The Governor Magazine - Autumn 2023 Edition

The Governor

Governance enquiries

Email: governorservices@theeducationpeople.org

Tel: 03301 651 100

Suzanne Mayes Head of Governor Services

03301 651 059 / 07712 301353

Julia Durcan Senior Area Governance Officer (West Kent) 03301 651 055 / 07860 704200

Jude Johnson Area Governance Officer (North Kent and Medway)

03301 651 058 / 07740 183729

Tina Gimber Area Governance Officer (South Kent) 03301 65 1057 / 07712 301352

Lorraine Monkhouse Area Governance Officer (East Kent) 03301 651 061 / 07860 704198

Tom Winek Governor and Clerking Service Business Support Officer 03301 651 062 / 07795 650813

Mary Baker: Governor Services Administration Officer 03301 651 100

We would like to hear from you and welcome your contributions or suggestions for future issues of The Governor. Please email: governorservices@theeducationpeople.org

Contents

4

Editor’s Message | Suzanne Mayes

6 8 11 16 17

20

The Education People Update | John Doherty

Teachers Pay Update | Liz Mayhew

Autism Education Trust | Melissa Devine

Promoting Positive Mental Health | Ross Miller

Working Together to Improve School Attendance | Simon Smith

National Safeguarding Updates | Rebecca Avery

School Improvement | Tel German

Secondary School Improvement | Louise Agley

SEND Updates | Rory Abbott

For Children and Young People with Education Health and Care Plans | Marisa White

Pathways for All? | Dr Tony Breslin

Keep Being EEFective | Michelle Stanley

Health and Safety | Liz Nixon

Potential Changes Affecting School Funding | Kent County Council

Appropriate Use of School Funds | Kent County Council

Financial Controls and Compliance for Governors | Steve Walter

Inclusion Is For Everyone, Or Is It? | Siobhán Price

Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub | Alex Gamby

Governor and Clerk Training Programme

Welcome back and we look forward to continuing to work with you in this new academic year. I hope you have all had a chance to complete our annual survey and we will report back to you on this in the coming months.

I am delighted to share with you that we have now had a number of our courses accredited. This includes some new courses that we will be delivering this academic year:

• Exploring the First Core Function of Governance

• Second Core Function: Holding to Account

• Running an Effective Meeting.

Our other accredited courses are as follows:

• Governor Induction

• Fulfilling the Chairs Programme

• Governance Professional Programme

• Training and Development Governor

• Complaints – The Clerks Role in Leading the Process.

There is a link in this edition which shows our entire Events Calendar for the whole academic year which we hope you will find useful for diarising your training. There may be additional courses that are added over the year, and we will promote these on GovernorHub and in the monthly bulletin.

I was delighted to hear about the work Kent County Council (KCC) are conducting around enhancing the breadth and quality of post-16 provision across Kent. The article in our magazine outlines the recommendations made in 2022 and how the Recommendation Implementation Groups (RIGs) have been working together on these recommendations. Tony Breslin who is a previous National Leader of Governance invites all to encourage their school leaders to attend the next stage of this work on Tuesday 28 November 2023 at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Lastly if any governors/trustees wish support the work of one of the groups or would like to share an example of successful practice - especially where there is a collaborative or online dimension or where new forms of curriculum innovation are employed - please get in touch by emailing the Pathways for All Team at pathwaysforall@gov.uk

Just a reminder that our E-learning safeguarding module is available to download and is free to all Governor Services Training Package subscribers. If your school subscribes, please contact governorservices@ theeducationpeople.org for details of how to download for free. We hope you find this a helpful way to ensure you meet your statutory duty around safeguarding and please remember to print off your certificate and upload onto GovernorHub.

Thank you to all of you who have responded to our annual survey, a reminder if you haven’t done so there is still time so, please log on to Governor Services Survey, it supports us in shaping our future offer.

Wishing you all a successful new year in your role and thank you for everything you do in supporting the young people and staff in your schools.

With very best wishes

Contact Details

North Kent

Ian Watts - Area Education Officer

03000 414302 | ian.watts@kent.gov.uk

Jude Johnson - Area Governance Officer

03301 651 058 | jude.johnson@theeducationpeople.org

District Safeguarding Contact Numbers:

Dartford | 03000 412445

Gravesham | 03000 412445

Sevenoaks | 03000 412445

East Kent

Marisa White - Area Education Officer

03000 418794 | marisa.white@kent.gov.uk

Lorraine Monkhouse - Area Governance Officer 03301 651 061

lorraine.monkhouse@theeducationpeople.org

District Safeguarding Contact Numbers:

Canterbury | 03000 418503

Swale | 03000 418503

Thanet | 03000 418503

South Kent

David Adams - Area Education Officer 03000 414989 | david.adams@kent.gov.uk

Tina Gimber - Area Governance Officer

03301 651 057 | tina.gimber@theeducationpeople.org

District Safeguarding Contact Numbers:

Ashford | 03000 415648

Dover | 03000 415648

Folkestone & Hythe | 03000 415648

West Kent

Nick Abrahams - Area Education Officer

03000 410058 | nicholas.abrahams@kent.gov.uk

Julia Durcan - Area Governance Officer 03301 651055 | julia.durcan@theeducationpeople.org

District Safeguarding Contact Numbers:

Maidstone | 03000 412284

Tonbridge & Malling | 03000 412284

Tunbridge Wells | 03000 412284

Prevent Education Officers

North/West/Medway - Sally Green 03000 413439 | sally.green2@kent.gov.uk

South/East - Jill Allen 03000 413565 | jill.allen@kent.gov.uk

The Education People Update

“Following the realignment of The Education People into the Commercial Services Group (CSG) earlier this year, as part of the Professional Services Portfolio, I would like to introduce myself as Portfolio CEO.

My role at CSG is to deliver ambitious business plans across the Professional Services Portfolio which encompasses Cantium Business Solutions, Invicta Law, The Education People and KCS, our schools’ consumables operation. Each business within the portfolio is focused on delivering expert and specialised services. Kent County Council remains a significant commissioner of these

services whilst further growth aspirations are likely to be satisfied across a wider customer and geographic footprint.

CSG is one of the largest, Local Authority owned, trading organisations of its kind in the UK, and is the umbrella for all of Kent County Council’s trading brands. By organising ourselves in this way, our services can be accessed by a wide range of partners and customers and are more likely to be sustainable in the uncertain world of publicly funded services.

Update Group

With Kent County Council as both a key customer and shareholder, as well as a financial contribution, CSG adds value to the council in the following ways:

• Local Economy: 1,408 staff employed in Kent plus 3,878 Kent supply chain partners.

• Local Community: social value focused and delivering front line services.

• Service Provision: providing a variety of frontline and back-office services to KCC.

• Market Benchmarks: transparent and fair pricing, compliance and governance.

• Enterprise Value: building a valuable

Alongside my work with CSG, I am also a Non-Executive Director of Trent and Dove Housing and a trustee of the Aquila Trust. In addition to my professional pursuits, I have also used my skills as a governor to support the development of a local primary school in Nottingham where I became Chair of the Finance Committee and eventually Chair of Governors. I therefore have a good understanding of the importance of the role of the governor in providing oversight and accountability to ensure every child gets the best possible education and reaches their potential.

Finally, I would like to wish you and your schools all the very best for this new academic year.

Teachers Pay Update

A Summary of This Year’s Changes

The Government has now announced the proposed increases to pay for teachers in maintained schools for 2023 as follows.

• A 6.5% uplift to the minimum and maximum values of all the teaching and leadership pay ranges, advisory pay points and the minimum and maximum values for TLR and SEN allowances.

• A higher uplift to the minimum of the main pay range to reach the Government’s commitment of £30,000 starting salaries for new teachers.

Maintained schools are required to follow these statutory increases. Academies are not obliged to do so where they do not follow the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD).

As in past years, pay progression continues to be based on evidence of performance as demonstrated through the appraisal process.

Depending on the arrangements for pay progression set out within the school’s Pay Policy, many teachers are likely to receive an increase greater than the headline figures in recognition of their performance during the past appraisal cycle.

The Government has confirmed that this award will be fully funded.

The Government also announced measures to support teacher recruitment and retention including:

• the creation of a workload reduction workforce

• a goal of reducing working hours by 5 per week

• re-introduction of a list of administrative tasks which teachers should not be expected to do

• renewed focus on flexible working opportunities in schools.

Further details are expected on these initiatives from the DfE in due course.

It is important to be aware that these changes are subject to a statutory consultation period and Parliamentary approval. It is anticipated that the changes will not be confirmed until early November when the updated STPCD is due to be published. Schools are strongly advised not to finalise their Pay Policy or make any decisions regarding pay until then. Any pay changes will then be backdated to 1 September 2023.

What is the Role of the Governing Body in Teachers’ Pay Decisions?

