Pages 14 and 15 Sir David Carter A businesswoman known as the “The Queen of Trucks” has been appointed to one of the new headteacher boards despite never having worked as a teacher, Academies Week can reveal. Nikki King OBE has joined the headteacher board (HTB) for south- east England and south London after being appointed by regional school commissioner Dominic Herrington. Ms King is the former managing director of vehicle manufacturer Isuzu Truck UK, and now serves as the company’s honorary chairman. In 2011 she featured in an episode of the Channel 4 series Undercover Boss. Headteacher boards are part of the government’s new ‘middle tier’ of accountability for academies, with boards supporting each of the eight regional schools commissioners (RSCs). RSCs have a remit to monitor the performance of academies in their regions and approve new academy bids. Mr Herrington said: “I wanted a successful business person to offer independent challenge to me and academies in the region, but it was vital this was someone with a longstanding commitment to education. “I have been fortunate to find both of these characteristics in Nikki, who will bring a unique perspective to my board.” Ms King retired from Isuzu in 2013 to look after her twin granddaughters, and earlier this year took on the role of chair at the Greenacre Academy Trust, which runs a primary and a secondary academy in Kent. She has also mentored students at schools in Kent for a number of years. Ms King said that she saw the HTB as a way to give something back after a successful business career, and that she brought strategic and financial planning experience to the role. “My work with Greenacre has shown me that the academies programme can provide a model to drive school improvement and give young people the chance to thrive,” she said. “I hope to be able to bring to the headteacher board robust strategies and solid financial planning expertise. The eight new regional boards and regional schools commissioners will perform an essential function within the education system. I am thrilled to be part of this new and important initiative.” Commenting on the appointment of a businessperson to one of the HTBs, Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “It is usually healthy for any group to get an external perspective, but the name ‘headteacher board’ rather suggests it is for headteachers. “Certainly the rhetoric around the creation [of the boards] spoke of giving back ownership to the profession. Non-teaching members should therefore be strictly limited. I think a maximum of one per board is sensible.” Elections for the four places available on each board were held before the summer holidays, with A new weekly newspaper for all schools see our introductory offer on the back page academiesweek.co.uk @academiesweek ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK PHILIP NYE @PHILIPNYE Exclusive ‘Queen of trucks’ appointed to new headteacher board Elmhurst Primary bring comic book characters to life see page 19 Ithsham Khan, year 5 Page 7 Page 8 Conservative conference primary report card continued on Page 2 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 | EDITION 2
Transcript
Pages 14 and 15
Sir David Carter
A businesswoman known as the “The Queen of Trucks” has been appointed to one of the new headteacher boards despite never having worked as a teacher, Academies Week can reveal.
Nikki King OBE has joined the headteacher board (HTB) for south-east England and south London after being appointed by regional school commissioner Dominic Herrington.
Ms King is the former managing director of vehicle manufacturer Isuzu Truck UK, and now serves as the company’s honorary chairman. In 2011 she featured in an episode of the Channel 4 series Undercover Boss.
Headteacher boards are part of the government’s new ‘middle tier’ of accountability for academies, with boards supporting each of the eight regional schools commissioners (RSCs). RSCs have a remit to monitor the performance of academies in their regions and approve new academy bids.
Mr Herrington said: “I wanted a successful business person to offer independent challenge to me and academies in the region, but it was vital this was someone with a longstanding commitment to education.
“I have been fortunate to find both of these characteristics in Nikki, who will bring a unique perspective to my board.”
Ms King retired from Isuzu in 2013 to look after her twin granddaughters, and earlier this year took on the role of chair at the
Greenacre Academy Trust, which runs a primary and a secondary academy in Kent. She has also mentored students at schools in Kent for a number of years.
Ms King said that she saw the HTB as a way to give something back after a successful business career, and that she brought strategic and financial planning experience to the role.
“My work with Greenacre has shown me that the academies programme can provide a model to drive school improvement and give young people the chance to thrive,” she said.
“I hope to be able to bring to the headteacher board robust strategies and solid financial planning expertise. The eight new regional boards and regional schools commissioners will perform an essential function within the education system. I am thrilled to be part of this new and important initiative.”
Commenting on the appointment of a businessperson to one of the HTBs, Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “It is usually healthy for any group to get an external perspective, but the name ‘headteacher board’ rather suggests it is for headteachers.
“Certainly the rhetoric around the creation [of the boards] spoke of giving back ownership to the profession. Non-teaching members should therefore be strictly limited. I think a maximum of one per board is sensible.”
Elections for the four places available on each board were held before the summer holidays, with
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Schools are scoring less highly on behaviour relative to other factors since Ofsted introduced tougher inspection guidance in January, according to a new report.
The findings came in the inspectorate’s Below the radar: low-level disruption in the country’s classrooms report – which claims that the equivalent of up to 38 days of teaching was lost per year because of low-level disruption in the classroom.
The report said that where previously more than a fifth of schools – 22 per cent – with an overall effectiveness rating of ‘good’ received an ‘outstanding’ rating for behaviour, this had dropped to 15 per cent following the change in guidance.
Schools rated ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’ were also less likely to receive a behaviour rating equal or above their overall inspection score.
A survey of teachers carried out by the inspectorate found that only around three in ten secondary teachers felt supported by their headteacher in managing poor behaviour.
“Many teachers indicated that senior leaders were not visible or assertive enough in enforcing discipline, school rules or establishing the right ethos,” the report said.
This came despite a survey parents showing that around two-thirds of parents were keen that school leaders ensured that all staff applied a behaviour policy.
The report also provided more detail of the unannounced behaviour inspections which Ofsted has been carrying out.
The inspectorate carried out 28 of these inspections between January and July 2014, targeting schools where be behaviour had been judged to be less than ‘good’ previously, but where the schools had good leadership so “were likely to have sufficient capacity to tackle the identified areas for improvement”
In almost all of the schools, it visited, inspectors still judged behaviour to require improvement, the report said.
Commenting on the findings, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw said: “Children need to know the rules and teachers need to know they will be supported in enforcing them.
“That’s why Ofsted has tightened the guidance on behaviour for inspection and increased the number of unannounced inspections undertaken as a result of concerns. In the last year schools serving almost 450,000 pupils have been judged less than good for behaviour. That is far too many.”
Russell Hobby, general secretary of NAHT said: “Ofsted is contradicting itself. Reports from its routine inspections say behaviour is good or outstanding in 83 per cent of all schools. That’s not yet perfect but it shows a massive improvement.”
Mr Hobby said that the “contradictions” arose in part because Ofsted had changed what it was asking for on behaviour.
“It would help if they had been clear about that and given the system time to clear the new hurdles. It is not ‘failure’ when you are asking more of people,” he said.
Mr Hobby also said that the report “appears to be another way for Ofsted to justify no notice inspections”.
A Jewish education group has said that it is monitoring signs of an “anti-religious agenda” after a secondary school received an unannounced inspection following complaints that pupils were being “indoctrinated”.
Ofsted visited JFS, a 2,000 pupil Jewish school in Kenton, north London, in July after it received a letter that claimed children were taught “extreme” views.
In a report published last week it said there was no evidence of extremist teaching, but it downgraded the school from “outstanding” to “requires improvement”.
The news comes as Ofsted announced it is to launch a wave of no-notice inspections, following an alleged hardline Muslim takeover of some schools in Birmingham.
A spokesman for the Partnership for Jewish Schools (PaJeS) said: “It is fair to say there are people who do have a concern there may be an agenda on faith schools in general in light of recent events.
“We have no evidence that there is such an agenda. If there were, we would be very, very concerned about it and it is safe to say we are monitoring the situation closely.”
Six Ofsted inspectors visited JFS on
July 8. Their report said: “Teachers look for opportunities to develop students’ understanding of spiritual, moral, social and cultural values.
“[There are] high quality displays of work, and a wide range of extra-curricular activities, events and visits help students understand their own faith and respect the views of others. For example, older students are provided with opportunities to discuss values that may be different from their own, such as same-sex relationships.
“Inspectors found no evidence to support the concerns raised in a letter to Ofsted claiming students were being indoctrinated by the extreme orthodox views of some teachers.”
But the inspectors did say that they had concerns that the school’s behaviour policy was implemented inconsistently, a worry shared by parents.
The report added: “Leadership and management require improvement because leaders and governors are not monitoring behaviour systems closely to check that any inequalities are addressed.
“They have not ensured that sanctions are applied in an equitable manner in line with the school’s behaviour policy. Leaders are not monitoring minority groups to ensure they are not discriminated against.”
The head of public affairs at the British
Humanist Association, Pavan Dhaliwal, said: “There is no evidence that Ofsted has adopted an anti-religious agenda. It is hugely important that all schools prepare pupils for life in a diverse, tolerant society. It is this that Ofsted correctly found the Birmingham schools were failing to do, and it is this that recent changes to the inspection framework are intended to address. JFS, however, was inspected prior to these changes, and was downgraded in its inspection for other reasons.”
Academies Week asked Ofsted for the number of unannounced inspections that have taken place over the past year, but it said it was unable to provide any.
Ofsted report reveals fall in school behaviour ratings
Jewish school monitors ‘anti-religious agenda’
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Pic: Jfs.brent.sch.uk
Continued from front...
all academy heads eligible to vote. Every RSC has appointed a further two
board members (one in the case of the West Midlands region), and boards also have the option of co-opting up to two more members.
Ms King (pictured above) is the only businessperson to be appointed to an HTB, with other appointees drawn from headteachers and academy trust chiefs in each region.
Analysis by Academies Week shows that in six cases, the appointed heads had unsuccessfully stood for election.
Sir David Carter, regional school commissioner for the south-west, where both appointees previously stood for election, said that they represented two areas – primary and special schools – that were otherwise under-represented on his board.
“It was honestly a mix of: what was I missing, what could I get. And given that people had already come forward and said they were interested in doing it, that felt to me like that was a justifiable way to go.”
The failure of one academy trust has left the taxpayer paying up to £70,000 for new school uniforms, exclusive research by Academies Week can now reveal.
Nine schools across the country were taken over by new academy sponsors after their original academy trust, E-ACT, was told by the Department for Education that it needed to relinquish control of a number of schools after a series of Ofsted inspections highlighted “weaknesses” at its schools.
The new sponsors have forked out thousands of pounds to pay for new branded uniforms for pupils.
The schools E-ACTgave up were Leeds East and Leeds West Academies, Purston Academy, Trent Valley Academy, Winsford, Hartsbrook Free School, Dartmouth Academy and Aldborough Free School.
