegg; Buckinghamshire: Peter Lerway; Hampshire: John Barrett, Jane Warwick and Nick Hind) were the strong drivers of curriculum theory, pedagogy and leadership that placed the child at the heart of the curriculum. Local Authorities no longer have such influence and perhaps neither the financial resources nor the advisory staff expertise to initiate or drive forward the debate. Is there an opportunity and need for professional development concerned with curriculum theory and if so who would be the providers? Does NAPE know? Colleges of Education, particularly Goldsmith College London and Bishop Grosseteste in Lincoln both led by Professor Len Marsh, ran courses for aspiring primary practitioners and future leaders. If current initial teacher training is over-focussed on teaching English and mathematics, if trainee teachers are not able to gain experience of other subjects whilst on school placement and if professional development opportunities in curriculum theory are unknown, then implementing a broadly-based learning experience for children, however compelling, looks to be unachievable. If schools are unable to recruit teachers with wider subject experience or knowledge of curriculum design, how will Dr. Eaude’s argument become a reality? In the very short space for questions following the lecture, one teacher, about to enter the profession,

asked how she could find a school which offered children a broad and balanced curriculum and if she didn’t, how could she start working in that way. The answer was that it would be “challenging”. At the start of my career it was easy for me to make up a curriculum for my Year 4 class, initially based upon what I had learnt at junior school, because no one was watching, there was no accountability. A young teacher at the beginning of their career today, without the leadership of a likeminded headteacher, may not find the teaching of a broad curriculum to be a priority. Curriculum leadership is vital. As a follow-up to the Schiller Lecture, Mark Taylor, Vice-Chair NAPE, subsequently hosted and produced a Facebook Question and Answer session and podcast with Dr. Eaude (2021). I asked where the best examples of curriculum design could be found at present. This can be taken in two avenues: where in the country, that is which schools lead the way, and where in the curriculum could good examples be found, for example in the humanities or the arts? There are no ready answers but an opportunity for further research and publication. I also asked whether Academy Trusts might have the advantage over Local Authority schools as they have more control over how they do things and can choose and design their own curriculum which must be broad and balanced and include English, Mathematics, science and religious education. They can adapt freely to suit the needs of cohorts. Speaking recently to a senior teacher who teaches in an Multi-Academy Trust with several primary schools, I learnt that they are in the process of curriculum re-design across the whole Trust. There is advantage to be gained when a group of schools and teachers work together, under strong leadership, around a priority focus. In this Trust’s new curriculum, children’s learning begins with an enquiry question and a local point of interest. Building character is as important an outcome as the knowledge and skills related

to the subject of the moment. Metacognitive tools, for example, reflection, mind-mapping, cause and consequence, or evaluation have been identified and are taught and used alongside learning. If the subject area is history, then historical knowledge is learnt alongside relevant skills on being an historian. English is taught through the curriculum, where reading, writing and discussion are used for purposeful outcomes. The learning experience is designed to deepen knowledge and the focus on a single subject removes time (to fit everything in) pressure or the scattergun effect of a multi-subject week where little knowledge sticks. A progression in skills and knowledge has also been mapped out, so that those identified for a Year 2 child are different for a child in Year 5. There is no confusion from trying to teach lessons of each subject in a week, as each singlesubject study might be two or three weeks long. Such subject enquiry is organised for extended periods of time across a week, alongside subjects which need to be taught separately as standalone or continuous units, like mathematics, P.E. and aspects of English including grammar and spelling. This model puts children in the midst of the learning, actively involved in decision making and extends the limits of their own experience, allowing them to consider and reflect on new perspectives. The teacher commented that that a timetable of lessons is not a curriculum; timetabled hourlong lessons can easily be squeezed and time lost at either end by other classroom tasks so that children end up being taught some facts in thirty-five minutes rather than exploring a subject in depth. These ideas, in the first year of implementation, are worth further consideration. Design on paper might not work in practice, breadth alone is not enough and the real development of mastery is not about being busy. This is not a Primary First article looking back to a better time. I have outlined where some of the blocks to curriculum development lie and,

if you believe in the ideals and argument put forward by Dr. Eaude, these must be overcome. In the Q&A session, I also asked what role NAPE would play in moving the discussion forwards and contributing to this educational dialogue. How will NAPE help to bridge the gap for primary professionals who want to deliver a rich, active, balanced and inclusive curriculum but are unsure how to begin? There is surely a significant role here for the National Association of Primary Education and I hope the challenge is accepted, as this moment in time provides an excellent opportunity. To conclude, I return to the divergent statements discussed earlier about time: There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications’ (NC 2013) and Time is limited (OFSTED 2017). Christian Schiller (1979) spoke about time and space on a summer’s day in a talk to trainee teachers in 1951. It is a rather rambling series of ideas but the image of having time on a summer’s day as a teacher appeals to me. Giving children the time and space to lie on their back and gaze at the sky as he did is not to be missed out of any primary curriculum. It is a message about slowing down to learn more at greater depth; with children, and the things they like doing, at the heart of any curriculum. I think of Schiller’s idea as a metaphor for the curriculum as a whole. The sky is vast, bright and full of opportunity and too much to take in all at once. There is a need to touch the earth at your fingertips to make sense of the space above. Could the weighty content of each subject be pared back to allow learning that is real and relevant to be organised around fewer subjects and their related skills at any one time, with breadth organised across the year or across several years? Children only have one chance at being 7 years and 5 days old so each day counts.