The Governing Body has a number of important responsibilities.

• To determine, approve and ratify the school’s Pay Policy – including deciding on annual changes to the pay scales and progression arrangements.

• To ensure that appropriate arrangements for linking appraisal to pay are in place, can be applied consistently and that pay decisions can be objectively justified by performance.

• To monitor the outcome of pay decisions, including the extent to which different groups of teachers may progress at different rates and check processes operate fairly for all staff groups.

• To consider the budgetary implications of pay decisions and in the context of the school’s overall spending plan and longer-term affordability.

What Should the School’s Pay Policy Include?

Every school should have its own Pay Policy detailing how pay progression is managed. This document should include the following.

• The pay ranges that the school follows and pay points where the school uses these.

• The principles and framework for awarding pay progression.

• The performance criteria against which teachers will be assessed when determining pay progression.

• Delegation arrangements – who has responsibility for making pay recommendations and decisions.

• Arrangements for pay appeals should a teacher be dissatisfied with their pay award.

The Pay Policy is a statutory requirement and must be reviewed annually to reflect the increase to the minimum and maximum values of the teaching salary ranges payable from 1 September and to ensure the pay progression framework and criteria remain fit for purpose.

Schools are strongly advised to ensure that there is meaningful consultation with all staff and their trade union/professional representatives at a local level on the development and review of their Pay Policy where there have been material changes.

How Should the Pay Award Be Implemented?

The 2023 pay award should be implemented in line with the principles set out in the school’s Pay Policy with the pay values updated to reflect those in the 2023 STPCD.

Every teacher must be paid within the salary values appropriate for their pay range as set out in the STPCD. No teacher should be paid less than the minimum of their range regardless of performance. Teachers towards the top of the respective ranges should have the ability to progress to the new ceiling value where performance warrants.

For all other teachers, the school must determine, based on evidence of performance and in accordance with their own Pay Policy, the appropriate pay increase.

Do Schools Have to Follow the Advisory Pay Points Published in the STPCD?

Schools may wish to adopt the STPCD advisory pay points for main, upper and unqualified teachers and apply incremental pay progression. With the exception of the minimum and maximum values, these points are discretionary, and schools may continue to use points of different values or alternative non-points-based approaches to pay progression such as an annually defined percentage or cash increase where performance meets the required expectations.

It is important to note that the STPCD does not include advisory points for the leadership pay ranges and schools will need to determine the value of these points locally and document these within their Pay Policy if they wish to use a points-based approach. Union circulated pay points are for information only and there is no expectation that schools follow these.

Who Should Make Pay Decisions?

Pay recommendations may be made either by the appraiser or headteacher.

Depending on the delegation arrangements detailed in the school’s Pay Policy, pay decisions may be delegated to the headteacher (where they do not make the pay recommendation) or sit with a staffing/pay committee of the Governing Body.

Where pay decisions are made by governors it is important for sufficient information to be shared to enable them to make an informed decision as to whether teachers have met the criteria for pay progression and be satisfied that the implementation of the Pay Policy is objective and fair. Therefore, the committee should be provided with a brief written summary outlining whether the objectives and criteria for pay progression have been met. It is not necessary to share individual staff names – and it is suggested anonymised statements are provided.

How Does the Process Differ for Headteachers?

The Governing Body is responsible for appraising the performance of the headteacher against their appraisal objectives. It is usual for a smaller panel of governors to have delegated responsibility for this process. The panel must be supported by an external adviser appointed by the Governing Body.

The panel are also responsible for making a pay recommendation for the headteacher based on evidence of performance and in accordance with the criteria and pay progression arrangements detailed in the school’s Pay Policy.

Pay recommendations should be considered and approved by either the full Governing Body or pay committee depending on the delegation arrangements in the school.

It is important to note that the STPCD is clear that the pay range of the headteacher, which is determined on appointment, should only be exceeded, and reviewed where the responsibilities of the role change and should not routinely be changed when the postholder reaches the ceiling of the range.

The Governing Body may wish to seek advice from their school’s HR provider on how to determine and implement any pay increase for the headteacher.

HR Connect provides HR operational and consultancy services to schools and academies in Kent and beyond. They can support and advise headteachers and Governing Bodies on all aspects HR including pay and appraisal for school staff. Please visit their website www.hrconnect.org.uk or email info@hrconnect.org.uk for further information.

Autism Education Trust

The late Donna Williams, who was herself autistic, put it like this:

...right from the start, from the time someone came up with the word ‘autism’, the condition has been judged from the outside, by its appearances, and not from the inside according to how it is experienced.

(Williams, 1996 : 2014).

The Autism Education Trust (AET) is an organisation founded in 2007 to help improve the quality of education for autistic children and young people across England. At its heart is the belief that good outcomes can only be achieved by working in partnership with autistic children, young people and their families. That as practitioners we need to be open to listening to the experiences and perspectives of autistic pupils and their families, to understanding the impact that autism has on their school life and be willing to adapt our practice accordingly. When asked what would have made a difference when they were at school, the Autism Education Trust Young Experts panel stated that Flexibility, Communication, Patience, and Understanding were the four key adaptions that would have made the biggest impact.

*54% of autistic children and young people stated that the worst part about school was that their teachers did not have the knowledge to support their learning, which is reflected in The National Autistic Society’ figures which highlights that only 39% of all teachers have received more than half a day’s training in how to support autistic pupils. The number of autistic children and young people entering our schools is rising each year with DfE figures for 2021/2022 stating that 2.2% of the school population have an autism diagnosis as a primary need. It is vital that here in Kent, we have an educational workforce with the knowledge, understanding and confidence to understand the needs of autistic pupils and make the reasonable adjustments to be able to support them effectively.

The Autism Education Trust professional development programme is informed by eight principles of good autism practice. These principles are based on current evidence from research and practice as well as the perspectives and insights of autistic children, young people and their families. The training focuses on the individual, recognising that each pupil will be unique with their own strengths and differences. As the quote states “If you have met one autistic person, you have done just that, met one autistic person.” It encourages schools and practitioners to get to know autistic pupils; their interests and strengths but also to recognise their differences; and how these can form barriers to their successful inclusion into the school community. The Autism Education Trust’s key message is “Difference not Deficit,” that autistic pupils will process and experience the world differently but that recognising and understanding these differences leads to better support.

The Autism Education Trust development programme reflects the training model outlined by the Education Endowment Foundation. Following the training, the trainer will revisit the school to support with action planning and implementing the frameworks that accompany the training. School leaders are encouraged to download the Autism Education Trust Standards Framework document to use as a school improvement tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the support for autistic children in their education setting. This can be used as evidence towards the National Autistic Society School’s Accreditation Award.

The training has been piloted in Folkestone, Hythe and Ashford (Kent) and the feedback from delegates has been positive. For further information please contact aettraining@kent.gov.uk

Autism is a difference not a deficit. Differences are to be valued not “fixed”. My normal is different from your normal and the aim shouldn’t be conformity but wellbeing.

(AET Young Expert)

From September 2023, Kent will be rolling out the Autism Education Trust training materials across all phases, early years, school age and post-16 settings. Kent is implementing the Autism Education Trust training and frameworks to achieve consistent knowledge and practice in supporting autistic children and young people across all schools and settings in Kent.

So much information that is normally assumed is already known about autism was broken down and made so much clearer as to the roots of the behaviours shown by some children. I will definitely take this into practice. As a governor I will know what to look out for when visiting classes.

*National Autistic Society Education Report 2023

Further information and downloadable free resources are available on the Autism Education Trust website:

www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/ or

www.kelsi.org.uk/special-education-needs/ special-educational-needs/autism-educationtrust-aet

Autism Education Trust Framework Documents

National Autistic Society School’s Accreditation Award

National Autistic Society Education Report 2023

Training Course Information

To access training contact your local district Specialist Teaching and Learning Service Team who are facilitating training bookings.

Making Sense of Autism (two hours)

This training is a free for Kent schools when delivered to the whole setting workforce.

This is an awareness raising module for all staff in the school community. The module provides an introduction to autism and the reasonable adjustments that need to be considered when working with autistic pupils.

Learning Objectives

After completing ‘Making Sense of Autism’, participants will be able to:

• understand the importance of getting to know the pupil as an individual

• approach autism as a difference rather than as a disorder or impairment

• understand the importance of identifying the strengths and needs of autistic pupils

• know how three areas of difference can affect autistic pupils

• appreciate how important it is to listen to and learn from the perspectives of autistic pupils

• reflect on and implement reasonable adjustments to support autistic pupils you work with.

Good Autism Practice in Schools (three hours)

This is a module for practitioners who work directly with autistic children in school settings, and it provides guidance on processes and tools that can help practitioners to implement good autism practice.

