What we learned about Pupil Premium at the Inside Government conference

At the end of January, we attended the Inside Government conference, ‘Pupil Premium: Ensuring the Best Educational Outcomes in Secondary Schools’, to see what we could learn about Pupil Premium strategy from the experts.

We heard keynote speeches from Sonia Blandford, Founder and Chief Executive of Achievement for All, and Thomas Martell from the Education Endowment Fund (EEF), as well as a talk on ‘Establishing a Comprehensive Pupil Premium Strategy’ from the Deputy Director of the National Education Trust, Marc Rowland.

On top of that, we also heard from a collection of Pupil Premium Award winning schools presenting case studies of what has worked in their settings, but more importantly, how and why it worked for their particular setting.

How to help pupils with eating disorders

Image from lizlovespink

The number of people in the UK battling eating disorders is rising, resulting in many children, young people and adults being admitted to hospital, or at increased risk of suicide. While recovery rates are optimistic, if young people do not overcome an eating disorder, it can stay with them into adult life, at which point it becomes much more difficult to cure.

Education and the EU referendum

Please note, this article does not represent the political views of TheSchoolBus editorial team, and should not be taken as such.

On 23 June, the nation will vote on whether the UK should remain within the EU, or whether Britain should exit – ‘Brexit’ – the EU. While we’ve heard arguments both for and against remaining in the EU on the grounds of trade, finance, farming, security, the environment, consumerism, travel, sports and culture, there is a notable void of information on how either vote could affect Britain’s schools. This article collates what we have heard so far about the EU referendum in relation to education.

Mobile apps: The secret ingredient for improving pupil outcomes?

Government research has shown “the more intensely parents are involved in their children’s education, the more advantageous the effect on pupil achievement”.[1] What’s more, “schools which successfully engage parents make use of a broad understanding of parental engagement, and their parental engagement strategies accord with the interpretations and values of the parents they are aimed at”.[2] In other words, schools who successfully engage parents/carers, do so with parents/carers in mind, reaching them in a way that works for them.[3]

How does the Enterprise Act 2016 affect schools and academies?

What is the Enterprise Act 2016?

The Enterprise Bill was put before Parliament in September 2015, starting in the House of Lords then passing through the House of Commons, before receiving Royal Assent on 4 May 2016. The main purpose of the Act is to boost British business; Business Secretary Sajid Javid promised that “it is proof that this government is delivering on its commitment to back the business owners who are the real heroes of our economic recovery”.

Teaching finance in primary schools to halt rising consumer debt

This week’s blog has been brought to you by national debt advice and education charity, Debt Advice Foundation.

A recent report by the Bank of England revealed that consumers are even more reliant on credit than ever, as the rate of consumer borrowing has risen to its highest level since 2006.

The hidden costs of ‘superheads’

Back in 1996, when Tony Blair was leading the Labour party, he made a speech pledging to position successful headteachers in local failing schools, painting a picture of  ‘superheads’ akin to superheroes, swooping in to rescue failing schools.[1]

In 2013, Nick Clegg voiced his desire to introduce a nationwide ‘champions league’ of superheads with attractive financial incentives, and in 2015 the Conservative government actioned its new programme, introducing superheads into ‘coasting’ schools.[2] [3]

The All-out Academisation Debate

On 17 March, the DfE’s White Paper set the course for another wave of changes to crash over the education sector. Now, despite the promise of “significant changes to teacher qualifications which will recognise teachers for the experts that they are, and give teaching the same status as doctors and lawyers”, teachers are gearing up to march in protest of arguably the most major pledge in the paper − “a blueprint for a system of full academisation”.[1]

Why should you consider using technology in the education boardroom?

The use of technology in the boardroom is fairly commonplace in the private sector; however, it is yet to make a significant breakthrough in the education boardroom. A look at the key benefits will get you asking: “why not?”

A hub for all strategic conversations

Typically, board packs are shared by email or post to school directors, leaders and governors. In practice, this means wasted time prior to or, more frustratingly, during meetings to find the right email in order to print off reports, presentations, etc. I’m sure we’ve all asked the question, “Was I sent that?” to be met with the reply, “You were cc’d into the email sent on the 13th, would you like another copy printed now?”

In schools, where personal email addresses are often used for communication with governors and academy directors, this also relies on individuals creating methods to filter out school documents from the latest Tesco delivery email and Netflix offer.

An online board hub makes it easy for everyone to access the same document at the right time in one consistent, secure place.

Last minute amendments, updates or reports can be shared instantly to all attendees, meaning everyone has the latest report for the start of the meeting, and making mid-meeting print-outs a thing of the past.

Fewer interruptions. Less distraction. Better board meetings.   