Barbara Cook is now retired but had a long career as a Hampshire Primary Headteacher at Guillemont Junior School in Farnborough. Child centred education led her vision and outdoor learning was a passion. Her wider experience included short-term voluntary work in Ghana and Namibia as a Primary Education Adviser and school visits with the British Council in Beijing and Pittsburgh. Part of her year is now spent in Brittany gardening.

References Department for Education. (2013) The national curriculum in England Key stages 1 and 2 framework document. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/ system/uploads/attachment_data/file/425601/PRIMARY_national_ curriculum.pdf GOV.UK. Types of School – Academies. Available at: https://www. gov.uk/types-of-school/academies Hartford, Sean. (2021) OFSTED Blog. Our education inspection handbooks have changed. What’s New? What do you need to know? Available at: https://educationinspection. our-education-inspectionhandbooks-have-changed-whats-new-what-do-you-need-to-know/ NAPE. (2019) Position Paper NAPE and the Primary Sector Update. Available at: https://nape.org.uk/admin/UserFiles/34/file/19.%20 PositionPaperNAPEand%20Primary%20Sector%20%202019.pdf NAPE. (2021) Podcast NAPE 065. The Christian Schiller Lecture. Dr Tony Eaude. Available at: https://nape.org.uk/nape-podcast NAPE (2021) Podcast NAPE 066. A balanced and broadly based curriculum Q&A with Dr. Tony Eaude. Available at: https://nape.org. uk/nape-podcast OFSTED (2018) An investigation into how to assess the quality of education through curriculum intent, implementation and impact Phase 3 findings of curriculum research. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/ system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936097/Curriculum_ research_How_to_assess_intent_and_implementation_of_ curriculum_191218.pdf OFSTED (2019) Education inspection framework (EIF). Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-inspectionframework/education-inspection-framework OFSTED (2019) Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 22018/19. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/ system/uploads/attachment_data/file/859422/Annual_Report_ of_Her_Majesty_s_Chief_Inspector_of_Education__Children_s_ Services_and_Skills_201819.pdf Schiller, C. (1979) Ed. Christopher Griffin-Beale, Christian Schiller in his own words. London: A and C Black. Spielman, A. (2017) HMCI’s commentary: recent primary and secondary curriculum research. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/ government/speeches/hmcis-commentary-october-2017 Speilman, A. (2018) Speech. Amanda Spielman launches Ofsted’s Annual Report 2017/18 Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amandaspielman-launches-ofsteds-annual-report-201718

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility Michelle Prosser Haywood

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children is everyone’s responsibility. Everyone who comes into contact with children and their families and carers has a role to play. To fulfil this responsibility effectively, all professionals should make sure their approach is child centred. This means that they should consider, at all times, what is in the best interests of the child. (Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020) Providing a safe environment for children to learn, identifying children and young people (CYP) who are likely to suffer significant harm and taking appropriate action with the aim of making sure they are kept safe both at home and in an educational setting is the cornerstone of the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) policy documents. Your school will have translated them into their Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy (see for example, https:// www.woodhouse.priacademy.co.uk/images/ image_gallery/large/1605519936.pdf ). As a teacher you will be expected to be familiar with these policies, which are revised annually in line with changes to KCSIE. Familiarisation and knowledge of policy guidance will form both part of your initial induction when you will be taken through the policy, as a new member of staff and through regular updates and reminders to all school staff, throughout the academic year. In school we have an understanding that that abuse can ‘happen here’, and the ‘here’ can be 28

your school or within the community which surrounds your school, which is why we need to be aware of what we are looking for, in order to keep children safe from harm.

