Month: November 2017

Categories
Consultation School Admissions Schools

Proposed admission arrangements for admission to school in the academic year 2019/20 – children of staff

Dear Headteacher and Chair of Governors

Between 27 October and 8 December 2017 Haringey is consulting on the proposed admission arrangements for community and voluntary controlled (VC) primary and secondary schools for the academic year 2019/20.　

Haringey is consulting on a proposal to introduce an additional oversubscription criterion for children of staff to follow after the sibling criterion. This means that children of staff who meet the following requirements will have priority over any children who apply for a place under the distance criterion:

"Children whose parent is a member of staff who has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time of application or has been recruited to fill a vacancy for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage."

This change seeks to assist schools in recruiting and retaining staff by prioritising the admission of child(ren) of staff to the school. Some local academies and a voluntary aided school as well as schools in neighbouring boroughs currently give priority to children of staff and extending this to Haringey community and VC schools may help schools to compete for the best staff in the current competitive recruitment climate. It will also provide schools with the ability to retain and recruit staff to areas where there is a demonstrable skills shortage such as maths and science.

You can find out more about the consultation on all of our proposed admission arrangements by visiting our consultation page (external link).

In February 2018 the Council’s Cabinet will make a final decision on the 2019/20 admission arrangements including whether the additional oversubscription criterion for children of staff should be introduced.

Please do help us to ensure that as many parents and carers as possible are made aware of the consultation by signposting it in your school newsletter. If any of your parent/carers would like to comment on the proposed arrangements, they can do so by completing the online questionnaire on our consultation webpage.

Academies, Free Schools and Voluntary Aided Schools

Admission arrangements for academies, free schools and voluntary aided schools are determined by those schools and are not affected by Haringey’s proposed arrangements.

If your governors of your school would like to follow the admission arrangements proposed by the local authority for community and voluntary controlled schools (VC) then please do let me know as soon as possible so I can include your decision in our determination.

In cases where the admission authority delegates its power to determine, the responsibility to comply with the Code remains with the admission authority. You must still therefore ensure that you minute this decision at your governing body meeting and publish your admission arrangements on your website.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions on this consultation or you would like any further information.

Yours faithfully

Carlo Kodsi, Team Leader School Admissions, (E: Carlo.Kodsi@haringey.gov.uk/ T: 020 8489 1823)  

 

Categories
Consultation School Admissions Schools

Admission arrangements for entry in September 2019

FAO all Headteachers and Governors – admission arrangements for entry in September 2019

 

Dear Headteacher and Chair of Governors,
 
RE: Admission arrangements for entry in September 2019

 

This information is for Academies, free schools, voluntary-aided and foundation schools only. (It is copied to community and voluntary controlled schools for information only, as the LA, as your admitting authority, undertakes this task for you.)

 

Consultation on admission arrangements for entry in September 2019

 

I am writing to all governing bodies of own admitting authority schools (academies, free schools, voluntary-aided and foundation schools) to ask if your governing body is intending to consult on your admission arrangements for entry in September 2019. 

 

You are only required to consult for entry in September 2019 if you propose to change the arrangements your governing body determined for entry in September 2018. The School Admissions Code (2014) stipulates that consultation must also take place if a 7-year period has elapsed without consultation on arrangements.

 

If you are going to consult, your proposed arrangements must be in the public domain for a minimum of 6 weeks between 1 October 2017 and 31 January 2018.  If your governing body is going to consult, please let me know if you would like me to circulate your proposed admission arrangements when we go out to consultation for Haringey community and voluntary controlled (VC) schools this year.  

 

We consult on our admission arrangements annually irrespective of whether or not there is a proposed change to the arrangements. This is to ensure transparency and openness on the contents of our arrangements and to allow parents, carers and other stakeholders who might not previously been interested in admission arrangements (perhaps because they didn’t have a child of school age) to make a representation which can then be considered as part of the determination of the arrangements.

 

If you are intending to consult, then please reference the consultation on your website and ensure you include information on how to respond to the consultation so we can signpost to this when we consult all relevant stakeholders. Please contact me direct for further information.

 

Determining your admission arrangements for entry in September 2019 (even if you have not consulted this year)

 

Your governing body must meet again to determine your arrangements by 28 February 2018.

 

If you have not consulted because the arrangements have not changed you must still minute that the governing body have determined the admission arrangements for entry in September 2019 and in all cases, I must receive a copy of your arrangements to be posted on our website on 15 March 2018.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions about the consultation process.

 

Carlo Kodsi, Carlo.Kodsi@haringey.gov.uk

0208 489 1823

 

Categories
Governance

Analyse school performance (ASP) update

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced that KS1 and Phonics data for 2017 is now available in ASP (the replacement service to RAISEonline).

 

KS2 Children Looked After data, including disadvantaged breakdowns, has also be added to the service. Please note, users will need to have school named access (through their Secure Access account) in order to view the new pupil list reports.

Access to ASP is via Secure Access; help with logging in is available here (external link) 

Provisional KS4 data will be added to ASP at the end of November/first week in December.

Categories
Governance

Pupil absence rates: DfE releases latest data

The Department for Education (DfE) has released the latest data (external link) on pupil absence rates in England, covering the period between autumn 2016 to autumn 2017 (external link).

The key findings from the data release are:

  • overall absence rates are relatively stable, increasing by 0.1% between 2015/16 and 2016/17
  • the number of unauthorised absences has risen by 0.2%, partly “due to increased levels of unauthorised family holiday and other unauthorised absence”
  • the number of persistently absent children has risen by 0.1%
  • as in previous years, the most common reason for absence was illness (60.1% of all absences)

Governors should be aware of the absence rates in their schools, and question how attendance in each year group compares with national averages, looking specifically at trends over time. You can find out more about absence rates in schools by going to the DfE school performance tables (external link).