Learning Objectives

After completing ‘Good Autism Practice in Schools’, participants will be able to:

• develop their knowledge of how the key areas of difference can impact on the learning of autistic pupils

• understand the importance of involving the pupil and family in the pupil’s education

• consider the approaches, strategies and adaptations they can implement to remove barriers to participation and learning for autistic pupils

• reflect on how knowledge about autism and the individual autistic pupil can inform the one-page profile and the pupil-centred education plan.

Leadership, Inclusion and Structural Reasonable Adjustments (one day)

This module will help leaders to understand what is needed to fully embed an inclusive culture. It looks at education legislation and guidance surrounding inclusion, the steps required to lead culture change and the importance of considering structural reasonable adjustments surrounding inclusion, and Autism Education Trust resources to support leaders with this.

Learning Objectives

After completing, ‘Leadership, Inclusion and Structural Reasonable Adjustments’, participants will be able to:

• consider what is needed to lead cultural change in a setting

• look at how inclusive provision and structural reasonable adjustments can help a setting to be outstanding

• know about Autism Education Trust resources and guidance that can support leaders to provide inclusive environments through structural reasonable adjustments

• consider different ways of making structural reasonable adjustments to ensure autistic children and young people are fully supported.

Promoting Positive Mental Health – How Does This Feature on Your School’s Agenda?

Promoting positive mental health and wellbeing in school continues to be a priority for governors.

With one in four adults experiencing poor mental health each year and an estimated five children in a classroom of 30 likely to be experiencing poor mental health, early intervention plays a vital role.

Spotting changes that show someone’s mental health is deteriorating early, can support and quicken recovery times. For some, it can also remove the need to access further professional support.

Yet how confident are our staff in spotting these often subtle changes in their colleagues, pupils and themselves?

According to recent statistics (source ‘Teaching: the new reality’ Education Support 2023):

• 34% of teachers and education staff do not feel prepared to offer emotional support to staff or colleagues

• 39% are not prepared for supporting vulnerable pupils and their families

• 71% of all staff are emotionally exhausted.

School governors must continue to review the wellbeing vision in their schools. Find out when the board last reviewed their wellbeing strategy and what provision is in place to support conversations around mental health and wellbeing.

It is often helpful to identify how many Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAiders) your school has trained. Mental Health First Aid England recommend a goal of 10% of your workforce should be trained in some level of mental health awareness. The benefits of accredited mental health training can be felt at both an individual level and across the whole school as your MHFAider will be equipped with a framework to recognise signs of poor mental health and provide first level support.

At Staff Care Services we have supported hundreds of schools upskill their staff in mental health awareness and mental health first aid. If you are interested in finding out more about our courses all the information can be found here

Alternatively, if you are interested in having a wider conversation around your wellbeing strategy and support, please contact wellbeing@staffcareservices.org.uk

Working Together to Improve School Attendance

Over the past few months, the PRU, Inclusion and Attendance Service (PIAS) Team have been developing strategic plans to help implement and embed the requirements of the Working together to improve school attendance guidance published by the Department for Education in May 2022, which is due to become statutory no earlier than September 2023.

The guidance shines a spotlight on ‘support first’ and recognises that attendance is ‘everyone’s business,’ with a key feature being Local Authorities, schools and partners working collaboratively to ensure children and young people access regular education by ‘unblocking barriers to attendance.’

The guidance is for:

all school and academy trust staff, headteachers, governors, academy trustees and alternative provision providers

Local Authority attendance staff, early help lead practitioners, social workers and virtual school heads statutory safeguarding (including police and integrated boards) and other local partners parents and carers.

The summary of changes include the following.

Clarity of expectations - all schools, trusts and Local Authorities will all have clearly defined statutory roles set out in the DfE’s Summary table of responsibilities for school attendance.

Earlier intervention - all schools will have legal responsibilities to proactively improve attendance for the first time (beyond existing requirements to record accurately) underpinned by sharing of attendance data in a timely way.

Support first - all pupils, parents and carers, no matter where they live in the country, will have clear expectations from their school, be regularly informed about their child’s attendance and have access to early intervention and support first before any legal action if it becomes problematic.

Targeted whole family support - attendance teams in the Local Authority will work in tandem with early help to provide a whole-family response with a single assessment, plan, and lead practitioner (usually the school).

Independent schools - data will be collected for the first time and will receive the same support from the Local Authority.

The guidance expects Local Authorities to provide a core offer to all schools free of charge. PIAS will have a key role in the following areas of focus.

• Communication and advice - provide termly opportunities for groups of schools to come together at district level to discuss general attendance matters, local resources and challenges, and share good practice. In addition, PIAS will provide guidance and training to early help workers, social workers and other partners to ensure addressing absence is a key priority, along with providing each school with a named point of contact.

• Targeting Support Meetings (TSMs)hold termly (three times per year) conversations with schools, using their attendance data to identify pupils and cohorts with or at risk of poor attendance (severely or persistently absent) and agree targeted actions and access to services for those pupils, and as a last resort legal action.

• Multi-disciplinary support for schoolsprovide access to a range of integrated children’s services such as early help or social care to work intensively with families to provide practical whole-family support where needed to tackle the causes of absenteeism and unblock the barriers to regular attendance. This also includes advising and occasionally acting as lead professional in the single family plan where the Local Authority team is most appropriate to do so, however, usually this will be the school.

• Legal intervention - where all voluntary support has been exhausted and proved unsuccessful, consideration must be given to the full range of interventions available such as parenting contracts, education supervision orders, fixed penalty notices and attendance prosecution to determine which is most likely to change parental behaviour and improve the young person’s attendance.

The guidance also refers to the important role of virtual schools in monitoring and improving the attendance of children with a social worker. The Virtual School Kent Advisory Team will continue to work closely with schools, PIAS and social work teams to build on existing work and drive the focus on promoting school attendance for this cohort of young people.

For schools, the expectation is that a culture which promotes the benefits of attendance is developed and maintained, and strong relationships with families are forged to understand barriers to attendance and work together to remove them. All schools should accurately complete admission and attendance registers and have effective day to day processes in place to follow up absence. In regularly monitoring and analysing attendance and absence data, schools should identify pupils or cohorts that require support with their attendance and put effective strategies in place. When absence is at risk of becoming persistent or severe, schools should share information and work collaboratively with other schools in the area, Local Authority, and other partners. In order to inform all stakeholders of attendance procedures, schools must have a clear attendance policy which all leaders, staff, pupils and parents understand.

To support schools, an ‘attendance guidance checklist’ is available for school leaders to assess their journey in making the required changes to their practices to meet the requirements of the DfE guidance. Also available and in line with advice from the Department for Education, an ‘attendance policy checklist’ will enable school leaders to not only meet the expectations of the guidance regarding their attendance policy, but also bespoke the policy for their individual school. Both these resources can be found on PIAS Resources for Schools page Over the coming months, operational guidance will be published to schools that will further enable them to meet the expectations of the guidance and access the support as and when required from the Local Authority.

The PIAS policies have promoted a ‘support first’ methodology for many years with attendance prosecution always being pursued as a very last resort and only when all avenues of support have been tried and exhausted to improve a young person’s attendance. The PIAS Digital Front Door (DFD) on Kelsi has been refined which includes a pathway to invite PIAS Officers to a formal attendance meeting (facilitated by a senior member of school staff) as a final effort to unblock the barriers to a pupil’s regular attendance before exploring the use of a range of legal interventions.

The Working together to improve school attendance guidance should be read alongside the statutory DfE guidance documents on parental responsibility measures, children missing education, supporting pupils with medical conditions at school, suspensions and exclusions, alternative provision and safeguarding.

There are a number of useful webinars that may assist you in your planning and these include:

• Ofsted webinar - Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence

• DfE webinar - School Attendance Guidance Training Webinar

- Analysing absence and attendance data

• DfE webinar - School Attendance Guidance Training Webinar

- Setting an effective school attendance policy

If you would like more information, please contact the PIAS link officer for your school, details can be found on the PIAS Officer Contacts page.

National Safeguarding Updates

From 1 April 2023, the Education Safeguarding Service returned to Kent County Council. We are continuing to offer the same services and support as before and will be collaborating closely with The Education People.

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2023

The Department for Education (DfE) has published an updated version of the statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance for schools in England, ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE). This guidance replaces KCSIE 2022 and comes into force from 1 September 2023.

Annex F contains a summary of substantive changes. The NSPCC has published a summary of key changes and the Education Safeguarding Service has produced a document and blog post regarding the specific online safety changes for DSLs and leaders.

We recommend DSLs, school leaders and governors read KCSIE in its entirety, however a summary of key updates for 2023 are as follows.

• Clarification around the roles and responsibilities of education staff in relation to filtering and monitoring, including the role of the DSL; this includes links to direct schools to consider how they are meeting the DfE ‘Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges’

• Part two of KCSIE (para 142) states that governing bodies should review these standards and discuss them with IT staff and service providers and consider what more needs to be done to support their school in meeting these standards.