We’ve all been there, silently flicking through a ream of
paper to find the specific section of a report being referred to, or just the right report amongst the pack, whilst trying to listen and contribute to the conversation taking place.

A board hub that supports electronic documents can be searched, categorised and filtered to make finding the right information quick and easy, allowing you to concentrate on the matters at hand.

Quicker decision making

The ability to access more information in meetings results in decisions being made quicker, rather than extending into the next committee or board meeting.

This is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of introducing technology into the education boardroom, where the ability to have impromptu catch-ups or meetings just isn’t to the same degree as the private sector.

The right board hub will be a point of reference for all school conversations and will be accessible by everyone.

This blog was brought to you by our communication experts:

“SchoolCal makes it easy for education leaders, directors and governors to concentrate on what’s important.”

Web, mobile and app based: access documents, minutes and agenda’s anywhere, on any device, and at a time to suit everyone. Easily review papers, open links and share with colleagues.

Everything exactly when you need it: quickly search, filter and bookmark content. Easily access past papers, meetings and documents.

For in-between meetings: share news, updates and key information all year round, providing leadership teams with important updates throughout the year − perfect for multi-academy trusts who operate across multiple sites and meet infrequently with directors and governors.

Professional design, simple to use: set up takes seconds.

For organisers to:

• Share information with specific groups, committees or individuals.
• Easily plan, schedule and communicate with everyone from a consistent platform.
• Schedule meetings in advance and edit to add documents, new attendees and location details at any time.
• Message and send reminders to all or specific delegates.
• Send unlimited messages, reminders and contacts.

Social media – be careful what you post for

This post from our contributor and legal specialist, Veale Wasbrough Vizards, explores how a solid Social Media Policy can help your school succeed in claims brought to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, using a recent high profile case as an example.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has recently upheld a decision ruling that a dismissal for derogatory comments about an employer on Facebook was fair.

In British Waterways Board v Smith, Mr Smith was employed by the British Waterways Board (BW) as a manual worker for 8 years. As part of his job, Mr Smith worked on a rota where he was on standby for one week in every five. BW prohibited employees drinking alcohol when they were on standby. It also had a social media policy which forbade ‘any action on the internet which might embarrass or discredit BW’.

During the investigation of a grievance raised by Mr Smith, Mr Smith’s manager supplied HR with copies of pages from Mr Smith’s Facebook account which included derogatory comments by Mr Smith about his supervisors. On receipt, the HR team investigated further and identified evidence that suggested Mr Smith was drunk whilst on standby.

A disciplinary investigation subsequently took place and several other Facebook comments were identified which were either derogatory about BW, supervisors and colleagues, or suggested that Mr Smith had been drinking on days when on standby.

Mr Smith’s manager was aware of some of the comments and had previously raised them with HR (although he had not sent screenshots). HR had not investigated at the time because they were “too busy”. Mr Smith accepted that he made the comments but said that they were just ‘banter’ and he had not in fact been drinking. He also contended that his Facebook account had been hacked and changed from ‘private’ to ‘public’.

At a subsequent disciplinary hearing, the decision-maker concluded that, irrespective of whether the comments were true, they had the potential to undermine confidence in Mr Smith’s ability to react in an emergency and left BW open to public condemnation. It was also decided that Mr Smith’s actions were a clear breach of BW’s policies and he was summarily dismissed for gross misconduct.

Mr Smith brought a claim for unfair dismissal to the Employment Tribunal (ET).

The ET found that, although the process BW followed was fair, the decision to dismiss Mr Smith was not within the band of reasonable responses which a reasonable employer would take and therefore was not fair. In particular, the ET found that BW failed to
consider Mr Smith’s points of mitigation.

Overturning this decision on appeal, the EAT found that, as the ET
accepted that a fair procedure had been followed, it must have concluded that BW had considered Mr Smith’s points of mitigation. That being so, the ET had improperly substituted its own views for that of the employer. It held that the decision to dismiss was fair.

Best practice

The very public nature of comments on social media means that the potential for reputational damage is significant. What assisted BW in this case was having very clear policies addressing the use of social media and being clear with employees about what is and is not acceptable − a practice we would always recommend. Those schools which have adopted our template employment documentation will be familiar with the operation of our Social Media Policy.

This case also highlights the importance of identifying and considering all points of mitigation when deciding on disciplinary action.

Whilst BW was able to demonstrate that the dismissal was fair in this case, even though it had been aware of (albeit had not investigated) the Facebook comments for a number of years, it would be best practice to avoid delay in investigating concerns which come to your school’s attention – not least in cases involving comments on social media, to avoid the potential for further reputational damage.

For more information, please contact Alice Reeve on 0117 314 5383.