Types of Abuse Firstly, it is key that you know the signs and types of abuse to look out for, • Physical abuse can include evidence of hitting, shaking, throwing, scalding and drowning and children may find it difficult to explain the injury • Emotional abuse, leads to a child feeling worthless and unloved, and indicators may be self-harm, evidence of insomnia, depression, passivity and resignation • Sexual abuse, is defined as forcing or persuading a child to take part in sexual activity. Children who have been sexually abused can self-harm, flinch at physical contact and have feelings of guilt and shame • Neglect is the failure to meet a child’s basic physical needs and may include, insufficient food, inappropriate clothing, lack of personal care and appropriate supervision Many of the high-profile cases we see in the media, lead us to be believe that offenders are not known to children (see for example, Iain Huntley), and that their behaviour was extraordinary (see for example, Jeremy Forest, who took a pupil to France, and made national

headlines, or baby P (Peter Connelly) who had 50 recorded injuries, at the time of his death and led to a public inquiry in the London Borough of Haringey). Well publicised cases, bring safeguarding to the public’s attention, and can prompt changes in practice, through serious case reviews, but this publicity can sometimes mask, the familiar, normal and ordinary, which we should all be aware of, when keeping children safe. It should be noted that, • child abuse is committed by someone known to the child, not a stranger • it occurs in every sector of society, • both males and females have been known to commit abuse, • children are at risk of abuse from other children (peer on peer) • children don’t often disclosure abuse at the time it happens • some types of abuse not be disclosed at all, i.e., neglect.

Reporting Concerns If you have any concerns about a child, you should act on them immediately. This will usually be a conversation with the designated safeguarding lead (DSL) or their deputy (and their timetable should be known to all staff, as a requirement that a DSL is available at all times)

in your school to agree a course of action. In some schools your concern may be reported through the Management Information System (i.e., SIMS, Bromcom or CPOMS) or through a separate system such as ‘myconcern’ or using a paper system, which is stored in a secure location. Whichever way your school records concerns, you should make yourself familiar with the reporting process, to support the DSL to form a chronology of incidents and concerns, so that further help and support can be accessed. When you have made your concern known, it may be due to confidentiality, that you are not made aware of the outcome of your concern. This is not unusual and nothing to be worried about. There are several times, when you can contact children’s social care and/or the police directly yourself, in cases of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) (as this is a criminal offence), it is advised that you contact the police. However, I would recommend discussing it with the DSL before doing so, as different arrangements are in place when FGM is suspected. If your concern has come from a disclosure rather than an observation, then it is your duty as a teacher, and act in the child’s best interests to report it in the same way to your school DSL, as you would an observation (i.e., dirty clothes, bruising or forgotten lunchboxes) remembering that you should never promise a child that you can fix it or that you will not tell anyone else. 29

Well publicised cases, bring safeguarding to the public’s attention, and can prompt changes in practice, through serious case reviews, but this publicity can sometimes mask, the familiar, normal and ordinary, which we should all be aware of, when keeping children safe. 30

Contextual Safeguarding As a teacher you should be aware that particular safeguarding incidents can be associated with factors outside the school and/or can occur between children outside of the school environment, but these concerns will still need to be reported to the DSL. These may involve groups of children from your school and neighbouring schools in county lines drug dealing, criminal and sexual exploitation, serious youth violence and bullying. Please note if you have raised a concern and you do not feel it has been actioned or taken seriously, then you can refer to your school whistleblowing policy or The NSPCC whistleblowing helpline is available for staff who do not feel able to raise concerns regarding child protection failures internally. Staff can call 0800 028 0285 – line is available from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm, Monday to Friday and email: help@nspcc.org.uk https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/ report-abuse/dedicated-helplines/whistleblowingadvice-line/ Michelle Prosser Haywood is the chair of nasen’s 0-11 group and the founder of @reserachSEND, hosted by the University of Wolverhampton’s Multi-Academy Trust.

Meaningful pupil voice and its impact across the curriculum and in the world Penny Lamb

Every week, VotesforSchools creates resources for teachers to have informed debates and discussions about issues of the day. The children then have a chance to vote and leave comments. These are then made public - massively raising the awareness and impact of pupil voice. “Primary platform for VotesforSchools was never part of the initial plan,” says Kate Harris, cofounder and CEO of VotesforSchools. “I knew, with all my experience in Secondary provision, that it would fly from years 7 up, but I knew little about the Primary setting.” Kate started VotesforSchools out of a passion for supporting teachers in having informed conversations with their children about the world around them; and the firm belief that the pupils’ opinions and thoughts needed to be not only valued, but heard and have real impact. She knew that young people could really have agency in the world around them. “Within a couple of months of launching, we had a regular call for the platform to be extended to Key Stage 2, and even Key Stage 1,” says Kate, “But with topics ranging from social media, to extremism, to environmental issues, to crime, how on earth do we get Primary-aged children involved in this?” Enter a team of Primary specialists onto the staff. “It’s not as tricky as it sounds,” says Amy from the