They are now sponsored by White Rose Academies Trust, Rodillian Multi-Academy Trust, Lincoln College Academy Trust, The Fallibroome Trust, Lion Education Trust, Kingsbridge Academy Trust and Loxford School Trust respectively.
Six schools changed at least one part of their uniform and paid for it from the school budget, according to their websites.
Using school information about where clothing can be bought and pupil numbers
from government figures, Academies Week has estimated the trusts have spent a total £69,410 providing all, or part, of the new uniforms.
At Leeds East Academy, which has almost 600 pupils, the school provided new blazers to pupils. A plain blazer from Marks & Spencer costs £20.
Trent Valley Academy, now renamed Gainsborough Academy, provided a blazer, tie and jumper to children. Given average costs of such items, the total cost to the taxpayer is estimated at £24,300.
Elsewhere, Stamford Queen Eleanor (now Stamford Welland Academy) was taken over by Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust from CfBT. It said new ties and blazers were to be given to children during
the first term, at no cost to the parents.And at Winsford Academy, in Cheshire,
only the badges on the uniform were changed – at a minimal cost.
Headteacher Andy Taylor-Edwards said: “The decision to change trusts was not the parents fault and we did not feel it was an
extra cost for them to bear.”Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of
Teachers and Lecturers, said: “It is an extraordinary decision.
There is a bit of a fetish with uniforms at academies. Yes, parents don’t have to pay, but they will in future years.
“In a time when budgets are being squeezed, schools should
be spending money on curriculum resources and
teachers and support staff. “If it is a perfectly good
uniform, then pupils should continue and new pupils get the new uniform. Uniform is not intrinsic to teaching and learning and it is an awful amount of money.”
The head of a small private Welsh independent primary school in London has partly blamed her school’s size for the rejection of its second application to become a free school.
The latest FOI release from the Department for Education (DfE) shows that Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain in Brent, north London, was rejected for a second time earlier this year.
As of January 2014 the school had 35 full-time pupils and five part-time pupils, according to the school census roll.
Pupils are taught the Welsh curriculum and speak Welsh as a first language. English is introduced at key stage two as a second language.
Speaking to Academies Week, headteacher Julie Sullivan said Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain had applied to give the school more “freedom” but said there were “numerous factors” that the DfE had reported back as to why it was rejected.
“I think the DfE is only looking for big schools to become free schools. We are the only Welsh school catering for the whole of London, but it is not enough.
“One point that came up was the confusion between the Welsh curriculum and the English curriculum.
“Plus, we were in a difficult position, being such a small establishment. There are a lot of other schools who hire companies to go
through their application and do it for them, whereas we put it together ourselves and were at a bit of a disadvantage.
“But there were other factors that we have agreed with and will be addressing.”
Asked to elaborate on these, Miss Sullivan said: “A lot of them were to do with the governors.” She refused to elaborate.
Eleri Brady, the school’s chair of governors, added: “We’re a tiny school, it’s a big application process taking a lot of time and effort and I’m not sure we are the type of school that the DfE is looking to fund.”
Asked if the school would apply again, Miss Sullivan said: “I would never say never but it depends what the board decides and if we feel the timing is right.”
The school opened in Willesden Green in 1958 with 30 pupils. It moved to the current site in Stonebridge in 2000.
Mrs Brady said: “The families that we have here at the moment, nearly all of them have at least one Welsh parent, we’ve got one or two who just have some connection with Wales. It’s like a little Welsh village in Brent.”
New sponsors, new uniforms - for £70,000
Private Welsh primary fails in second free school bid
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Pic: Google Maps
The old and the new: an illustration of Trent’s uniform, left, and the new Gainsborough uniform, right
The old Trent badge The new Gainsborough badge
A spokesman for Lion Education Trust, which now runs Hartsbrook as Brook House Primary, said the school had spent about £2,250 on basic clothing for its pupils, including bags and jumpers.
He said: “The school is in Haringey, north London, and it has a large proportion of children on free school meals, and parents who have low incomes and are on income support.
“It wasn’t a difficult decision for us to make in that regard to help those parents out.
“What is important for us . . . is that our schools are outstanding or on the trajectory to becoming outstanding. And in achieving that is following a rigorous approach that includes the school’s identity.
“If there is a transition period with pupils still wearing E-ACT uniform, the children do not have a fixed identity for a year or two.”
Dartmouth Academy and Aldborough Primary School did not change any part of their uniform.
A headteacher has praised his pupils’ reaction after an illegal immigrant was discovered travelling under the school bus during a journey back from a school trip to France.
Perry Beeches Academy’s executive headteacher Liam Nolan said the Year 9 pupils, who had been on a trip to Normandy, showed compassion for the Sudanese man when he was discovered as the coach pulled up outside the Birmingham school.
Mr Nolan said teachers were off the bus
and students had started to get off when the man “stumbled out” from under the bus.
Staff looked after him until the West Midlands Police were called and he was taken into their care.
The pupils and teachers completed strict immigration checks in Calais and the bus had been searched, but the man had still managed to get underneath it. He clung to the axle for the 250-mile trip to Birmingham.
Mr Nolan said: “Not many students saw the man but the bulk of them were worried about his health and safety.
“They were concerned about why
anyone would risk being under a bus for five or six hours and what his life must have been like if he was willing to do that.
“Myself and the school’s headteacher Stuart Turnbull held an assembly on Monday morning to talk about Sudan. We talked about where it was in the world so they could see where he had travelled from and why.
“I have to say, regardless of what people think about young people these days . . . they were all very empathetic.”
A 35-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of immigration offences and is in the custody of UK Border Force officials.
The chief executive of a trust embroiled in allegations of tipping-off over the date of Ofsted inspections has spoken of her relief that the schools involved have been cleared.
Speaking exclusively to Academies Week, Dame Rachel de Souza (pictured), chief executive of the Inspiration Trust, said: “The trustees and I are relieved the investigation has concluded, and the result is as expected.”
“I’m very proud of all the Ofsted outcomes that our schools have achieved because they reflect the hard work of the staff and pupils.”
Ofsted carried out an internal investigation after allegations were made that three Norfolk schools had received prior advance notice of inspections. Two of the academies named were part of the Inspiration Trust chain, while Dame Rachel (pictured) was executive principal at the third at the time of the relevant inspection.
The report, published on Tuesday, concluded that there was no evidence that
the three schools named in news report – Ormiston Victory Academy, Thetford Academy and Great Yarmouth Primary Academy – had received any prior warning about their inspections.
“The investigation team found no evidence to substantiate the allegations that the three schools in question had improperly received prior notification of the dates of their Ofsted inspections in order to put them at an unfair advantage,” the report said.
The review, carried out by Sir Robin Bosher, Ofsted’s director of quality and training, was commissioned by chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw in August, after the Observer newspaper carried allegations that the three academies had received prior knowledge of the date on which they would be inspected.
The report from Sir Robin recommends, however, that Ofsted looks at adopting a more flexible, “risk-based” approach to the timing of certain types of inspection and s less predictable.
The report acknowledges that under the current system, rules on when inspections are carried out sometimes means “the likely
window for inspection can sometimes be narrow”.
The report also recommends that Ofsted examines whether processes meant to ensure the confidentiality of inspection dates need to be tightened up.
The investigation found that Dame Rachel, who also worked part-time as a secondary inspector for Ofsted, was mistakenly copied in on an email that gave the date of an inspection at one of the schools concerned – Great Yarmouth Primary Academy. As a result, the date of the inspection was changed, however, the report said.
The inspectorate said that it had conducted a further inspection of Great Yarmouth Primary Academy this week in light of this finding, “in order to maintain public confidence in the integrity of the inspection process”
Dame Rachel said that she was pleased with the way staff dealt with the inspection but urged caution until the report results were published.
“In the end, we’re not letting any of this distract us. It’s all about the students for us,” she said.
NEWS“Whole class interaction” is key to China maths success
Teaching techniques boost the maths results of Chinese primary school pupils compared with their peers in England, a study has concluded.
The report, presented at The British Educational Research Association’s (BERA) annual conference this week, suggests that “whole class interactive” work, is more effective than children working through exercises with teacher support.
The research included maths tests given to 562-nine and 10-year-olds across classrooms in Southampton in England and Nanjing in China.
Results found that the Chinese pupils performed significantly better. In the first two test Chinese pupils achieved 83 per cent, compared with 56 per cent among the English cohort.
A second test 10 weeks later showed English pupils improved their score to a 66 per cent average, but this was still well short of the figure for the Chinese children of 87 per cent.
The researchers found that “whole class interaction” was being used 72 per cent of the time in Chinese classrooms, compared with only 24 per cent in England.
By contrast, the classes in England spent nearly half – 47 per cent-of their time-in “individual or group work”, compared with 28 per cent in China.
The study mirrors the results found by former education minister Liz Truss who led a fact-finding mission to Shanghai in China earlier this year to see how children there have become the best in the world at maths.
As a result of the trip, a national “maths hub” programme was launched this week. It will be co-ordinated by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM).
The two-year research project involves a teacher exchange between England and Shanghai. About 60 teachers, mainly from English primary schools, are currently in Shanghai. A return trip will take place in November.
The scheme is backed by £11 million funding from the Department for Education and will be accessible to all schools.
A spokesperson for NCETM said: “We fervently hope that the research project will lead to improvements in the way English pupils learn maths, and the depth of their understanding. But these things can’t happen overnight.”
Mark Dawes, specialist leader in education at the Cambridge Maths Hub said: “There was a real buzz at the launch and I really feel that maths teachers will feel empowered by this programme. I would hope that in a few years’ time, if you were to review this, you’d find that the hub did make a difference to English pupils.
“I would hope that it raises the quality of teaching in this country and therefore lead to better academic results for the children.”
Immigrant found clinging to school busSOPHIE SCOTT@SOPH_E_SCOTT
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De Souza ‘relief’ after Ofsted investigation clears schools of tipping-off claims
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Schools are magical places, full of creativity and opportunity. But what makes your school so magical?
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Magic could mean witches and wizards, but also: illusions, magical occasions, something unexplained, it’s up to you!
All you have to do is email us one photo before 5pm on Monday, November 3, illustrating the magic of your school.
The Academies Week team will select its top ten and then put the
selection to a public vote before December.
We’ve teamed up with education marketing & PR experts, EMPRA to offer
the winning school a brand new prospectus and photo-shoot!
