Sapientia NEWSLETTER SAPIENTIA EDUCATION TRUST |JANUARY 2021 | EDITION TWENTY

Mr Jonathan Taylor - Chief Executive Officer

Dear all

The Prime Minister’s announcement on 4th Jan 2021 that schools would close except for key worker and vulnerable pupils once again created a number of issues to quickly address. That we have successfully risen to the challenge yet again is testimony to the hard work and dedication of staff across all of our 16 schools. Exceptional things are taking place every single day.

Within a very short period of time our secondary schools implemented lateral flow Covid testing, switched to full time remote learning and offered eligible pupils places. Our primaries also implemented their remote learning plans and several are very busy with demand for in-school places, balancing that demand with remote learning. Centrally we have updated all school risk assessments, worked with a number of staff who needed individual assessments, distributed 259 DfE funded laptops and we also faced the prospect of furloughing over 130 staff who work in boarding funded roles at Wymondham College.

I make no excuses for insisting on the highest quality remote learning - our pupils are facing educational disruption that is greater than any since World War 2 - anything we can do to help them overcome this disruption is essential. Our efforts are warmly received by pupils and parents too, there have been very many positive comments about what we have provided so far. There are a huge number of ‘live lessons’ being taught across our schools and pupils should be accessing their full curriculum, in many cases this includes assemblies and class/tutor sessions too. Our use of technology has improved too - Microsoft Teams and Google classrooms have been invaluable and several staff have played leading roles in disseminating best practice and ensuring our systems function. Hugely appreciated!

Our well-being services continue too. Safeguarding remains an absolute priority and we all play a key role in helping our pupils and colleagues stay safe. Our HR team remains on hand to support any colleagues and our validium employee helpline service is available too, details from Tina are below.

Our school improvement work continues and we will shortly be launching our new Trust wide ICT strategy. Likewise, investment in infrastructure continues too, to improve our school environments. Whilst we must deal with the present challenges, we must remain focussed on the future too.

The pandemic will change the way we work in the future. Remote learning, new ways of sharing resources and expertise, different attitudes and approaches to ‘homework’, new ways of assessing progress and perhaps changed national systems will all come to the fore. We will be leading the way once pupils return.

I am immensely proud of what has been achieved since January 4th. Rebecca Osborne’s picture says it all.

A heartfelt thank you from me and our trustees, for all you continue to do.

With best wishes

Mr Jonathan Taylor Chief Executive Officer - Sapientia Education Trust [email protected]

Mr Robert Moorhouse - Chief Operations Officer

The Autumn Term focus was predominantly about supporting schools to be able to open fully, albeit under restrictions, and to that end Health and Safety support was a key feature of the Trust’s work. However, other work still continued and the Trust had to meet its statutory obligations about reporting at the end of the last financial year (31 August 2020) while continuing to provide Governance functions across all our schools.

ESTATE MANAGEMENT

Since the beginning of the Autumn Term, the SET Estates Team has continued to provide cleaning materials for all Primary Schools and have visited all Trust Primary Schools on a weekly basis since the beginning of term (in the evening), to provide extra cleaning using the ‘fogging’ machines the Trust purchased. Each secondary school has their own machine to use as required. This work has continued at the start of the Spring Term and the Trust Estates staff are out at Primary Schools every night of the week providing this enhanced cleaning.

Works completed since the start of the new academic year include:

Attleborough Academy  Work on roof repair/replacement started and due for completion in early part of Spring Term.  Planning for window replacement work undertaken with work due to start in early part of Spring Term.

Fakenham Academy  Work on new MUGA provision started.  Planning for work to support window replacement project undertaken – likely that concrete repair work will be undertaken in early part of Spring term.

Framingham Earl High School  Ongoing pricing work for social area at rear of school with a planned work date of Summer 2021.  New outdoor benches provided across the site.

Ghost Hill  Planning for final window replacement work completed with work due in early part of Spring Term.

Old Buckenham High School  West Courtyard – New Canopy completed.  MUGA – Installation over course of term – should be completed at early part of Spring term.

Old Buckenham Primary School  New fencing installed at rear of school

Rockland St Mary  New building completed at rear of site

Seething and Mundham  Lights replaced in main hall with new LED units.  Planning and costing work carried out for replacement outdoor play equipment.

Stradbroke High School  Installation of new standby boilers.

Wymondham College  Refectory Extension - new windows have been installed in the Refectory extension and in the other areas of the Refectory. The inside walls of the Refectory dining room extension have also been completed. The extended kitchen areas are now fully operational.  Site – PAT Testing undertaken across boarding.  Boarding Houses – H&S works inside boarding houses carried out over the term and this work continues over the course of the academic year.  Fry Boarding House – House fully decorated.