• Clarification that being absent, as well as missing, from education can be warning sign of a range of safeguarding concerns, including sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation.

• Additional information on online pre-recruitment checks for shortlisted candidates.

• Updated information on responding to allegations related to organisations or individuals using school premises.

Ofsted Education Inspection Framework (EIF) 2023

On 14 July 2023, Ofsted published an updated Education Inspection Framework for September 2023.

Although inspectors will not provide a separate grade for safeguarding, they will always make a written judgement under ‘leadership and management’ about whether the arrangements for safeguarding learners are effective. The approach inspectors should take to inspecting safeguarding is covered by the framework as outlined in their handbooks, including ‘Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings’.

In recognition of the importance of keeping children safe, if safeguarding is viewed to be ‘ineffective’ then schools will receive an ‘inadequate’ rating overall. From September 2023, in the rare cases where a school fails because of safeguarding issues alone, Ofsted will now follow-up with a monitoring visit within three months to provide an opportunity for regrading. If the school has been able to resolve their safeguarding practice issues, then its overall grade may be revised.

The updated EIF also now places an emphasis on exploring evidence that demonstrates that education leaders (including governors) have created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first. This means leaders do the following.

• Protect pupils from serious harm, both online and offline.

• Are vigilant and maintain an attitude of ‘it could happen here.’

• Are open and transparent; they share information with others and actively seek expert advice when required.

• Ensure staff are well trained to understand their responsibilities and the specific school systems and processes in place and are empowered to ‘speak out’ if they have concerns.

• Actively seek and listen to the views and experiences of learners, staff and parents, and take prompt but proportionate action to address concerns.

• Have appropriate child protection arrangements in place which identify learners who may need early help, and who are at risk of harm or have been harmed, for example, neglect, abuse (including by their peers), grooming, exploitation, sexual abuse and online harm.

• Secure the help that learners need and, if required, refer in a timely way.

• Manage safe recruitment and allegations about adults who may be a risk to learners.

• Are receptive to challenge and are reflective of their own practices to ensure their safeguarding policies, systems and processes are kept under continuous review.

In light of these updates, we recommend governors work with headteachers, DSLs and the wider leadership team to review their schools existing safeguarding policies and procedures, including staff training and the application of appropriate filtering and monitoring to school devices and systems, and implement any necessary changes.

Choosing the Right Safeguarding Training Provider

Supporting a school can be incredibly rewarding, but it also comes with an enormous responsibility. One of the most important aspects of this responsibility is your obligation as governor to support your school to keep those who are in their care safe from harm; effective safeguarding training is an essential way to ensure your staff have the skills needed to be able to provide a service that protects children.

In the current climate where budgets can be tight, settings are increasingly turning towards other options to reduce costs whilst trying to ensure Designated Safeguarding Leads and staff keep up to date with the safeguarding requirements. Finding the right training provider and approach is an important decision but can be fraught with complexities; the following guidance may help you find the right fit for your school.

Firstly, consider your settings specific training needs and requirements. Questions to help understand this could include the following.

• What do you need to achieve in relation to safeguarding training, for example who is the audience?

• What are the desired learning objectives and outcomes for the training? For example, training for a Designated Safeguarding Lead will need to cover different content to a basic child protection course aimed at new staff.

• What are you required to do by law?

• What level of understanding, skills and knowledge do you have in your organisation already?

• How can you evidence and/or evaluate the impact of any training provided?

Once you have identified your specific training needs, this will help you find a suitable training provider. Consider if on demand/pre-recorded content is best suited to meet all your needs or if specific groups would benefit from a more interactive trainer led session. You also should consider if you need to use a training provider who knows and covers the specific Kent safeguarding policies and procedures (as outlined by the Kent Multiagency Safeguarding Children Partnership), as well as any local trends in your area.

Secondly, if you are using an external trainer or package of materials, you need to ensure that they have the right understanding, experience, skills and knowledge that fits with your training needs. The following questions may help inform decision making.

• Do they have any accredited or recognised training, teaching and/or safeguarding qualifications?

• Do they have an appropriate understanding of what it is like to run an organisation such as yours?

• Are their training resources up-to-date and aligned with your organisation’s safeguarding ethos?

• Is the content appropriate to your specific local needs? If not, can the content be adapted, or will you need to undertake additional work to ensure it is fit for purpose?

• Is the training certified and/or quality assured? If so, by whom?

• Is the training provider able to put you in touch with other settings for testimonials?

Thirdly, value for money is key to many settings. Shop around and compare costs for different training approaches or products; as you research, you may identify a benchmark cost for a certain type of training, however, be wary of providers who have costs significantly lower than others. If you feel drawn to them because of this, please ensure that they meet the requirements identified above, as sadly, reduced costs can mean reduced quality. It is vital that staff are well equipped and confident in their safeguarding role and responsibilities; if the training you provide is poor, then mistakes may be made, and you may need to buy in additional resources later. More importantly however, poor quality training can put children, staff and settings at risk of harm.

Lastly, any training provider you choose should strengthen your setting’s safeguarding approaches; safeguarding training should not be a passive or ‘tick box’ experience. However it is provided, training needs to provide staff with the knowledge and understanding required to ensure your setting is a safe place for the whole community. Once completed, safeguarding training should leave you and your staff encouraged to contribute to and shape your arrangements and should help support your setting to establish safer practice which ultimately ensures a safer, open and more positive safeguarding culture.

If settings need to discuss their training requirements further, advice can be sought from the Education Safeguarding Service

Education Safeguarding Service Training, Services and Products

To support governors, headteachers and DSLs, the Education Safeguarding Service have updated a number of our core resources, including our child protection and acceptable use policy templates, which can be found on the Education People website

The Education Safeguarding Service works alongside Governor Services to provide safeguarding training for governors. We currently provide a ‘Strategic Safeguarding Training for Governors’ E-Learning course, which is suitable as either an induction or regular update on safeguarding for all governors. We also deliver live training for governors with a specific responsibility for safeguarding through Governor Services or can be commissioned to provide bespoke governor training. For more information, please access the training section, the Governor Services or the Education Safeguarding Service pages on The Education People website.

School Improvement

| Tel German, Head of Service, Primary School Improvement, The Education People

As we enter the new academic year, we are pleased to confirm that KCC continue to fund the core support offer to all Local Authority schools

As in previous years, schools were RAG rated in July and this RAG informs the core support available to you this academic year. The RAG rating for a school is dependent on many factors including significant staff changes, a new inexperienced headteacher, inspection outcomes and capacity so an amber RAG may link to reduced capacity rather than significant concerns around provision.

We wrote to all schools in July outlining your core support, two visits for green schools, three for amber and eight for red schools. The letter also provided the name of your link improvement adviser. The role of the improvement adviser is to provide support and to help signpost areas of vulnerability and strength. Do encourage your headteacher to make the most of their time in coaching, supporting and validating leadership at all levels. As always additional support can be commissioned at any time across all areas of school improvement, please contact your school adviser or senior adviser who can help organise any additional support you may need.

Each area of Kent continues to be led by a senior adviser; the senior adviser is your go to person for all school improvement related issues. The senior adviser should always be informed if your headteacher resigns or is absent from work for more than three weeks.

Kate Wilson is the senior adviser for East Kent. Kate is our specialist in Pupil Premium and tackling disadvantage. Kate also line manages our Equality Diversity Inclusion Team (EDIT) EDIT@theeducationpeople.org providing in-school support and training around all aspects of inclusion including refugee and English as an additional language support.

Matt Dickson is the senior adviser for North Kent. Matt leads on all aspects of assessment and moderation. Matt also leads the specialist team providing outreach support for English and maths.

polly.sharman@theeducationpeople.org

Polly Sharman is the senior adviser for West Kent. Polly leads our early years in schools team working with early years teachers. Polly also leads on Key Stage 1 transition and teaching and learning in Year 1.

mary.priestly@theeducatinpeople.org

Mary Priestly is the senior adviser for South Kent. Mary also leads our training and development team and is a good point of contact for any bespoke training needs.

louise.agley@theeducationpeople.org

Louise Agley is the senior adviser for Secondary Schools, Special Schools and PRUs and should be your first point of contact for support.

Jan Dubiel is a nationally and internationally recognised specialist in early childhood education. He was recently identified by the Times Educational Supplement as one of the 10 most influential people in British education.

Laura is an experienced trainer, facilitator and speaker with a passion for supporting under-served children and their families putting their lived experience central to that work. Laura has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, middle leader and senior leader in non-selective, selective, singlesex, mixed comprehensive, and alternative provision as well as working on central-trust board as Director of Inclusion. With a practical understanding of school leadership, she is looking forward to providing collaborative support in schools as part of the Equality Diversity Inclusion Team.