EMPRA will design and print a lovely new prospectus for your school and
our resident photographer Ellis O’Brien will spend the day at your school
making sure you have some great photos to include.
Please visit academiesweek.co.uk/competition for more information.
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The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has significantly increased the size of its workforce in the past year, newly released figures show.
The news comes as the EFA scales up to handle a growing number of free school projects – and follows criticism that the current system for finding new school sites is “creaking”.
Figures for August 2014 show that the EFA now has a total workforce of 951 people – up from just over 800 a year before.
The number of both payroll staff and contractors has increased, with a total of 746 full-time equivalent staff on payroll and 205 temporary workers.
A year before, the EFA had a workforce of 806 – split between 671 on staff and 135 agency staff, interim managers and specialist contractors. This is an eighteen per cent increase on the prior year.
Analysis of government figures by Academies Week show that the EFA spent a total of £49.6m on staff costs in the year to August 2014, compared to £43.8m for the previous 12 month period.
The EFA is responsible for managing funding of all state schools, but in the past couple of years has seen its workload grow.
For the first time, the EFA was required to consolidate academy trust accounts into its own financial statements for the 2012-13 financial year – a significant job given the growth in academy numbers.
Additionally, the EFA has responsibility for finding sites for new free schools, where there has also been a rapid growth in numbers.
The EFA is understood to be actively seeking people for project director secondments into the free school capital
delivery team currently.Last week, writing for Academies Week, Natalie Evans,
director of New Schools Network, called on the government to move responsibility for finding free school sites away from the EFA and toward regional property companies.
“A process that might have worked for a couple of dozen free schools is creaking at the seams now that there are regularly 100 approved free schools working their way through the system at any one time,” she wrote.
Asked about the EFA’s growth in staff numbers, a spokesperson said: “We are of course continuing to build our capacity and expertise as the free school programme grows. Seconding staff from other private and public sector bodies is only one of the ways in which we do that.”
Speaking at an education select committee in May,
Department for Education (DfE) permanent secretary Chris Wormald said that the EFA had been relatively protected from cuts that other DfE group bodies had faced.
Writing in the EFA’s 2012-13 annual report, published in January 2014, EFA chief executive Peter Lauener acknowledged that the agency had had difficulties filling vacancies.
Mr Lauener wrote: “We made less progress with vacancy filling than we would have liked. In the summer immediately after setting up the EFA, we had 150 vacancies and this only fell to 120 vacancies by March 2013 (a fall in the vacancy rate from 19 per cent to 16 per cent).
“We have taken steps to improve our ability to fill vacancies, including limited external recruitment for priority vacancies.”
Funding agency employees on the risePHILIP NYE@PHILIPNYE
9001000
800
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Payroll sta� Temporary sta�
Aug-13 Nov-13 Feb-14 May-14 Aug-14Source: DfE monthly workforce management information
Ofsted’s national director of inspection reform is to take the helm at a Cheshire multi-academy trust at the beginning of 2015.
Michael Cladingbowl (pictured) will step down from his post at Ofsted at the end of December and is to become the executive principal of Knutsford Multi-Academy Trust.
The trust is responsible for Knutsford Academy, for pupils in Years 7 to 9, Knutsford College and The Studio at Knutsford which both cater for Years 10 to 13.
Ofsted said he will still work on the future consultation on the new inspection frameworks.
Mr Cladingbowl said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my national role with Ofsted and being able to make a real difference to education standards in England over the last 12 years.
“I will be leaving an organisation whose standing and influence under Sir Michael’s leadership has never been higher.
“But this is the right time for me to be taking on a new challenge.
“I’m very excited to be returning to my roots in Cheshire and being more directly involved in making a difference in schools.
Before that, I still have a big job to do steering through Ofsted’s forthcoming consultation on the future of education inspection.”
Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said: “Mike has made a fantastic contribution to Ofsted for over 12 years.
In that time, he has held a number of very senior positions within the organisation, including being one of the pioneering Regional Directors in the North-West.
“A man of ideas, Mike has played a key role in shaping the future operating model for inspection as well as the way the routine inspection of good schools will be organised from September 2015.
“He will be much missed but I know how much he is looking forward to using the experience he has gained at Ofsted to lead an important multi-academy trust in the north-west of England to further success.
“Mike will leave Ofsted at the end of December 2014 but will continue to work on the consultation arrangements for the new inspection frameworks. I would like to put on record my deep appreciation for the support he has given me in my time as Chief Inspector.”
5A
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Mr Agnew joined Future Academies as a non-executive director in July, as revealed in Companies House records and exclusively reported last week by Academies Week.
Mr Agnew is also the sponsor and chairman at Inspiration Trust, running six schools and a sixth-form college in Norfolk.
Following inquiries for the original story, Mr Agnew resigned from his position at the trust on Thursday, September 18, 2014.
A spokesperson for Mr Agnew said that he resigned because of “excessive work commitments”. No further details were provided.
Since December, 2010, Mr Agnew has also been a non-executive board member at the DfE, chairing the department’s academies board. The board was set up in 2013 to strengthen the department’s relationship with academy sponsors.
Mr Agnew’s position at the DfE remains unchanged. The DfE said it was for the individual trusts involved to comment on the resignation.
Mr Agnew is also a trustee of Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank seen as influential in shaping education policy under the present government.
Future Academies was founded by Lord Nash – now Under Secretary of State for Schools – and his wife Caroline Nash. The trust runs four academies in London.
Future Academies did not respond to a request for comment on Mr Agnew’s resignation, and had not previously commented on his appointment.
The trust has made a number of recent appointments to its board, with Lorna Parker and Dr Jo Saxton both added in recent months, Companies House records show. Ms Parker is an adviser with investment company BC Partners, while Dr Saxton is a company director of Primary Colours Education.
Lord Nash’s role at the DfE has previously been the subject of criticism, as a former large-scale donor to the Conservative party.
When he was appointed, in January 2013, the DfE said he would step away from any business interests that may present a conflict of interest.
Agnew resigns from Nash’s academy trust after just two months
PHILIP NYE@PHILIPNYE
Cladingbowl to leave Ofsted for academy trustSOPHIE SCOTT@SOPH_E_SCOTT
DfE release free school application forms after two year battle
EXCLUSIVE: Theodore Agnew, a non-executive director at the Department for Education (DfE), has resigned from his directorship of an academy trust founded by education minister Lord Nash.
The Department for Education has begun releasing the application forms submitted for all successful free schools projects, after a freedom of information battle lasting two years.
The DfE has previously refused to make the documents available, arguing that to do so would give an unfair advantage to other potential applications, and open those who applied up to unwarranted scrutiny.
Application forms are initially being released for seven free schools, after they were requested specifically through freedom of information (FOI) requests.
The seven free schools are: Al-Madinah School in Derby; Sandymoor School in Runcorn; University Cathedral Free School in Chester; St Martin’s Academy in Chester; Tyndale Community School in Oxford; Gildredge House in Eastbourne; Didsbury CE Free School, set to open in south Manchester.
Application forms for wave one-to-three free schools will be published before Christmas the DfE said, with other waves
following. The DfE has also agreed to publish application forms and decision letters for future successful free school.
Application forms and decision letters for unsuccessful free school proposals will not be released.
In the application forms, free school proposers must provide details of the demand for the school and details about how it would be run.
Laura McInerney – now deputy editor of Academies Week ¬¬– requested application forms for all free school. Other FOI applicants requested the documents for the seven free schools, details for which are to be released first.
The DfE took Ms McInerney’s request – for the application forms of both successful and unsuccessful free schools – to a judicial hearing in June, where it argued that it would cost too much to redact details of all of the documents.
The judge in the case agreed with this decision, though found that it would not be too costly to answer individual requests for application forms.
The DfE said that it would not be commenting further on the release.
Schools will have to “lead a dramatic change in education” under a Labour government, the party leader Ed Miliband has said.
Delivering his keynote speech to the Labour party conference in Manchester on Tuesday, Mr Miliband pledged to deliver the same number of apprenticeship starts as university places and said the change had to start in schools.
His comments came two days after shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt outlined his three priorities, including childcare reform, a qualified teacher in every classroom, and an education system “which works for the forgotten 50 per cent”.
Mr MiIiband has faced criticism for forgetting parts of his no-notes speech, although he did provide a level of detail about technical education reform that had been lacking in Mr Hunt’s speech.
He said: “Our fourth national goal is that by 2025 as many young people will be leaving school or college to go on to an apprenticeship as currently go to university.
“This is an absolutely huge undertaking. We are such a long way away from this as a country. It is going to require a massive national effort. It’s going to require young people to show the ambition to do well and to get on.
“It’s going to require schools to lead a dramatic change in education, with new gold standard technical qualifications. And
it is going to need business and government to lead a revolution in apprenticeships.”
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Hunt said Labour would increase free childcare from 15 to 25 hours per week for three-and four-year-olds, and would legislate for childcare support in schools from 8am to 6pm.
He also re-emphasised his commitment to teacher quality, adding that as a “first step”, all teachers “must be qualified or working towards qualified teacher status” and go through greater training “year-on-year”.
In a direct appeal to the unions, he also committed to re-establishing the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, scrapped by the current government in 2010.
He was unable to resist a quick dig at former education secretary Michael Gove
and his successor Nicky Morgan.“Michael Gove might have been given
the boot. Apparently, he wasn’t qualified for the job. But his terrible influence lingers on.
“The Tory record on education is shameful. Rising class sizes, more unqualified teachers, the tripling of tuition fees. And, now, in Nicky Morgan we have a ‘Continuity Gove’, auto-pilot education secretary.
“She is the equalities minister who voted against equality for gay marriage, and the education minister who has refused to rule out for-profit schools.
“So the message from Manchester needs to go out far and wide: only a Labour Government will ensure our schools are not privatised for profit.”
A student sent home for flouting uniform code is not exactly a hard-hitting story. But in a case this week
the newspapers were all over just such a story for the simple reason that the student was muslim and her transgression was the wearing of the niqab, a face-covering veil.Reported first by the BBC, they explained that student was planning to attend sixth form at Camden Girl’s School but was sent home because wearing the full veil is against school rules. The school argued that not being able to see the students’ face limited student-teacher interaction.
Papers variously labelled the admissions denial as the student being ‘barred’, ‘banned’ or ‘denied’ access to A-level study.
Most papers played the story ‘straight’,
balancing views ‘for’ and ‘against’ veils in schools. Only one media outlet, Onislam.net, a leading Islamic content network reporting out of Cairo, labelled the move as “discriminatory” though it also noted that the Department for Education allows schools to ban attire for learning or security reasons.
