1 School Noticeboard Edition 21: Thursday 2 March 2017 Inside this issue (click on links below): From the Director 2 Whistleblowing and Confidentiality 3 Fair Funding For All Schools: Letter from Councillor Brigid Jones 4 Local Authority Headteacher Briefings: March 2017 5 Agreed Term Dates 2018/19 5 School Safeguarding Information 5 Learning Lessons From Serious Case Reviews 6 Keeping Birmingham at the Heart of Water Safety 6 Supervision for Designated Safeguarding Leads Half Day Training 7 Early Years Noticeboard 8 EYFSP, KS1 and KS2 assessment arrangements 8 National Careers Week: 6-10 March 2017 8 CEIAG Network Meeting: Wednesday 29 March 2017 9 Paperless Invoicing To Birmingham City Council 9 Travel Assist: Applications for free bus passes 10 Teaching Awards 2017 10 Services for Education training courses 11 Link2ICT training courses 13 Free CPD: How to improve the health and wellbeing of pupils and teachers 14 Handsworth Association of Schools Open Day: 10 March 2017 15 Junior Peacemakers 15 Global Learning Network 15 Teachers’ Open Day At Black Country Living Museum 16 IT and Business Training Available 16 How to ensure technology has an impact on learning 17 2 From the Director Dear Colleagues, Hope you all had a restful and well-deserved half-term break. I am pleased to be back after succumbing to evil man ‘flu. Good to be back on the road and visiting schools again. Happy St David’s Day or Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus for yesterday! The half-term week was marked by news of the departure of our Chief Executive, Mark Rogers. There has been extensive media coverage locally and nationally. The official BCC statement is available here. This is a sad moment for all of us in education as Mark was a true champion of schools and the wider children’s services. He had been headteacher of a special school near Manchester and subsequently Director of Education and DCS before becoming Chief Exec in Solihull and then Birmingham. My favourite memory is driving him around for the day when we visited Gracelands, Featherstone, Brays and Hall Green Secondary. This was Mark in his comfort zone, revelling in meeting pupils and colleagues. At one point in Brays, he simply disappeared into a crowd of children at lunchtime and it took about 20 minutes to extricate him. Good luck in the future Mark and thanks for all the support. Angela Probert has been appointed as interim Chief Executive and we look forward to welcoming her to education in Birmingham. There has been considerable concern around the protection of witnesses to the Clarke investigation. They must continue to receive full protection. BCC has made legal representations to NCTL stressing how important it is for both the Clarke witnesses and anyone with a whistle blowing concern to be fully protected. To remind us all of BCC’s WB policy, please read Michael Day’s article on Page 3 of this Noticeboard. We will protect all whistle blowers: a vital element of what was learnt from Trojan. I found this article in the Observer really interesting. It’s thought provoking and takes us into territory so often lost in the melee of “events” that drive along life in schools: real discourse and debate about pedagogy and assessment. Congratulations to James Brindley, Perry Beeches III and Waverley Studio College for making that wonderful leap from “special measures” to “good” last half term. Well done to all. And, equally, congratulations to Allens Croft Nursery for maintaining its “outstanding” grade. And you may have seen that the Birmingham Children’s Hospital is the first in the country to be rated “outstanding” by CQC. Well done to all at the hospital: it truly is a national flagship. Out and about this week started with a delightful visit to The Oaklands, a member of the Ninestiles MAT. Great to be shown around the school by head boy and girl and then to meet with the School Council. They talked with passion, knowledge and conviction of their work on the UNICEF RRA and were proud to give me a copy of their termly newsletter. Finally, congratulations to all at St Benedict’s Infants who have recently won a European prize in recognition of their environmental work, one of only two British winners. The garden at St Benedict’s is absolutely fantastic so this award is very well deserved. With best wishes Colin @anfieldexile 3 Whistleblowing and Confidentiality It will not have escaped the attention of most that a legacy of the so called ‘Trojan Horse’ events, once again hit the headlines in January. Reportedly, the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) tribunal into the conduct of five teachers, has been asked to disclose information including the identities of people who gave evidence to the Peter Clarke investigation, during 2014. Whether or not this information should be disclosed is an important question, not least for those who gave evidence to the Peter Clarke investigation. The NCTL must now balance the interests of those