Subject: FAO Head Teachers - weekly news update 9

Text Box: SCHOOLS NorthEast weekly update
The future of our region is in school

This week... feel proud! Last week, Ofsted published the names of outstanding educational providers throughout the UK.

A long list of schools in the North East were included so well done to all those involved in achieving this outstanding status.

‘Celebrating the progress of the region’s schools’ was also the title of the letter SCHOOLS NorthEast had published in Thursday’s

Journal. For more information check out the news round-up.

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News and Events

Last chance to book your place now – event this Wednesday!

Heads Up: Testing times - are schools made to measure or fit for purpose?

Don’t forget to book your place and join Professor Peter Tymms, Director of Durham University’s Centre for Evaluation and

Monitoring, for a timely and topical discussion of the future of school performance assessment. The event will be held at the

Lindisfarne Centre, St Aidan’s College, Durham University this Wednesday from 4pm-6pm (light refreshments will be served).

This event is free to attend and open to all R.S.V.P to - info@schoolsnortheast.com or call: 0191 280 5037

SCHOOLS NorthEast surgery: Working with the media

Want practical help from the experts on how to deal with journalists, get positive publicity for your school and manage any issues

that could jeopardise your reputation? SCHOOLS NorthEast launches the first of a series of support surgeries on working with media.

This introductory session will help you to understand how to approach the media and the techniques you need to ensure that you get

your message across. The event will be held on Thursday 22 January from 9.00am-11:00am at One NorthEast’s Head Offices

in Newburn Riverside, Newcastle. The session is free and open to all, but places are very limited so get in quick! Further sessions will

be offered subject to demand.

For more information and to register your interest in attending please email – k.stonehouse@schoolsnortheast.com or call 0191 280 5037

Call out for case studies

SCHOOLS NorthEast is co-ordinating a response to the recommendations of the National Council for Educational Excellence. In the new

year we will be holding an event to develop an action plan for the implementation of the Council’s ideas in the North East, working with

Universities for the North East and regional business leaders. Throughout this work, we want to showcase the fantastic activities already

happening in our region’s schools so please let us know if your school has any interesting case studies on how your school has:

· Worked with business or industry

· Worked with universities

· Worked with other providers, schools and/or colleges

· Demonstrated an innovative approach to engaging parents

Email us at info@schoolsnortheast.com or call 0191 2805037 if you want to shout about your success! (and make sure that lots of others hear about

it too).

Raising and realising aspirations conference.

Government Office for the North East invites you to a conference on raising and realising aspirations for children and young people in the

North East. The event aims to promote understanding of the impact of both low and unfulfilled aspirations on outcomes for the region’s

young people. Chaired by Keith Moore, Director of Children’s Services, Sunderland City Council and including a speech by Estelle Morris

and think tank session on action planning by IPPR North. Date: Friday 30 January, time: 10.00am-16.00pm, venue: Stadium of Light,

Sunderland. For more details or to book a place, contact Dominic Baird at dominic.baird@gone.gsi.gov.uk by 9^thJanuary 2009.

Diploma Practitioner Training

Book your place at this free workshop to help you understand the Diploma qualification, learn more about personal, learning and

thinking skills (PLTS) and functional skills, and consider how to develop your delivery style within the context of your line of learning.

Date: 18 December, venue: Seaham Hall, County Durham

Go to www.diploma-support.org for more information or to reserve your place.

Free citizenship workshop

Run by the UK Office of the European Parliament and Hansard Society, the EU and All That! conferences aim to give you and your staff

a comprehensive understanding of how to deliver engaging Citizenship lessons, with workshops on the latest activities and teaching

resources. At the workshop you will receive free resources, giving your staff the opportunity to deliver innovative Citizenship lessons

immediately. Travel expenses (teachers only) will be paid. In various locations across England including Newcastle on 11 March 2009.

To download a flier go to our website - http://www.schoolsnortheast.com/content/events.html, visit: http://www.euandallthat.co.uk/ or

Contact: M.Raftery@hansard.lse.ac.uk for more information.