As the story gained more traction, with national newspapers also covering the story, petitions began to appear online. One asked for the continued barring of veils. The other petitioning to keep it.
On the second day of reporting, the student broke rank and spoke directly to the Evening Standard, who didn’t name her but did state that she was so distressed she reportedly returned home in tears after the school turned her away.
The dramatic tensions of the story means it is gathering readership. After all, there’s a victim, there’s a thorny decision, and the group that have to make the decision are a very successful school, which makes people think it is okay to bash them for whatever decision they make.
But the part missed out in most of the articles is that a ruling has already been made on this very issue. Several similar cases were taken through the courts in the mid-2000s. A critical case reached the High Court in 2007 and rejected the right of a pupil to wear the veil. If schools wish to ban attire, then they can.
Despite the hard ruling being on the side of schools, some have relented in the face of pressure. Last year, Birmingham
Metropolitan College, overturn its ban on the veil after a petition of over 900 students demanded their right to wear the garment.
Unlike the question of religion and dress, however, the question of gender and dress is still outstanding.
Earlier this week Advocate.com ran the story of a trans gender student in Brazil fined for wearing a skirt. In support, several male classmates also wore skirts, leading the school to consider relaxing their dress code.
In 2010, Scotland’s Children’s Tsar pushed for schools to have gender-neutral uniforms, though no legislation was introduced to require it.
So far, in England, I am not aware of any attempts at all to raise this issue but I suspect it is only a matter of time until someone does.
So, this is what Morgan should commit to when she steps up to the podium:
Give all teachers a statutory time allowance to undertake external continuing professional development (CPD). Poor CPD provision limits a teacher’s development which, in turn, limits every pupil’s potential.
A firm commitment to developing research-led teaching practice. Teachers are sick of supposed “experts” espousing “best practice” on how they should teach in their class. There is no single “best” way. But there are exciting developments and efforts to professionalise teaching practice – which need to be cultivated.
A clear policy on non-English speaking
pupils. It is ludicrous that pupils with no working knowledge of English can enter mainstream classes. A government with its finger on the pulse would make provision for these pupils to learn English before they learn anything else.
Increased government spending on extra-curricular activities. We fail our students if they leave school with knowledge alone; they need to develop core values of grit, resilience, independence and teamwork.
A new way to tackle misbehaviour. Current rhetoric on high standards in behaviour don’t materialise in schools where headteachers face a quagmire of legal implications for expelling disruptive pupils.
I believe the government should also commit to funding new state boarding schools, run in partnerships with established independent boarding schools. For some young people, the only way to deliver a transformative education is to take them out of their current environment.
The Social Market Foundation’s report on offering a quarter of places at private schools free to the brightest, poorest children, could also offer a way forward.
These ideas, pursued with the same vigour as previous structural reforms, would set English schools down the right track, but perhaps this time with teachers following close behind.
Each week during the political conference
season we will be inviting a commentator
to give their views on what education
policies they wish to see announced.
There is no government department more greatly applauded, or reviled, than the Department for Education,
until recently headed by Michael Gove. Despite some hiccups – performance-related pay, for example, which sounds great in theory but its implementation will be laden with problems – the passion and vision that Gove brought to the role makes him stand out as the pre-eminent education secretary of modern times. The Labour Party now has little to offer other than a slightly watered-down version of his reforms and a vague commitment to making unqualified teachers attain QTS. Autonomy, performance tracking and accountability are here to stay.
When she takes to the stage on Tuesday, I have no doubt that the new education
secretary, Nicky Morgan, will heap praise on Gove’s reforms and promise a continuation of the free school programme. She will champion the adoption of Alison Wolf’s core recommendations in her review of vocational education and she will re-emphasise the value that third-sector organisations such as Teach First bring to schools. She’ll restate David Cameron’s desire that every young person leaving school will have the guarantee of an apprenticeship or a university place. But what will be her enduring vision for English schools?
From a teacher’s perspective, Morgan’s real challenge will be to better support teachers to maximise their impact in the classroom. Of course, more free schools need to open (especially in the primary sector where Labour’s lack of planning has created a black hole in school places), but politicians must understand that, ultimately, structural tinkering will not improve what goes on in schools.
LAURA MCINERNEY@MISS_MCINERNEY
More than one angle on wearing the niqab
Conservative Party Conference preview
WILLBICKFORD
SMITHPolitics teacher at an independent boarding
school and a Teach First ambassador
Morgan’s real challenge will be to better support teachers to maximise their impact in the classroom
There is something of a perfect storm ahead for primary schools. Pupils’ performance has steadily improved,
but a combination of capacity challenges and higher expectations from government runs the risk of stalling – or reversing – this trajectory.
Alongside a new curriculum, primaries are facing a headteacher succession crisis and are looking to financially strapped local authorities who are finding it increasingly difficult to deliver services. The end result could be that a fifth of all primaries will fall below the new higher floor targets from 2016. Our new report its Primary Focus: the next stage of improvement for primary schools in England sets out a series of proposals aimed at avoiding this scenario.
We conclude that the solution to continued improvements is the ability of primary schools to quickly build the capacity and capability that they need to improve teaching and learning. The question for government is how best can the expertise of the best schools, leaders and teachers be harnessed and magnified to deliver benefits across the wider system?
Our answer is through groups of schools coming together into formal academy chains – bound by shared accountability, and with the freedom to make the changes that reflect their needs. We recommend that over the course of the next parliament, the government commits to a transformation programme whereby every primary school spins out from the local authority and chooses a chain to join. To involve as wide a group as possible, we propose that any local authority that wishes to can set up its own chain, called a “learning trust”.
Let’s deal with one issue straight away – is academy status a panacea? No, it isn’t. It will not, in our view, necessarily deliver improvements (though the evidence surveyed in the report suggests that effective academies can deliver significant benefits for pupils). The rationale for academy chains is that these structures represent the best chance of building capacity and capability through combining the advantages of autonomy with the advantage of sharing effective practice – what is sometimes called system leadership.
As various academics, including David Hargreaves, Toby Greany and Robert Hill, have argued, system leadership has the potential to establish collaborative practices; to support teachers and individual leaders to focus on effective teaching and learning; and to promote a culture of continuous improvement and development. This, in turn, is what improves outcomes. While some local authorities can offer elements of this, the specific pedagogical elements of system leadership from academy chains are unique.
Yet academies have always been seen by primaries as far more of a secondary policy. To date only 11 per cent of primaries have taken up academy status, compared with 56 per cent of secondaries. In the absence of any shift of policy, far too few primaries will be in a position to benefit from the advantages of scale.
Our proposed programme – “Wave 3 Academies” – is unlike forced conversion because schools themselves choose their chain. Schools could join a primary-only chain, create their own or partner with a local secondary – all of which will also need to come out from local authority oversight over the same timescale. Alternatively, if primaries benefited from working with their local authority, they could join the new learning trusts. It would be up to the new regional schools commissioners (or Labour’s directors of school standards), to ensure that chains perform well. If they don’t, chains could be closed down or schools moved, just as now. We also propose that most academies could switch chains if they believed their teachers and pupils would be better served elsewhere.
This deliberate policy shift and evolution of the academies programme gives the primary sector the means to shape their own future for the benefit of the pupils they serve. It should be the primary focus of any government after 2015.
Multi-academy trusts are on everybody’s
lips, but don’t dismiss the federation
option
In an era of increasing school autonomy and declining local authority capacity, the need for schools to work
collaboratively is greater than ever. There are a variety of ways schools can do this, from loose partnerships to more formal arrangements involving shared governance and formal accountability.
In England, local authority-maintained schools have the option of becoming a federation, in which the separate schools’ governing bodies become a single governing board with responsibility for all the schools in the federation. This is different from a multi-academy trust (MAT) as it remains overseen by the local authority, rather than the regional schools commissioner.
However commentator after commentator neglects to consider this option, sometimes because it doesn’t suit their ideology to mention an alternative to MATs and other times out of sheer ignorance.
Federation is not merely a collaboration or partnership: it is in effect the equivalent of a MAT, one board accountable for the performance of those schools within it.
Ofsted’s report Leadership of More Than One School identified that federation led to improved governance in weaker schools; improvements in teaching and learning, pupils’ behaviour and achievement; a broader and richer curriculum; schools pooling resources and expertise; and improved staffing.
The National Governors Association’s (NGA) Road to Federation research, published last December, reported on governors’ and headteachers’ experiences, and in every case, bar one, federation proved to be mutually
beneficial. Failing schools had improved measurably, often moving out of special measures to ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ within the space of a few years. Reported benefits for stronger schools include the ability to attract and retain better staff, more specialist skills, sharing good practice, economies of scale, and access to new funding.
Each federation in the study chose to employ an executive headteacher; leading a federation can attract ambitious leaders.
The report also warns of the common barriers, in particular initial opposition from stakeholders, namely parents and staff, which were overcome by good honest communication. There is no one route to, or set model for, federation - there are a vast range of combinations of school size, phase, type and location. Achieving a federation takes time, trust, common purpose and due diligence, and this can stretch both headteachers and governing boards who also have schools to run or oversee in the meantime. However, it is a less onerous process than forming a MAT from scratch.
Academy conversion has in some instances been reported to us as diverting school leaders from the immediate priorities of improving teaching, and the changes in financial and business management can place a strain on primary schools if done at the same time as the federation itself. A number of local authority-maintained federations have now become MATs; it can a stepping stone to academy status, whereas others may decide that as a federation they have all the benefits of a MAT.
NGA is not alone in encouraging federation. The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) this month published guidance for schools interested in becoming a federation. In the same week, chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said that every school should be compelled to federate to speed up improvement, organised by either local authorities or the new regional commissioners. The all-party Commons education select committee agreed with the NGA that the £25,000 offered to primary schools as an incentive to create a MAT should also be offered for those federating.
It has been shown time and time again that governing a group of schools has benefits. Those truly interested in school improvement is primary schools need to concentrate on this message, rather than promoting one model. This is a decision for each governing board to take in the interests of their pupils in the full knowledge of the implications of each option.
EMMA KNIGHTS
The advantages of scaleFederations should not be swept under the MAT
ANNALIESE BRIGGSResearch fellow in education at Policy Exchange
Chief executive of the National Governors Association
EXPERTS
The specific pedagogical elements of system leadership from academy chains are unique
Federation is the equivalent of a MAT, one board accountable for the performance of those schools within it
Headteacher boards (HTBs) are now up and running in each of the eight new Department for Education (DfE)
regions. Regional schools commissioners (RSCs) and their boards have jurisdiction only over academies because it is only academies (and, for this purpose, free schools) that are in a contractual relationship with the secretary of state and for which the DfE takes some direct responsibility.