Katie has worked in primary schools for over 20 years with 15 years of senior leadership experience, including a successful headship, driving rapid school improvement in a school with a high level of challenging behaviour, SEND, PPG and EAL. She has previously supported numerous schools improving pupil outcomes, particularly for SEND learners and has delivered training on a variety of topics, to varying audiences.

Fran Rusbridge

Fran has been a headteacher and executive headteacher for 18 years. As a teacher and leader, she has worked in infant, junior and primary schools across Kent, Surrey and West London. As a headteacher she has led underperforming schools to secure rapid school improvement to achieve good and outstanding outcomes.

Ruth Gately

Ruth has over 30 years’ experience in secondary education, including over 10 years in senior leadership. She has experience in working in Kent schools as a subject lead, pastoral lead, school leader, SENCO and more recently as the senior leader for SEND and Specialist Resource Provision.

Secondary School Improvement

School Improvement Package

We are pleased to launch our new Secondary School Improvement Package, a combination of face-to-face and online support across a range of school improvement and professional development. Each package entitles the school to four days of bespoke consultancy, which can be targeted to specific areas of need identified by your evaluation and monitoring processes.

Select four days’ worth of support from the following:

Length Service

Full day Subject deep dive/curriculum area audit – developmental use of the ‘deep dive’ method to support quality of education

Teacher action planning – supporting middle leaders or individual teachers to plan for improvement

Whole school CPD – bespoke sessions designed in liaison with your school.

Full day Whole school reviews, including:

• SEND

• attendance

• pupil premium

• personal development

• behaviour and attitudes

• safeguarding.

Each of these whole school reviews will result in a detailed report summarising the findings, key areas for improvement and suggested next steps.

Half day Ofsted preparation*, including:

• SLT – the role of SLT in the inspection process

• the education-focused phone call – practice for headteachers for the initial phone call with the lead inspector

• governors – the role of governors in the inspection process

• middle leaders – the role of middle leaders in the inspection process.

Half day • HT performance management.

• SEND staff supervision* - bespoke sessions providing bespoke support and advice for teachers working with pupils with SEND.

• Website compliance check* - audit of the school website for statutory compliance.

• Careers strategy planning – support for careers leads to meet the Gatsby benchmarks.

*Remote version available

The package also includes a range of E-learning modules that address all aspects of the Ofsted inspection framework, providing an introductory suite of learning for teachers and leaders.

Ensuring the Effective Use of Teaching Assistants

Employment of teaching assistants is a significant expenditure for many secondary schools. In total, schools in England spend approximately £34.4 billion on teaching assistants annually – that’s 13% of the entire national school budget. Ensuring that this is money well spent can be a challenge, and The Education Endowment Foundation’s recent report, ‘Making the Best Use of Teaching Assistants’ highlights the need for high-quality training for teaching assistants. It is vital that these members of staff, who often spend more time with our most vulnerable young people, are well-equipped to support them in the most effective ways possible.

To this end, The Secondary School Improvement Team have recently launched the Secondary Teaching Assistant Training Package, an extensive new E-learning suite designed to support schools to make the most of their TA workforce.

The package comprises modules on:

• Supporting children with SEMH needs

• Restorative conversations

• Inclusion: a universal approach

• Promoting pupil independence

• Working effectively with class teachers

• Supporting struggling readers

• Maths mindsets

• Maths: Asking the right questions.

Each module is accompanied by a downloadable resource that can be used to support classroom practice and prompt further development and discussion.

For further details on the Secondary Teaching Assistant Training Package or to purchase please visit our website.

SEND Updates

| Rory Abbott, Project Lead, School Improvement, Secondary, Special and PRU/Skills & Employability, The Education People

The SEND arm of the School Improvement Service has been particularly busy this academic year, coordinating and facilitating close to 50 free CPD events for schools across the county since September 2022. These opportunities have included the Countywide SENCO Forum, Mainstream Core Standards training for governors, for teachers, for middle leaders and for families, and the much-celebrated SENCO and Inclusion Leader Conference in March 2023.

Across these events, 74% of primary schools and 64% of secondary schools have engaged with our offer of Mainstream Core Standards training. And half of all mainstream primary schools and a third of all mainstream secondary schools in Kent have engaged with more than one of the six offers of CPD that we have delivered. However, we’d love to get these numbers even higher for the next academic year! The feedback that we have received from governors, middle leaders, SENCOs and teachers has been overwhelmingly positive so please encourage your teams to contact Rory Abbott to find out more.

Though our formal Mainstream Core Standards training sessions have ended for the academic year 2022/23, we still have lots of CPD to offer your school teams. You can still access:

• the free Mainstream Core Standards E-Learning course for Teachers and Teaching Assistants which you can find here

• the SEND Governor Toolkit, which you can find here

• The Effective Inclusive Practice Guide, which contains case studies and examples of what you can do to develop your own school’s practice, which you can find here.

We will be offering further Mainstream Core Standards CPD opportunities next academic year (2023/24) which we are currently finalising with the Local Authority. Information about these will be published and sent to you, usually via your SENCO (or in the case of governor training, via The Education People’s Governor Services Team), in time for the beginning of the autumn term. We will also be launching the Family Engagement Award for schools in the autumn, so there is still much, much more to come.

Please encourage your school SENCO, middle leaders and teachers to contact me, if they do not receive regular emails from me about the free SEND CPD offers we provide. If you have any questions or thoughts, then please email Rory Abbott at rory.abbott@theeducationpeople.org.

For Children and Young People with Education Health and Care Plans

We will be launching a consultation asking for views on the range and sufficiency of education provision for children and young people with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in Kent. We have produced our first Sufficiency Plan for children and young people with EHCPs that aims to:

• forecast future demand for education provision for children and young people with EHCPs

• inform KCC’s medium to longer term commissioning/decommissioning of places

• inform capital investment planning and future bids to the DfE for new provisions.

The consultation will run over the autumn in parallel with a consultation on the Commissioning Plan for Education Provision.

Alongside the development of this first Sufficiency Plan for SEN places, we are undertaking several reviews that will inform policy direction and future revisions of this plan:

• Special School review

• Review of Specialist Resource Provision

• Early Years review

• High Needs Funding review.

To inform our Sufficiency Plan, we have looked at capacity and designated numbers in Kent educational provisions, pupil travel patterns, destination and progression data, alongside forecast pupil data to identify gaps in both the capacity, type and geographical location of specialist provision.

We want to gather the views of all stakeholders, including parents, children and young people and a wide range of professionals who support our children and young people with SEND.

This consultation will be seeking your views on the following from a capacity perspective:

• supporting local schools to meet SEND needs of their children and young people

• provision of additional specialist places and new provision based on population forecasts and an analysis of gaps (both of provision type and geographical gaps)

• post 16 provision and preparing young people for adulthood.

Pathways for All?

|

Enhancing the Breadth and Quality of Post-16 Provision Across Kent

The Pathways for All Strategic Board was formed in September 2022 to take forward the recommendations of the Pathways for All review published earlier that year. The review made eight recommendations, summarised in Panel 1.

Panel 1

Pathways for All: Recommendations in Summary

1. Improve post-16 outcomes, county-wide and across all forms of provision.

2. Raise aspirations through more accessible and effective Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG).

3. Develop locally based responses to the challenges currently facing the sector - these include qualifications reform, small sixth forms and the lack of alternative provision.

4. Improve the provision available to those young people who have not yet reached - or who have struggled with - Level 2 (GCSE grade 4 or equivalent).

5. Continue to support the mental health and wellbeing of young people.

6. Improve and enable access to provision for all learners whatever their ability, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender or geographical location.

7. Build on the lessons learned and capabilities developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns and their aftermath.

8. Create a Pathways for All Strategic Board to provide oversight and enable and drive collaboration, across the sector, between institutions, and across the county and its communities.

As a governor or trustee in a setting with a post-16 dimension or in an 11-16 school where the young people in your care will continue their studies in another - probably local - setting, you are entitled to ask how the post-16 landscape in the county is evolving after the publication of what has come to be regarded as a signature report.

The Pathways for All Strategic Board and its Recommendation Implementation Groups (RIGs) have been taking forward each of the recommendations, and the fruits of at least some of their labours will be shared over the course of the next academic year.

The board has also been exploring contextual developments, and their impact on post-16 provision since the publication of the report: a cost of living crisis that makes participation in post-16 education a very different proposition for many potential learners, enduring budgetary pressures in most educational settings, an evolving and still not settled qualifications landscape and a training and teaching profession that is, post lockdown, much more adept at using digital technologies to bring learners together. These are all, in their different ways, potential game-changers given the multiple demography’s and geographies of the county and the particular settings in which we govern.

In this context, the Board has identified an immediate and pressing need to engage with the sector as a whole in relation to Recommendation 3: the call for the adoption of collaborative, locally based responses. Whatever the future for post-16 provision, collaboration is likely to play a central role, especially if we are deliver economies of scale for providers and course choice - and a diversity of pathways - for learners.