 

Categories
Health and Safety Schools

Knife screening wand offered to schools

MOPAC and MPS letter to schools re knife wands

In June 2017 the Mayor of London launched the Pan-London Knife Crime Strategy. The protection and education of young people is a key strand within the strategy and there is a recognition that schools and communities play a vital role in keeping the children and young people who attend their schools as safe as possible.

 

In order to support this, the Mayors’ Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) through the Safer Schools Officers are offering access to knife screening wands on a loan basis for your use. The Safer Schools Officers will be your point of contact and will also be able to provide advice on using the wands and direct you to the guidance and protocols supporting this initiative

 

The attached letter details the commitment from the Mayor’s knife crime strategy, to make knife wands accessible to all schools who want one. If you already have access to a Safer Schools officers, then please go through this route to access a knife screening wand. If not then an expression of interest can be sent to Knifescreeningwands@mopac.london.gov.uk.

 

Categories
Schools

Social Mobility Foundation offers support for sixth formers

The social mobility foundation is a charity which supports high achieving young people from low income backgrounds to access competitive universities and professions.

Their free-of-charge aspiring professionals programme starts in year 12 and lasts throughout sixth form and university until the cohort graduates and enters their chosen profession. Every successful student will receive mentoring, internships, university application support and skills development.

There is no cap on the number of pupils who can take part in the programme from any school or college.

If you are interested in finding out more, please contact:

app@socialmobility.org.uk or telephone 020 7183 1189

The application deadline is Monday 4 December 2017.

 

Categories
Schools

The Lost Lending Library – literacy project in Haringey

Punchdrunk Enrichment's Lost Lending Library project aims to raise standards in literacy, speaking and listening through engagement with an unforgettable narrative which unfolds within your school. 

An interest in books leads a local librarian to a primary school, where they discuss literature and favourite books and stories. The discovery of a strange mysterious locked book and a shared love of the book How to Live Forever by Colin Thompson leads to the mysterious arrival of the Lost Lending Library. 800 floors high and containing every book and story in the world, the library jumps from place to place and arrives where it knows it can meet great storywriters. Pupils at the school are guided by 'Peabody', guardian of the Miscellaneous department, through the library and are inspired to write their own stories.

You can view a short film about the project here (external link)

Punchdrunk is working with 13 primary schools in Haringey this year and is looking for further schools to work with in Spring and Summer term 2018. Contact elin@punchdrunk.org.uk for more information.

Punchdrunk Enrichment is also hosting workshops for secondary schools (external link)

“The whole project is such a great hook for the children's learning and is going to have a bigger impact on the children's learning than we could have had without it!” – Headteacher 

Categories
Governance

Action plan for new T-levels

The Department for Education (DfE) has published an action plan for post-16 T-level (technical level) qualifications. These will be introduced alongside apprenticeships and A-levels to give students more options upon completing their GCSEs.

The report outlines that T-levels will be level three qualifications. The aim of the qualification will be to give young people the “knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary to start skilled employment in an occupation related to their field of study”. All T-level programmes will be “substantial” and “high quality” courses equivalent to three A-levels in size. Although T-levels will be set to the same standards as apprenticeships, they will be more “classroom based” than apprenticeships. Nevertheless, they will still all include a “substantial work placement with an employer … to help students put into practice the knowledge and skills they have learnt in the classroom”.

The first T-levels will be ready for delivery by 2020, across three ‘pathways’: digital, construction, and education and childcare. Other T-level pathways will follow in 2021 and 2022.

Those governing, particularly in secondary schools, need to ensure that the school provides impartial careers advice to students – which includes information on technical qualifications. New legislation, introduced through the Technical and Further Education Act 2017, will come into force in 2018. This will “require schools to give education and training providers the opportunity to talk directly to pupils in years 8 to 13 about approved technical education qualifications and apprenticeships that they may offer”.

Categories
Governance

Governor training opportunities for Spring Term 2018

Governance Services is pleased to advise that the Spring term governance training programme is now available to book online.  The programme includes firm favourites such as Safer recruitment, a vital for governors sitting on recruitment panels, Health and Safety, Understanding Progress and Attainment, together with new courses on offer around working with key stakeholders and SEND provision including autism.

All governors are encouraged to take a look and book courses at online (external link)

 

Categories
Schools

Anchor project emotional wellbeing conference

On 21 November the Anchor project is organising an emotional well-being conference on Haringey’s relational approach to resilience for adults working with children and young people.

Anchor project emotional wellbeing conference flier

Places are limited as this is a multi-agency event, so to book your place, please register your interest here (external link)  by Tuesday 14 November. You will then receive an email confirming your place. People delivering services to Haringey’s children and families will take priority, so please ensure you name your organisation when registering.

This event provides an opportunity for stakeholders from education, health services, children’s services and the third sector to:

  • consider the latest research around attachment, trauma and relational approaches to resilience;
  • become familiar with training, tools and resources available to:
  • support families to build strong attachment relationships and promote
  • healthy child development in their children from pregnancy to young adulthood
  • support children and their families to have higher levels of wellbeing
  • work effectively with children who challenge adults and systems;
  • network.

Dr Larry Brendtro, an internationally renowned American psychologist and educator, will provide an overview of the research underpinning the work. He is co-developer of the Circle of Courage model based on the book Reclaiming Youth at Risk. He has written over 200 articles and 15 other books on building strengths in troubled children and youth including The Other 23 Hours and Deep Brain Learning: Evidence-based Essentials for Education, Treatment, and Youth Development.  

Please address all queries to: anchorproject@haringey.gov.uk