The HTBs were elected on a respectable turnout in July. There are four elected heads on each, and two appointments in the gift of each RSC, who might not have teaching or school leadership experience. This latter category would certainly prove controversial in cases where such appointments were not
considered by the serving heads to have the appropriate experience or skills. After all; these are headteacher boards.
Nevertheless, serving heads who have been elected by their peers are in the majority and it is certainly possible that some people with highly credible senior experience from other walks of life might make a valuable contribution. The boards are designed primarily to be non-executive. They will have access to a privileged range of information about the performance of academies and academy groups, and about “pipeline” projects and plans, but the information is assembled by civil servants and the ultimate decision-making power rests with the RSC.
The oversight of academies is strictly delimited. Academies were set up as independent state-funded schools, so RSCs and their HTBs have no power to interfere in the running of academies or groups of
academies unless they are showing clear or early signs of failure. That will normally mean outcomes in marked decline, or below the floor standards, or Ofsted judgments that give serious cause for concern.
So why do RSCs and HTBs merit support? First, they are an attempt to bring decision-making about schools closer to those schools’ contexts.
Commissioners are visiting schools, meeting with heads, chairs and chief executives in a way that was much harder for senior Whitehall officials overseeing academies. The move to academies was always open to a charge of over-centralisation, and this first attempt to move power to the regions therefore demands at least a level of support.
Second, the inclusion of serving academy headteachers, elected by their peers, is a first attempt to enable school leaders to take a role, albeit at this stage non-executive, in
regulating the system. There are those who will view this with
suspicion: who are these people? What are they finding out about my school? Who said they could make decisions about my school’s future? But would these sceptics rather have unelected DfE officials in charge, most of whom have no contextual understanding of school leadership? Already we are hearing of cases of HTB members rigorously challenging some of the more outlandish decisions made about new academies or free schools, injecting a sense of reality into the sometimes not very grounded world of Whitehall decision-making.
If we believe in a self-improving system that is largely school-led, we have to put our money where our mouth is.
We need people prepared to take system leadership responsibility, and do it with integrity. And as mature professional leaders we need to be able to take these decisions not just at school level but at system level too. The HTBs may be seen as a transitional phase in the development of school regulation and governance, but they are at least that and as such deserve support.
This week ASCL has published a draft blueprint for a self-improving school system. This is an attempt to grasp the leadership challenge of shaping the future of our education service. It addresses the question of scrutiny and intervention and how HTBs might evolve.
We invite the readers of Academies Week to contribute to this important consultation that will end on December 15.
Go to: http://ow.ly/BQCAg .
Heading up a board is serious business
BRIAN LIGHTMAN
General secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders
EXPERT
HTBs are already injecting a sense of reality into the sometimes not very grounded world of Whitehall decision-making
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Research: Truancy and well-being among secondary school pupils in EnglandPublished: Taylor & Francis
Publishied in: Educational studies, 10 September 2014
Research: The trouble with truancy:
satisfied students stick at school
Picture an average class of 30 pupils, studying attentively. Now imagine that seven disappear. But truancy is not a magic trick, it is a serious problem. Nearly a quarter of Year 10 students interviewed in this recent paper by Gaynor Attwood and Paul Croll admit truancy. Most missed only “the odd day or lesson”, but an eighth skipped school for several days or weeks at a time. Even occasional truancy increases the chance of mental wellbeing issues, poor GSCE results, future unemployment and dissatisfaction with life.
More than half of the girls and just under half of the boys surveyed reported low levels of mental wellbeing. Both genders lost sleep, feeling “constantly under strain” and “unhappy”. Levels of mental well-being do not relate to academic ability or socioeconomic status, but bullying victims have lower levels and regular truants score lower still.
Most truants rationalised their behaviour with a dislike of school, lessons or teachers. Boredom was also a motive, but bullying was rarely mentioned. Despite this, pupils known to be victims of bullying were found to be more likely to truant.
Other factors predicting truancy include lower levels of attainment, socioeconomic status and negative attitudes towards school. However, none of these indicators were
necessary or sufficient to explain truancy. Many poor-achieving students from unemployed families do not truant, and the majority of truants believe that school is important.
One great strength of this paper is the scale of the survey. The wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, various
attainment levels and differing attitudes among the pupils, suggest that these findings can be linked to the wider English school population. However, the questionnaires relied upon honest disclosure by the students rather than objective measurement, so the results are susceptible to estimation, exaggeration or understatement, especially considering the repercussions of truancy – such as fines.
Although this is a longitudinal study, collecting data years after the first measurement, it was not experimental. It is therefore unclear whether the predictive factors found in the study were the causes or symptoms of truancy.
One possible confounding variable is socioeconomic status (SES). When grouped by SES, the advantages of being from a more advantaged background appear to compensate
for truancy. Hence, while truants are more likely to be unemployed than non-truants from the same background, frequent truants from high SES families have less than half the unemployment rate of the non-truants from lower SES families. Those more likely to truant seem to pay the highest price for doing so.
Another limitation of the study is the restrictive nature of the questionnaire. The common reason given for truancy was “disliking”, which is too vague to provide an insight. Open-ended questions exploring the true causes of truancy would assist when designing interventions to reduce it. The same is true of the question regarding the importance of school. It is possible truants consider school important, but only for others, not for themselves. They may not believe their truancy is extensive enough to impact their education.
As Attwood and Croll report, most truants are no longer in education at 20. Having chosen not to attend when attendance was compulsory, it is logical they would choose not to when it optional. Of course, some do buck this trend; an eighth of high-level truants continue their education. This suggests a change in attitude, possibly due to maturity. Alternatively, truants were only avoiding single lessons, days or individuals, rather than education entirely.
Educators should note that occasional truancy is quite common, and efforts should be made to reduce the likelihood of future negative consequences. Especially vulnerable are students with low socioeconomic status, low attainment, victims of bullying and those with poor mental well-being. More research needs to examine the “dislike” explanation for truancy and to test reduction strategies. Even the majority of truants believe education is important, so there is hope that further understanding may provide the magic wand to bring back disappearing students.
A week in WestminsterYour regular guide to what’s going on in central government
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This week’s academic paper is reviewed by Adam Davidson, a master’s student in applied positive psychology at the University of East London
REVIEWS
“It is possible truants consider school important . . . but
Dixons Trinity Academy, a Bradford free school in its third year, has garnered high praise from everyone I know who has visited – including Ofsted, who rated the school “outstanding” in all four inspection categories. In this fascinating post, Dani Quinn, head of maths, explains how an unusual form of continuing professional development underpins their success. She explores the effects of creating a “culture of practice”: staff role-play their responses towards students in order to refine them.
In the blog she highlights the changes this can lead to in teachers’ behaviour and skill, and notes that “actually talking about values, and how they guide our actions, is something that many adults can feel embarrassed about,” but that “practising these ‘pep talks’ together helps us to talk about them in a natural and genuine way”. She also reflects on the way practice has helped her to find the leadership style that she wants. The post is a must for anyone interested in teacher improvement.
To do things better, stop doing so much
by HBR IdeaCast
Going liberal with the interpretation of “blog”, this week, I was impressed by a thoughtful Harvard Business Review podcast, by Greg McKeown, in which he argues that success lies in being able to “discern what’s essential” and “eliminate
what’s not essential”. He describes most modern workers as “tricked by the trivial” and the fast pace of modern life. He cites rushing from his daughter’s maternity bed to an insignificant client meeting to suggest that: “If you don’t prioritise your life, then someone else will.” McKeown claims that this bubble will soon burst, and offers suggestions to help listeners adapt.
How research-informed practice stood
up to the pseudo-science of inspection:
defending an ungraded approach to the
evaluation of teachers
by Matt O’Leary
The University of Wolverhampton’s teacher education department refuses to judge its trainees using Ofsted-style numerical rating. Dr Matt O’Leary’s robust defence of this practice outlines his concerns about the over-simplification of grading, compared with the nuanced accuracy and developmental effect that qualitative evaluations of trainees provide. He situates his critique of the “ongoing fixation with attempting to measure teacher performance” in the context of the “wider neoliberal obsession of trying to quantify and measure all forms of human activity, epitomised in the oft-quoted saying that ‘you can’t manage what you can’t measure’. Teachers and leaders who have been frustrated by the need to fit their data into a narrow range of square holes may find ammunition or encouragement in O’Leary’s post.
On beyond pre-school: alleviating poverty
over a lifespan
by Robert Slavin
Many intervention programmes have powerful effects initially, but see these results diminish or disappear with time. Robert Slavin, director of Johns Hopkins Center for Research & Reform in Education, Baltimore, Maryland, offers the example of the “HIPPY” parenting programme, which can reduce a “22 per cent ‘success gap’ at school entry by 14 percentage points. Yet this falls to five points by middle childhood, three points by adolescence, and two points by middle age.” However, “this should not be a cause for despair,” he argues, “but rather for realism about how to help children succeed all the way through to adulthood.”
This blog (by Slavin) summarises a paper by Isabel Sawhill and Quentin Karpilow that offered a theoretical combination of four different evidence-based interventions. By following this menu of actions, “the final result, by their estimates, was an elimination of the poverty gap in early and middle childhood”.
The £24 price tag of this book concerned me. It meant that I might not buy it unseen as there is a lot of guidance
already from the Department for Education. But as soon as I started reading, I knew
that it was not going to disappoint. The author is a professional company secretary and the book is published by ICSA (Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators). Though people don’t always realise it, the link ICSA brings to the formal workings of companies is an important one in the academy sector.
It is not over-long at 316 pages, and it is eminently readable. Each of its 15 chapters covers an area of academy governance. It starts with a potted history of academies, followed by logical progression through the key areas of responsibility and accountability.
The early chapters covering governance structures, the funding agreement, memorandum and articles of association, and the statutory registers and Companies House, are particularly useful. In the preface the author states: “it is the book that I would have liked if I had found myself required to run an academy without any experience”. The information is certainly what I could have done with when our school converted in 2011. There is a really clear explanation of the different types of academy trust, how this links to the funding agreements and governance arrangements and, crucially, how this all sits with company and charity law.