This theme - collaboration - provides the focus for the first Pathways for All sector-wide meeting, which will take place at the University of Kent in Canterbury on Tuesday 28 November. The event will bring together headteachers, academy and college principals, CEOs of multi-academy trusts and training organisations and employers’ representatives. The kind of questions that we will be exploring are set out in Panel 2.

Panel 2

Provision across Kent and the Delivery of Post-16 Learning Pathways for All

1. What does our county-wide strategy for delivering on the challenges set out in Pathways for All need to look like in light of qualifications reform, the cost-of-living crisis and the possibilities offered by online and blended provision?

2. What place does collaboration between different schools, colleges and training providers have in ensuring that we create post-16 pathways for all, and not just for some, and how challenging is this to deliver?

3. What are the core qualities and components of a post-16 education that will enable our young people to prosper in a fastchanging world?

4. Which groups of young people are not well-served by existing provision and how can their needs be met?

5. How effectively do we inform young people – and their families and other ‘influencers’ – about the post-16 options that are available to them?

6. How do we engage and give voice to employers, parents, those in educational governance and other stakeholders in this conversation?

7. Can we identify great examples of collaborative practice, in Kent and beyond, that we can learn from?

8. Can our meeting – in bring us all together – itself help to lay the foundations and initiate the relationships on which new local and county-wide collaborations are built?

In the meantime, what - as governors and trustees - and as a governing or trustee board, can we do? Three things.

First, please encourage your headteacher, principal or CEO to respond positively to their invitation to the event on Tuesday 28 November. We need – and you need – their voices in the room.

Second, ahead of the event, please give time as a governing or trustee board to the consideration of what Recommendation 3 might mean for the provision offered in your setting. The type of questions that governors and trustees ought to consider are posed in Panel 3.

Panel 3

Post-16 Provision: 10 Questions that Governors and Trustees Ought to Ask

1. For those in a school with a sixth form, what proportion of our students does it serve and what do we know about those who do not remain with us?

2. For those in a school - or an alternative setting - without a sixth form, what do we know about where our young people go when they leave us?

3. How knowledgeable are we about post-16 opportunities, both within our own setting and across our local area?

4. How well prepared are we for qualifications reform, especially the emergence of T levels, and how do we intend to meet this?

5. Where are the gaps in provision within our own setting and our local area that leave some students with restricted post-16 (and post-18) options?

6. How can we partner with other schools, colleges or training providers, locally or county-wide to broaden students’ options?

7. Are we aware of the type and quality of careers education and guidance accessed by the young people in our care and, if not, how do we build our knowledge of this?

8. What steps do we take to engage employers in the framing of the post-16 provision that we offer?

9. How do we engage the voices of parents and carers with regard to post-16 choices and subsequent student support?

10. In addressing all of the above, how open are we to working with other sixth forms and other providers, both locally and online?

Third, beyond our meeting on 28 November, please keep asking these questions - as a board and as individual governors and trusteeson a periodic basis and feel free to share the outcomes of your ongoing discussions with us. As a board, this keeps our work grounded, informed and connected.

Finally - and to extend this last point - involvement in the RIGs is not limited to Pathways for All board members. If, as a governor or trustee, you would like to support the work of one of the groups or if you would like to share an example of successful practice - especially where there is a collaborative or online dimension or where new forms of curriculum innovation are employed - please get in touch by emailing the Pathways for All team at pathwaysforall@gov.uk.

We look forward to hearing from you – and do remind your head, principal or CEO to keep their diary clear for Tuesday 28 November.

Dr Tony Breslin is Independent Chair of the Pathways for All Strategic Board, a National Leader of Governance, and a former Director of Sixth Form Studies. His recent books include Lessons from Lockdown (2021) and Bubble Schools (2023), both published by Routledge.

Keep Being EEFective

The EEFective Kent Project finishes but the KEEHub takes up the evidenceinformed mantle.

Sometimes an ending is really just an exciting new beginning in disguise. For the past four years the EEFective Kent Project has supported Kent schools to engage in evidence-based practice, but it now comes to an end. From this year onwards, the Kent Education Evidence Hub (KEEHub) will drive forward the work on using evidence to improve what happens in schools.

This innovative partnership between Kent County Council (KCC) and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) bought match funding and a huge range of high quality, nationally recognised expertise into Kent schools. The project delivered three strands of activity.

1. A range of strong, proven classroom interventions to improve outcomes in core subjects.

2. A series of targeted training programmes for school leaders and teachers based on the best quality evidence of what works in schools.

3. A raft of approaches to embed and sustain an evidence informed culture in schools such as the Evidence Champion Programme, the appointment of Kingsnorth CE Primary School as the Kent Associate Research School and our Implementation Conference.

Hundreds of Kent schools have taken advantage of the project offer and engaged in one or more of these strands.

To celebrate the impact of the project and share the work done in Kent schools during its lifetime, over 170 leaders and practitioners attended the project conference, Making it Work for All: Moving from Implementation to Impact. The PowerPoints from the national keynote speakers and the inspirational workshop presenters, as well as a range of Kent school case studies, can be found on Kelsi.

If the project has achieved just one thing, it has supported and challenged school leaders to consider the importance of evidence and the fundamental role it plays in every school improvement decision. As Professor Sir Keven Collins, former CEO of the EEF said, ‘If you’re not using evidence, what are you using?’ The challenge to every leader iswhat is the evidence for the proposed approach? How do you know if it will improve outcomes for children and young people? Why do you believe it will improve the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms?

Every child needs the best possible education and evidence helps leaders and practitioners to make the best possible decisions. The EEF produce a wide range of guidance reports which synthesise an array of research into clear, usable approaches. They have a succinct, easy to use report specifically for governors, The EEF guide to becoming an evidence-informed school governor and trustee

The newly launched KEEHub, hosted by Kent’s Association of Headteachers and chaired by Iain Witts, Executive Headteacher of Kingsnorth, aims to develop peer networks, continue work with EEF Research Schools and other experts to deliver training, and will be the link for any of the interventions known as Kent’s Promising Projects that can now be delivered in Kent. The KEEHub strap line of ‘teachers and leaders working together to build capacity for implementing evidencebased practice’ neatly summarises their mission.

So, it is an ending, but it is also the beginning of exciting, sector-led work to keep evidence at the heart of everything we do.

Links

KEEHub

EEFective Kent Project

Education Endowment Foundation

Education Endowment Foundation - Guide for Governing Boards

Making it Work for All: Moving from Implementation to Impact Conference, 14 June 2023.

Prof.

Sense

A panel of national and local experts discussing the role of evidence in schools. From left to right: Chris Runeckles, Director, Durrington Research School; Iain Witts, Executive Headteacher, Kingsnorth CE Primary School; Prof Jonathan Sharples, Professorial Research Fellow, Education Endowment Foundation; Louise Hay, Assistant Headteacher, Fulston Manor School; Holly Hendry, English Lead, Newington CE Primary School; Tara Deevoy, Executive Headteacher Lower Halstow and Newington CEP Schools Federation

More than 170 colleagues attend the EEFective Kent Project conference, opened by Cllr Rory Love, OBE, and Christine McInnes, Director for Education and SEND.

Health and Safety

What Part do Governors Play in Health and Safety Management within a School?

Governors will play a key role in monitoring whether a headteacher/ school leadership team is managing its statutory health and safety management responsibilities’ when undertaking their governor monitoring visits. The purpose of a governor monitoring visit is to assess the management processes of the various compliance topics within a school setting, this should include the responsibility for health and safety compliance.

The main legislation covering this area is the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 along with any other regulations that are made under the Act.

An employer has a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their employees under the Health and Safety legislation and to ensure that nonemployees are not exposed to risk in their health and safety. Employers must comply with health and safety law by implementing a health and safety policy which outlines the organisation’s health and safety responsibilities and the management arrangements to meet those responsibilities. All employees

are required to follow the instructions outlined within their organisation’s health and safety policy.

The employer within a school varies depending on the type of school.

The Local Authority is the employer for community and community special schools, voluntary-controlled schools, maintained nursery schools and pupil referral units.

The Governing Body is the employer in foundation and foundation special schools and voluntary-aided schools.

The school proprietor (the academy trust, for academies and free schools) is the employer in academies, free schools, and other independent schools.

A governor should be checking/ monitoring that the headteacher/school leadership team and all employees are adhering to the health and safety legislation within their workplace as laid out by their employer.

