Anyone interested in taking part should express their interest to his or her headteacher as soon as possible.

Further details will be passed on to headteachers at their forthcoming cluster meetings and to D&T co-ordinators at their development group meeting on 23rd October.

Responsibility for the selection of the leading teachers will lie with the partnerships, however, support will be available from the SIS team in assisting with the selection process if required.

Proposed revised partnership groupings (based on number of schools and geographical area) of primary phase schools:

1. Howden, Goole, Snaith area
2. Pocklington, Market Weighton area
3. South Hunsley, Wolfreton area
4. Beverley area
5. Bridlington area
6. Withernsea, Hornsea, South Holderness area
7. Driffield area
8. Cottingham, Hessle area

Not sure whether to apply?

• You do not need to be a subject specialist but you will need to have a strong interest and commitment to helping develop primary D&T in the East Riding.
• A full CPD programme will be negotiated in order to build up a team of confident, effective leading teachers.
• Training for the role will begin in the Spring Term 2004

Brief outline of the role

Two leading teachers from each area will work to raise standards in teaching and learning with the support of the SIS team.

After initial training the two leading teachers will provide support for D&T co-ordinators within their 'partnership'.

Materials, agenda and additional training will be provided centrally and disseminated to leading teachers at termly half-day meetings.

Supply cover will be reimbursed at the rate of ½ day per term to allow for the leading teacher's preparation.

It is anticipated that cluster meetings will be held at a suitable venue, which may be the local secondary school or primary school.

We envisage meetings to last for about 1½ hours and end at 4:30/5:00pm.

What are the benefits of the scheme?

At present, co-ordinators meetings in d&t and science attract supply cost for the subject co-ordinator's school at the rate of ½ day per term per subject = £450.

Additional deductions from the school's SLA allocation, are also levied for attendance at each of the 6 half day meetings.

Under the leading teacher scheme the termly meetings would be held locally and at times when schools would not incur the high supply cover cost.

There will be no SLA charge for the meeting.

However, in order for the leading teacher to prepare for the meeting, one half day supply cost would be shared between the schools represented.

In the smallest partnership group (12 schools) this charge would be in the region of £7 per school.

To set the scheme up there are initial costs for the training of leading teachers and purchase of resources.

For the year's science and d&t meetings it is proposed that this shared cost be £270 per school.

This is the equivalent of buying into the SLA at one level higher than 'normal' and represents a considerable saving on the £450.

Any resources purchased as part of the scheme, would not only be used at co-ordinators meetings but also would be available for loan within partnership schools.

The termly meetings will be fully supported by the SIS and leading teachers would receive training on both key national issues and the context for the meeting.

These meetings will address the specific training needs for schools in their partnership.

For further details please contact:

John Seaman, Area Relationship Manager (East)
Tel: (01482) 392410
E-mail: john.seaman@eastriding.gov.uk

David Bowes, Teaching and Learning Consultant, Design and Technology
Tel: (01482) 392496
E-mail: david.bowes@eastriding.gov.uk

Headteacher and D&T Co-ordinator

Further to John Seaman's email of 02/10/03 I give more detail of the scheme and address some of the issues that have been raised at recent cluster meetings.

In "What Are The Benefits Of The Scheme?" I have tried to give a comparative costing so that headteachers can perform their own cost/benefit analysis.

The extract below, taken from page 62 of "Excellence and Enjoyment A Strategy For Primary Schools" gives an indication of the way forward and reflects what we're trying to achieve with the leading teacher scheme.

"6.13. We believe that schools benefit particularly from networking arrangements that are tightly focused on helping schools learn from one another; but that different models are right for different schools, and for different purposes.

But not all primary schools have access to a network or collaboration at the moment, and they should."