FAO All Primary, Infant and Junior, Nursery and Special School Head Teachers

By Mike Furbank, School Improvement Manager (Senior Adviser)
April 2006

I would like to share with you some of the implications of the way that the Standards Fund has been revised for 2006-2007, to identify the levels of funding for schools from Grant 107- Targeted School Support and the model of support that we intend to use for the coming year.

The Standards fund this year has some key headings and blocks of funding that we are asked to use to support schools rather than the detailed strand-by-strand breakdown that has been used hitherto.

The next year will, I am sure be another where we are celebrating high levels of achievement in our primary schools...

- Mike Furbank

Whilst this has meant a lot of work for the Primary Strategy Team, in discussion and planning; it does mean that we have been able to tailor support to local circumstances this year rather than trying to break away from an urban London focused model!

It is our intention to identify the universal entitlement of all schools and the various levels of support for schools that face particular challenges.

In doing so we intend to be as transparent as possible in describing what schools can expect from us and what schools will be expected to do if they are in receipt of particular grants.

The key headings from the circular are as follows:

• Support for underperforming schools
• Support for underperforming pupils
• Improved delivery in literacy and mathematics

As you will see these broad categories do give us clear priorities for the use of the grant and all schools are able to draw on support form the National Strategy Team to meet some or all of these aims.

As a high performing authority and with a vast range in the types of schools we serve we want to ensure that we make this an East Riding response to the national agenda.

All schools will receive access to the nationally prescribed but locally devised training for the renewed frameworks for Literacy, Mathematics and the Foundation Stage.

There will be supply cover allocated to support attendance at this training and further supply to allow development work and in-house roll-out of the frameworks.

The details of individual school allocations will follow, but no school will receive less than 7 days supply cover.

Might I suggest that all schools will need to build the response to the renewed frameworks into their school improvement planning for 2006-7 or at least to allocate subject leader time to evaluating and planning the implementation in the autumn term and beyond?

It is clear that it is not the expectation that these can be 'shoe-horned' into schools overnight.

Head teacher briefings for the new frameworks are planned for the end of the summer term by which time the frameworks will be populated with key objectives etc. for all year groups and we will be able to advise schools about different models of implementation.

More detailed advice can be found in the Primary Strategy Newsletter that should arrive in schools at the same time as this communication.

All schools will also have the support of their link adviser in identifying priorities and supporting the evaluative process, a role that will be carried out by the School Improvement Partner from Easter 2007.

Schools will have brokered access to Leading Primary Practitioners to support subject specific developments and/or intervention strategies, this will usually be a three day 'plan, do review cycle' to support selected teachers or teams.

Further support from Teaching and Learning Consultants, beyond the central training, will be available for schools to purchase against the SLA.

All schools will be given the opportunity to use network approaches to explore and address the emboldened headings above; the feedback from the networks established this year has been very positive and we wish to build on this to enable schools to work together to build wider learning communities within their partnerships.

There will then be a number of schools that will be offered varied packages of support ranging from focused support in a core subject where the school has identified issues of underperformance and where data analysis supports that view, to Intensifying Support where a school finds itself in a position where performance places it at risk of a negative outcome if it were to be inspected.

Issues of contextual value added will also be a factor in defining the small cohort of schools that need this level of support.

The individual 'packages of support' will be clearly contracted and both school and LA actions will be outlined in the planning RVA.

Further details of the support packages and the nature of the models of working with schools will be explained in the planned CPD Prospectus which will be published in the Summer Term.

In this we will share with you the 'residency' model of support, which seeks to intensify and deepen the impact of consultant support in schools.

The next year will, I am sure be another where we are celebrating high levels of achievement in our primary schools and I hope that the mode of working outlined here can strengthen the professional relationship between the School Improvement Service and schools; ultimately allowing all our efforts to have the maximum impact on the life chances of the children and young people in our charge.

To download the letter from Mike Furbank to schools please click on the link below:

Standards Fund 2006-2007

95KB

For more information please contact:

Liz Sims, Support Service Assistant
Tel: (01482) 392426
E-mail: liz.sims@eastriding.gov.uk