As outlined earlier, the governor will monitor health and safety management as part of their governor monitoring visit and should outline any recommendations highlighted from the site visit to the headteacher/governing body. It should be noted that a monitoring report is not the same as a ‘health and safety inspection’ report which is a formal examination of a workplace that aims to identify and correct deficiencies relating to physical conditions and working practices that create unacceptable risk to health and safety. Health and safety inspections should be undertaken by someone from the school’s leadership team, usually the headteacher/deputy headteacher and or site manager and is an operational function. Governor monitoring visits are a strategic function and are very much the responsibility of a school governor.

The KCC Health and Safety Team have produced a list of frequently asked questions and answers to support governors to understand their role in relation to the management of health and safety within the school setting.

What are my health and safety responsibilities as a governor? Q

A

Governors play a monitoring role and should have a ’strategic overview’ of how the headteacher/school leadership team is managing their health and safety statutory responsibilities and ensure that statutory obligations are being met.

What is required from governors within their strategic health and safety role?

AGovernors need to ensure that they monitor that the headteacher and the school leadership team are achieving the necessary health and safety standards to ensure that people, buildings, and equipment are safe and that no one is exposed to health and safety risks.

How can governors ensure that health and safety standards are being achieved?

AThe Governing Body should agree the strategic health and safety priorities, aims and objectives for the school and sign off the health and safety policy (or school policy which incorporates health and safety), and any health and safety action plans and targets.

Q Q Q

How can governors monitor that health and safety standards are being met?

A

Governors will need to monitor that the school has identified their risks. Governors should refer to the Health and Safety Checklist for Teachers which outlines the headteacher’s health and safety responsibilities and can be found on www.kelsi.org.uk. The information within this document may guide you on what questions you want to ask the headteacher when monitoring health and safety standards.

Are governors expected to undertake operational health and safety tasks?

No, a governor’s role is purely strategic as it is the headteacher’s responsibility to arrange for the operational health and safety tasks to be undertaken by the appropriate competent persons within the school. Governors may wish to accompany at least one operational health and safety inspection at the school alongside the headteacher/delegated staff member to monitor the inspection process.

Where can I find the Local Authority’s guidance for health and safety topics?

There is a dedicated health and safety guidance page on Kelsi which has a variety of documents, templates and information available for headteachers, governors and staff to use.

The health and safety guidance page can be found under the Kelsi policies and guidance heading. When you have found the health and safety guidance heading, you will then find the specific topic headings for accident reporting, chemicals, curriculum topics, fire, health and safety policies, health and safety welfare assessments, management of health and safety, manual handling, personal safety, premises and contractor management, risk assessment and working at height. www.kelsi.org.uk

Where do schools and governors find health and safety training and information?

Health and safety legislation outlines the legal requirement to give managers and employees instruction, information and training to know how to work safely without risk to their health. School managers and employees should undertake health and safety training courses relevant to the type of work activities they are either responsible for managing or undertaking within their day-to-day duties.

Free statutory compliance training is available to cover asbestos, fire, and legionella and water hygiene via The Education People website. These courses have been produced by Kent County Council to assist headteachers and school leadership teams with their management responsibilities for those topics.

Local Authority schools can access the Introduction to Health and Safety training course that is available via the Delta training portal and other Health and Safety webinars – please contact the KCC Health and Safety Team healthandsafety@kent.gov.uk for further information.

All schools can use a variety of external providers for their health and safety training requirements; however, they must ensure that they have checked the competency of the training provider and ensure that any certification given by the provider is recognised by a certificated accreditation scheme/awarding body. If unsure, contact the KCC Health and Safety Team.

QAre there any health and safety briefings that governors can attend?

AYes, governor briefings are held across Kent throughout the year. You will need to contact your local area governor representative to book onto one of these events.safety risks.

QI have a general health and safety query, is there someone I can speak to for further advice?

AIf you require any further advice and guidance on any health and safety matters or health and safety training, please contact the Kent County Council Health and Safety advice line on 03000 418456 or email us at healthandsafety@kent.gov.uk

Potential Changes Affecting School Funding

School Maintenance Thresholds

In June/July 2023 the Authority consulted with Community, Voluntary Controlled and Foundation schools, together with Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) about changing the thresholds that apply to school maintenance responsibilities for these schools. These thresholds are included in Kent’s Scheme for Financing Schools. They have not been reviewed for more than a decade, resulting in a shifting of responsibility from schools to the Authority due to inflation.

The LA delegates all revenue funding for repairs and maintenance to schools through the schools’ budget. However, the threshold which applies to primary and special schools and PRUs, currently £7,500, is below the de-minimis amount for any capital project for the Authority, which is £10k in line with the CIPFA Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting. Expenditure below this should be made with revenue funding, which is all held by schools. In 2022/23 this anomaly resulted in just over £485k being charged to the LA’s revenue budget.

As the “Responsible Body” for Community, Voluntary Controlled and Foundation schools and PRUs the Authority receives from the Department for Education (DfE) a School Capital Allocation for maintaining these schools. The relevant Responsible Bodies for Voluntary Aided and Academy schools access capital from the DfE directly. The ongoing challenge is for the LA to ensure all schools it is responsible for remain warm, safe and dry. Due to increasing costs in the construction industry and limited increases in central government funding, that task has become increasingly difficult. The LA allocates c£8m from the Schools Condition Allocation Grant to support the maintenance of Community, Voluntary Controlled and Foundation schools, from which c£3m is allocated to emergency day to day repairs, c£4.25m for planned maintenance and £0.75m for Schools Access Initiative. In the interests of transparency, it has been agreed by the LA to increase the overall allocation to c£13.5m for the next two years, by prudential borrowing, but there are no guarantees that this uplifted provision can be maintained beyond that period.

Following the recent round of condition assessments carried out by the LA, it was identified that, should the LA meet the cost of all planned maintenance works required in maintained schools (excluding Aided), regardless of their priority grading, it would cost c£25m per annum. Therefore, the LA only has the ability to focus on the most urgent work categorised as D1, other required work cannot be undertaken.

The consultation proposed increasing the thresholds from 1 April 2024, as follows:

We proposed that we classify any primary with 370 pupils or more as 2FE and above and any secondary school with 800 pupils or more as 6FE and above.

The results of the consultation are being reported to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 12 September 2023, following which the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills will decide on the proposal the Authority will submit to the Schools Funding Forum. As this is an amendment to the Scheme for Financing Schools, the Forum is the decision making body. The Forum is to meet on 22 November 2023 to consider the Authority’s submitted proposal.

Appropriate Use of School Funds

A reminder for all governors in relation to the use of school funds.

Salary payments to staff should be made through the school’s chosen payroll provider and correctly assessed for PAYE and NIC liability. Payments to all staff including ad-hoc and temporary staff must be paid through payroll. HMRC rules around IR35 govern the use of contractors and all contractors should be assessed by the school to determine whether they are genuinely self-employed or should be considered an employee. Members of staff should not be paid via invoice and/ or directly from the school bank account. For more information, see Financial Control 9Section 6: Salary Payments and Travel and Subsistence Expenses (kelsi.org.uk). If the school has any queries around the tax implications of salary payments, please contact HMRC.

The school’s Pay Policy, which should be reviewed annually and agreed by governors, should include reference to how staff will be rewarded. This should not be through gifts or rewards provided to staff such as flowers, alcohol, gift cards or spa days, as this is not an appropriate use of public funds. Governors should be asked to consider what gifts and hospitality are appropriate to be provided to staff and this should be set out as part of the Pay Policy / in a new Gifts and Hospitality Policy at the start of each financial year when agreeing the school budget. Governors and school leadership should ensure they are aware of the tax implications of any benefits in kind or other benefits provided to staff.

All schools should be ensuring they are declaring any relevant conflicts of interest. Where conflicts are declared within the school, procedures should be put in place to ensure that staff are not signing off timesheets, expenses, payroll or providing gifts for other members of staff where they have a conflict.

Financial Controls and Compliance for Governors

From a financial perspective, where does a governor go to understand what is required of them?

There are some key documents that a governor needs to be aware of that underpin the financial requirements of a maintained school.

Scheme for Financing Schools (SFFS’s)

The scheme sets out the financial relationship between the Authority and the maintained schools that it funds.

Financial Controls - There are 10 Financial Controls that lay out in detail how a school should operate in regard to various financial process and underpins the SFFS’s.

They cover: 1.

8.

Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS)

This is a self-assessment document, currently containing 30 questions, that help schools provide a self-assurance that they are meeting the basic standards necessary to achieve a good level of financial health and resource management. For each question there is a link within the document that sets out what the question means, what is seen as good practice and areas to consider if things are not right in the school.

There are many aspects that need to be considered when completing the SFVS document. Each question has a Yes, No or In Part answer option. Any question not answered Yes should be recorded in the Outcome section at the top of the SFVS and should list the actions required to move from a No / In Part to Yes.

As stated above the SFVS is an important document, it is a self-assessment of how the governing body is performing. It is a live document and should be reviewed regularly, not completed and popped in a draw never to be seen again.