Content Team. “We follow curriculum guidelines and adapt topics so they are age-appropriate.” So, for International Women’s day, while Secondary voters are debating “Does gender bias cause problems for everyone?”, KS2 were talking about “Will gender stereotypes affect your future?”. By comparison, in KS1 they were looking at “Is it important to play with a variety of toys?” While a range of questions is often necessary, it is great when they can ask all ages the same question, as that gives some powerful data. “My recent favourites,” says Amy, “are probably: “Would you like to be a politician right now?”, and “Will cinemas disappear in your lifetime?”. Suffice to say, the Primary platform really took off. Younger children love talking about the issues of the day as much as teenagers, and we shouldn’t underestimate what children are able to understand, digest, and comment on when it’s presented in an age-appropriate way. Judith, a former teacher at Packmoor Ormiston in Stoke-on-Trent was thrilled to walk in on a conversation going on between a Year 5 and an Ofsted inspector about whether education should be a priority in the time of conflict. The class had just had their VotesforSchools session on how to talk about the conflict in Yemen, which that week had been developed with help from UNICEF UK. Not only this, but Judith herself loved VotesforSchools so much she joined the team as a Content Developer!

“What also has blown us away,” says Kate, “Is how it all comes alive in Primary schools. There are wall displays showing this week’s topic and last week’s vote results; ballot boxes in reception areas; Year 6s in charge of collecting and counting votes; assemblies where “No” voters leave one door with “Yes” voters leaving the other; dinner ladies wearing badges saying: “This week, I’m voting YES!” – the list goes on... The Home Information Sheet in the pack each week also enables these conversations to take place at home - a vital tool in community cohesion. It was partly with this in mind that Barking and Dagenham School Improvement Plan (BDSIP) subscribed all their Primary schools to VotesforSchools. Ben from BDSIP says: “VotesforSchools is a brilliant programme, which is engaging young people across Barking & Dagenham in politics and building a strong community where schools communicate with one another and tackle difficult issues.” Teachers love using VotesforSchools. The lessons are created fresh every week, delivered on a Thursday ready to be debated the following week. They give confidence to those tasked with talking about such a huge variety of subjects; and are also provided ready to go, with zero preparation. The weekly assembly, which gives a roundup of

current affairs and introduces the topic of the week, is a godsend to those usually tasked with writing an assembly on a Sunday evening. Different schools use VotesforSchools is different ways. It lends itself particularly well to UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools programme. Gabrielle from Ormiston South Parade says: “We start the week with the VotesforSchools topic and make that the focus of the week. Every week we have a gold star stamp which references which Right that VoteTopic covers, and the kids track it themselves. It is brilliant.” Other schools use is as a perfect tool for Oracy, a writing starter, or for a citizenship or PSHE lesson. The well-received Cross Curricular Guide shows teachers where they can use the debate in lessons throughout the week in Maths, Humanities, Art, or Computing. Whatever the context, the weekly debate and vote builds skills and habit of critical thinking, listening to others, tolerance of others’ view, and taking part in the democratic process. All lessons are mapped to Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education; Sustainable Development Goals, British Values and Prevent. “The Prevent agenda is something we can really support schools with”, says Kate. “We work closely with the Counter Terrorism Police, and

have a commendation from the Metropolitan Police for our work in countering extremism.” It seems an unlikely fit, but by giving children a space where they can learn critical thinking and have regular opportunities to listen to a plurality of views goes a long way in starting the process of safeguarding them from extremist views. Lou, from the Counter Terrorism Polices loves what the platform is able to do. “I can’t say enough good things about VotesforSchools. Their engaging and thoughtprovoking sessions broaden pupils’ knowledge on key issues and encourage critical thinking, this is vital when building stronger communities and preventing vulnerable people being radicalised.” “On a practical level,” says Kate, “schools love the fact that the data the votes create for the schools each week provides not only an insight into the hearts and minds of their children, but instant evidence to Ofsted or the Independent Schools Inspectorate of quality provision throughout the whole school of SMSC, Prevent and British Values.” This is summed up by the Head of Delves Primary School: “We had only had VotesforSchools for four weeks when we were inspected. The children spoke very enthusiastically about the topics they had been debating. No further evidence of SMSC, Prevent or British Values was needed.” But, of course, education is so much more than box ticking, and it is what happens to the vote data that really makes VotesforSchools special. Each week, the data is collected passed on to those of influence who then respond to the children. “This is absolutely key,” says Lizzy, Head of Impact. “The children need to know that their voice is being heard and acted upon, or they will lose faith in the whole process. Our data has gone on to influence policy and practice in a range of areas, from domestic abuse with The Children’s Society, to social media with Place2Be.”

