The Director's Autumn Term Letter 2008

September 2008

Dear All,

1.         Peter 2008/2009

       I thought it was important that I wrote to you at the end of last term to give due notice of my departure in July 2009.  There have been several rumours that I was leaving earlier than that!  The post will be advertised in September 2008 and if all goes well, my successor will be in post in June 2009 to allow an overlap period before I finish this 19 year stint with you in Chelmsford Diocese.  I do hope to visit many of you in this last year, sorry if it will be a flying visit to fit in the 139 schools as well as the meetings in the 190 days!

2.         New Heads

       A very warm welcome to the new Heads who have taken on church schools this term.  Liz Maycock starts at Little Waltham, Mark Carter Tuffnell at Kendal, Julie Winstanley at Colne Engaine, Greg Waters moves to the joint Church of England/Roman Catholic School of The Bishops’ Springfield, whilst Alan Perry goes to St Edward’s Comprehensive, Romford.  There are various people serving as Acting Heads at a number of church schools this term and I do thank them for this.  Apologies for not listing them in the interest of the length of this Jottings! 

3.         2008/2009Courses

       The booklet went into schools at the end of last term and flyers for the courses this term have already been sent.  Do use the invoice enclosed with the latter and encourage staff and governors to sign up for these courses.  The three advisers are also trying to work with more local groups of church school heads and so they have devised a scheme of clusters.  I enclose a second copy of that cluster list in case the first has been mislaid.

4.         New RE Diocesan Syllabus

       I am delighted that the new syllabus is now on the website with the Autumn term materials in full detail.  Do go to the diocesan website and look at it.  You will unfortunately need to use a password since we have used, with permission, other copyright materials and so cannot make it openly available yet!  The password is RE2SCH.  Aided School governing bodies are responsible for which RE syllabus you use and so should formally approve the use of this new diocesan syllabus at their Autumn Term meeting.  I think the teachers in Aided and Controlled schools will find the materials here useful for teaching children in church schools about aspects of Christianity. 

5.         Oct 14^th conference

       I enclose yet another booking form and the flyer which gives the outlines of the day.  I hope you can come with a governor and local clergy to this important conference on Christian Leadership in the schools.

6.         Section 48 guidelines

       The education adviser team and I have worked with the various Section 48 inspectors to come up with this as the procedure.  I know you do not look forward to the Ofsted notification but this is the other inspection bit necessary for a church school.  I will send another copy when arranging the Section 48 whenever that is for you!

7.         Barking Episcopal Area

       The Bishop is organising a Christmas card competition.  Details are enclosed for the relevant schools.

8.         Headship and succession (NPQH)

       There are real issues with people not coming forward for Headships, particularly in small and rural schools.  All candidates for new Headships will in the next few months have already completed their NPQH.  There are a number of initiatives in the diocese and with the Local Authorities about this, but you can help by encouraging  likely teachers to undertake the NPQH.

9.         Controlled Headship

       The new legislation came into force this month to enable governors to specify that they wish a candidate they appoint to be fully in sympathy with the ethos of the school.  I do not see this will have much impact in this diocese even though some are crying that it is religious discrimination.  Controlled school heads already lead their schools valuing their relationship with us as a diocesan team and with the local parish(es) the distinctiveness of their schools.

10.     Federation and collaboration

       I do see the way forward for many schools will be to share a Head with another school.  Headship now requires strategic leadership which is difficult to combine with class responsibility even in a small school.  So to retain teaching in villages, several will need to combine. This may be under the leadership of an “Executive Head”, as a Federation or as “Partnership schools”. These arrangements will need much trust and sharing, good Deputies or “Site Leaders” and many meetings but the outcome for the children and communities should be good.  We must ensure that the quality and educational standards in the church schools continue to improve.

11.     School Balances 

       The money to run your school is for the children in your school at present.  Politicians are very worried about  the high level of balances held by schools.  I know there are numerous factors and many are fearful of potential problems but be aware that the government is pressing local authorities to have a scheme to claw back outstanding school balances. So do make sure you do not have an excessive balance.

12.     Admissions 

       Aided and Foundation schools are aware that the government, through the Adjudicator, has been looking closely at their admission policies.  Some barristers have been scrutinising them in the light of the new Admission Code.  I have written to several schools with issues.  Most of these in this diocese have been minor niggles about definitions on siblings and distance.  However the government is now consulting again on a revision of this new Code to implement for September 2010.  If the government ignores the consultation and requires a new Code for September 2010 implementation, then there will be more frantic changes to Admission policies in the window 1^st December 2008 to 1^st March 2009.  I hope they delay implementation until  2011!  Why not comment on this to the DCSF before October 2^nd?

13.     Schools contributing to well-being 

       Yes I know you do.  However it will be yet another thing that Ofsted inspectors will be required to comment on when they visit your school in the future.  You will often be thinking about the evidence for this in your school when you fill out the Chelmsford Toolkit for your Section 48. So it will link well for church schools!

14.     Community Cohesion 

       The Ofsted inspectors will also be looking at the way you work with the various communities inside and outside schools.  Most of you find evidence for this for the Section 48 Toolkit anyway so this again links up well.

15.     CRB and volunteer checking 

       Ofsted will be checking closely that you do CRB check all staff and any volunteers  (including governors) who work with children in your school.  All clergy in the diocese are CRB checked, but most foundation governors are only checked against List 99 in this office and so will need to be CRB checked if they work with the children and not merely attend governing body meetings.

16.     Lead flashings and security smart-water

       Metal prices have reached ridiculous levels, this means that lead is being pinched off church roofs.  This holiday some lead flashings were stolen from around a school chimney stack.  So just as churches are being urged to security mark their lead with such products as smart-water, schools might well be advised to do so.

17.     RE – Spirited Poetry

       NATRE is running a competition this Autumn to link with the October Poetry Day.  Details from:  www.natre.org.uk

18.     End Child Poverty - banner and service 

       There is a big London march and service with banners on October 4^th to urge the government to keep its promise on child poverty. Details from: www.endchildpoverty.org.uk

19.     Explore Teaching

       We do need Christian teachers.  So there are gatherings to encourage young people (and those older!) to explore teaching.  www.transforminglives.org.uk

20.     Fairly Made school uniforms 

       The costs of school uniforms has been the subject of a price war between the supermarkets this summer.  However not all are “fairly made” or organic.  A new organisation which promises to produce your school uniform that will be is www.fairlymade.com

21.     Life in its fullness conference 

       This is the annual ‘National Conference for Christian Teachers and Teaching Assistants”.  Details from www.stapleford-centre.org/conferences

22.     Education Sunday Feb 8^th 2009 

       This is the date this year.  No leaflets are being produced but materials are available through all the church websites  e.g. www.natsoc.org.uk or even www.educationsunday.org

Thank you for all you do leading your school.  I know the education team will be in touch on many matters this term, but do contact us if you have a query.  Mrs Lesley Barlow, the Chair of the DBE and I do try and accept invitations to visit you to enjoy the work you are doing in your school so keep them coming even if we cannot make that ‘event’.

Yours sincerely

Canon Peter Hartley

Diocesan Director of Education