That last sentence may seem a bit flippant, but Schools Financial Services have received SFVS documents from schools that are copied and pasted versions of previous years. The school has not even changed the years. We have also received out of date forms which demonstrate schools have not downloaded the latest version.

Model Finance Policy

This Policy has been drawn up in accordance with the Local Authority’s (LA) Scheme for Financing Schools and is the minimum required by KCC. Schools adding enhancements must ensure it is in line with their terms of reference and model of governance and KCC controls.

Model Terms of Reference (ToR)

There are two ToR’s that Governing Bodies can operate under, Circle Models or Committee Model. These are available from Governor Services. They set out what can and cannot be delegated and records who is responsible for all governor activities.

There is a compliance program, undertaken by Schools Financial Services on behalf of Kent County Council, that focuses on schools’ compliance to the above documents and controls.

It would be reasonable to assume that if a school answers Yes to an SFVS question, then when a compliance visit takes place, the school would be fully compliant on all compliance questions that relate to that SFVS question. History shows us that that is not the case.

The most common compliance recommendations that schools receive that are related to governor’s are as follows.

• Recommendations made on the previous compliance report are also made on the latest report. This relates directly to SFVS question No. 25. (94% schools answered Yes)

• Benchmarking has not been discussed in the last 12 months. This relates directly to SFVS question No. 18. (98% schools answered Yes)

• Decisions have not been made in line with delegated responsibilities as per the Terms of Reference. This relates directly to SFVS question No. 2. (95% schools answered Yes)

• The staffing structure has not been reviewed in the last 12 months. This relates directly to SFVS question No. 14. (98% schools answered Yes)

• Business Interest forms are signed and dated in the last 12 months. This relates directly to SFVS question No. 4. (97% schools answered Yes)

If you require guidance or training on any aspects of governance, please contact Governor Services

Inclusion Is For Everyone, Or Is It?

In June 2023, the Countywide Strategy for Inclusive Education was granted political approval and has therefore been formally adopted as Kent County Council’s strategy for inclusive education.

A Countywide Approach to Inclusive Education

The key objective of the strategy is to increase the number of children with special educational needs who are educated in mainstream settings across Kent. The performance of the local area in welcoming children with SEN into mainstream schools was heavily criticised in the joint Ofsted CQC local area revisit in September 2022 and therefore, priority has been given to this key strategic objective as part KCC’s improvement notice

This objective is also in line with the government’s SEND and AP improvement plan which was published in March 2023.

The government’s objective in this plan is to fulfil children’s potential, build parent’s trust and provide financial sustainability. These objectives are mirrored in the Ofsted inspection framework which requires schools to provide evidence during inspection on the extent of their ambition for children with SEN, in terms of curriculum, personal development and onward destinations.

The publication and formal launch of the KCC inclusion strategy document and subsequent plans for improvement have led to a change in the nature of conversations which schools are engaging in with the Local Authority. Throughout Headteacher meetings, MAT CEO meetings and SENCO briefings, the concept of inclusion has been promoted and discussed at length throughout the academic year. KCC has invested heavily in training for school leaders on leading an inclusive school, peer

to peer review, training for SEN staff on speech and language, autism, behaviour, specific interventions, training and toolkits for governors as well as a new contract for the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS). This investment has been recognised by neighbouring authorities as well as the DfE. The purpose of the investment is to have a highly skilled and confident workforce who will ensure that children who have SEN are welcomed into any mainstream school and have their academic and social needs catered for so that every child will flourish and grow up to contribute to society. This is how KCC is and will continue to demonstrate ambition for all children and will expect outcomes to improve accordingly.

As a result of the raised profile of inclusion, more and more schools are approaching Local Authority officers to discuss schools who they believe are not being inclusive. Schools are talking to officers about parents who have been directed to them from their neighbouring schools because that school doesn’t ‘do SEN’ or they ‘cannot meet need’, or the school down the road ‘does SEN better’.

Of course, these reports are anecdotal, and context is important. KCC cannot base any strategic decisions on anecdotal reports. But it raises questions about what is driving this change. Why are more schools saying this? Has it always been the case and schools have felt unwilling or unable to say anything? Or, has the heightened profile of inclusion influenced decisions in some schools where they may not have the capacity or a suitably skilled staff to support children with needs? Are those schools taking advantage of the training and support available? Are they utilising the peer review process to consider their practice? Do those schools realise that this support and guidance is available? There is an enormous amount of good practice across the county which is evident from this Effective Practice guide with examples of practice locally and nationally.

Whatever the reason, the responsibility of every Local Authority is to ensure that there are sufficient good quality school places for all children, regardless of need to receive the education they deserve. At Kent County Council we are clear that all schools, including grammar schools, exist to serve the children in the local community regardless of their needs. Therefore, closer investigation will be necessary.

One priority under the Countywide Inclusion strategy is to develop a school led improvement system whereby schools can learn from each other, enhance the excellent practice already evident and improve outcomes for children with SEN. Following considerable research and case studies from other local authorities who have embarked on this systemwide change, a full public consultation will begin in October 2023 until January 2024. This consultation will propose changes to how High Needs Funding should be distributed so that local schools can have decision making influence over how a defined pot of money is spent for the benefit of all children with SEN in the local area. Instead of the bureaucratic model in existence whereby schools apply for funding for one-to-one support for individual children, this model is designed to bring together all local schools to make decisions about how funding can be best utilised. It is intended to increase the transparency of KCC decision making processes and to support schools in using their notional SEN budget to best effect. The model is also designed to increase the confidence of parents in their local school and to instil structures whereby schools can hold each other to account. Evidence shows that where this model is well implemented, schools work collaboratively together, sharing good practice is easier and more effective and, most importantly, outcomes for children with SEN are much improved.

What does this mean for governors and trustees? The Toolkit for Governors has been updated to give governors and trustees structures and support for their monitoring visits and questions to ask at FGB which reflect the current position. To support governors and trustees in holding the school to account there is guidance which includes accountability for how the school spends its SEN notional budget, how the school welcomes all children with SEN and how the leadership of the school ensures that the workforce is suitably trained to deliver the best outcomes for children with SEN. The guidance has also been updated with more information and specific guidance for those schools who have Specialist Resource Provisions.

It is also important that governors and trustees engage in the consultation process for the ‘localities’ model. The voices and opinions of governors are crucial and maximum response will ensure that, as a Local Authority, the best decisions are made, to include all.

Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub

During 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) launched a tender, inviting applications for the delivery of 18 ‘Stronger Practice Hubs’ nationally. These hubs have been set up as part of the DfE’s Early Years COVID-19 Recovery Programme, providing support for those children most impacted by the Pandemic. The hub programme is being run by the National Children’s Bureau supported by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).

The Education People’s Early Years & Childcare Service was successful in its bid to the DfE to deliver one of two Stronger Practice Hubs for the Southeast region, in which context, in March 2023, the Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub (KEYSPH) was launched.

Partner settings involved in the Hub are Discovery Day Nursery Maidstone (Lead Partner), Northfleet Nursery School, Gem MacLachlan a childminder, Smarties Day Nursery Maidstone and Oaks Day Nursery Swanley. All three nurseries involved are managed by The Education People.

The KEYSPH has four main objectives.

• Build on local networks of school nurseries and early years settings to share knowledge and effective practice.

• Proactively share information and advice on evidence-based approaches, for example, through newsletters, blogs, and social media.

• Act as a point of contact for bespoke advice and signposting to other funded support.

• Work with the EEF to select evidencebased programmes to fund and make available to settings.

Over the last two terms the KEYSPH has offered Kent’s school run nurseries the opportunity to take up 30 funded places on Early Talk Boost, an evidence-based programme to support children with delayed communication and language. The Hub also welcomed several school nurseries to its Welcome Webinars in March and the recent Webinars on Children’s Self-regulation, delivered by Kent’s Specialist Teaching and Learning Service. All school nurseries are also receiving the Hub’s newsletters.

The KEYSPH would like to encourage all school nurseries to become involved in its open day series which will start in the autumn term, opening up their settings to share good practice with other practitioners or through sharing their good practice through blogs and vlogs. To become involved in the Hub, school nursery leaders can contact us at KEYSPH@theeducationpeople.org

We look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you very much

KEYSPH.

Governor and Clerk Training Programme 2023 - 2024

This year we have decided to publish our training events for the whole of the 2023-2024 academic year, which we hope will help you plan your training development. You can view our Events Catalogue on The Education People website

Please note training events in Term 5 and 6 will be available to book from the start of Term 4.

It would help us to plan and manage the training programme effectively if you could reserve your place and manage your bookings for any of the training events on GovernorHub. Please remember to cancel any training event you cannot attend to avoid any cancellation charges and to enable anyone who is on a waiting list the chance to attend the event.

For any Governor Training Booking Enquiries please contact governorservicestraining@theeducationpeople.org