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News round-up

Local News

· Celebrate progress of region’s schools (Letter by SCHOOLS NorthEast published in The Journal)

· Best schools and childcare centres named (Chronicle Live)

· War of words over future of schools (The Journal)

· Schools visit to Darlington (The Northern Echo)

· New mobile classroom in Redcar and Cleveland (bdaily)

· Pupils' praises sung after Durham Cathedral concert (Sunderland Echo)

· Bid to improve 'coasting' schools (The Northern Echo)

· Olympian gives students a masterclass (The Northern Echo)

The future of Head Teachers

· Head teacher role could be obsolete by 2020 (Children and Young People Now)

· Head Teachers 'no longer needed' in schools (The Telegraph)

Primary maths

· Poor results for primary maths (The TES)

· Quarter of 11-year-olds missing maths target (The Guardian)

· Many pupils fail to master maths (BBC News)

Academies and Diplomas

· Diplomas 'need overhaul to succeed' (The Guardian)

· Baccalaureate plan threatens diplomas (The TES)

· School academies programme in danger (The Telegraph)

Exams and exam boards

· Exam board blunder puzzles thousands of students (Times online)

· Tories plan exam standards checks (BBC News)

· Confusion over GCSE print error (BBC News)

· Tactics to beat primal fears can boost results (The TES)

Inspectors and advisors

· Lightning inspections for poor schools (The Telegraph)

· Heads sigh as more advisers are parachuted into schools (The Guardian)

· English schools 'must do better' (BBC News)

· System offering 'patently inadequate' care for children, says Ofsted report (The Guardian)

· Forty-one per cent of serious case reviews 'inadequate', says Ofsted (Children and Young People Now)

· Ofsted concern at pupil safeguards in some private schools (The Guardian)

Girls and boys

· Boys are behind girls in every area - before they even start at school (Daily Mail)

· Single-sex schools 'are the future' (The Independent)

· Parents turning to private girls schools 'to protect daughters' (Times Online)

The Credit Crunch and schools

· Demand for grammar schools soars during credit crunch (The Telegraph)

· Disillusioned bankers quit the City for the rewards of teaching science (The Guardian)

· Recession forces many to give up private schools (The Telegraph)

· Recession could improve society, says private school head (The Guardian)

Other educational news

· Too much dull teaching not challenging pupils (The TES)

· Rich and poor gap has failed to narrow (The TES)

· Government to support coasting schools (Children and Young People Now)

· Experts in a 'fog' over key policy (The TES)

· AfL critics vindicated by research (The TES)

· First BSF-funded pupil referral unit opens (Children and Young People Now)

· Every secondary school should have sex clinic on site, says charity (The Telegraph)

Star pupils

Bishopsgarth Mathematics & Computing College, Cardinal Hume RC Mathematics & Computing College, and Harrow

Gate Primary School - for being featured in the recent NCSL –TUC report “Successful Leadership for promoting the achievement

of white working class pupils”. It’s great to see North East schools being given national recognition for raising achievement amongst

some of the hardest to reach groups of young people.

Could do better –

AQA’s printing and distribution abilities – Following a printing error by the AQA on a GCSE physics exam paper, hundreds of

students were left puzzled as the answer grid did not align with the question paper, making it impossible to fill in a response. Earlier

in the year AQA had to reprint three million scripts and recall others that had already arrived at schools after a van transporting

the papers for 41 A-level and GCSE exams was stolen.

Head to Head - a week in the life of a North East Head Teacher

Michael Ewing has been Head Teacher at St Catherine’s RC Primary School in Newcastle for 14 years this Christmas. Previously

he was Deputy Head at St Bede’s in Newcastle and before becoming a Teacher worked as manager of the only off-licence in the

biggest housing estate in Europe in Glasgow (a role in which he saw many aspects of life!)

Last week was a very busy one, filled with meetings in and out of school. I had our termly School Improvement Partner (SIP) meeting

to look at data and targets (these meetings are always really stimulating professionally). I also work as a SIP so I had one meeting with

another school. I attended a meeting with the local authority about Early Years to discuss potential changes to Nursery provision, and

also attended the Catholic Head Teachers conference for our Diocese. I had a brief meeting with the council's Tree Officer to discuss

how we might tackle a problem with our only remaining horse chestnut after it was recommended for removal by an arboriculturalist!

Following this there were more forms to complete as it is protected by a Tree Preservation Order. I met with two parents to discuss a

proposed car parking scheme and to look at how the scheme will impact on parents. It was with relief that a prospective parent who

had booked in an appointment to look around the school on Thursday afternoon cancelled, allowing me a spare hour to catch up on some

other things.

The two best things that happened last week were: Our girls football team reached the finals of the City Under 11s cup and were so

proud, even though they lost 1-0 in the final. Their photograph has been on the LCD screens in the reception foyer all week. We also had

a great staff meeting led by a music adviser to look at music resources. We ended up salsa-ing around the room whilst singing one of

the songs - if our pupils had looked through the window they would have had a giggle, but it speaks volumes for the staff that they were all

prepared to give it a go!