It also clarifies the often confusing language of members, directors, trustees and governors, and how these roles can overlap. The most recent academies financial handbook (DfE 2014) and new academy funding agreements have much more emphasis on the separation between members and directors, and it is refreshing to have a book that explains the legalities clearly and impartially.
This book would have been worth its price
just for the structural information; however, it goes on to cover all the practical aspects of running an academy once set up: meetings and minutes of directors’ (governors’) meetings, financial management, accounts, corporate governance, and many others. Much of this is familiar, which left me wondering if there was too much detail, especially around accounts and financial management. However, on reflection, I think this is exactly the sort of information that all governors should engage with, especially those serving on school finance committees.
There are useful case studies from established academies, worked examples and comment boxes from a range of professionals, including school solicitors and auditors.
My favourite is on page 184 from Martin Wyatt, who says about accounts: “I would describe the current reporting deadline of December 31 as at the very least nonsensical and at the most as farcical”. Hear! Hear!
Finally the book contains pages of example checklists and forms that can be used or adapted.
I loved this book. I have already referred
to it in answering questions I was asked about academy structure and governance. The information is presented with clarity and its structure makes it easy for quick reference. It is a must-read for academy governors. Clerks or secretaries to governors will also find it immensely useful (our clerk has already asked to borrow my copy) and it will be a useful addition to the bookshelf of any current or aspiring academy business manager.
BOOK REVIEW
TOP BLOGS OF THE WEEK
To view individual blogs visit www.academiesweek.co.uk/reviews
How to Run an Academy School Author: Katie Paxton-Doggett
ISBN-10: 1860726100
£24
Published: April 30, 2014
Micon Metcalfe is director of finance and
business at Dunraven School, south London
The author of the book, Katie Paxton-
Doggett, can be tweeted at via @katiecpd
“As soon as I started reading, I
knew that it was not going to disappoint”
Our guest reviewer of the week is Harry Fletcher-Wood, a secondary history teacher and head of teacher professional development
Dame Rachel de Souza is about to drive the wrong way down a one-way street. She is determined to show me one more school. “You have to see it,” she says, as we
weave past a Ford Fiesta, “even if we just whizz by!”This determination is typical of de Souza who, at 46, is one
of the younger chief executives of a multi-academy trust. She’s also one of the most controversial.
As principal of two “turnaround” schools she became renowned for sending staff to drag students out of bed and introducing uniforms designed by Savile Row tailors. Despite her unorthodox ways, both schools improved their results.
Since 2012 she has been CEO of Inspiration Trust, a Norfolk-based academy chain overseeing eight schools and a teacher-training centre. Inspiration’s four trustees, besides de Souza, are wealthy businessmen. One is Theodore Agnew, a non-executive director at the Department for Education, and long-time Conservative donor.
Referred to by de Souza simply as “Theo”, Agnew has clearly been crucial in the trust’s development, providing significant financial and moral support. However, his position at the education ministry raises eyebrows and in the week that I visit, de Souza is batting off newspaper allegations that she was “tipped-off” about the date of Ofsted inspections (see page 4). The investigation caused people to titter about her successes. Was it all down to back-scratching?
But de Souza’s current mingling with millionaires betrays her humble beginnings. Born in Scunthorpe in 1968, she was the middle child among three brothers. Her father was a steelworker, her mother an Austro-Hungarian refugee who looked after the four children.
De Souza attended her local comprehensive. “I remember one of the nuns there, Sister Anna, saying to me, ‘The trouble with you, Rachel Kenny, is that you can’t cook and you don’t like cleaning up – how are you going to get a husband?’ There was a sense that we were going to be wives and mothers. I remember telling my auntie ‘I think I’d like to be a doctor,’ and she said, ‘No, no – that’s not for us’.”
De Souza’s mother and grandmother disagreed. “They would say ‘You can do whatever you want’ and I met a couple of very good teachers at sixth form that gave me a ‘puff’ to start studying.”
Inspired by an ex-Jesuit teacher, who led her A-level philosophy class, she began reading classic texts – even teaching herself Greek so that she could read Aristotle’s original prose.
“This was during the miners’ strike, which we were very aware of, and very interested in politically, but I was also interested in Hungarian and Czech literature because of my mother’s background. I couldn’t readily get my hands on it, though. It just wasn’t available in Scunthorpe.”
Unable to find the books that she craved in the local library, her teacher lent her his own collections that she would read in corners, away from family and friends. “I did think of it rather as a secret. There was a whole other side to me that had a very fun, sociable time in a working-class community. So it was all a big surprise to my friends when I got my A-levels and left.”
Aged 18 and clutching the book of her new philosopher-crush, Simone de Beauvoir, she boarded a train at Doncaster and headed to Heythrop College, a small Catholic college affiliated to the University of London, where she would study theology and philosophy.
“It was a dream come true, really. I’d been in an
environment where access to academic things was difficult, so I just loved it from the day I got there. I really became properly focused academically when I got to university.”
She rediscovered her love of music (she had played the violin as a child), and was fascinated by the Jesuit priests who trained at the college. “They were doing things like flying back from Guyana, going off to set up communities in the East End... very different things.”
Watching de Souza’s face as she talks about Heythrop, it is clear the experience was transformative. Animated throughout our conversation, it is as if her whole soul is aflame as she describes the joy of digging out dusty books in the caverns of the college’s library.
As ever with life though, those times could not last forever. It was 1989 and after graduation “everyone was going off to be an accountant”. De Souza tried it. She lasted five days.
After a year working in museums and office receptions, she completed a PGCE at King’s College London before moving with her husband to Oxford. They met on her first day at Heythrop and married so that she could move with him to complete his studies at Jesus College.
She taught in a “typical Oxfordshire, slightly under-performing, slightly coasting” school, and quickly became head of the religious education department, introducing GCSE and A-levels in the subject, as well as philosophy.
From Oxford she moved to London’s Tower Hamlets. At first she was overwhelmed by the school’s large, urban and largely non-white population. “I looked around and thought, ‘I don’t know whether I can do this, I really don’t, I’ve just come from Oxford...’ And then the more I went through the day, I thought, ‘No, I can, I can, and we can do it! We can do this.’ I could see the problems, there were immense problems, but it was so fascinating and really compelling.”
PROFILE
DAME RACHEL DE SOUZALAURA MCINERNEY@MISS_MCINERNEY
Academies Trust. After successfully turning around this second school she decided to set up a Norfolk-based academy trust.
“I started to think: is a national chain the right thing for here? The right thing for Norfolk? Resources for academies were gone, it wasn’t like the early days when money was just no object.” From this thought, Inspiration was born.
Though she clearly loves her work, it comes at a price. “When I was first a headteacher, I think definitely my family suffered, because I hadn’t learnt the art of going home and switching off. So I think I was present but not voting for a good few years.” She professes to being much better at this now – clearly separating home-time from work-time.
More recently she faced the problem of becoming a face known to the media: “You can quite naively go around just being you, and then you suddenly realise that actually you’re relatively well-known”. The Ofsted investigation brought this into sharp relief; it concluded as we went to press, ruling that she did not know the date of their visits – so vindicating her hard work.
Always self-deprecating during the interview, at one point she refers to the way some people see her as “that evil woman”. Does she really believe they think that?
She appears taken aback for the first time. Slowly she says: “Being at the front of the academies movement means that
it’s very hard to be seen neutrally. Some people immediately think it is fantastic, and there are others who think it is ruining the educational system. But I have always had a very strong drive for standards, whether that’s for behaviour, academics, standards of professionalism, and though I hope that we all get pleasure from our work, I actually think we’re here to deliver for students.”
And if you’re left in any doubt that she means what she says, there’s a road in Norwich she’ll happily drive you the wrong way down to prove it.
Michael Gove visiting Ormiston Victory Academy 2012
Visiting Great Yarmouth Primary Academy 2013
The opening of Jane Austen College 2014
Celebrating with students at Ormiston Victory
IT’S A PERSONAL THING
What book would you take to a desert island?
Oh, goodness me! Well, I’m a trustee at The
Globe, so I’d probably take the complete works of
Shakespeare because I need to read them all. But
if it was a book that gives me solace or one that
motivates me, I would probably take my little
book of poetry where Samuel Beckett’s poems
are all translated into French and back
What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was three I wanted to be a headteacher.
I definitely wanted to do something to do with
a school. I probably lost it as a teenager, but I’m
somebody who has been on one path all her life
What do you normally have for breakfast?
It’s changeable. At the moment it’s probably
some yoghurt and fruit with some good strong
coffee
Next holiday?
Florence. I’ve never
been, so I would love
to go and look at the
art. I also want to go
to Rome and see the
opera and look at
the galleries. Italy is
definitely
on my “bucket list”DAME RACHEL DE SOUZAAfter Tower Hamlets she took a short
break to look after her young son, Joe, before returning part-time as a sixth form religious studies teacher. Initially facing low take-up numbers, the department grew to more than 200 students.
Still only in her early thirties, she became deputy head at Denbigh High School in Luton. But when a nearby failing school was
selected to become one of the first “turnaround academies” under a plan by the then-Labour government, de Souza’s ears pricked up. She knew it was a tough school with low results. She knew they would struggle to find a headteacher. She knew, however, that she would be perfect for the job.
“I just thought, ‘I’m going to have to run it’. I was absolutely determined. And that was it.”
At 36 and having worked as a deputy for
a short time only, she was not the obvious candidate – but after hours of interview preparation, she got the job.
The school’s challenges were enormous. Twenty-five teacher vacancies, endemic low aspirations among students. But she set to work. Yes, she ordered new uniforms. Yes, she sent staff to get students out of bed. To get around the lack of permanent maths teachers
in the school, she hired an Australian teacher to teach all students doing the higher paper, for two hours each night, in the school hall using a stereo mic.
It was tough work, but it made a difference. In her second year of headship, 100 per cent of students achieved five A*-Cs at GCSE. It became the stuff of legend.
From Luton she moved to be principal at an academy in Norfolk, run by Ormiston
“Being at the front of the academies movement means
that it’s very hard to be seen neutrally”
Born: January 12, 1968, Scunthorpe
Educated: St Bede’s School, Scunthorpe
Heythrop College, BA (Hons) philosophy and theology
King’s College University, PGCE
Leadership highlights:Headteacher, Barnfield West School (2007 – 2010)Principal, Ormiston Victory Academy (2010-13)CEO, Inspiration Trust (2012-present)
Honours: DBE for services to education, January 2014
WE’LL MAKE BETTER DECISIONS LOCALLY BECAUSE WE DEMAND MORESir David CarterRegional Schools Commissioner for south-west England
PHILIP NYE@PHILIPNYERegional schools
commissioners (RSCs) are the government’s ‘middle tier’, introduced as a new layer between individual academy schools and trusts, and the Department for Education.