“Working with other organisations is very exciting”, says Penny, Director of Partnerships. “By working closely with organisations such as The Children’s Commissioner, UNICEF UK, The Refugee Council, The Black Curriculum, and the Anti- Bullying Alliance, we can draw on their expertise to make sure we are on the right track and they are always very keen to see the results.” Despite the powerful data, it’s important to note that VotesforSchools is not a poll; it goes further than this. The children are only invited to vote and leave comments when they have had the discussion or debate. This is all about informed decision-making, not trigger-happy reactions. A new partnership with the British Council is particularly exciting, as schools are using VotesforSchools materials to have conversations with their counterparts in Nepal. Their biggest venture to date is that they are inviting all schools to get involved. In the lead up to COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow in November. They want to get 100,000 children’s voices about climate change and its effect on their rights. There will be a FREE pack of resources including assemblies, Home Information Sheets, and lessons, along with a chance to vote and leave comments. The results of these debates will go right to the top. It seems only right that the last word comes from the children: “I think that this was a really good topic - all of your ideas are! Thank you for making my learning funner.” “I think votes for school helps as you can say your opinion instead of everyone else voting for you”

Penny Lamb is the Director of Partnerships for VotesforSchools

For more information or to book a demo for your school https://votesforschools.as.me/schedule.php For free examples of debate resources https:// www.votesforschools.com/downloads/

The children need to know that their voice is being heard and acted upon, or they will lose faith in the whole process.

To sign up to get your school involved in COP26 project https://mailchi.mp/votesforschools/ cop26-100-000-childrens-voices

Boxing Clever The Letter Box Study Group Founded in 1976, the LBSG has identified around 800 different types of postbox. The Letter Box Study Group (LBSG) is the acknowledged authority on the history and development of the British roadside letter box. The Letter Box Study Group Education Pack will help children – and adults – look little more closely at post boxes, their place in our community landscape, and the importance of staying in touch with friends, family and neighbours all over the world. New school term? Need new ideas for learningrelated outdoor activities in primary schools? In literacy, numeracy, art, design, geography and history? Try the Letter Box Study Group Education Pack https://lbsg.org/docs/LBSG_Education_Pack.pdf on for size. It consists of worksheets and activities for EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage), KS1 and KS2. There are also notes for extension activities. The sheets can be used individually or as a whole. They can be deployed for simple colouring, observation exercises, reading and writing, numbers

and basic reasoning. For older age groups, the Pack may be used to introduce discussion of design, engineering, manufacture and elementary business studies. Teaching children about history is an integral part of understanding the world today. The Pack is, for example, well suited to teaching about Victorian times.

Book review

The Joy of Not Knowing (2021) by Marcelo Staricoff

The Joy of not knowing, to be known as JONK™ is a collective wisdom and philosophical output, that is founded in the author’s extensive research and experience, notably as a founding member of the Chartered College of Teaching. The philosophy behind JONK™ is to enable ‘all individuals to flourish by creating the conditions that remove worry and anxiety usually associated with not knowing’ and replacing them with ‘a love for learning…and wanting to learn’. One helpful addition to the book, educational publishers take note, is the use of coloured diagrams and publishing company Routledge is to be commended on this. Staricoff is quite clear that children are to be equipped with the necessary tools to learn; the focus is on shared intelligence, collaboration that allows individuals to merge in a value conscious attitude for problem solving. Such a constructivist attitude is surely welcome in modern primary education.

The book is laden with research informed models (just note the bibliography), and importantly, for teachers, meaningful ideas of how to implement the philosophy in today’s classroom. Staricoff has produced a book that adequately prepares children for the future by reminding teachers of important values and concepts (for example, democracy, metacognition and sustainability) that reimagines what a successful education should entail. The child is firmly at the centre of his philosophy to be lifelong learners. The other key message to take from the book is that JONK™ is not an individualistic introduction into a school community; it is to be wholly adopted and believed in. This community ethos serving to bind all those engaged in learning is an important message today.

Is there an aspect of inclusion your school is missing? Ruth Jenkins

What if there were thousands of pupils in schools across the UK with a belief protected under the Equality Act 2010 , but who experienced discrimination and exclusion in school every day? What if these pupils were living in a way that tackled climate change, reduced their risk of developing the UK’s leading causes of disease, and they were determined to be kind? Are those reasons why they should be discriminated against? Surely that couldn’t happen in your school? Sadly, our research finds that this is the case across the UK. Since January this year, vegan pupils have registered over 1,000 of their schools to receive Vegan-Inclusive Education packs in a bid to help improve inclusion in this area. 252 pupils have completed a survey to capture their day to day experiences as vegans in school, and the results show a widespread challenge and huge improvement opportunity for schools. Fewer than 40% of respondents feel welcome as a vegan pupil in their school, and less than 40% feel safe. Only 12% feel supported to take pride in their vegan beliefs, and only 13% feel valued. If pupils do not feel welcome, safe, supported and valued, they will not be able to learn at their best.

