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Governance Schools

LGA calls for small maintained schools to be exempt from Apprenticeship Levy

Local Government Association: calls for small maintained schools to be exempt

The Local Government Association (LGA) has called on the government to make small local authority (LA) maintained schools exempt (external link)  from paying the Apprenticeship Levy. All employers with an annual wage bill of over £3million will have to pay to the levy at a rate of 0.5% of the total wage bill. . However, in schools where the local authority is the employer, they will have to contribute to a levy (if there is one) regardless of their individual wage-bill.

Categories
Health and Safety

Take part in a research project on the use of defibrillators in schools

The Cardiology Department at St George's University Hospital, supported by Professor Sanjay Sharma, is conducting a survey on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of automatic external defibrillators (AED) in London schools. The results will help to improve the standards of schools’ healthcare in the future. We would like to invite you to take part in the survey (external link).

See more information about the project below:

My name is Dr Dimitra Antonakaki and I am one of the doctors working at St George’s, University of London in the cardiology department of St George’s Hospital.  I am writing to you on behalf of our research team, in order to ask for your valuable help on our project.

This project is on the use of automatic external defibrillators (AED) and their establishment at schools of England.

As you might know, an AED is a machine used to give an electric shock (also known as defibrillation) when a person is in cardiac arrest, i.e. when the heart stops beating normally. Cardiac arrest can affect people of any age and without warning. If this happens, swift action in the form of early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and prompt defibrillation can help save a person’s life. The likelihood of successful resuscitation drops rapidly over the first ten minutes after cardiac arrest so rapid defibrillation is crucial to a successful resuscitation.

The precise number of cardiac arrests in the UK each year is uncertain, but is thought to be up to 60,000. In England the ambulance services attempt resuscitation in approximately 28,000 people, of whom less than 10% survive. Approximately 270 children die every year of sudden cardiac arrest at school, usually due to asymptomatic cardiac conditions. Overall survival rates vary across the country, but currently range between 2% and 12%.

The purchase and installation of AEDs are entirely for schools to determine at the moment.

Our short questionnaire on the current use of AEDs in schools (external link) includes demographics of your school, questions on any AED devices you might have and some questions on utilisation of the device. It will take you less than 5 minutes to complete and will help us to extract significant information on the current situation in the country.

I really appreciate your time and contribution that will help us to improve the standards on schools’ healthcare in the future.

Kindest regards

Dr Dimitra Antonakaki, Cardiology Registrar, MD

Email: d.antonakaki@nhs.net

Telephone: 07960 395614

 

Categories
Governance

Free training for governors

The National College for Teaching and Leadership is stumping up the money to pay for three governors or trustees (per school) to attend half-day workshops. The NGA is delivering these programmes in selected parts of the country through the Leading Governance partnership (external link).

Categories
Health and Safety

Volunteer as a peer supporter with the Breastfeeding Network

Are you a mum?  Did you breastfeed your baby?  Would you like to volunteer to help other mums in Haringey with feeding their babies?

Peer Supporters are local mums who train to volunteer their time to offer information and support to other mums. Our team helps new mums at baby clinics, on postnatal wards and drop-ins.

The course is:

  • One x two-hour class each week  for 12 weeks (excluding school holidays) starting in February 2017
  • Based in Tynemouth Medical Centre N15 4RH on Wednesdays from 10 am to 12 noon
  • Free and accredited by the Open College Network

For more information call Jane on 07933 733955 or email: jane.taylor@breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk

Visit the BreastFeeding Network website (external link).

 

Find out more about the Breastfeeding Network on their website.

Categories
Governance School Admissions Schools

Determining your admission arrangements for 2018/19 (even if you have not consulted)

Reminder to all own admission authority schools – Academies, free schools, voluntary-aided and foundation schools only (the LA as the admission authority for community and voluntary controlled schools undertakes this task)

The School Admissions Code (2014) stipulates that your governing body are statutorily required to meet and determine your admission arrangements by no later than 28 February 2017. There is no flexibility on this date under the provisions of the Code.

If you have not consulted because the arrangements have not changed you must still minute that the governing body have determined the admission arrangements and in all cases the LA must receive a copy of your arrangements to be posted on our website by 15 March 2017. The School Admissions Code (2014) also says you must publish a copy og your determined arrangements on your website displaying them for the whole offer year (the school year in which offers for places are made).   

Please send a copy of your determined admission arrangements as soon possible to Taj Buljhoo and no later than Friday 3 March 2017. Schools who have not provided a copy of their determined arrangements will be contacted by phone in the week commencing 6 March 2017.

