Categories
Consultation School Admissions Schools

Consultation on proposed admission arrangements – St Peter-in-Chains RC Infant School

Dear Colleagues,

Please see the proposed Admission Arrangements (2019/2020) for St Peter-in-Chains RC Infant School (external link)

The consultation period will run from 20 December 2017 until 31 January 2018. Parents/carers are particularly welcome to comment on the proposed change to the admission arrangements for 2019/20.

Please send your comments to The Chair of Governors by 31 January 2018, by email to:

admin@st-peter-in-chains-rc.haringey.sch.uk or write to The Chair of Governors, St. Peter-in-Chains RC Infant School, Elm Grove London N8 9AJ.

The Governing Body will take account of responses to this consultation before determining its arrangements.

primary sif 2019-2020

Admissions Policy 2019-2020 draft

Admissions 2019-20 consultation letter general_

 

 

Categories
Schools

Wishing you a wonderful festive break

It’s been am eventful term and a great start to the academic year.

 

Our 2017 results right through from early years to post-16 were excellent once again, reflecting the brilliant provision across the borough. A record number of inspections have re-confirmed our Good and Outstanding schools. We’re pushing further with a huge groundswell of energy to develop the STEM offer in Haringey and held a rousing launch event on raising BME achievement, where we urgently need to address the largest disparity in the country.

 

Haringey Education Partnership will be the future of school improvement; HEP was agreed by Cabinet in November along with significant investment and we will be writing to governing bodies in the New Year inviting schools to become members.

 

Inspirational as always, the Outstanding for All Awards brought everyone together to celebrate the incredible staff, governors and children that make up Haringey’s schools. There is so much more too… It’s a pleasure working with all of you as we continue to go from strength to strength.

 

Wishing you all the best over Christmas and the New Year.  

 

James Page and Eveleen Riordan

 

Joint Assistant Directors, Schools and Learning

Categories
School Admissions Schools

Reception/Junior Admissions 2018

Primary Schools only

The application deadline is 15 January 2018 and the offer day will be Monday 16 April 2018.

Please can you remind parents/carers with children in your nursery (where applicable) to apply on time and also to alert families with children already on roll who have younger siblings. We have a small number of families every year who forget to make a reception application for their second or subsequent child or a Junior transfer application for their infant school child. With your help and support in publicizing these deadlines and the imperative of making an on-time application we can minimize the number of families who don’t secure a school place at one of their preferred schools.

Preferences
We will let you know how many reception preferences you have received (including from those applicants resident outside Haringey) on 8 February 2018. If you would like to know how many applicants have applied online (not on paper) you can find this out now by logging on to the
online admissions system (external link)
 
On 8 February 2018, we will also send you a list to verify sibling applications (community and voluntary controlled schools only) or send you a full list of applicants to rank in the order of your admissions criteria (academies and voluntary aided schools only). It is very important that you return these lists by no later than 23 February 2018 to ensure that we are able to meet our PAN London deadlines.

Offers
We will send you a final offer list before 16 April 2018. After offer day we will continue to send you updated lists as places are declined and new offers are made.

For any queries on any of the above, please contact Lynne Tighe, Lynne.Tighe@harinegy.gov.uk

Categories
Governance

Primary school performance data published

The Department for Education (DfE) has published the confirmed performance data from this summer’s key stage 2 assessments.

Nationally, 61% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics: 65% of girls and 57% of boys. Girls made more progress in reading and writing while boys made more progress in mathematics. The attainment gap between pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and other pupils has widened by 1% compared to 2016, with 43% achieving the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics this year. Pupils with special educational needs (SEN) had the biggest attainment gap, with just 18% reaching the expected standard in all three subjects.

511 primary schools fell below the floor standard and 524 were identified as 'coasting'.  For more information on what this means, see NGA’s guidance on powers of intervention.

Separately, the Education Policy Institute and the UCL Institute of Education have published research comparing the performance of English primary schools in mathematics with top performing nations internationally. It found that “while England compares reasonably well with other nations at primary, this hides a long tail of underperformance amongst low attaining pupils”. Read the report in full (external link)

Access the DfE’s analysis of the 2017 key stage 2 data and primary school performance tables here (external link)

 

Categories
Governance Schools

Analyse school performance (ASP) update

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced that Key Stage 4 (KS4) 2017 provisional data and Destinations data for 2015/16 is now available in ASP – the official DfE replacement for RAISEonline. A KS4 tab for disadvantaged pupils will also be added to the service in early 2018, along with the Ofsted Inspection Data Summary Report (IDSR) for KS4; EYFS; Absence and Exclusions data.

The department is continuing to make improvements to the service following user feedback including: improvements to the content section in the School Performance Summary report; a new KS4 pupil list; and front end improvements to the KS1 and Phonics pupil list. The department has reported that it is dealing with high volumes of helpdesk queries at the moment, meaning complex queries in relation to the service may take up to 20 working days.

