Leadership Development Course

Please consider the below course for any teacher in their second year of teaching or more who you think has leadership qualities - it looks like being excellent CPD. The closing date is the 19th June. If you want to know more contact Jan Herbert (PEP Head for Ashford Rural).

Leadership Development Programme

NEW OFSTED INFORMATION

1. Update your SEFs - All SEFs will be archived round about the 5th July so if you are likely to be inspected in autumn, please make sure that you update all you can this month - especially section 3 (I know that you won't have the KS2 results, but ensure that details of progress of each other year group is in measurable terms, i.e 80% pupils Y4 Maths progressed by n sublevels/n points)

2. Save your SEF on Word - you will not be able to access your old SEF again and so you may need to have bits of it saved to cut and paste in September. The LLN will be holding SEF workshops next year.

3. Blank SEF - the new SEFs will be completely empty so be prepared to start from scratch. Be aware that there do not appear to be any prompts to help complete sections.

4. To keep in touch with all new information follow this link - http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Forms-and-guidance/Browse-all-by/Other/General/SEF-information-about-a-new-self-evaluation-form

SPORTS COACHES

There are increasing concerns about the number of schools who are using sports coaches to deliver curriculum PE. Many companies refer to "training on 'curriculum based sports'" which is not part of the national curriculum for PE and highlights the issues around coaches not fully understanding the needs of Physical Education. Whilst Joanne Harber runs PE curriculum familiarisation days for coaching including work on assessment for learning, she reccommends that schools DO NOT use coaching companies to deliver PE but only extra curricular activity.

Please see further information: Coaches in Schools

NEWS UPDATE: 1st June

Aspiring Senior Leaders' and Headteachers' Programme

The Aspiring Senior Leaders' and Headteachers' Programmes are two cross-phase leadership development programmes. They may be of value to your DHTs/Middle leaders as well as yourselves. These courses are really good for staff development bringing new ideas to Senior Leadership Teams and both of them have been very well received this year. Please see below for details:

Aspiring Headteachers - Flyer

Aspiring Headteachers - Application form

Aspiring Senior Leaders - Flyer

Aspiring Senior Leaders - Application form

OFSTED NEWS: - It's worth looking at the Ofsted site for news updates on the SEF and inspections. Please see the below documents for information re the new SEF and a draft copy of Section A for your perusal:

Information about SEF with Q&A

Draft SEF from summer 09 pilots

SIP Summer visit preparation concentrates on Section 4 and Section 6 of your SEF. The two workbooks below are handy to help focus on impact of evidence - hope thay are useful!

Section 4 workbook

Section 6 workbook

This is taking place on Tuesday 9th June at the Grand Hotel, Folkestone. Further details on the showcase of presentations can be found on the following flier:  Together We Are Greater

This will be followed by a number of workshops taking place on Tuesday 30th June for school staff - workshop information and details on how to apply will sent to schools in the next few days.

To book your place for the 9th June, please complete the application form on the above flier and return to Angela.Jarrett@kent.gov.uk

NEWS UPDATE: 12th May

Leadership Development Programme

A continuing professional development opportunity for teachers post +1 year with an interest in leadership roles in the future. If you are considering this course for your staff or would like further information, please view the following flier: Leadership Development Programme

NEWS UPDATE: 11th May

1. DCSF Inclusion Development programme on autism now online - great for Wave 1 intervention ideas.

2. Ofsted Inspection updates (for inspectors)

Safeguarding:

• Inspectors must ask to see central records of recruitment and vetting checks (safer recruitment) and ensure safeguarding procedures for trainees. If a school cannot demonstrate mandatory checks are being carried out and is failing to provide a single central record then it is likely that the school will be judged as failing to care for its pupils adequately. It will also reflect on GB and care, guidance and support.
• However inspectors must NOT place undue pressure on schools to provide unnecessary documents.

Overall effectiveness:

• No school can be judged to be good unless learners are judged to be making good progress

Community Cohesion:

• Schools must seen to be giving high priority to community cohesion; the guidance makes clear the minimum requirements for schools in order to be judged satisfactory.

RAISEonline guidance:

• Attendance is reported on as an outcome under personal guidance and support – the school’s impact in improving attendance will inform judgement of care guidance and support
• Average CVA scores for 3 years – seen as useful to investigate performance of small groups of pupils
• Caution has been given to inspectors so that they are aware that children who are shown on RAISEonline as “L2” at the end of KS2 may in fact be working at a much lower standard

Attendance:

• If pupil attendance is poor (affecting both personal development and well-being) then attendance must be graded as inadequate. “Poor attendance should not be considered satisfactory on the basis that the school is working hard to improve it, nor should a high level of social deprivation provide an excuse for poor attendance.”

Aligning standards and progress judgements in EYFS and KS1

• Inspectors reminded to look at how standards and progress judgements for EYFS are followed through in KS1; ie – if children achieve age related expectations at end of EYFS but do not at end of KS1 – further investigation necessary

Inspecting and reporting equalities:

• Schools must meet statutory requirements and evaluate impact of action to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equality
• Schools must have written race equality policy, disability equality scheme and gender equality scheme. They must assess the impact of these policies and publish the results of their monitoring annually. They must also record all racist incidents.

Special Educational needs:

• Inspectors’ attention has been drawn to increasing numbers of children assessed as having SEN, particularly at School Action level, although the attainment gap between children with SEN and all children has widened. This suggests that support has been ineffectual or that a significantly larger number of lower-attaining pupils have been registered as having SEN
• There are no national benchmarks for different levels of SEN and inspectors have been asked to be alert where schools have either very high or very low proportions of children with LLD, particularly where there has been a significant rise recently. Reasons for such a rise will be investigated thoroughly together with impact on progress and attainment of pupils. There are also implications for disability equality – any increase in numbers should have been matched by an increase in resources.
• Inspectors have been reminded that CVA may not be a helpful measure when considering standards and achievement of pupils with LLD because it does not differentiate between pupils – eg physically disables children who may be high academic attainers.

NEWS UPDATE 8th May:

VISUALISER UPDATES

Further information on using Visualisers can be found here: Using a Visualiser in the Primary Classroom

For more details on the presentations at the 'Together we are Greater' conference, click here

To view them in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kefij9bGJQw