Wymondham College Prep School  Prep School permanent location – the project is progressing well with the steel frame for the main school significantly advanced with the roofing deck installed and road to the front of the school constructed. The work on the boarding house has also advanced significantly with the preparatory concrete works completed and steel work in progress at the start of the Spring Term.

CEO secured laptops from DfE which have been distributed to all schools across the Trust to aid remote learning. Focus on preparing schools for remote learning. Additional IT resources provided at Primary School level.

HEALTH & SAFETY

Extensive ongoing H&S work in supporting schools across the Trust to be able to operate safely especially in providing Risk Assessments and guidance on safe operation.

FINANCE

Closure of accounts for the financial year 2019-20 and completion of external audit of 2019-20 annual accounts and submission of Annual Report to DfE before the end of the calendar year.

GOVERNANCE

Governance at all levels continued to operate across the Trust.

Mr Robert Moorhouse Chief Operations Officer [email protected]

Mrs Zoe Fisher - DCEO: Director of Education

The start of term has again tested resilience, teamwork and creativity all of which have been seen across all of our schools in abundance and has meant that despite last minute changes in guidance from the DfE, our pupils have had a smooth start to the term. As well as testing stations set up and running in secondary schools, remote learning was in place for all pupils in the first week. In addition, many technical challenges were overcome for both staff and students so that some lessons were live and children reunited with their teachers, albeit remotely. There has also been a greater number of children accessing the in-school provision and you have risen to the challenge of ensuring that the quality of learning is as strong for those in school as well as those learning from home. All of this does not happen without incredible hard work, time and relentless ‘can do’ attitudes - a sincere thank you to all staff who have come together to make this happen for our pupils.

A special thank you to Becky Davis at Wymondham College for creating and sharing a wealth of Microsoft Teams training documents and videos, from beginner to advanced, there is something for everyone. Please may I remind staff that the videos must only be used within our organisation where pupil names and/or faces are seen. Please speak to your Headteacher if you would like access to these training materials and they will be able to provide you with the link.

There has been much debate around what remote learning should look like and there have been good discussions amongst our Headteachers, sharing ideas and offering support to schools. On Monday 11th January, Daniel Muijs, Ofsted’s Deputy Director of Research and Evaluation, released some guidance on ‘What’s working well in remote education’ which I would recommend reading if you haven’t already done so, a sensible and somewhat refreshing read in light of some of the debates around at the moment, you can find the guidance on the government’s website or via this web address https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/whats-working-well-in-remote-education/whats- working-well-in-remote-education.

It seems a long time ago now, but it was great to have our teaching staff come together on the Trust’s Professional Learning day on January 4th. As with many plans, the day was adjusted and delivered remotely and lead by our subject leaders at secondary – a huge thank you for making the day possible! Subject teams came together and worked collaboratively on a variety of themes including Character Education, Quality First Teaching remotely, Decolonisation and the Curriculum, and KS3 Curriculum and Assessment. The feedback has been really positive, and the strength of

SET Trust Schools Primary: Old Buckenham Primary School & Nursery | Seething & Mundham Primary School | Rockland St Mary Primary School | Surlingham Community Primary School | Burston Primary School | Tivetshall Primary School |Great Hockham Primary & Nursery School | Ghost Hill Infant & Nursery School |White House Farm Primary School |Wymondham College Prep School Secondary: Wymondham College | Stradbroke High School |Framingham Earl High School | Old Buckenham High School |Attleborough Academy | Fakenham Academy Sapientia NEWSLETTER SAPIENTIA EDUCATION TRUST |JANUARY 2021 | EDITION TWENTY the growing subject networks is born out of your collective passion and enthusiasm for your subjects, your pupils and continuing professional learning sharing best practice and support across the Trust. Many subject networks have established shared areas for remote learning resources, moderation of pupils’ work and assessments as well as providing an area to share articles and reading material for professional discussion and debate. If you would like support in arranging this for your network, please get in touch.

As we continue to adjust to changing landscapes, never underestimate what we can achieve to ensure the best for our pupils – you just have to look back over the last 12 months to see that!

Mrs Zoe Fisher Deputy CEO : Director of Education [email protected] Ms Kirsty Bray - Director of Standards & Development

Teaching school sessions continue to be delivered remotely for all of our pathways and the Trust remains committed to ensuring all staff have access to the training and development they need. Many thanks to those staff who are developing and delivering sessions for the programme, and to those staff who are accessing the learning after a day in front of a screen!