individuals, against the rights of those teachers facing tribunal to receive an open and fair trial. Much has been said in the media about the assurance of anonymity given to those who assisted the Peter Clarke investigation. With this in-mind, it seems appropriate to reflect and remind colleagues, about the policy and arrangements for confidentiality provided to ‘whistleblowers’ by the Council. Birmingham City Council operates a Whistleblowing & Serious Misconduct policy, available on our website: https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/downloads/file/787/whistleblowing_and_serious_misconduct_policy The same policy applies to individuals employed in community schools, community special schools, voluntary controlled schools, pupil referral units and maintained nursery schools in Birmingham. It was also recommended to foundation and voluntary-aided schools in Birmingham. The policy was updated in March 2016 and therefore we also take this opportunity to recommend that you check the policy available to your staff and governors is up to date. The Council seeks to treat all disclosures made under the policy in confidence, wherever possible. However, the Council also aims to be open with people who might consider raising concerns, by explaining that there are situations where it may be impossible to avoid disclosing the identity of a complainant. Those situations might include where the Council is ordered to disclose information by a Court or Tribunal, or if disclosure is required in order to assist with a Police investigation. Being a public body, the Council is also subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000, although there are certain exemptions from disclosure of personal data using this route. The Council will never discourage individuals (workers or members of the public) from coming forward and telling us if they have concerns. We consider it an important aspect of good internal scrutiny and governance, as well as a way to ensure that we strive towards continual improvement of service. However, we also feel it is important for people to understand that while the Council is absolutely committed to confidentiality, there are a small number of legal exceptions which could occur. Finally, we have of course not forgotten that a large number of schools in Birmingham are now academies. While the Local Authority is no longer responsible for maintaining these schools, we do still retain certain overarching statutory duties, in terms of safeguarding or special education needs. Our advice to anybody who may have concerns about an academy school, is firstly that they should raise these matters internally, following the school’s own complaint and/or whistleblowing policy as appropriate. Alternatively, you might consider making your concern known to the academy trust, or even the Education Funding Agency (EFA), which is responsible for funding and monitoring academies. However, if for any reason a person with concerns about an academy in Birmingham does not feel able to use these routes, they may choose instead to contact the Council, which will always ensure that concerns are raised with the appropriate authorities. In particular, Birmingham City Council has secured a commitment with the EFA, that any referral of concern about an academy passed to them by the Local Authority, will be appropriately taken forward and outcomes shared with the Council as necessary. Of course, if a concern relates to child safeguarding or special educational needs, then the Council will act and intervene directly, in accordance with the law. Information about how to contact the Council if you have concerns of a serious nature (usually meaning that a school may be in some way, failing to comply with the law) is contained within the policy, linked above. CONTACT: Michael Day, Senior Solicitor, Legal & Democratic Services EMAIL: [email protected] TEL NO: 0121 303 7602 4 Fair Funding for All Schools: Message from Councillor Brigid Jones Dear Headteachers We know that schools across Birmingham are really up against it, facing crippling cuts to budgets over the lifetime of this parliament. Not only is the government failing to live up to its promise to protect per pupil funding, schools are facing huge and unfunded cost pressures such as the increase in non teachers employers pension contributions, pay and non pay inflation etc. The proposed National Funding Formula is also set to make things even worse for half the schools in the country with the DfE’s own indicative modelling using 2016/17 data indicating all but 7 of Birmingham’s primary and secondary schools will lose funding under the proposed new formula. Councillors and school leaders will be making their concerns known to the government. But we also need the voice of parents heard as well. I am, therefore, writing to inform you of a new national parent-led campaign which aims to get parents empowered and organised around the issue of school funding cuts.