Announced in December last year, RSCs have a remit of monitoring the performance of the academies in their area, making recommendations on free school applications and of supporting academisation. Each RSC will be supported by a headteacher board, made up of elected, appointed and co-opted members.
Over eight weeks we are profiling each of the RSC regions
No. Local authority Open school count* Open academies**
1 Bath and North East Somerset 79 17
2 Bournemouth 41 21
3 Bristol 139 54
4 Cornwall 280 103
5 Devon 370 74
6 Dorset 177 25
7 Gloucestershire 307 72
8 Isles of Scilly 1 0
9 North Somerset 76 12
10 Plymouth 94 29
11 Poole 42 14
12 Somerset 267 62
13 South Gloucestershire 113 14
14 Swindon 82 38
15 Torbay 43 24
16 Wiltshire 238 54
SOUTH WEST ENGLAND
FEATURED: the new regional schools commissionersSouth-west England
Sir David Carter
Regional School Commissioner based in Bristol
Dave Baker - elected
Executive headteacher at Bradley Stoke Community
School and Abbeywood Community School
Lorraine Heath - elected
Headteacher at Uffculme School
Lisa Mannall - elected
Principal at the Trenance Learning Academy and
Executive Principal at Trenance Learning Academy Trust
Roger Pope - elected
Principal at Kingsbridge Community College
Nick Capstick - appointed
Executive headteacher at The Croft
Primary School and chief executive
of the White Horse Federation
Brian Hooper - appointed
Executive headteacher at Tregonwell Academy and chief
executive of Tregonwell multi-academy trust
A
C
E
B
D
F
Statistics provided by www.Watchsted.com
(@Watchsted), which is owned by Angel Solu-
tions Ltd based on data published by the Depart-
ment For Education in September 2014
The board
NORTH
LANCASHIRE AND WEST
YORKSHIRE
NORTH WEST LONDON
AND SOUTH CENTRAL
SOUTH LONDON AND SOUTH EAST
SOUTH WEST
EAST MIDLANDS
AND HUMBER
NORTH EAST LONDON
AND EAST OF ENGLAND
RSC
26%open academies**
20% across england
TOTALSouth-West England 3,319 675
England 21,648 4,418
*The open schools total includes all types of state-funded school, including special schools and alternative provision schools.**The academies total includes all free schools and non-free school academies, including special schools and alternative provision schools.
Some of the first prospective students of the Derby Manufacturing University Technical College (UTC) helped to
mark the start of building work on the new campus in Pride Park.
Matthew Bell (15), Connor Richardson (15) and Meena Khetani (13) joined principal designate Philip Morris to cut the first sod on the site in Locomotive Way.
The UTC is due to open next September
for students in years 10 and 12 who will study core GCSEs, A-levels and engineering qualifications enhanced by project-based learning, work placements, employer site visits and industry expert lectures.
Meena, currently a pupil at the City of Derby Academy, said: “I have always been more interested in practical skills . . . coming to the UTC in year 10 will enable me to do my GCSEs alongside engineering.”
A national charity for deaf people is offering free educational fundraising packs to schools to educate children
about deafness and encourage them to fundraise.
Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, which trains dogs to alert deaf people to important sounds and danger signals, are providing school packs containing fun, interactive and educational activities.
These include teaching children to spell their name in British sign language, deaf
awareness tips, lip-reading games, and instructions on how to sign a whole song.
Philip Biggs, the charity’s access and inclusion manager, said: “Teachers and parents can use these resources to teach individuals to spell their names in sign language and even ‘sign along’ to a well-known Christmas song.”
The pack also includes recipes to bake pup-cakes, a competition to design a hearing dog coat and stickers of puppies for young children.
SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
xx
Matthew Bell, far left, Connor Richmond, Philip Morris, Naina Khetani and Meena Khetani
Students at Bristol Metropolitan Academy wearng their new kit
Sarah Mohammadi, age 8 who is deaf with her dog Waffle
Year 10 students at The Rural Enterprise Academy in Rodbaston, South Staffordshire, gave their school
the thumbs-up in a survey on areas such as teaching standards and classroom behaviour to skills development and safety.
Their comments included: “The whole year has been helpful and enjoyable”; “I love coming here because it’s such a friendly place” and “It’s nice having extra courses that you can’t do at other schools”.
The academy, set up to help to create the next generation of rural entrepreneurs, farmers and managers, has been rated “good” by Ofsted.
Principal Lorraine Makin says she is “obviously delighted” with the results of the survey “and to know that the overwhelming experience of our students is that we provide a unique foundation for their chosen careers in an environment that is great fun”.
From left: Bethany, Oliver, Cameron and Toni at The Rural Enterprise Academy (all aged 14)
Pupils give academy thumbs-up
An academy in Bristol has introduced a new programme designed to produce the professional basketball players of
the future.Bristol Metropolitan Academy hopes that
the new “MET Basketball Programme” will improve students’ behaviour, attendance and punctuality, and develop life skills such as higher aspirations and improved self-esteem.
The scheme will include three compulsory practices every week, although students will be expected to catch up on any missed work and will be held accountable if they do NOT.
A new basketball kit, basketball academy tie, training kit and warm-up shirt will be provided and professional coaches from Bristol Flyers and Storm Coaches will take training sessions alongside Bristol Met PE staff.
Programme leader and PE teacher Tom Hooper said: “This is a fantastic chance for our students to get involved in a world class programme.
“Not only will it produce excellent basketball players but well-rounded citizens who will benefit our local and wider communities.”
Help us celebrate the fantastic contribution that governors, trustees and clerks make to education
Has your governing board or clerk contributed to improving the education in their area?
Help to raise the profile of excellent governance and clerking by nominating them today!
#NGAawards
Save the date: June 9, 2015
All finalists will be invited to a prestigious ceremony at the House of Commoms
Official Media Partner
Download a form at: www.nga.org.uk/ngaawards.aspx
Nominations close: 12 noon, December 1, 2014 Send nomination forms to [email protected]
Pupils at an east London school this week
traded in their school uniforms to morph
into their favourite comic book heroes and
villains
Children from Elmhurst Primary School,
Forest Gate (and their teachers) freed
their imaginations as they brought
comic book characters to life.
Literacy co-ordinator and Year 4 Head, Nia
Williams, lead the day arranging a visit from
cartoonist Kev Sutherland, illustrator and writer
for The Beano comics, to run a masterclass in
comic book drawing and composition.
“As a school we believe passionately in
instilling a love of reading in our children.
“Throughout the year I try to run as many
events as possible that will excite and engage
them, things like ‘bedtime stories’ where we
have a whole school evening pyjama party,
book swaps and involving the children in
selecting their own books.
“I chose comics this time as a means of
trying to engage more reluctant readers
(especially some of our boys) but also to give
value and worth to this form of reading.
“In particular I wanted to show parents
that reading comics is still a worthy form of
reading; that they can be very sophisticated
and complex.”
Throughout the day the children looked at a
comic in detail, analysing every aspect before
creating their own.
At an assembly, cartoonist Kev instilled
confidence into everyone that they could draw.
Using simple but clever techniques, he was
able to show the children how to break down
the drawing process.
The pupils returned “inspired” and got
straight down to drawing.
But it was not just children who got into
the superhero mood. Jonny Walker, year 5
geography and websites coordinator said:
“The teachers all got very much into the spirit.
Spandex was to be found in the staffroom as
well as the playground.
“The teachers’ enthusiasm is the catalyst
for the kids’ involvement, and decked in a wig
and a onesie, it is harder for a teacher not to be
giddy.”
To end the day, classes explored the themes
of good and evil and how these differed in
reality and comic books.
The children then created their own super
hero or super villain and conducted a TV
interview with them.
Miss Williams added: “Most important was
the buzz and excitement generated by the day.
Our staff and pupils really embraced the event,
most of the school was dressed up and the
parents were also curious and excited, which is
what I had hoped for.
“It’s a day that we’ll all remember. I hope that
children might go home and pick up a comic
tonight instead of switching on the TV.”
Interested in being featured by School Assembly? Email us: news@academiesweek .co.uk
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s comic book day
Elmhurst pupils let their imaginations runs wild – as do there of their teachers. And no, we didn’t make up their characters’ names. That’s how the picture arrived in Academies Week’s inbox
The school is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of young people. Any successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check
For further details, please contact Kim McGrath at the school, by email or phone. Application packs can also be downloaded from our website.Closing date for applications: 12 noon, Wednesday 8th OctoberInterviews: Week beginning 20th October
We are offering an exceptional opportunity for an ambitious, creative and inspiring colleague who has a proven track record in KS5 to lead in the development of our new Sixth Form which will open in September 2015 and to play a vital, strategic role as a senior leader of the school.
Alderbrook is a very successful, high performing school, determined to build on the standards we currently achieve. GCSE examination results for the last two years have been 80%+ *A – C including English and maths. The school is known for its full commitment to the leadership development of colleagues and offers an outstanding range of CPD opportunities to enhance further your career.
The school is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of young people. Any successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check
We are seeking to appoint highly motivated, well-qualified and talented specialists who are, or have the capacity to become, an outstanding teacher.
Alderbrook is a very successful, innovative and high-performing school. GCSE examination results in the summer were 80% 5+ A*-C including English and maths. We put learning at the heart of all that we do and our expectations are very high. This is an exceptional opportunity to join a leading edge school as we prepare to open our new Sixth Form in September, 2015.
The school has a proven track record in the development of strong future leaders. We offer an excellent induction programme, an exciting learning and teaching environment and first-class on-going professional development opportunities to enhance further your career.
If you would like to join us, application packs can be downloaded from our website. Alternatively, please contact Kim McGrath at the school, by email or phone. Closing date for applications: 12 noon, Wednesday 1st October
From January 2015, a rare and exciting opportunity to help shape and lead SEN provision in West Suffolk. This post would suit a committed teacher with excellent professional boundaries who is keen to think holistically about the needs of pupils and creatively about how the school curriculum and ethos can meet those needs.
Following the retirement of our longstanding deputy, this is an enticing chance to join the school at a time of growth and development.
The Priory School is a Special Academy for pupils with Moderate Learning Difficulties with 130 pupils from 8-18 years and 23 residential beds. Following the retirement of our longstanding deputy, this is an enticing chanceto join the school at a time of growth and development.