Why might vegan pupils not feel safe? Pupils need to feel safe to learn effectively, but they will feel unsafe if they are being teased or bullied because of their beliefs. 73% of respondents have been teased for their vegan beliefs at school. 72% of them were teased by other pupils, but 16% were teased by teachers and 12% by other school staff. 42% of respondents said that they had been bullied because of their vegan beliefs. 76% of those were bullied by other pupils, but 13% were bullied by teachers and 12% were bullied by other staff. Of those who had been teased or bullied, only 25% said their school had been swift and helpful to tackle the issue, which contradicts every antibullying policy written by schools. Without recognising veganism as a belief susceptible to bullying, schools are likely to be slower to respond to bullying that arises, and will likely find it hard to manage successfully without the preparatory work of inclusive policies and training for staff and pupils alike.

It is essential that schools invest in training and include an explanation in their policy documents that ethical veganism is a protected belief. These policies need to be explained to both school staff and pupils so that there is no room for misunderstanding. Teachers and pupils need to be clear that this is not an acceptable area for disrespect – just as schools have had to include those with different ethnicities, different abilities, and different sexualities in their expanding circle of inclusion. We cannot afford to maintain a situation where vegan pupils have such high incidences of teasing and bullying over a protected characteristic in schools, and it is a matter of urgency to tackle the fact that in 1 in 4 incidences it is school staff who are the perpetrators. “My son was bullied constantly and beaten up after school for being a vegan. His school did nothing to support vegan awareness and understanding of vegan culture. We had to find him a new school.” “I have had meat thrown at me, animal noises made at me.”

Why might vegan pupils not feel welcomed? Both food and educational approaches can both be unintentionally excluding. If vegan pupils aren’t offered healthy and varied school meals, they are unlikely to feel welcome. Most vegan pupils (54%) said they had experienced no vegan school meal option. This is unlawful. 60% of vegan pupils have experienced narrow and repetitive options (think jacket potato and beans every day). 48% have experienced no vegan dessert options offered on the menu. Imagine if you had to watch your peers eat a yummy pudding every day, and you weren’t given anything. 36% have experienced menu offerings that are not nutritionally balanced. Free help is available to schools and local authorities to improve this. ProvegUK are offering schools and local authorities free consultancy to support their development of plant-based school meal offerings. They are cheaper, will massively cut your school’s carbon footprint, will improve the health outcomes of your pupils and are the most inclusive option

you can offer your pupils. You can contact them now to join the growing group of schools and local authorities taking this positive step towards inclusion, health and sustainability. Additionally, with regard to food outside of school meals, more than two thirds (68%) of vegan pupils have experienced that there are no vegan alternatives offered when food is used as a treat (for example chocolates offered as a prize). Where should you look first to make sure your curriculum is inclusive? 63% of pupils said cooking was an area where they had felt excluded because of their veganism. 48% had felt excluded in nutrition lessons, 43% on school trips, 33% in science, and 25% on topic work. 58% of vegan pupils had been asked to complete work at school that was incompatible with their vegan beliefs. Reviewing these 5 key areas for inclusiveness would make a massive difference and there is further support available to schools and Early Years settings in the UK. ‘Primary Veducation’ is a consultancy service run by a former teacher and SENCo who specialises in whole staff training sessions, showing how to adapt the statutory curriculum and differentiate for the needs of the vegan children in each setting. Founder Laura Chepner is also author of ‘An Educator’s Guide for Vegan-Inclusive Teaching’, which takes practitioners step by step through how to build a vegan-inclusive curriculum.

Why might a vegan pupil not feel valued? In less than 5% of cases had pupil’s teachers taught their class about vegan beliefs. When asked about whether their teachers fully understood their vegan beliefs, and worked to fully integrate them into their teaching, only 2% said they did, and 34% said not at all. Three quarters of respondents scored their teachers in

the lower half of this scale, so there is lots of room for improvement in both understanding and application in teaching. Educating about difference is a crucial cornerstone of inclusion. Only once pupils understand a belief can they value it. If veganism is not integrated into the curriculum or discussed as a valued belief then it is automatically placed outside the scope of beliefs that children are taught to respect. Then it’s not surprising that teasing and bullying can flourish. RE and World View lessons include lots of information about different religions, with examples of beliefs to help children understand them, and it will be clear from anti-bullying policies that bullying on the grounds of religion is not tolerated. Ethical veganism as a philosophical belief is protected under the Equality Act 2010, and it is just as important that your pupils understand the core principles that underpin veganism, and how to respect it, as other beliefs. Vegans now make up 1.1% of the population, and are more common in the UK than those identifying as Jewish or Buddhist or Sikh. 85% of respondents had felt discriminated against because of their vegan beliefs at school. Of those, the most common emotions elicited were: • Feeling misunderstood (53%) • Frustration (52%) • Sadness (51%) • Heightened sense of difference (49%) • Anger (40%) • Anxiety (39%) • Feeling belittled (37%) • Embarrassment (36%) • Social isolation (36%) • Undervalued (33%) • Impaired sense of belonging (31%) • Powerless (31%) • Humiliation (24%)

Only once pupils understand a belief can they value it. If veganism is not integrated into the curriculum or discussed as a valued belief then it is automatically placed outside the scope of beliefs that children are taught to respect.