Please do get in touch if you have any CPD requirements that aren’t being met by the Trust – much of the existing programme was rooted in staff requests. The NQT year also continues as normal – NQTs will not have an ‘extension’ to their year (or pro rata time) as a result of COVID, so it’s important that they continue to attend SET training sessions and meet their mentors remotely. Again, thanks to the NQTs and their mentors for ensuring that the ‘paperwork’ required by the on-line NQT Manager system has been completed on time.

Ms Kirsty Bray Director of Standards & Development [email protected]

Mrs Emma Davies – Mr Rob Brewster - Director of Primary Standards Director of Primary Development

We are living through incredibly challenging times, but these hardest times can often lead to some of our greatest moments. This is particularly true of our schools right now! I have seen staff, at all levels, go above and beyond for their community.

During months of uncertainty staff across the Trust have been pulling out all the stops to make sure their whole school curriculum is lifted on to a remote platform using a range of live lessons and pre-recorded sessions (I am sure there are plenty of bloopers out there!). In addition to this, children’s home circumstances vary so dramatically that it has often not been possible to deliver a one-size-fits-all home learning programme. Staff have shown flexibility and some have even unearthed a skill/ passion they didn’t realise they had! This experience has taught us a great deal about how we maximise the use of technology and the future of education.

There have been some particularly innovative ways to ensure our children are not only receiving a quality of education but also maintaining a sense of normal school life. Examples include taking science week remotely, daily connect, whole school assemblies, Lego challenges etc. These efforts are testimony to your commitment to ensure our children receive a broad and balanced, World Class education- remotely.

There has also been some wonderful messages of thanks and appreciation from our parents. This has also been reflected nationally with 1000s of parents writing letters of praise for schools to Ofsted. Now many of our parents are juggling working from home and coordinating their child’s learning there is certainly a greater appreciation for teachers and all that they do!

Please look after yourself at this difficult time, be kind to yourself, and remember that today is closer to the end of this, than yesterday was.

Mrs Emma Davies Mr Rob Brewster Director of Primary Standards Director of Primary Development [email protected] [email protected]

Ms Claire Fox - Safeguarding and Attendance Lead

Safeguarding is at the forefront of what we all do and the change to remote learning, once again emphasises the important role we have to play in safeguarding our pupils. I’d like to thank you for the strategies and safeguards you have put in place so quickly to enable our pupils to receive continuous care during this period of lockdown. We know from the last lockdown that it can be a difficult time for many of our families and it is important we remain vigilant and report any concerns we may have to members of the safeguarding team via CPOMS or MyConcern. If you haven’t had to report a concern previously, please check that you can access your CPOMS/MyConcern account so that should you need to raise a concern, you are able to do so to keep our children safe. Your Designated Safeguard Leads can help you if you have any questions or problems with your account.

There is currently a consultation open for proposed revisions to Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021, I would strongly advise staff to participate so that we can have our views heard. You can find the consultation via this address https://consult.education.gov.uk/safeguarding-in-schools-team/keeping-children-safe-in-education-schools-and- col/consultation/intro/

Remember keeping children safe is everyone’s responsibility; don’t think what if I’m wrong, think what if I’m right.

Ms Claire Fox Safeguarding and Attendance Lead [email protected]

Director of HR – Mrs Tina Smith

I would like to say thank you for all your support in matters HR and appreciate your patience in what has at times been a very busy and exceptionally demanding period. We are all working both remotely and on site and can be contacted by calling our normal desk telephone numbers – so if you do require advice, assistance or support please do give us a call or email us on HR@se- trust.org.

For all our new starters, welcome to the Trust if you have not had the opportunity to do so yet – please watch the Trust on-line video “new starter induction” which is designed to introduce you to the Trust and key personnel until such a time we able to meet face to face. We continue to deliver the Teaching School sessions via Zoom, please have a look at these opportunities and sign up if you are interested.

I am pleased to report that all teachers received their pay progression (where applicable) in December (including back pay from September 1st). Salary statements will be issued shortly. We are all working with all the schools to ensure that they are using iTrent to the optimum and have developed training programmes for this (including recruitment, absence and performance management). The Workforce Census has been returned for each school to the Department of Education – thank you for those who have been involved in this important return.

Please be reminded to sign in to your Employee Self Service [ESS] to view your payslip regularly and check your personal details are up to date.

We offer the Validium Employee Assistance Programme for interesting and well-being advice, this can also be accessed via your ESS portal.

All the best to everyone during these really difficult times.

Mrs Tina Smith Director of HR [email protected]