The biggest disappointment last week was not being in school to see the celebrations at the culmination of our two week project on

Judaism (I was at the Annual Catholic Heads conference).

The funniest thing that happened last week was the three children overheard discussing the American election when one asked for

confirmation that Obama Bin Laden was indeed, the new US president.

One thing that would have made my job easier last week would be having a Deputy Head in post (we are currently in transition between

Deputy Head Teachers) as it would not only ease my workload and that of my Senior Management colleagues, but would help to extend the

school's leadership capacity further.

Top of my to-do list for this week are two things: 1) the Head Teacher report for the upcoming Governing Body meeting. We've

refined the process so that it focuses mainly on section 1 and 3 of the SEF this term but it still needs compiling and I'm knee deep in SIPs

meetings at the moment. 2) An RE learning walk- a chance to get into classes to talk to children about their learning in Religious Education,

to chat to staff and to notice the fantastic work which is going on in each class

My hero of last week was the governor who insisted that I take Dedicated Headship Time each week. I've only managed it two weeks in a

row but when I do manage, it makes a huge difference to me and to the school, I think. The staff who gave up some of their lunchtime last

Monday to support lunchtime supervision after the crisis bells rang with the news that four of the midday staff were off sick, were also heroes.

A great team!

My Villain of last week was the guy who elbowed me on the eye when I was playing football at the weekend. I now have a cut and bruised

eye and have had to explain to everyone I meet, including those present at a Child Protection meeting I attended, that it was a complete

accident and that I hadn't been fighting!

The last time I had a lunch break? I try to make sure I take lunch most days in the dining hall with pupils, sampling the quality of school

meals whilst also enjoying catching up with particular children and their stories.

My question for next week’s Head is: If someone donated £20 000 to your school what would you do with it?

If you would like to take part in our ‘Head to Head’ feature and tell us all about your week, please contact the team at

info@schoolsnortheast.com or call us on 0191 2805037.

Funding and opportunities

Get value for money at your school!

All maintained schools in England are eligible for a free consultancy day courtesy of DCSF. Each visit is tailored to your school

and will focus on achieving value for money in such areas as: leadership, wider school workforce, collaboration and Partnership,

strategic management, challenge and governance and procurement performance. Get the best out of your resources with absolutely

no charge to your school.

To find out more or to register for a visit, go to – http://schools.tribalavail.co.uk or contact Avail – 020 7079 9000.

Free fundraising solution to get your school in the festive mood

buy.at offers a free online fundraising solution for your school. All you have to do is encourage your parents and others to shop online

via your webshop and you'll automatically earn money with every purchase. There are over 100 retailers involved, many being household

names, such as Teleflorist, Thorntons and Marks & Spencer so why not get those parents Christmas shopping online this year? Buy.at

require no financial details and all earnings will be sent out in the form of a cheque. This is a simple fundraising tool and is entirely free

to setup and run, with technical knowledge and support offered by the communities’ team.

Find out more at www.buy.at/fundraising or contact the communities’ team on - 0191 2416500 or via email at communities@buy.at

Comenius school partnerships

Hundreds of UK schools and FE colleges have benefited from Comenius funding and from worthwhile learning-based partnerships. The

project enables schools to partner up within the EU and apply for funding for a project - this includes a planning visit and money to support a

curriculum project. The whole school is involved - ideally learners and staff work together in different curriculum areas aiming for a

cross-curricular approach.

For a list of the requirements or for more details go to - http://www.britishcouncil.org/comenius.htm

North East in a Nutshell – know your region

The North East has won the BBC Sports Personality award more times than anywhere else – seven wins in all from Tommy Simpson

to Jonny Wilkinson.

Wise words

“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work."

Agha Hasan Abedi

SCHOOLS NorthEast is your network. Please get in touch with your ideas, concerns, views and experiences- email: think@schoolsnortheast.com

....and don’t forget, if you’ve missed any of our previous weekly news updates, you can find them at:

http://www.schoolsnortheast.com/content/new-resources/weekly%20news.html

To unsubscribe to this weekly update, please email us at – info@schoolsnortheast.com

Have a good week!

SCHOOLS NorthEast Team

Katie Stonehouse

Communications Officer

SCHOOLS NorthEast

Tel: 0191 280 5037