All education practitioners seeking inclusion must seek to avoid eliciting these emotions in their pupils. Each of these emotions distances the student from the teacher, closes them down to receiving their educational messages and from participating effectively in their education.

Are you still unconvinced? Have you read this and felt frustrated about a call for vegan-inclusion? When veganism comes up, there is a common psychological response in non-vegans that psychologists term cognitive dissonance. This arises when an individual holds two incompatible beliefs and acts on one of them. For example ‘I love animals’ and ‘It is ok to eat animals’. As Zaria Gorvett writes for BBC Future: “The tension that results can make us feel stressed, irritated, and unhappy. Instead of resolving it by changing our beliefs or behaviour, it’s quite normal to blame these feelings on something else entirely – all without realising we’re doing it. Our brains have a number of strategies which allow us to avoid facing up to the meat paradox. These include pretending that meat has no link to animals, imagining that we eat less of it than we really do, wilful ignorance about how it’s produced – helped by the cartoons of happy farm animals that we’re exposed to from childhood – and only eating meat from animals which are “humanely” farmed. Unfortunately, most of these are derailed by the presence of vegans. By their mere existence, vegans force people to confront their cognitive dissonance. And this makes people angry. One popular way to resolve cognitive dissonance is by reasoning our way out of it. Decades of psychological research have shown that, when making a decision, people tend to allow themselves to reach their preferred conclusion, as long as they can invent a rational-sounding justification. In the case of meat, this “motivated reasoning” might

lead people to find explanations for why eating animals is the correct decision. And one of these is that vegans are bad. Psychological research shows that people tend to reject members of groups who have made laudable choices on purpose. There’s mounting evidence that we’re particularly threatened by people who have similar morals to us, if they’re prepared to go further than we are in order to stick to them. In the end, our fear of being judged far outstrips any respect we might have for their superior integrity.” So with this psychological awareness we can see that ethical veganism is likely to trigger more teasing and bullying than many other protected characteristics. We must recognise that this increases the need for school policies and practices to protect against this, rather than give in to our own psychological shortcuts and biases. Whatever your beliefs, ethical veganism is protected under the Equality Act 2010, and education professionals need to protect their vegan pupils under the law, as well as for the sake of their successful education. Do you think this isn’t an issue in your school, maybe because all the vegans are in London? When we started this work, we didn’t know the extent of vegan pupils either. This is the map of over 1,000 schools that vegan pupils have registered to receive a Vegan-Inclusive Education pack so far, and it shows just how UK-wide the issue is:

Over one in a hundred people are now vegan in the UK. How many people are in your school? How many of your pupils and staff are vegan? You may well not know, but it is probably time to ask them. It is good practice to include the question on registration forms, and (since ethical veganism is a belief that can be adopted at any time) to enquire regularly through various forms of communication whether anyone requires vegan school meals.

References Equality Act 2010: Guidance. (2013). GOV.UK. https://www.gov.uk/ guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200203-the-hidden-biasesthat-drive-anti-vegan-hatred#:~:text=Unfortunately%2C%20 most%20of%20these%20are,meat%20eating%20as%20an%20 ideology.&text=By%20their%20mere%20existence%2C%20 vegans,And%20this%20makes%20people%20angry.

You can download a copy of the Vegan-Inclusive Education pack from the schools page at vieducation.co.uk, where you can also find dozens of resources from educational worksheets for all ages and aspects of the curriculum to fully costed school meal recipes. The pack includes a checklist of 11 steps for vegan-inclusive education, the most important of which have been discussed here: • Adopt policies and procedures that are veganinclusive, especially your anti-bullying policy, and follow through by educating your staff and pupils about veganism as a protect belief. • Check your current curriculum for veganinclusion, especially in cooking, nutrition, science, topic work and school trips, and avoiding the use of animals in school: hatching programmes, pets etc. • Improve your plant-based school meal offering: for the sake of including your vegan pupils, improving the health of all your pupils, and saving the planet. By committing to make your school a veganinclusive environment you are safeguarding a space where vegan pupils can feel safe and comfortable to learn, both now and in the future. We truly appreciate your work. Ruth Jenkins is the Programme Co-ordinator of Vegan-Inclusive Education https:// vieducation.co.uk/

