The future of small schools
It’s been a grim week for small primary schools. The online conversation between leaders of these unique settings was already lamenting the particular difficulties of subject leadership, when new analysis revealed that they were five times likelier to be rated inadequate by Ofsted.
Questions are being asked about whether the framework is fit for purpose. But there was little time to dwell on this punishing accountability before the mini-budget overshadowed the conversation with an even worse prospect.
ASCL’s Geoff Barton warned that small schools could become ‘financially unviable’, leaving colleagues who wouldn’t want to work anywhere else wondering what the future holds – and why no one else appears to see what they see about the education they provide.
Support staff
Staying with financial concerns, National Teaching Assistant Day was celebrated just over a week ago and raised the age-old and ever-more-pertinent question of TA pay.
According to the latest figures, 96 per cent of headteachers believe TAs add value to their schools. In truth, some schools would say they couldn’t function without their support staff, who are highly skilled and severely underpaid. But the number of vacancies for support staff in schools grows ever higher as more and more staff look to find jobs that pay more, and each departure is devastating to the school community
Sadly, pay rises set out by the government are unlikely to stem the flow, as school leaders try to balance the books with no additional funding for them. The result is that we run the risk of losing more of these valued colleagues.
Black History Month
With days to go until the start of Black History Month, lots of schools are prepping by asking staff to put together overviews of Black leaders, celebrities, etc. The theme this year is ‘Time for change. Action not words’ and some schools are struggling to find meaningful and supportive resources to add value to their curriculum. As always, there are fantastic colleagues out there willing to share.
But it’s worth considering that real change would be embedding Black history into the taught curriculum so that BHM doesn’t cause colleagues to go looking hastily for resources annually. Black history should be part and parcel of what is taught to all children, a point well made by key stage 3 teacher, Tanisha Hicks-Beresford in this episode of the ‘Not another education podcast’ published this week by Twinkl.
Some out there evidently still struggle to comprehend what this month is about, and schools must be challenging them as strongly as this independent bookshop did this week.
Attendance is everyone’s responsibility
And finally, as we look to get ‘back on track’ after the inconsistencies of the past two years, many schools are discussing how they can improve attendance and get more children and families fully engaged in school life. This brilliant blog by Ed Watson helps clarify thinking behind this, goes into detail about why, and suggests a tiered approach.
Sharing responsibility with staff and families around the number of days missed and the impact it has can be a really powerful message. Older pupils would be, I’m sure, fascinated to know that regular attendance means missing no more than nine days of school per academic year. Watson’s idea of teachers keeping tabs on attendance on a class list is a quick and handy way to monitor that impact, and good evidence to pass onto attendance and pastoral leads to pick up with parents.
Watson’s other suggestion of engaging others such as local doctors’ surgeries and dentists to schedule children’s appointment during holidays and outside school hours could also make a huge difference.
This does all, of course, come with the caveat that primary-aged pupils aren’t responsible for getting themselves to school. Sharing this level of information with parents could have the opposite effect of justifying the occasional a day off for a birthday or a runny nose if their attendance is otherwise good. A difficult balance to strike as we wrestle with Covid’s long tail.
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