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

Carlo Kodsi Team Leader School Admsisions

Categories
No category

Be alert – email scams and ‘ransomware’ demands

Fraudsters are calling schools, claiming to be ‘from the Department of Education’. They then ask to be given the personal email address or phone number of the head teacher, or the school finance manager.

The fraudsters claim that they need to send guidance forms to the head teacher (examples to date have varied from exam guidance, to mental health assessments); they will claim that they need to send these documents directly to the head teacher or finance manager and not to a generic school inbox, as the email or documents contain sensitive information.

The emails which they have then sent include an attachment:  a ‘.zip’ file, potentially masked as an Excel or Word document. This attachment will contain ‘ransomware’, that once opened, or downloaded, will encrypt files. At this point, the fraudsters will demand money – up to £8,000 in some cases – to recover the files.

Similar ‘ransomware’ attempts have been made recently by fraudsters claiming to be from the Department for Work and Pensions and telecoms providers: in this case they have claimed that they need to email the head teacher about the school’s ‘internet systems’.

Schools should take the following actions:

  • Although the fraudsters may know the name of the head teacher and use this to convince the school they are a real employee of a government department or telecom provider, be mindful of where these have been obtained from, usually these are listed on the school or Council’s public facing website.
  • Fraudsters have been saying they are from the “Department of Education” rather than the “Department for Education”.
  • Don’t click on links or open any attachments you receive in unsolicited emails or SMS messages. Remember that fraudsters can ‘spoof’ an email address to make it look like one used by someone you trust. If you are unsure, check the email header to identify the true source of communication.
  • Always install software updates as soon as they become available. Whether you are updating the operating system or an application, the update will often include fixes for critical security vulnerabilities.
  • Create regular backups of your important files to an external hard drive, or online storage provider. It’s important that the device you back up to aren’t left connected to your computer as any malware infection could spread to that too.
  • Do not pay extortion demands as this only feeds into criminals' hands, and there's no guarantee that access to your files will be restored if you do pay.
  • If you think your bank details have been compromised, you should immediately contact your bank.
  • If your school has been affected by this, or any other scam, report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040, or visiting the Action Fraud website (external link)   

 

Categories
Schools

Haringey test and exam results 2016

Each year a report of Haringey’s exam results is produced for the Overview and Scrutiny panel. Attached is a detailed report of the Early Years to Post-16 results for 2016. The first page contains a summary of strengths and priority areas for improvement.

 

appendix-1-report-to-scrutiny-2016-with-data-charts-school-bulletin

Categories
School Exclusion

Exclusions

The head teacher must, without delay, notify the governing body and the local authority of:

  • a permanent exclusion (including where a fixed period exclusion is made permanent);
  • exclusions which would result in the pupil being excluded for more than five school days (or more than ten lunchtimes) in a term; and
  • exclusions which would result in the pupil missing a public examination or national curriculum test.

For all other exclusions the head teacher must notify the local authority and governing body once a term.

Information regarding current issues, plans and key professionals involved with the pupil is central to planning support and reintegration back to school.

See form-x-updated-10-01-2017

Categories
Events Schools

Coldfall Primary Teaching School

Coldfall Primary Teaching School offers a range of engaging courses spanning topics such as:  Inspiring Leadership, Middle Leadership and Effective School Business Management. 

Explore the full Spring  term 2017  training courses offered, which builds on the successful relationship with local partnership schools and the alliance with Osiris Educational, who provide pioneering, challenging and effective training solutions in teaching.  

For further information go to the school website (external link)   

Read more about forthcoming courses in these attachments:

coldfall-teaching-school-spring-term-training-2017 middle-leadership-day-january-2017 coldfall-sbm-course-february-2017 coldfall-leadership-day-january-2017

Categories
Schools

New! Emergency plan template for schools

Every school should be a positive, safe and stimulating learning environment, but we live in a world where the unexpected can happen.

The Department for Education (DfE) and Haringey Council recommend that schools have a well thought out emergency plan in place.

Haringey Council Emergency Planning & Business Continuity team has created a School Emergency Plan Template (Word, 630KB)   which is designed to help schools develop their own emergency plan. The template is generic and flexible, so it can be adapted to suit individual school settings.

If your school already has an emergency plan in place, you may wish to use this template to support the review and further enhancement of current emergency arrangements.

For more information, please visit our Emergency Planning and Guidance for Schools page (external link) or contact Emergencyplanning@haringey.gov.uk.