Would you like to write an article for Primary First? Primary First is the triannual published journal of the National Association for Primary Education (NAPE), which brings together everyone who has a concern for the learning of children from birth to 13 years. Members and affiliated schools work to improve education through the Early, Primary and Middle Years. Articles would be warmly considered covering broad ranging themes and topics within education, birth to 13, from children, parents, teachers, teacher trainers, policy makers, governors, in fact anyone who has an interest and passion for primary education. If you wish to submit an article, please read the following guidance: • Articles are not to have been published elsewhere (unless with permission) • Articles to be typed on Microsoft word document • Type – size 12 • Font - Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri • Line spacing 1.5 • Standard English to be used (unless for a specific purpose within an article). Although articles will be received written in Welsh, Gaelic, Scots or Cornish • Acronyms to follow introduced terms • Contracted words, for example, ‘don’t’ to be written as ‘do not’

• URLs may be used if extant • Tables and figures, if used, to be labelled • References are to be used but may be either Harvard or foot note • First or third person may be used • Numbers fewer than 100 to be written in words • Photographs are welcome – if consent of the subject is given • The minimum word count is 1,000; maximum word count is 4,000 • Shorter pieces, fewer than 1,000 words, are also welcomed, for example, opinion pieces, book reviews, poetry or originally drawn cartoons If this would be your first contribution you can have your article developed by one of the editorial team who can advise you and support you prior to publication. Please email any article to Robert Morgan r.a.morgan@gre.ac.uk Issue 32 is to be published in November 2021 and is likely to cover the theme of LGBTQ+ within education. If you would like to advertise a commercial product or service in Primary First, the cost would be £400 per page; £200 per half page or in discussion with the editor.

How to get the best Energy contract for your school(s). The energy market has changed considerably in recent years, making it harder for the end user to have clear visibility of exactly what they are buying when signing a new contract. The team at BCR Associates provide some best practice advice for those with procurement responsibilities to help with the energy buying process.

What’s the first step to securing the best contract? When seeking a new energy contract, the most important thing is to look beyond the headline unit rate or the estimated annual value. Make sure that you ask for the quotations to include the selected supplier’s contract together with the Terms and Conditions (T & Cs) for the specific supply. It is important that you are quoted the total cost of the contract over its lifetime.

Why is this important? Due to the way that the cost of business energy is calculated there are often unseen charges written into the T & Cs. Energy costs are split into two parts – the commodity (wholesale) cost, and the non-commodity cost, which consists of Government levies and taxes, currently equating to about 60% of the unit rate. Below is an example of three electricity quotes recently provided to a school by an Energy broker:

Supplier

Eon

EDF

SSE

Cost

£56,461.99

£59,140.73

£63,511.65

Type of contract

Fixed and Inclusive

Fully Fixed

Commodity Cost

Fixed

Non-Commodity cost

Included not fixed

Fixed

Risk

Non-commodity element can be reconciled

Budget Certainty

New legislation has made it harder for suppliers to forecast the impact of the non-commodity levies. Suppliers use their terms and conditions to control how these levies are treated during the lifetime of the contract. Suppliers reserve the right to go back and reconcile if their terms allow – this may mean that you will receive additional charges on your bill. If we look at the quotation above, the quote from Eon looks to be the most attractive as it is the cheapest. However, as most suppliers offer more than one product, it’s important to understand what type of contract is on offer and what risks are associated with it. You will notice that the EON quote has not included a fixed non-commodity cost which may mean that it could be more expensive in the long run. The quote from EDF or SEE are fixed for the duration of the contract which is better for budget certainty.

so that they can make an informed decision and fully appreciate the risks related to each type of contract. Schools with half-hourly meters also need to bear in mind that the unit costs for electricity in that market are more expensive. For a more detailed explanation of the different contract types and how this may impact overall pricing or for help and advice with anything procurement related, please get in touch with Ben Leighton at BCR Associates, on 03300 245 828 or by email: ben.leighton@bcrassociates.co.uk.

It should be noted that this does not mean any of these contracts are better or worse than the other, they are just different. This is about the school having all the information

ENERGY

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BUSINESS SUPPLIES

INSURANCE

ADDITIONAL SERVICES

THE PROFESSIONALS’ PROCUREMENT CHOICE Discover how our fully managed service can help schools to:

Rationalise costs Manage supplier relationships Ensure compliance Become carbon neutral

Call 03300 245 828 Email ben.leighton@bcrassociates.co.uk Visit bcrassociates.co.uk 47

Primary First Issue 31

Articles inside

Book review - The Joy of Not Knowing

Would you like to write an article for Primary First?

Beyond teaching; experiencing a purposeful curriculum

Is there an aspect of inclusion your school is missing?

Boxing Clever

Time and Space for the Curriculum

Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility Meaningful pupil voice and its impact across the curriculum and in the world

Why a balanced and broadly-based curriculum matters