You will need to demonstrate • outstanding teaching and leadership skills• understanding and experience of SEND including the Children’s and Families Act 2014 _ the attitude and personal qualities required to motivate and increase performance and have an impact on the progress of
our students• experience of successfully leading whole school initiatives, a track record of effective innovation; the ability to work well both as part of a team and as a team leader, together with a robust understanding of effective
assessment and planning _ ability to work collaboratively with other members of academy staff• the resolve to make a real difference to the lives of our students.*(subject to review in the Autumn term) + £6,078 Residential Allowance if appropriate.
Visits to the school are encouraged. To arrange a visit, please contact the school on (01284) 761934 or email: [email protected] download an application form for this vacancy, please visit our website:www.priory.suffolk.sch.uk/index.php/join-our-team/64-deputy-head-for-jan-2015Completed applications to be returned to the school.
Closing date: Midday, 3 October 2014. Interviews: w/c 13 October 2014.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. DBS checks or police vetting will be required for relevant posts.
‘Behaviour is outstanding. Pupils’ understanding of how to keep safe is excellent.’Ofsted July 2013
OUTSTANDING
Application forms and further details can be found on the recruitment tab of our website www.kingswaycommunitytrust.co.ukClosing date noon, 29th September 2014.
Interview Date: 7th October 2014
Kingsway Community Trust are seeking a dynamic, forward thinking, Key Stage 2,
Assistant Headteacher for Green End Primary School
This key leadership role provides an excellent opportunity to help build and shape the strategic
direction of our school. If you are passionate about ensuring children receive the highest standard
of learning and achievement within a supportive and empowering learning community, we would
like to hear from you.
The post holder will have a track record of outstanding teaching in Key Stage 2. They will have the
personal drive and motivation to play a central role in our ambitious school improvement work.
The successful candidate will have a role in:-
• Leading a KS2 phase as the strategic leader for Years 3 and 4
• Promoting and developing a high quality, whole school learning environment
• Promoting and securing high quality teaching and learning
• Leading, coaching and supporting staff
• Leading a key area of school improvements
Kingsway Community Trust is a very successful, Multi Academy Trust which comprises of Ladybarn
Primary School, Green End Primary School and the newly opened Cringle Brook Primary School.
The Trust is led and managed by one Executive Headteacher, who is a National Leader of Education
and one Governing Body, whose Chair is a National Leader of Governance. In each school there is a
full time Head of School who lead and manage alongside the Executive Headteacher.
Kingsway Community Trust can offer you:-
• A thriving learning community with a positive ethos and innovative approaches
• A supportive and empowering environment, supported by a National Leader of Education
• The support of a well-established, highly successful and forward thinking Trust
• A culturally rich and diverse urban community
This position is subject to 2 professional references and DBS clearance.
GREEN END PRIMARY SCHOOL
Burnage Lane, Burnage, Manchester, M19 1DR
DYNAMIC AND INSPIRING ASSISTANT HEADTEACHERISR 4 - 8
• delightful, enthusiastic students who want to learn• dedicated, talented and highly motivated staff and governors• a very successful, ambitious school, determined to build on the standards we
currently achieve• consistently high GCSE results: 2013 81% & 2014 80% *A – C including English and maths • outstanding CPD opportunities• a proven track record in and full commitment to the leadership development of colleagues• a strong team ethos, mutually supportive and passionate about providing excellent
education for our students• a motivated, energising climate with a no-blame culture• a well-resourced school with extensive grounds
We are looking for an outstanding colleague who:
• is passionate about developing resilient, confident learners• is committed to inclusive education• can model, promote and develop high quality teaching and learning across the school• demonstrates energy and passion• shows strategic thinking and creative problem solving• is creative and inspirational• is an excellent communicator• is highly emotionally literate
Deputy Headteacher (L21 -25) (Curriculum: Academic Achievement and Progress)Required for January 2015
For further details, please contact Kim McGrath at the school, by email or phone. Application packs can also be downloaded from our website.Closing date for applications: 12 noon, Wednesday 8th OctoberInterviews: Week beginning 20th October
Following the promotion of our Deputy Head to the role of Headteacher in April 2014, we wish to recruit an outstanding senior leader to share in the development of the school and its new Sixth Form opening in September, 2015. The core of the post will be results-focused, raising achievement and attainment in an already high-performing school through further developing an innovative and effective curriculum and by inspiring, challenging and supporting all to achieve their full potential. This role will provide an exceptional opportunity for an aspiring Headteacher to develop the full repertoire of school leadership skills.
Alderbrook SchoolHeadteacher: Mrs T. Lord
The school is committed to the safeguarding and welfare of young people. Any successful applicant will be required to undertake an enhanced DBS check
HEADTEACHER
ARK Tindal is a successful primary school in Birmingham. Along with the other ARK schools in the area, ARK Tindal aims to provide an outstanding education for all pupils, regardless of background or ability. Now the school is looking for a Headteacher to steer it to outstanding.
So much has been achieved since ARK Tindal joined ARK Schools in 2012. The current Head has done an excellent job; she will now become Assistant Director supporting all ARK primaries in Birmingham to deliver an outstanding education for our students.
For you, this means there couldn’t be a more exciting time to join us. ARK Tindal is a good school which is constantly improving. It is part of a close knit group of academies that offer great support. Alongside this, you’ll benefit from the guidance of experts from ARK Schools, one of the country’s top-performing school groups. You will have the chance to drive a school forward, while being supported every step of the way by an inspirational Assistant Director– a perfect opportunity for an ambitious senior leader.
The journey ahead will be as challenging as the one which brought us here, but we have seen what we can achieve through our hard work. This is why you will be a determined and resilient leader with a record of raising standards in a challenging environment, a commitment to high achievement and a flair for developing talent.
We’d love you to come and visit us. To arrange this, or for an informal conversation, contact Corrina O’Beirne, Head of Principal Recruitment, on 0203 116 0800 or Corrina.O’[email protected].
The closing date for applications is 11am Friday 10 October. Interviews will be on 16 and 23 October.
ARK TINDAL PRIMARY ACADEMY
We value diversity and are committed to safeguarding and promoting child welfare. The successful candidate will be subject to DBS and any other relevant employment checks.
TEACHER OF COMPUTER SCIENCEQualified Teachers’ Pay ScaleRequired for January 2015
We are seeking• An ambitious newly qualified or experienced teacher to teach Computer Science across the
age and ability range• A person who puts children first• A person committed to raising standards through the highest quality learning and teaching • Somebody with initiative and vision who will bring an additional X factor to this emerging
subject• Somebody who is seeking active continuous professional development.
We offer• The opportunity to help to continue to raise the standards of achievement of all our
students• The opportunity to maintain the current rate of improvement of the Academy towards
OUTSTANDING• Increasing opportunities to work with KS2, post 16 learners and across the TEN Group
Federation• Continuous professional development; including work shadowing, coaching and access to
regional and national courses• Your own personal subject and induction tutors to support you in your first year
Please contact Mrs Julie Amys, the Principal’s PA for an information pack and an Application Form, alternatively these can be accessed via www.waylandacademy.org.uk.
We actively encourage prospective applicants to visit Wayland Academy. Glen Allott, the Principal, is also willing to talk informally to prospective applicants should you wish to do so.
Wayland Academy is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This position requires an enhanced DBS check.
Closing date for applications – Thursday 2 October 2014
PrincipalCity Academy NorwichExcellent salary for the right individual, including PRP
Transforming Education in Norfolk (the TEN Group) is a progressive group of educational institutions which include City Academy Norwich. The Academy is based adjacent to the University of East Anglia, one of the sponsors of the school.
The group also includes three other senior academies, one primary academy, a University Technical College and City College Norwich, a large college of further and higher education.
We are looking for an exceptional individual who can take this wonderful Academy (very recent new build) and transform its educational opportunities for its’ fantastic students. We want a student focused person, curriculum oriented with a successful career based upon on results. We offer a real challenge and a unique opportunity to make a difference to a great inner city community. Further progression opportunities, within the group, may become available for the right individual.
Applicants should have experience at a senior level, be an outstanding teacher in their own right and have the clarity of purpose, strength of character and commitment to succeed to enable the Academy to provide the high levels of progress and achievement expected from all organisations in the TEN Group.
Applications should be submitted by 12 noon on Friday 3 October.Selection interviews will be held shortly after this date.
Please visit our website for full details on how to apply:www.cityacademynorwich.org
DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES...?
HINDE HOUSE MULTI-ACADEMY TRUST, SHEFFIELD
SEEKING TWO INSPIRATIONAL HEADTEACHERS
Hinde House Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) is a dynamic and developing partnership between Hinde House 3-16 School, Concord Junior School and Wincobank Nursery and Infants School. Our Trust is currently responsible for approximately 1700 pupils and over 200 staff across 4 sites in Sheffield.
We are determined to provide all our pupils with an outstanding education that will provide the best platform for their successful futures through shared values and local accountability. As a trust, we plan to grow Hinde House MAT in both size and influence - to become a beacon of learning across the City of Sheffield and beyond.
Concord Junior School and Wincobank Nursery and Infants School are both vibrant and lively schools, closely connected to our local community. Across both schools we celebrate many cultures, languages and traditions and take inspiration from our diverse community.
As the trust develops, we are looking to appoint two exceptionally talented leaders to build on our successes and help each school grow to become individually successful and as a collective, truly inspirational. In both schools you will find passionate and committed staff, engaged and supportive parents, and pupils who behave well and are eager to achieve.
Each school faces particular challenges and both are on significant improvement journeys which require ongoing support to reach the standards our community rightly expect. As a trust, we are committed to improving our teaching and learning at every level and therefore the attainment and progress of all pupils; we need leaders who will guide each school forward, shaping and implementing a sustainable and aspirational plan which is reflective of our ambition as a Trust.
Hinde House MAT is at the beginning of an exciting journey and these two appointments will be crucial in making our vision a reality. In joining the Trust, you will have the unique opportunity to take an autonomous leadership role within a new and evolving MAT – creating a lasting and positive legacy in Sheffield.
For an informal, confidential discussion, please contact Phil Watt at Navigate on 0844 800 5300. To find out how to apply, please visit www.JoinHindeHouse.co.uk
Closing Date: 6th October 2014 Hinde House Multi-Academy-Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Offers of employment will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check.
Headteacher Wincobank Nursery and Infants School (3-7 NOR 245)
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