Categories
Governance

Green paper and consultation on mental health provision

On 4 December 2017, the government released a green paper and an open consultation around “transforming children and young people’s mental health provision”(external link)

The green paper proposes plans which will have implications for how schools challenge poor mental health amongst children and young people. The paper proposes that in every school an individual be appointed as a “designated lead in mental health”, with a national training programme fully in place by 2025. These individuals will take the lead in helping young people in schools with mental health issues, providing support and advice to young people and staff, and teaching students about the warning signs associated with poor mental health. 

Mental health leads will also have the power to make referrals to “specialist services” concerning poor mental health. The proposals also recommend that each school mental health lead be linked to wider support teams, forming a bridge between schools and the NHS which will “mean that schools and colleges will find it much easier to contact and work with mental health services”. 

As part of the initiative, the government are also proposing to carry out further research around: the impact of the internet on mental health, particularly social media; how families can provide support to those suffering with mental health issues; and how mental health problems can be avoided in the future. Further work will also be carried out to see how mental health for 16 – 25 year olds can be improved. 

Categories
Governance

New headteacher recruitment guidance

The Department for Education (DfE) and NGA have  published new guidance on the recruitment of a headteacher (external link).

With the recruitment of a school leader being arguably one of the most important tasks a board will undertake, the guidance aims to steer those governing through the legal context and principles of recruitment. The guidance outlines the different stages of the process including:

  • planning and setting up a selection panel
  • preparing the application pack
  • advertising and promotion
  • the interview itself and the actions to be taken once an appointment is made

New to the guidance is information relating to an employer’s responsibilities under the 2010 Equality Act and guidance around flexible working options.

A toolkit was also developed alongside the guidance, comprising practical checklists and templates for boards to use to support the recruitment process, including shortlisting templates, suggested interview questions and a checklist of things to consider when using a recruitment agency.  Toolkit (external link)

 

 

Categories
Consultation School Admissions Schools

Consultation on proposed admission arrangements – Yesodey Hatorah Girls Secondary School

Dear Colleagues,

 

Please see the proposed Admission Arrangements (2019/2020) for Yesodey Hatorah Girls Secondary School (external link) 

 

The consultation period will run from 20 December 2017 until 31 January 2018. If you have any comments to make on the above proposal either email the school at chairyh@yesodeyhatorah.org

 

or write to the address below:  

 

Chair of Governors

Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School

Egerton Road

London

N16 6UA

 

Categories
Governance Ofsted

Ofsted’s annual report highlights persistent underperformance

Ofsted’s annual report for 2016/17 was published on Wednesday 13 December. This is the first annual report since Amanda Spielman took the helm as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) in February this year.

The report sets out the key themes that have arisen from inspections over the year. Key findings relating to schools include:

  • the majority of schools are performing well: 89% are currently rated ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’
  • there is a subsection of schools which have been persistently judged less than ‘good’, with over 700 judged ‘requires improvement’ or ‘satisfactory’ at their last two inspections
  • schools in deprived areas are more likely to be judged ‘requires improvement’ though there are examples of schools in challenging circumstances which have turned their performance around
  • weak governance was among common features of secondary schools which have persistently underperformed
  • too many schools are sacrificing breadth of curriculum in order to prepare pupils for statutory assessments in both primary and secondary phases

The report also highlighted that, despite the government issuing academy orders to every ‘inadequate’ school since April 2016, there are 113 maintained schools that have not converted at least nine months after receiving this judgement.

A summary of common problems in multi-academy trusts (MATs) which have had focused inspections was given. With respect to governance, Ofsted highlighted a lack of clear schemes of delegation, over-dependence on school leaders, a lack of understanding of data, and unclear strategies for use of pupil premium funding.

Read the report in full (external link)

 

Categories
Governance Ofsted

Changes to Ofsted’s short inspection procedure

It has been announced that Ofsted will go ahead with reform of the short inspections system following a recent consultation. Since 2015, schools previously judged ‘good’ have received short one day inspections that do not result in a full set of judgements but are converted to a full inspection if inspectors do not find sufficient evidence that a school remains ‘good’. 

From January 2018, there will be four possible outcomes from a short inspection: 

  • if inspectors are confident that the school remains ‘good’, the school will receive a letter confirming this; another short inspection will take place in approximately 2- 3 years (in line with the existing system);
  • if there are “serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education”, the school will receive a full inspection within 48 hours;
  • if inspectors suspect that there has been a decline and the school is no longer ‘good’, the school will receive a letter setting out the findings and a full inspection will take place “typically within one to two years but no later than five years since the previous full section 5 inspection”;
  • if inspectors believe that there has been an improvement towards ‘outstanding’, the school will receive a letter setting out the findings and a full inspection within two years.

Read Ofsted’s full report on the consultation outcome (external link)